Starting Over at Midlife: Michele’s Journey Through Weight Loss & Divorce

In this deeply personal episode of LoveLustRaw, Michele opens up about the moments that changed her life, and the women who helped remind her that starting over is possible.

Michele takes us from a hilarious and wildly awkward restaurant encounter into the much more vulnerable story behind her transformation. She reflects on once weighing nearly 300 pounds, undergoing gastric sleeve surgery, using Zepbound, and later having a 360 tummy tuck and inner thigh lift. Her transformation also involved two knee replacements, an ankle replacement, and three cervical fusions which allowed her to leave the sidelines and finally get back into the game of life. Along the way, Michele discovered that losing weight didn't automatically mean loving the woman in the mirror. Michele talks candidly about body dysmorphia, weight-loss plateaus, changing confidence, and the reality of “skinny privilege.”