Finding Health After 40: How I'm Dropping 100 Pounds By My 50th Birthday

When my doctor delivered the news about my elevated blood pressure, rising cholesterol, and significant weight gain, I knew something had to change. Standing at 276.6 pounds at age 48, I made a decision that would transform my life: lose 100 pounds by my 50th birthday.

This episode takes you through my deeply personal weight loss journey—the triumphs, challenges, and everything in between. I share how I've lost 62.8 pounds so far through a comprehensive approach combining medical intervention (GLP-1 medications), nutrition guidance, and a dedicated fitness regimen. You'll hear about my experience with various medications, how I transitioned from basic workouts to serious weight training, and the non-scale victories that have meant even more than the numbers dropping on the scale.

Whether you're contemplating your own weight loss journey or simply need motivation to prioritize your health, this episode offers practical advice, encouragement, and a reminder that you're worth investing in. I share workout suggestions, mindset shifts, and the importance of celebrating every milestone along the way. Because at the end of the day, this journey isn't just about looking better—it's about creating a healthier future where I can live vibrantly for decades to come.

Have you been putting off making changes for your health? Listen in, get inspired, and remember: you are absolutely worth the work.

Chapters

• 0:27 Welcome to The Charging Station
• 2:39 Taking Control of My Health
• 5:46 My Experience with GLP Medications
• 8:08 Weight Training and Non-Scale Wins
• 14:48 Celebrating 62 Pounds Down
• 19:56 Staying Motivated and Looking Forward to 50
• 27:56 The Weight Loss Mindset Shift

Transcript

Tracey: 0:27

Welcome to the Charging Station podcast. It's your girl, Tracey Massey of My EmPOWERed

Tracey: 0:32

Life. Hey, hey, hey, hey, The hey Charging Station up, what's up, what's up? Welcome to another episode. I hope you had a chance to go listen to the update on branches, the update of my DNA journey. It's a good one. If you haven't listened to it, go back and listen. And if you have Instagram idea Facebook what LinkedIn, talking about, . you got six them, episodes . ahead Who of this ? you can Living My EmPOWERed will be updated on my DNA journey, but let me go ahead and welcome all of our returning listeners and watchers. Thank you for being here. You know I love me. Some of you Welcome back.

Tracey: 1:04

If this is your first time joining the charging station, the first time joining the power squad, come on in. Have a seat on the couch. Y'all make room for them. I hope that you return, but I need everybody to go ahead. Make sure that you are following me on the socials. I am everywhere TikTok, instagram, facebook, linkedin maybe not LinkedIn All of them Threads who I forget. Instagram at Living my Empowered Life, and you can also find the charging station on your preferred podcast listening platform. Here on YouTube as well, you'll see us on TikTok recording live episodes here and there. If you have been here for a minute, please make sure that you rate the show. Even if this is your first time joining, please go ahead and rate and review the charging station. Make sure that you subscribe or follow whatever the directions that require from your preferred podcast listening platform. Do that, but give us five stars. Let us know how you feel about the show, everything. So, now that I got that out of the way, girl, go ahead, bro. Go ahead, grab your coffee, grab your tea, grab your water, grab your wine, whatever your beverage of choice is. Go ahead and grab that thing, because I am about to give you an update on Fit Fine, fabulous by 50. All right, if you don't know what Fit Fine and Fabulous by 50 is.

Tracey: 2:29

This is my weight loss journey and I set out a goal in 2023, where I wanted to. The goal is to drop 100 pounds. Yes, I can afford to drop 100 pounds. I can afford to drop 100 pounds. I was thick, thick. I'm still thick, but, yeah, my health had taken a shift. Well, it was about to take a shift, so let me tell you what happened.

