Aja Beckett Built the Tool She Wish Existed
Aja isn't just someone who saw a gap and waited for someone else to fill it. Nope, she grabbed that gap by the horns.
When she started her GLP-1 journey, she hopped on Reddit like so many of us have, and quickly realized we were basically navigating this new world in the dark with little information and even less useful tools.
But Aja, didn’t just complain, she created a solution.
She’d just wrapped up building The Athletic App for the New York Times. Then turned around and poured that same IOS engineering superpower into creating Shotsy, the first of its kind for this community.
Others have tried to replicate it, but Shotsy has something they don’t, genuine heart. And that’s all Aja.
The Human Story Behind Shotsy
Behind every brilliant tool is a need, stemming from a very real human story and Aja’s journey was a whole very relatable maze itself.
Aja was living with obesity, Hashimoto’s, and chronic inflammation, and she was willing to pay whatever it cost for relief:
“At the time I was freelancing and I didn’t have great health coverage. And so, you know, my doctor knew that and she rightly assumed that I would probably put it on a credit card. And so, yeah… I probably would have.”
Luckily, she didn’t have to go into debt to afford her GLP-1. Eventually, she landed a full-time job with good health insurance. But by “good,” I mean a $500 co-pay every month for Zepbound.
That’s the reality she was up against, and she paid it.
If an extra rent-sized payment every month sounds bonkers to you, you’ve probably never faced the fear of losing access to a medication that gives people a life they never thought was possible.
Cherie’s story puts this all into perspective. I shared her story in a recent Studio Special. She spent every last dollar she had, went into debt, and sold her belongings just to stay on this medication. And now she’s officially been cut off.
If you understand how that feels and want to help her afford her next dose, her GoFundMe is linked below.
Cherie’s story is exactly why I do what I do, and why I love what the Shotsy app brings to the table.
Shotsy as a Tool for Self-Advocacy
The real beauty of Shotsy isn’t just tracking data to help you survive GLP-1 prior authorizations, though if you’ve ever dealt with insurance, you know how valuable that alone can be.
But unlike other trackers, Shotsy helps you self-advocate in your own doctors office.
It goes beyond simple tracking, turning your data into a visual estimate of what your GLP-1 hormone levels might look like at any given time.
And that’s powerful, because it gives your doctor a PDF snapshot of your full experience, which opens the door to personalized dosing instead of the default one-size-fits-all titration schedule.
If you caught the GLP-1 Studio Podcast episode with Dr. Craig Primack head of weight loss at Hims & Hers, then you know how important personalized dosing is.
Titration schedules weren’t built for comfort, they were designed to achieve the greatest weight loss in the shortest amount of time.
In reality, staying at a lower (and often cheaper) dose for longer can help people avoid side effects, which are the second biggest reason people quit GLP-1s, after cost of course.
But this app isn’t only useful for self-advocacy.
This is Where Shotsy Shines
If you’re planning a vacation, Shotsy helps you see when your GLP-1 levels are likely to be lowest, which is especially useful when you’re trying to avoid scheduling shot-day fatigue on the same day as a two-day buffet cruise.
Don’t do it. Trust me.
It also helps you plan nutrition around how full you might feel. Many people notice less food noise control a day or two before their shot, which can make that window ideal for a “protein preload,” especially if appetite drops post-injection.
All of this is why I think this app is especially helpful for two groups: those who are just starting out and have no idea what to expect.
And those moving into maintenance… who also have no idea what to expect.
The M word is intimidating for a lot of us, not because we’re not ready, but because there’s no clinical guidance. And when I say none, I mean none. Full stop.
Patients are often left to figure it out mostly on their own, sometimes with a supportive doctor, but still experimenting in real time with their own bodies. Shotsy brings long-term tracking and predictive insight to an otherwise unstructured experiment.
All of this sounds great, but what makes it truly special isn’t just what it does. It’s who built it.
“It’s Not Your Fault”
Aja is a patient first, someone who knows the shame and stigma of being told they’ve “failed” at eating less and moving more.
She was eager for a solution and she knew GLP-1s would be a “game changer” for her:
She lost 95 pounds
Went from being unable to buckle her ski boots… to skiing again.
Kicked a 20 year long addiction to the diet soda.
Climbs stairs and bleachers without fear.
And the chronic ankle pain she lived with daily? Gone, she cant even remember which side it was on.
This wasn’t just weight loss; it was a complete transformation. But the most profound change of all was the food noise finally going quiet.
She admits she didn’t fully understand what people meant by “food noise” until it disappeared. And when it did, she had the same life-altering realization so many of us do:
“…one of the most profound parts of this experience for me is being able to let go of a lot of that internalized shame and the baggage of feeling like it was just a lack of willpower on my part. I can see now that it was not. I didn’t deserve blame for it any more than somebody with asthma deserves to be blamed for their condition. It’s just, I have a condition that needs to be treated.”
I had my own version of that moment, one I shared in of the GLP-1 Studio Podcast. nothing feels more liberating than the day you finally realize… it’s not your fault.
I shared my own version of that experience in season 1 episode 5 of the GLP-1 Studio Podcast. When the food noise goes quiet, the silence is deafening, and that’s when you finally realize it’s not your fault.
Aja puts it plainly:
“…if you’re overweight and you’ve struggled despite, making nutrition changes, making lifestyle changes. If it’s just not happening, it’s not something that you can maintain over time, it’s not your fault. I think a lot of us have a condition that makes it pretty much impossible to lose weight and keep it off. And these medications can treat that condition.”
That truth is life-changing. Which is why the first chapter in GLP-1 Strong: A Framework for Self-Advocacy is titled, It’s Not Your Fault. Before you can advocate for yourself, you have to let go of the belief that you are undeserving of care in the first place.
Through both her story and her work, Aja makes one thing unmistakably clear: we are deserving.
Stay Connected
Here’s where you can find Aja and learn more about her work:
Thank you for Reading
I’m grateful you took the time to be here and read this. 💖
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