Cue the Applause For the Woman in the Before Pics, Weight Loss Transformation

Ruthie's GLP1 Transformation

We celebrate the “after.” The compliments. The confetti. The side-by-sides that make people gasp. And I get it; this version of me, the one in the pretty scarf and the fresh-faced photoshoot? She’s magnetic. She looks like she made it.

But let’s be real. She’s just enjoying the view. The glamour comes after the grit. The version of me you see now; the one glowing and strong and healthy, she gets the benefit of a thousand silent battles won by the woman in the before pictures.

Cue the applause for her.

She’s the one who journaled through heartbreak and exhaustion. She’s the one who crawled through grief with a pen in her hand. She’s the one who chose to seek out compounded medication, even when her doctor said, “I don’t believe in GLP-1s.” She researched. She advocated. She is the brave one. She survived heart attacks. And in her darkest moments, still somehow found enough courage to keep going.

She dared to hope that life could be better, even when nothing looked like it ever would be. She began rebuilding her health before she ever saw results. And here’s the wild part:

She had no idea that the pain she was carrying would become the foundation of her freedom. No clue that all the tiny, thankless efforts… the logging of meals, the refusal to give up, the tears in the bathtub, the awkward first selfies…would one day turn into the life I’m living now.

She is the reason I made it.

It looks like I’m the badass now, right? With the glowy skin and the well-lit selfies and the tropical joy. But the truth is, She was the Mistress of Badassery. The undisputed Queen of doing the hard thing with no applause, no guarantee, and no roadmap.

She’s the one who made all the hard choices. She’s the one who kept going. I just get to reap what she sowed.

So if you’re in your “before”? If you’re still in the fight, still figuring it out, still hoping something will work? Don’t you dare underestimate her. Your future self is cheering you on. So am I!

And one more thing. Weight loss might be the most visibly obvious kind of transformation. It photographs well. It fits in a 20-second video montage. But not all reinventions come with a makeover.

Some of the most powerful transformations happen in places no one sees. In therapy. In forgiveness. In choosing not to yell. In finally walking away. In finally staying. Not all before-and-afters are visible. But they are just as real. Let’s celebrate those too.

Because the truth is, Aesthetic glow-ups are just the sparkly side effect. The real magic? Was becoming someone who would choose herself.