Tracey: 2:53

In February of 2023, I went in for my yearly physical and my numbers did not come out great. So my blood pressure was elevated, my cholesterol was elevated, I had gained a ton of weight and so it wasn't looking good. And my doctor was very honest and candid with me and he told me that if we did not make some mainly me, but he said we if we didn't make some changes now, it was going to be downhill from there. And so that that gave me. You know, I did not want to be the reason that I was not in good health. You know, some things you can't avoid, but when it comes to high blood pressure, sometimes it is just it could be hereditary or it could be lifestyle things. So there was some lifestyle changes that I needed to make. So I made a commitment to myself then and there that I was going to drop these 100 pounds. And yes, a hundred pounds is a lot. And I said to make. So I made a commitment to myself then and there that I was going to drop these 100 pounds. And yes, 100 pounds is a lot. And I said I wanted to do it by my 50th birthday, because at the time I was 48. So do the math 48 to 50, that's two years. I was giving myself two years to drop this weight, and so I consulted my physician, made sure that I was healthy enough to start exercising. I actually found a provider who deals with weight loss. That's their specialty. I got in with a nurse practitioner and a dietician, and so we came up with a dietary plan and we also came up with some medical intervention. So I started ZipBound.

Tracey: 4:24

Well, actually, let me back up. I started with a GLP called Saxenda, and Saxenda worked for a little while, but this was during the time when the GLPs were getting very popular. I did not try Ozempic or Manjaro because I was not diabetic, I was pre-diabetic, and so my physician was adamant about me not being on those medications because I was not diabetic, and I agreed with her because I was like I'm not going to take a drug that's really not meant for me, and I know that there are a lot of people out there when they were having supply issues. There are people out there who are actually diabetic and this medication sustains them. I didn't want to be one of the ones that was taking a drug out of somebody's hand that really needed it. So we started with sexenda, had supply issues. Then we switched over to Wagovi. Wagovi was doing well, but again supply issues. So I had to come off of both of them. Well, during that transitional time, um, zetbound became available and so we started ZetBound and we did not have any issues with the supply with ZetBound. So I started taking ZetBound. I started on the very lowest dose, um that they had. So I started on what was it? 2.5 milligrams, and it was a slow, slow burn.

Tracey: 5:46

I did not want to go full throttle with the medications. One, because I didn't want to have a whole lot of side effects. I didn't know how this was going to affect my body. And also I did not want to drop weight very fast because I didn't want to look look battle with with sagging skin. And I didn't want to look look battle with with a sagging skin. And I didn't want to look sunken Like. I still wanted to look healthy. I wanted the weight loss to be seen, but I didn't want to look like I was losing weight, if that makes sense. You know how some people lose weight too fast and they look sick. I didn't want to look like that. So I was very strategic about how we want to drop this weight. So I was very strategic about how we want to drop this weight.

Tracey: 6:28

So I started with the Zepbound on the lowest dosage and continued my visits with my providers. I checked in once a month. I got blood work drawn, so it was a whole holistic thing. We came up with an exercise plan. So I started working with a trainer that was provided at the facility that I was going to, and we worked out with the trainer three times a week and I would do cardio outside of the trainer and for a whole year we kept this plan. I was working out three days a week, I was walking, and by the time 2024 rolled around and I went for my physical, my doctor was like, oh, these numbers look great. So by the time I got back to my doctor in 2024 for my physical, my blood pressure had dropped. I had lost I think at the time I was right at about 25 pounds. Yeah, yeah, I think I was right at 25 pounds, and so the weight was starting to come off. Well, guess what happens when you get on a weight loss journey? Your body gets acclimated to whatever you're doing. So we had to step it up. So the dosage for the Zepbound began to increase and I'm still not on a high dose right now, but the dosage started to increase. So about every three months we would up the dose.

Tracey: 7:53

I have had zero side effects. I don't have food cravings. I actually have to remind myself to eat because what ZepBam does? It turns off that food noise. Well, all of the GLP-1s do this. They turn off that food noise where you're just wanting to eat. And I realize that I am a stress eater, so anytime I'm stressed out I will grab a bag of chips and eat them, or ice cream sweets. That was my downfall. So the ZepBam has helped to turn all of that noise off and I'm making much healthier choices.

Tracey: 8:25

So when I realized that the weight loss was coming off and my body had kind of plateaued, then we stepped it up. I got a membership at one of the local gyms. I started attending classes. One of my favorite classes is a deep stretch class, which helps to maintain your flexibility and it helps to prevent injuries. I love taking it on the weekends because it is a great way to end my workouts for the week and a great way to prepare for the workouts for the upcoming week. So I love that class. It's very relaxing.

