Lisa Robillard has struggled with her weight since she was 10 years old.

Over the years, she has tried at least 15 fad diets advertised on magazine covers. Sometimes she lost weight, but then would gain it all back again, plus an additional pound or two.

“You can put somebody skinny who looks really great on a magazine cover and say they did the ‘fill-in-the-blank diet,’ but that’s unrealistic for somebody who has chronic obesity,” said Robillard, 54. “It was a constant roller coaster of gaining and losing weight … and I couldn’t figure out why it was so difficult for me.”

The Alexandria, Virginia, resident never tried to control her weight with medications until she participated in the clinical trial for a new useof the diabetes drug semaglutide. In 68 weeks she lost 63 pounds. 

“With the trial, that light went up,” she said. “That was the first time I realized, ‘Wait a minute, this isn’t about willpower. There’s a physical aspect to this.’”