Like, 'lost 80 pounds in 3 months without exercising' levels of success.
I know there are many unhealthy things about this weight loss strategy, but it would've been even more unhealthy to stay 'morbidly obese', rather than my current state, which is classified as just plain old 'overweight'
1. The problem it solves is obsessive appetite. I used to read about people saying things like "oh, I was working so hard, I forgot to eat" and I wondered how that was even a possible thing. This takes certain types of people from being constantly hungry to what appears to be "normally" hungry. If you are overweight because you are CONSTANTLY hungry, even right after you eat, this is the solution for you.
2. To everyone else, the people who just really like donuts or whatever, I am not sure what this will do for you. I don't mean it won't help, I just literally mean I have no idea, because my personal experience doesn't speak to this.
3. Intermittent fasting. Because it's impossible to talk about dieting without someone bringing this up. I think IF is wonderful, but, for people like me who have appetite issues, these drugs are helpful for following IF. But I would say the two are not related--they solve different problems.
4. I had zero side effects, but had to jump through an INSANE amount of hoops to get this stuff.
One big problem with semaglutide is that it's really expensive to access - even with goodrx, wegovy (which has semaglutide as an active ingredient) can cost ~$1400*! So, for many people who are uninsured or underinsured it's simply not attainable.
My startup has been working on this problem all year and we just launched a semaglutide program for $149/month - including medication and provider visits.
http://henrymeds.com/semaglutide/?referrer=hn
We're currently hiring frontend and backend developers to make healthcare more affordable for people with chronic conditions. If you're interested apply here and let us know you come from HN!
Frontend: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3350452197/
Backend: https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/view/3350448859/
----
Wegovy pricing:
I'm now on Kaiser in the Bay Area, and they do not cover semaglutide. In the short time I spent off of it, I gained 40#. I complained to my PCP (actually my series of 4 rotating PCPs -- medical staffing seems in disarray at the moment) and they found some injectable alternative for me (Liraglutide) which is more annoying being injection instead of pill, but I'm back to 290# after only 3 months with it.
I understand they're both in the same category of how they act. The semaglutide tastes absolutely horrible, and I've had some mild gastrointestinal effects from both -- I joke they they turn any sugar I eat into gas and discomfort, so that's their "secret" -- but I think if you're in the group who these have a profound effect for, it's worth a try I would think.
$0.02 :)
I am one of those that experiences pretty unbearable side effects from it. The rate seems to be much higher than actually reported (something like 20% it seems). Nausea goes away after the first couple of weeks for me, but the lethargy never did, not even after 3 months. And the lethargy is BAD. Like, career-affecting bad. I would literally fall asleep on my keyboard at 4pm.
It definitely was doing the trick though, and if I had ANY energy to go to the gym in the afternoon (which I NEVER did), I could've lost a lot of weight. It just solved the hunger "problem" for me, it made me only eat for sustenance - but at the cost of being constantly tired.
I gave up after 3 months. Did lose a few kilos but the main interesting effect was the change in appetite. And I say change, not suppression, but it affected things like cravings and snacking as well as just making me full faster. I can definitely see why it would work really well for those who tolerate it.
Sema is meant to be better, but most people who have bad sides with lira have the same issues with sema, so I don't have my hopes up.
She was nowhere near obese. Started at 5'6" 137 lbs. After five weeks, she's down to 123. No side effects. She just says food isn't appealing any more. At first, she kept making full meals but not finishing them, and eventually she started actually planning and making smaller meals.
There doesn't seem to be much doubt it works, but most people do seem to report at least experiencing some nausea. As a side note, I'm starting to get tired of every thread on eating and weight control getting filled up with intermittent fasting evangelists. I'm going to assume they mean time-restricted feeding, not real fasting, and there is plenty of research on this. In some people, it results in better diet adherence than simply eating less but at your pre-existing regular schedule. This seems to even be true for a more or less average of people. But it is not true for all people. Some people do really well on it. Some people do really terribly. This is true of virtually any dietary intervention. Individual variation usually exceeds the differences between group mean results of different approaches. Stop assuming that what worked for you will automatically work exactly the same for everyone.
I use this value because a BMI that high will cause without any doubt lingering issues with your body, and reducing it is extremelly important for your health (more than anything)
If you have a BMI between 30 and 35, you can probably do without if you pay attention to what you eat and what you cook. I had a BMI of 32, i cut it down with a sleep schuedule, then later fasted 5 days (under medical control) to understand that being hungry was OK and i did not have to eat something everytime i felt a small tingling, and that helped me not eating between meal. I'm not advocating for fasting, what i mean is that for this BMI (probably sightly lower, i have a weird body type), change in lifestyle can be enough and more important for your health. I started cooking and stuff too.