Tracey: 8:57

So I started taking classes and I got a new trainer at the gym. So with this new trainer I mainly focus on weight training because when I met with him initially, we did a full body scan. I met with him initially, we did a full body scan. So the body scan, what that did was it measured my weight. Of course, it looked at my body fat, it looked at the composition, it looked at how much water I was retaining and we got that as a baseline. So we got that.

Tracey: 9:27

I started working with the trainer in January of this year, 2025. So the weight loss that I had in 2024, by the end of 2024, I had gotten to what was my weight. Then, by the end of 24, I had dropped 58, 52.8 pounds, which was great 52.8 pounds, which was great. So the reason why I wanted to do a year, because in a healthy way you're supposed to lose weight, lose one to two pounds per week. So I figured out one pound a week for 52 weeks. That would get me to 50 pounds. Then I got another year to get me to 50 pounds and then by my 50th birthday I would be good. I would just be either maintaining what I've done or actually losing weight, losing more weight or toning. So by the end of 2024, I had gotten down to 52.8 pounds, which was amazing. So now we step it up.

Tracey: 10:26

I meet with a trainer in January of 2025 and we get the body scan done and he asked me well, what are your overall goals? And so I tell him you know, I really want to build muscle because one thing that I learned about my body because I've lost weight before I had gotten down to a size eight, which is where I want to be back to and I realized then that my body loves muscle, my body builds muscle fairly quickly, and so I realized then that I have to lift weights. So if I don't lift weights, stuff starts to sag, I lose definition and all this stuff. So I told him I want to weight train because I want I don't want the weight to be falling off of me faster than my muscles can catch up with it, because sagging skin and all that stuff. So he asked me about my goals. He asked me about, you know, if I had any milestones that I wanted to reach, and so I gave him.

Tracey: 11:29

You know we brainstormed about some ideas. I gave him what I wanted to do and he came up with a workout plan for me, and so with him, we work out twice a week and all I do with him is weight training. That's it. There's no cardio, there's no stretch, like none. Of all we do is weight training. And y'all, I fussed the entire time. The entire time I'm with this man, I'm fussing.

Tracey: 11:53

So our first workout, you know it wasn't. It was hard, but it wasn't as hard as I thought it was going to be because, again, I had been working out for a year. So I had some stamina, I had some you know, little little stuff in my arsenal, but a good trainer takes it up a notch. And so our first workout, he did a test, a strength training test, and I didn't realize that this is what he was doing, and also I did not realize that this is how, that I had gotten actually stronger than what I knew. And so he watched that and tailored workouts for this new strength that I had, tailored workouts for this new strength that I had. And I remember the following morning getting out of bed and thinking, oh my God, what have I done? Because I was so sore. I was so sore, but I realized that that was a good workout.

Tracey: 12:49

So we've been working out since January of 2025. At the time of the recording of this podcast. It is now March. No, I'm wrong. Oh my gosh. No, yeah, we did start working out January 2025. Sorry y'all, I'm trying to remember off the top of my head all of this stuff and it's a lot. So I've been working with him since January 24th 25. It is now March, and so for my birthday, I had this goal.

Tracey: 13:17

I wanted to be at at least 60 pounds of weight loss and people had started commenting about you know my face looking slimmer. I even noticed that my collarbone has popped out. Yeah, if you're watching on YouTube, you can see me moving my collarbone. If you've been following me on social medias, you know what I said about my collarbone. I've been saying when my collarbone pops out, y'all can't tell me nothing If I see jawline and collarbone baby. So my collarbone has made an appearance, my jawline has started making appearance and people have been commenting about my face being slimmer. You can see that, and I've noticed that my clothes don't fit.

