Children are like sponges. Whatever languages, information, habits, etc. are introduced to kids will stick—for better or for worse.
At four years old, Zac Shenkal’s parents divorced, leaving his mom to raise and care for him and his sister on her own. With a tight budget and three mouths to feed, this meant controlled food with grocery shopping solely for meals—snacking was out of the question.
“For multiple growing children, that doesn't really compute,” said Shenkal. If he was hungry, he had to wait for dinner, which consisted of a small portion of food without any leftovers. While he wasn’t starving, he didn’t have access to all the food he needed, either.
“Growing up, there was a scarcity of food, so I grew up hungry, never having enough,” Shenkal said. “That was really hard. So that, I think, has led to a lot of that mental stigma and the way that my brain thinks about and handles food—that scarcity mindset.”
For Shenkal, food meant safety and comfort. As an adult, he finally had control and access to this edible safety and comfort, a mindset that made its presence known more clearly after he got married.
Every time his wife didn’t finish her food, he felt the need to eat the rest so it wouldn’t go to waste. Eating a portion and a half each meal became normal for Shenkal, and after he became a dad, he was regularly finishing meals for two additional people.
During this time, Shenkal noticed a steady decline in his health. He often got winded and tired from running around with his son, Banks, and he used food as a stress coping mechanism. So he decided to improve his lifestyle.
“The main driver for me,” Shenkal said, “was I want to be in better shape so that I can be not just a better example for my child and future children, but also so that I can play, and be present, and be part of his life in the way that I want to.”
For Shenkal, this began with honing in on diet and rest. He cut out most sugar, most carbs, and didn’t eat after 6:00 p.m. If he wanted to eat after this time, baby carrots were the only self-allowed option.
He tracked his protein and calorie intake, made sure to get good sleep, and without putting too many restrictions on himself, simply tried to be better each day. He calculated his food intake roughly, so as not to make it too difficult. Shenkal felt if the barrier to enter was too great, he’d fail to make it sustainable. “I wanted to build the habit and make it easy and approachable for myself.”
While seeing success after making these changes, he often went to bed hungry so he could be in a calorie deficit, and he was still fighting pain. “I was tired from it,” he said.
With some encouragement from his wife, he hesitantly decided to take tirzepatide through Shed in mid-February of 2025. This, Shenkal explained, made maintaining his lifestyle changes much easier, because he no longer had to deal with the weight of heavy cravings. If he wanted to eat he could, but didn’t have to avoid any foods.
Plus, despite having concerns about side effects, he experienced very minimal symptoms and the medication worked “really, really well” and he “could tell that it was helping.” While his initial goal was to lose as much weight as possible, Shenkal eventually began to incorporate weight lifting to build muscle.
At his heaviest, he weighed 252 pounds in January of 2024. Through his own efforts, he lost 12 pounds, and in January 2025, at 240 pounds, he began taking tirzepatide. July 23, 2025—Shenkal’s most recent weigh-in? 192 pounds. (THAT’S 60 POUNDS LOST!)
He has since begun more weight lifting and at-home exercise like calisthenics, HIIT (high-intensity interval training), and guided workout programs, and he also plans to join a gym soon.
Shenkal’s health improvements are being noticed by others as well. He’s received nothing but positive encouragement from friends and family, expressing how proud of him they are.
“My relationship with Banks has really been positively impacted, because now I can run with him,” Shenkal said. “I can do all the things I want to.”
On a recent trip to St. George, Utah, he realized he was able to swim and keep up with his son for three days straight. Not only did he not feel tired, but he even felt like he could've kept going.
Banks won’t remember the overweight version of his dad. Shenkal now has the ability to show Banks through his example by living a healthy lifestyle alongside his son, whether that be through future sporting events or hikes, which he wouldn’t have been able to do a few years ago.
His relationship with himself has improved by leaps and pounds. Shenkal described how the experience has impacted both his mind and body positively. However, Shenkal’s not done with his health journey.
No, he doesn’t have aspirations to be a bodybuilder, but he’s ready to take it further at a maintainable pace. Now, he feels much more comfortable moving forward, because there’s less stress around food now that he has established healthy habits.
When asked if he’d recommend Shed to others, his response was “100%.” He no longer has to rely solely on willpower to refrain from old eating habits, which makes things so much easier, he said.
While he recognizes that many have uncertainties about weight-loss medications like tirzepatide, he advised to “just try it.” Even if someone loses just a fraction of the weight he has, it will still help and is worth it.
“When you look in the mirror and you're happy or happier with what you see, then that frees up your mind to focus on other things and almost empowers you, to an extent, to keep going,” Shenkal said. “It also motivates you to do other things and achieve even further. It's like, ‘Okay, if I can do this, what more can I do? What's stopping me now?’”
