What Black Folks Say About Weight Loss Meds and the Holidays

Branneisha Cooper was terrified of attending her first holiday gathering after starting Mounjaro. The 28-year-old started the injectable medication on Nov. 2, 2022, just a few weeks before Thanksgiving. “I told my family … do not take offense that I don’t eat that much on Thanksgiving,” she says. “Because for Black families, it’s like ‘oh you not eating the mac and cheese no more, was it nasty?’” Mounjaro, a GLP-1 drug, is FDA-approved to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, but it can be prescribed off-label for weight loss. Cooper, based in Flint, Texas, says she’s struggled with her weight for most of her life. After trying diet after diet, nothing seemed to help her lose weight, which became even more difficult after a polycystic ovarian syndrome diagnosis. In 2022, she told her primary care doctor she was willing to undergo weight loss surgery. After taking into consideration her family history with type 2 diabetes, Cooper’s doctor prescribed Mounjaro. Within the first week on the medication, she lost seven pounds. “I don’t have any plans right now of getting off of it,” she says. “When I started, I was 241 pounds. I’m now 158 and I’m at my goal. I...