Tracey: 14:01

So one thing about this for me it is really hard for me to see the weight loss and I was talking to my therapist about it, cause I was like do I have a little body body dysmorphia, you know, and yeah, I do slightly, is not um, on the extreme end, but yeah, I do have a have a lean tinge of body dysmorphia where it's hard for me to see my weight loss because I'm still thinking that I'm that woman that was in a size 24, 3x, 4x, 276.6 pounds that's how much I weighed y'all at the beginning of this. I'll stick, told y'all stick, and it's been hard for me to see it. Well, I stopped looking at the scale because the scale can be frustrating. The scale will have you thinking you're not making any progress. So I've been looking at these non-scale wins.

Tracey: 14:54

I remember the day that I crossed my legs for the first time. I didn't even realize that I did it, it just kind of naturally happened. And then when I noticed my legs were crossed, I was like, oh my God, I haven't been able to do this in about 10, 15 years. So that was a small win in about 10, 15 years. So that was a small win. That was a non-scale win Let me stop saying small wins, because all of this is big but that was a non-scale win for me. So, being able to cross my legs, I was super excited. I had to take a picture to commemorate that. Then I noticed that I was going upstairs, going up flights of stairs without being winded. I started moving a little faster. Now I can walk a mile in 30 minutes, or I can do a stationary bike and get five miles in in about an hour. I can walk on the treadmill at an incline, a higher incline and not be winded. I can lift higher weights. So it's things like that that I've started.

Tracey: 15:52

I'm noticing, instead of just looking at the scale, because the scale takes into account everything. It takes into account water. Now I have a fancy scale here at home and it tells me everything. It tells me when I don't have enough water, when I've drank too much water, if I don't have enough protein, if I'm getting enough protein, like Then I had this lovely watch that tells me when I'm sleeping right and I'm not sleeping right. It tells me when I'm stressed. So I'm looking at all of these things because it's a holistic kind of thing.

Tracey: 16:22

Well, I took a picture of myself in the elevator one day when I was at work and the outfit that I had on. I saw it. I saw 60 pound weight loss. And so for my birthday, before I went on my solo trip for my birthday. I went in with my trainer and we did another scan, another body scan, just to get an update. So we had the baseline done in January and we did the body scan repeat in March March 14th to be exact, because it was right before I went out of town and the difference from my first body scan to now was mind blowing to me. Everything was was lower for my body fat percentage. The only thing that was up was my muscle mass. My muscle mass was up, my BMR, which is your basic metabolic rate, which tells you how well you are burning off fat, especially when you're sleeping, because that's what really matters when you're sleeping and you're burning off that fat, like how fast it's coming off. It was dramatically different. And that's when we realized that I had actually dropped 62.8 pounds, so I had exceeded my goal for my birthday. I wanted to cry because I was so proud of myself.

Tracey: 17:45

And, yes, I'm having assistance with the ZetBound, but the ZetBound ain't doing all the work, because I'm getting my butt in the gym and I'm watching what I'm eating and I'm making sure that I'm drinking a gallon of water a day. I'm getting in so much protein and collagen. That's why my skin's not sagging. So it's all of these things that my dietician has been recommending that I'm doing in these lifestyle changes. But I'm going to be honest with y'all I'm a little nervous because I won't have the debt bound to help me. We're actually taking me off of it because I want to see what I can do without it, and also, my new insurance is not paying for it Now. Granted, I could pay for it out of pocket myself, but I want to see what I can do without it, and I always have the option that if it doesn't work, I can go back on it. And I just want to encourage people out there Don't let people shame you for getting the help that you need to reach the goal that you need.

Tracey: 18:46

Weight loss is hard. It is so hard, especially when you're a woman of a certain age. If you are a woman in perimenopause or postmenopause or menopausal, it's really hard to get this weight off. And so if you need medical intervention, get it, because I'm going to tell you what. I'm going to tell you what if me without Zepbound doesn't work, me and Zepbound gonna be right back, we're gonna go together real good. I ain't even kidding. We're gonna go together real good.

Tracey: 19:20

And if my body doesn't tone up the way that I hope that it does, I got a plastic surgeon on speed dial right now, because there's gonna be some places I ain't ashamed. I'm gonna get nicked and tucked and I don't care what anybody has to say about it, because at the end of the day I have to look at myself in the mirror and be pleased with what I see. Now I'm not going to be drastic and go out here and be like you know this don't even look like Tracy. I'm going to look like a different person anyway because I'm losing the weight. But I'm going to do what makes me feel good.