I understand that sleeping and cooking more is not always possible (it took COVID to take out the 45min commute time in my case), so if you don't have time, you should take medication. It has secondary effect, but being clinically obese does too.
If you have a manageable BMI (to me its 28), i don't think it will have any impact, because eating habit can only do so much without sacrificing too much. The only way i managed to loose weight since i hit 28 BMI is making my metabolism faster, IE high stress situations and sport. I started rock climbing (i'm more of a windsurf guy usually), this helped, i will reach 25 in a month or two. A caveat though: my ideal weight for climbing is now a lot lower than what it was before i started, reaching it would put me at around 22 BMI when i was aiming 25 a year ago.
Honestly, it’s like a miracle. I’ve been fat since I was 6 years old. I’ve occasionally lost weight (though never made it to “normal”), but only through pretty intense, focused effort to restrict calories. I’ve always gained it back (and then some) after I can’t sustain that effort. (Call it lack of willpower or whatever, but this is how it works for the vast, vast majority of people.)
Anyway, on tirzepatide, it’s simply effortless. Food is still good, and I still like to eat, but I don’t think about it all day. I eat a reasonable amount, feel full, and don’t have the urge to eat again for hours and hours. That’s honestly a new experience for me. My entire life “eat when you’re actually hungry” would have meant eating all day every day, basically. I’ve been losing weight at a consistent 2.5 lbs / week on this drug. I fully intend to be on it for the rest of my life (or other drugs in the class as they come out).
As for side effects: I’ve had precisely none. No nausea, constipation, heartburn, etc. I understand those are common but I haven’t experienced them at all.
If your doctor won’t prescribe it, there is a company called Calibrate that will work with your insurer to get it for you (https://www.joincalibrate.com/)
My company insurance won't cover any of them unless it's diabetes-only, and of course, I make "too much" (which really isn't even $50k/year) to get on any assistance programs through the pharmas themselves.
Anyone have any suggestions?
If you are obese you can easily lose 2 pounds a week just by counting calories. I lost 90 pounds in 7 months despite eating burgers, pizza and sweet stuff whenever I wanted, just less than before. No exercising required either (it's good for your overall health, but almost entirely useless for weight loss).
What is the most important information I should know about Wegovy™?
Wegovy™ may cause serious side effects, including: Possible thyroid tumors, including cancer. Tell your healthcare provider if you get a lump or swelling in your neck, hoarseness, trouble swallowing, or shortness of breath. These may be symptoms of thyroid cancer. In studies with rodents, Wegovy™ and medicines that work like Wegovy™ caused thyroid tumors, including thyroid cancer. It is not known if Wegovy™ will cause thyroid tumors or a type of thyroid cancer called medullary thyroid carcinoma (MTC) in people.
https://www.wegovy.com/FAQs/frequently-asked-questions.html
edit: For a safer way to lose weight, including other benefits in regards to reducing cancer risks, look into intermittent fasting. Success with your weight loss, great step into becoming more healthy!
I'm going to make a personal offer here which I wouldn't normally do, but after a six year journey, I've finally figured out what works (for me at least, and I think for other people like me). I've managed to take off 50 pounds, and I now know that I'll never be fat again.
The skinny people are wrong, it's not exercise, it's not willpower, it's not some magic fad diet (not no carb, not no fat, not no suger, etc.). There are some real changes, simple changes (though definitely not easy), and you can be in control again.
If you'd like to give it a try, I created a gmail account with the two initials of this site and the word weight. Send me an email, and if I'm not already overloaded, I'll try to help you out. You've got to be at least 50 pounds overweight (and I'll ask you to verify it). I'll prioritize people who've ever lost a significant amount of weight (shows you can work hard at weight loss), and it'll probably take at least six months to make the necessary changes before you can lose weight, but once you do, you can be as aggressive with the weight loss as you want (I lost 50 pounds in about 4 months).
Check my comments on this site, I'm a real person with a real history. This is not one weird trick, and I'm not charging anyone. The changes you need to make will probably cost you some money (not going to me), and they will be hard, but you won't be spending time in a gym, you won't be hungry or starving, and the changes you make will be sustainable.
[Edit] To be clear on the money, this is not some way for me to make money, I'm talking about the cost of a doctor visit to see if you have a thyroid problem, or perhaps the cost of your food being more expensive. There is no money that will go to me in any way whatsoever.
If I am able to help people, and it's not just for me that it works, I'll open up and share this more publicly later.