These best friends are taking weight loss drugs together. Their experiences have been completely different.

When best friends AnnaLee Canario and Dacia Benjamin met a decade ago, it was love at first face-plant. It was a hard time for Dacia, who is now 40. She’d moved back to her hometown, where she had no friends to speak of and two young children to care for. She posted on Facebook that she was headed to a local mall with an indoor playground where her children could burn off some energy on a wintery day, and asked if anyone would like to join. Dacia didn’t really expect anyone to show.

But then, AnnaLee’s daughter hurtled in through the mall door — all limbs, no control — tripped and fell on her face. “I knew we would be friends,” Dacia tells Yahoo Life. “It was chaotic, but I was just loving every minute.” But more importantly, the two women fell immediately into easy conversation. “Motherhood — it’s like you either click or you don’t,” AnnaLee says. “That day, talking was just easy. It felt effortless.”

That ease made challenges that take a lot of effort feel a little more doable. Case in point: weight loss. Both women got interested in trying GLP-1 medications from seeing others’ success with them on TikTok. AnnaLee started her treatment first, and Dacia followed suit a few months later. But from there, their GLP-1 paths diverged wildly.

Big life changes, including weight loss, can benefit from social support and test our closest relationships, experts tell Yahoo Life. But stories like AnnaLee and Dacia’s show why a supportive friend can be a key ingredient to a successful weight loss journey.

Why it’s better together, according to experts

The research is clear: Losing weight is easier done together than alone. In fact, that’s true of many lifestyle changes, including developing better eating habits, getting into an exercise routine and quitting smoking. But having a buddy (or several) can be especially beneficial for weight loss.

“Social influence and norms cut both ways” when it comes to weight loss, Tricia Leahy, a University of Connecticut professor who studies behavioral interventions for weight loss, tells Yahoo Life. If the people closest to you are motivated to make similar changes to the ones you’re undertaking, that can improve your chances of success, she says. But being around people whose habits and choices might inadvertently pressure you to indulge in an unhealthy meal or skip your walk can undermine your efforts.

Our social culture is “really food-centric,” Katie Rickel, a psychologist and CEO of the residential weight loss retreat Structure House, tells Yahoo Life. “When you’re going it alone [on your weight loss journey], you can really feel left out.” Undertaking weight loss with a partner, friend or others — online friends, people in a support group — can stave off that isolation and provide an encouraging environment, she explains.

On the other hand, Rickel warns that losing weight in a pair with a close friend comes with unique risks of comparison and competitiveness. Avoiding those pitfalls can take some careful management, she says.

Two GLP-1 journeys begin — and one takes a turn

AnnaLee and Dacia have never been competitive, but AnnaLee tends to be a bit more proactive. She led the pair’s weight loss charge, beginning in 2022, when she started watching TikToks and going down research rabbit holes about medications. While Dacia was also thinking about trying a GLP-1, “AnnaLee was a huge motivator for me to get started,” she says. “I have to credit a lot of my weight loss success to her, because she had done so much research for herself that any question I had, she could answer.”

In December of that year, after overcoming insurance hurdles, AnnaLee started on name-brand Mounjaro. About six months later, Dacia got a prescription for compounded semaglutide. She had much more intense side effects than AnnaLee, including nausea and stomach cramps that at times were paralyzing. But she also noticed that she was losing weight much more quickly than her friend.

“I felt conflicted,” Dacia says. “I was losing weight really fast, but AnnaLee was stalling a lot. I wondered, ‘How do I support her and still be happy for myself?’” Dacia debated whether to mention their different rates of weight loss to AnnaLee.

She was right to tread carefully, says Rickel. Comments comparing how much weight each person has lost, especially between close friends, “can set up a much more ripe environment for comparison and jealousy,” she explains. AnnaLee, for her part, had noticed the contrast, but was trying not to focus on it. “I was frustrated, but I think I was in denial,” she says.

That denial, both women would soon discover, extended beyond weight loss. AnnaLee says she began to realize that she “was an alcoholic for the first part of my journey.” She threw up often when she drank alcohol and took Mounjaro, which she suspects was due to the combination as well as poor dietary choices. It’s not necessarily unsafe to drink alcohol while taking a GLP-1 drug, but alcohol can worsen side effects. And many people find they just don’t want to drink as much, making some scientists think GLP-1s could be a promising addiction treatment.

Mounjaro curbed AnnaLee’s cravings for alcohol at first, “but I also started going to counseling to cope with childhood trauma,” she says. “I didn’t want those feelings, so I would just drink and then feel horrible. My drinking just outweighed the effects of the medicine.” And, AnnaLee suspects, alcohol was keeping her from losing weight more quickly.

AnnaLee’s initial experience on Mounjaro helped her realize that she needed help around her problem drinking. First she admitted to Dacia exactly what was going on. Then she checked herself into outpatient treatment in March of last year. “I was so proud of her,” says Dacia.

Same but different: Where they are two years into the GLP-1 journey

AnnaLee celebrated one year of sobriety on Feb. 12, 2025. She’s also switched to tirzepatide. In the year she’s been taking it, AnnaLee lost 70 pounds and is down a total of 107 pounds since she started taking weight loss injections in 2022. She now feels less desire for the instant gratification of eating a sweet treat or going shopping.

Taking GLP-1s has altered Dacia’s cravings too. She’s lost 72 pounds and has little appetite for alcohol or sugary snacks these days. “It was like my body just knew, you don’t need to eat sweets, you don’t need to drink alcohol,” she says. And both women simply feel better. Their inflammation has subsided and their joints hurt less.

“Now we are able to do a lot more than we could before,” says AnnaLee. Dacia adds that the pair are excited that they’re now similar weights and clothing sizes. When they get together, the two women no longer worry if weight limits will prevent them from doing activities. They’ve tried adventurous new activities together, like paddleboarding.

Along their weight loss journey, the pair have confronted challenging moments when jealousy could easily have reared its ugly head. But instead, they’ve supported one another every step of the way — and even gotten closer. They both say they feel more connected, and each woman credits the other for their weight loss success.

“Without AnnaLee, I wouldn’t have had this experience at all,” says Dacia. “I don’t think I could have even imagined even bringing it up to my doctor.”

“I think I would’ve started taking a GLP-1, but I would’ve given up a long time ago without the support,” says AnnaLee. “Dacia can be really hard sometimes, but she tells you how it is, and sometimes that’s what you need to hear. She says, ‘No, you have to keep fighting for yourself.’ Some weeks you don’t want to, but she pushes you.”

Dacia agrees that she can be demanding, while AnnaLee is her ever-encouraging opposite. That, she says, makes them the perfect team for their weight loss challenge: “She started it, and I’m here to finish it.”