Tracey: 19:51

And here's the thing. I'm not doing this for anybody else. I'm not even doing it for the vanity. I'm doing it because I want to live a healthy life. I don't want to be sitting in a chair somewhere when I'm 70, 80, god willing, I live that long. I don't want to be in my golden years sitting in a chair, chewing for no reason and not being able to get around. I want to be in my right mind and I want my body to be healthy. So I'm doing things now that's going to help me be healthy now, granted, looking good. Being in smaller sizes and looking good is is a perk of the hard work that I'm doing, because if you're watching on on uh youtube now, you see I got my shoulder out. I got my shoulders out, honey.

Tracey: 20:50

So I encourage you, if you are on a weight loss journey, you, you know go see a physician. First of all, make sure that you are healthy enough to do these lifestyle changes. If you have the ability to get medical intervention and when I say medical intervention is not just medications, but also having a dietician, if you can get it, having a nutrition person, having a physician to be able to walk with you along this journey and make sure that you're successful. I thank God that I have the privilege because it is a privilege. I have the privilege of having all of these things and a trainer, but there was a time where I didn't. There was a time where I didn't. So please don't think that I don't know what it's like to try to do this on your own, without assistance. I do. One thing that I will encourage you to do is get moving. Get moving, like, if you can't get a gym membership, get outside. Get outside and move your body.

Tracey: 21:48

There are so many great YouTube videos. There are fitness people on YouTube. I do Pilates via YouTube If I'm not able to get into the class at the gym there's. I love dance, so I look for hip hop classes on YouTube. There's Grow With Jo. She's amazing. She is amazing. I watch her and I do her videos. They're not hours long. You can do a quick 10 minute, 15 minute workout.

Tracey: 22:18

I walk at least 30 minutes a day, especially when I'm at working in the office. So I take my lunch break and I walk, and on the weekends I walk a little more. I get between 7,500. So my goal each day is 7,500 steps. I know they say 10,000. My life ain't set up that way. I do at least 7,500 steps per day. Some days I get up to 10,000. Sometimes I get over 10,000. But I'm doing things that work for my lifestyle. But if you get out and just start walking, you're moving your body.

Tracey: 22:55

And please know disclaimer I am not a fitness expert. I'm not claiming to be. I'm just sharing the things that I have been doing in the last two years that have been giving me very good results. And so now, as I approach 50, I'm a little more excited about approaching 50. I was excited before, but I'm a little more excited about approaching 50. I was excited before, but I'm a little more excited about approaching 50 because I'm seeing the work manifest. I'm seeing the changes in my body. I'm seeing the changes in my mindset and my clarity. I'm seeing the changes in my wardrobe. You know, I'm doing things that I was not able to do before and I'm so proud of myself. When was the last time you told yourself you were proud of you? So I just wanted to share that update. I will be 50 in 2026 and I've been telling everybody you know that's coming to my 50th birthday celebration I'm gonna have my cheeks out. I'm gonna have my cheeks out because I ain't working this booty off of nothing. She gonna be sitting up in heart shape, like, so I'm gonna have my cheeks out, be prepared at least for one day. I may not do it the entire time of my 50th celebration, but I'm gonna have my cheeks out and I've.

Tracey: 24:15

I've set up a couple of things as rewards as I go along on this journey, and one of them being I'm getting a gown made and we did up my measurements. When did I go? I went in February, I think. Yeah, I went in February to meet the dress designer and come up with the design and the concept and she took my measurements and y'all I was sick as a dog like just seeing those measurements because I knew that they were going to be different. But she had to take my measurements to get an idea of where we're going to start. But come June, when I go get fitted for real and we order the gown, my measurements are going to be different. So I'm setting up these little milestones as we go along and I'm looking forward to looking good in this gown.

