When Latisha Doty and Alison Bocking talk about each other, they use the words friend and sister interchangeably. They consider themselves family, bonded by shared experiences of spending most of their lives trying to lose weight.
“All your life, if you’ve been dealing with weight issues, you’ve been afraid,” says Doty. “Then you have someone on your side who motivates you saying ‘We can do it. We will not stop until we reach our goal.’”
The two met in 2022 through the TikTok GLP-1 community shortly after they started using weight loss drugs. “We’re each other’s biggest cheerleaders,” Doty says.
“I don’t know anyone who is more inspiring and encouraging to those around her than Latisha,” adds Bocking.
Their friendship quickly became a lifeline for both women — they text or chat daily, offering encouragement — and important reminders. “Because I don’t think about food,” says Doty, “But he’ll text and say, ‘Have you eaten today?’ If you’re not getting enough protein, your hair could be thinning.”
Doty has a long list of ways she’s tried — and failed — to lose weight over the years: Richard Simmons, Weight Watchers, ’90s fad phen-phen, lap surgery, Tae Bo, Atkins, gastric bypass surgery. “I tried everything. I would lose a little… and get it right back,” says Doty. “It was exhausting.”
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Alison Bocking before and after weight loss.
Courtesy of Alison Bocking; Diana King
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This time, he says, is different. “This drug gave me my life back,” says Doty, who lost 118 lbs. since she started taking the GLP-1 drug Mounjaro two years ago, when she weighed 279 lbs.
Bocking was 11 when she went on her first diet and remembers telling her teacher she had lost 5 pounds.
“It’s a lifelong process of dealing with this beast inside you,” she says. “There are people who enjoy their bigger bodies. I was not one of them. I had so much pain in my joints that I didn’t want to get out of bed for many days.”
She says it’s often assumed that those who are overweight aren’t trying hard enough. “But I tried a thousand times. For some people, it feels like you’re behind bars with no options. You’re trying to lose weight, but your mind and body are working against you.”
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Latisha Doty before and after weight loss.
Courtesy of Tish Dotty; Diana King
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GLP-1s interrupted all that and allowed her to devote more time and energy to others, instead of worrying about her weight. Bocking lost 114 lbs. on Mounjaro and Wegovy.
“I thought everyone was thinking about food all the time,” she says. “This silenced the noise of the food. By the time I was done with my plate, I was done. It’s life-changing.”
Bocking now weighs 172 lbs., a number she hasn’t seen since high school. A “constant struggle,” she says, of losing and gaining weight has defined much of her life. “It’s a painful lifestyle both physically and mentally,” says Bocking.
Her success with GLP-1 has created opportunities like getting on a Zip-line without the anxious thoughts of approaching a weight limit and talking about getting back on the bike. With her youth group students, “I’m more willing to play dodgeball than stand on the sidelines and be the referee. It allows me to be present in everything I do.”
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Tish Doty and Alison Bocking.
Diana King
For Doty, a cancer survivor whose husband died in April of kidney failure, losing weight means she can be more active with her 6-year-old daughter, Freedom. A few years ago, she took her daughter to the pier in Santa Monica, California, and couldn’t go with her on the ride because she was too big to fit. “It broke my soul,” she says.
Now she can run around with her and experience the joy her daughter feels when they are active together. “I live life and I live through my child’s eyes,” Doty adds, recalling the time at the park after she started losing weight. “I could go down the slide and my thighs didn’t stick to the sides. She was so elated and I was so happy.”
Doty, who is pre-diabetic, expects to be on medication for the rest of her life. Bocking’s insurance no longer pays for it, and she’s started taking non-GLP drugs for cravings and binge eating to prepare for when she runs out of supplies. Neither relies on medication alone to maintain weight loss. Bocking walks his dogs every day; Doty has been weight training and both have changed their diets to include more protein and vegetables.
“It feels like a magic wand,” says Bocking, “but on this journey you need a lot of tools in your toolbox.” Both women expect that their journey will be lifelong – and that each day will require good choices, with each other’s support. “We’ve been through this together,” Doty says. “We’re sisters.”
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Source: HIS Education