Kymberly Smith had had enough. It was February 2020, and she was grieving the sudden death of her husband when Covid lockdowns began. She was alone, without any access to her support network, and she was “in the throes of menopause.”

Eventually, Ms. Smith, 57, started using antidepressants for her grief. She was also on hormone therapy to ease her constant hot flashes and disruptive night sweats. But when it came to the 20 pounds she had gained, around her belly, she “just couldn’t shake it away.”

That weight gain, she said, is difficult to untangle from her circumstances — it might have been caused by the antidepressants or by the fluctuations in hormone levels during menopause. But it made her feel like she had no control over her life and body. “You lose yourself,” she said. “You feel a little bit helpless.”

This past April, Ms. Smith started using Wegovy, the weight loss drug that, along with the diabetes drug Ozempic and others like it, has soared in popularity. She has since lost about 35 pounds.