Tracey: 24:58

And please keep in mind what I think I look good in is my opinion. I look good for me, not for anybody else. I want you to have that mindset too. Look good for you, not for anybody else. Yes, people comment, they're going to comment. Let them, because one half of the time that people are making the comments aren't doing things for themselves, they're watching from the sidelines. Let them watch, let them talk. My mentor tells me all the time never chase a lie. Jesus never chased a lie and neither will you. This journey can be so hard, but if you have people that will walk alongside you and help you, stay accountable like I have.

Tracey: 25:48

I don't do gym buddies because that just never worked for me. I'm very self-motivated, but if you are in the Charlotte area and you want to go to the gym with me, let me know. Don't be crazy, though, but let me know I will go to the gym with you. If you want to walk, there are beautiful parks in the area we can go walk, get a mile in, two miles in. My friend, tatiana Forbes, just started a run club which I need to join. She just started a run club for slow runners. Best for Last. I'm going to put the link and everything in the show notes, but Tatiana and I did 75 soft together and had great results. She's doing 75 hard now and just started a whole community.

Tracey: 26:31

But when it comes to exercise like for me I get bored really easily. I don't like doing the same things over and over and over again, so I had to find things that piqued my interest. So, like I said, I love dance. I take dance classes. I find workouts that incorporate some kind of dance. I love Pilates. I love stretching. I just started to challenge myself.

Tracey: 26:55

Getting on the stair climber and baby, that stair climber humbled me. Getting on the stair climber and baby, that stair climber humbled me. Okay, that stair climber has humbled me, but I had to switch it up because now we're getting to the finish line and when I see that scale go from 276.6 to 176.6. Baby, the shouts I'm going to release from the depths of my soul will be heard around the world. And don't let me. Let me get to out of these 200s, okay, because I know y'all doing the math. I told you how much I weighed. Let me get out of these 200s. Right now, I'm at 207. At the recording of this podcast, I'm at 207. You, let me get out of these 200s. Right now, I'm at 207. At the recording of this podcast, I'm at 207. You, let me get to 199. Let me see one in front of that weight Celebration. But yeah, when I hit 50, beast mode. And no, I'm not going to stop once I hit 50. I think once I hit 50, it's just going to be even more. It's just. That's just the beginning, that's just the baseline.

Tracey: 28:04

There's so many things that I want to do and challenge myself, and maybe that's another podcast episode. I'm thinking about 50 things that I want to do by my 50th birthday and one of them is actually run America, run. God, I just said it. I guess I'm gonna run a marathon. I don't know. I do want to do a 5k, though I do want to run a 5k. I don't know about a marathon, y'all that's 26 miles, oh Jesus, I don't know. But it depends on you know how things go, but we'll see. But I'm thinking about 50 things that I want to do by the time I'm 50. One of them is scuba dive. So I've shared that. I've taken swim lessons. I'm going back to take more swim lessons because I really want to hone that skill and in order to scuba dive, you got to be a strong swimmer. I'm not a strong, strong swimmer yet, so I really want to scuba, and scuba may be the thing that I do in my 50th birthday celebration celebration, but we'll see, we'll see.

Tracey: 29:05

But I hope that this podcast has encouraged you and if you have any questions for me, like I said, I am not a health expert or a fitness expert or anything like that. I'm just sharing the things that I have been doing and that have worked for me. I am learning as I go along and I have a great team of providers who are making sure that I don't hurt myself. They're making sure that I don't hurt myself, but I hope that this has encouraged you in some way, shape or form. Just get up and get moving If you are struggling with your weight.

Tracey: 29:38

It's also a mindset change. Y'all it really is, because, like I said, I'm having a difficult time seeing myself in this new body and it's going to take some time. But my therapist is on it. We're like, yeah, you're not clinically, you know, on the deep end, you're doing things in a healthy way. So I hope that you find what works for you and that you stay consistent, that you stay loyal to yourself, you stay accountable to yourself and just know that you are worth the work. You are worth the work. All right, so that's it for this week's episode. I pray that you found something helpful out of this and I pray that you come back, because we will be back next week with another episode. I'm so excited to be back with y'all. I missed you so, so much. So I will see you all next time and, as always, remember God loves you, I love you. It ain't nothing you can do about it. Boo Bye.