Michael Carroll considered himself a recluse for four years. From the start of the pandemic in 2020, until the spring of 2024, he rarely left the house.
The owner of a gas service company, Michael’s employee covered all the field work. He watched TV and collected coins to keep himself entertained at home. Today, every morning is a reminder about how much life has changed in the past year.
Instead of pulling out a contraption known as a sock assist—or turning to his wife or a grandkid for help, “I can put my own socks on by myself,” he tells PEOPLE in this week’s issue. It’s a small but profound marker of his progress since losing 102 lbs. on Zepbound. “It gave me my independence again.”
Michael, 61, began his journey in February at 450 lbs. at HonorHealth Bariatric Center in Scottsdale, Ariz., alongside his wife of 41 years, Julie, who’s lost 75 lbs.
When he started, he couldn’t walk 15 feet without getting winded. He was reluctant to go out in public, opting to watch his grandsons’ sports games from the car because he couldn’t walk to the field – “I had the least amount of mobility you could possibly have.”
Even showering felt taxing. Going to a restaurant brought a wave of shame. “It’s embarrassing when you can’t fit in a booth,” says Michael. “We sat in a restaurant booth [recently] and had space between us and the table,” he says.
The first stage of weight loss was like “taking off ankle weights at the end of a day,” he says. “For a guy who couldn’t breathe, you feel like you’re walking on clouds.”
Michael has a long list of meaningful non-scale victories he’s achieved: walking to the mailbox, bringing two 5-gallon water jugs into the house without thinking about it, and sitting in regular seats at a football stadium.
He’s looking forward to Ping-Pong with his grandkids and starting to work out at the gym. Now Michael no longer needs medication for back problems.
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Julie, 60, a senior credit specialist for an electric company, stopped taking daily ibuprofen for knee pain. She can cross her legs without giving it much thought. The week before Thanksgiving was the first time since 2020 that she went grocery shopping and walked up and down the aisle. Before that, it was either pick up or delivery.
The changes have already boosted her confidence — “and I want to see how much better I can feel,” says Julie.
When the couple goes out to eat, they now share meals. Michael says his cravings are gone and their monthly grocery bill is noticeably less. “Food was very big growing up for us. That’s how you show joy and friendship together. Now it doesn’t even cross our minds,” says Michael.
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There have been bumps—notably “sulfur burps. Everybody goes through that. And they taste freaking horrible,” says Michael. “But they tend to go away – they’re not so unbearable.”
More concerning: He recently learned he’s lost muscle in addition to fat, a side effect experts say can happen with the drugs. Weight training can help: “I have to get in the gym and build up my leg strength.”
Their success so far has been bolstered by “knowing we’re in this together,” Julie says. “We’ll say, ‘It’s our shot day. I’ll grab the shots!’ It’s helped our relationship a lot because we’re doing things together again.”
Neither Julie nor Michael says their goal is a number on the scale. They want to have more energy for retirement, and travel – to take another cruise and not feel exhausted by all the walking.
“I want to be here for my grandkids. I want to be here for my kids. I want to be here for us,” says Julie.
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