Ozempic. Who is on it?

[Yanda]

I have been on Wegovy since Aug 2024, down 70 Lbs with about 55-60 Lbs to go.

There are lots of side effects, at least 3-4 days a month I feel Nausea and stomach flu like symptoms.

My biggest comment I can add is that there is a reason they ween people on and off these drugs. If they didnt ramp you up on the medication you would probably feel so ill that you would give up on it.

[Ironhorse]

My wife's doctor wants her to go on Ozempic. But my wife said no, she is very concerned about the side effects? It doesn't help that she is immuno-compromised.

[Sled]

I've shared my Ozempic story with dozens of people and most found it helpful.

Fall 2022 my doctor told my 333lb fat butt on a regular bloodwork visit that I'm not Diabetic but it's on my calendar.

He mentioned Ozempic and I had only heard about it on commercials at that time. He had a patient that had lost 60lbs over 6 months. I said sure out of desperation, I've struggled with weight since I was a teenager.

I had never connected that some foods made me irritable and some made my mood better (my wife saw it) but I never paid attention. After about 3 weeks and the first clear sign it was working was at a holiday party. I ordered a 12 oz steak (much smaller than the norm for me) and couldn't finish it as I had a full sensation. So I stopped eating. This was something unheard of in the Maritimes growing up. "Take as much as you like but finish everything, no waste!"

I did not go to the gym, I didn't hire a trainer. I just started parking the furthest away I could when I went to a meeting, shopping or out for entertainment. That's it. I started loosing weight.

First came people noticing the weight coming off and I shared my story with who ever asked. What I found in conversation Diabetics start feeling better but don't lose weight. I would see the disappointment in them that they didn't get the same results I was clearing having. I would then ask a follow-up up question "What have you learned and what have you changed?" I usually get a blank stare.

For me I was eating way less my body was in ketosis alot due to fasting days (Days I forgot to eat honestly I would just forget) the sentence most people relate to is "I lost interest in food" I lost interest in a lot of thing, I cut alcohol consumption by over half and moved to having a bourbon instead of 3 or 4 beer after a long day 2-3 days per week.

I stopped taking Ozempic in Feb of 2024. I hit my goal weight of 190lbs. I went from XXXL and XXL and 48 jeans to M or L and 32 or 30 waist. It was 140lbs gone. As close to Diabetes I was being is now how far away I am. Every stat my doctor was concerned about had improved to that of text book for my age.

Today I fluctuate from 195 to 205 depending on if I'm on vacation traveling for work or just felt like having pizza on the weekend with a sixpack.

The downside - My doctor tells me that my results are NOT the normal they are finding. In fact people who have lost that much are putting the loss back on and then some. So to those people I ask "What did you learn? What did your body tell you? What did you change?"

For me, the realization that potatoes don't make me feel good. They made me feel ill when I ate them, my mood went down and I realized I don't need that in my life. So I haven't eaten a potato in 3 years now. I stay away from any product that has move than 5 ingredients. It works for me but not for everyone. It seems like an odd line in the sand but it works for me as that is what my gut tells me to consume.

So in my opinion, Ozempic extended my life but only in that it allowed me to get a grasp of when I was eating, what I was eating and why I was eating. I still have fast days, I don't eat foods that negatively affect my mood and I still don't look for rockstar parking anywhere I go. The journey is different for everyone, I found my formula but what I tell people the most is on Ozempic, listen to what your body is telling you. It is not a cure for obesity, it's a catalyst to make positive changes in your life while it shows you how little food you really need to eat if your eating the right items to sustain your mood and your body.

Talk to your doctor, talk to a nutritionist at the same time, listen to what your body tells you.

I'm happy to answer any questions.

[Bill Bumface]

I find Ozempic an interesting phenomenon. First of all, I'm super happy for all of those that it's helped, having a struggle/burden like that can't be easy and I'm glad to see so many people in a better place because of it.

But how North American is it to build a society that through urban planning, food industry and socioeconomic factors creates this problem for society at large, and then addresses it by a super profitable pharmaceutical. Le sigh.

Here's hoping for generics for everyone at least so this doesn't become a financial burden for people, or something people without the means can't access.

[Yanda]

Its important to stay Hydrated, I was finding certain foods were triggering the side effects and had to avoid alot of salty foods. Overeatting (over half portions imo) and eatting/drinking too late at night can also trigger side effects. I find a long shower tends to help get rid of any nausea as well, and dont drink too much water at once.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by Sled

I stopped taking Ozempic in Feb of 2024. I hit my goal weight of 190lbs. I went from XXXL and XXL and 48 jeans to M or L and 32 or 30 waist. It was 140lbs gone. As close to Diabetes I was being is now how far away I am. Every stat my doctor was concerned about had improved to that of text book for my age.

Today I fluctuate from 195 to 205 depending on if I'm on vacation traveling for work or just felt like having pizza on the weekend with a sixpack.

Awesome work, former 313 friend! So happy to read this.

[kevman]

Originally Posted by Sled

I did not go to the gym, I didn't hire a trainer. I just started parking the furthest away I could when I went to a meeting, shopping or out for entertainment. That's it. I started loosing weight.

My wife is a type 1 diabetic and she's always called them the diabetic parking spots.

I think people underestimate how much impact making the decision to move a bit more can have.

[fotze2]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

Awesome work, former 313 friend! So happy to read this.

You are a beanpole.

My family was all overweight, my older bro really needs to go on this, he appears to be in the morbidly category. But because of that, my mother over corrected with me, never was forced to complete a meal as a kid so for raising our kids, I never made them eat when full. No candy but you do not have to finish that.

I've gotten mad at people who feel slighted you don't want me to eat more. Just yesterday company team function, they had appetizers and you could order off the menu. Three women questioned why I didn't get a main, it's like fata off would you. Those movies where the italian grandmother is puhing everyone to eat more, I don't see a generous nonna, I see a C word. I hate those scenes.

I think its more than that though, I must have some hormonal quirk or something. I am not posting this to be a dink, just curious about it because my bro is gotta be 350+ and not very tall, and his esteem is always garbage.

[photon]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

But how North American is it to build a society that through urban planning, food industry and socioeconomic factors creates this problem for society at large, and then addresses it by a super profitable pharmaceutical. Le sigh.

Yeah I kind of feel the same.. so weird that we've created a structure that exploits the evolutionary legacies in our brains and bodies for profit that results in so much issues with weight, and then the fix is a drug that tries to alter the desire rather than just not trying to exploit it for profit.

But on the other hand as you say I definitely can't say anything negative about wanting to use it or benefiting from it, the upsides are just too great individually.

Personally I was about 355lbs when I started trying Ozempic. I was also using over 200 units of long acting insulin a day just to keep my A1C under 8 and even then it was a struggle, a single cheat meal would push my sugars high for a whole day. I was at the point of looking at fast acting insulin with meals.

It definitely had the desired effect in reducing hunger and cravings and during meals eating a lot less. I was also going through the program for bariatric surgery at the time so was seeing a dietician and stuff so the combination was good, but I only lost about 25lbs over a year...

Previously I'd yoyoed up and down a few times with keto diets and my endocrinologist explained that that really makes it more difficult for someone as the body will sabotage you to try and get back to the weight you were at. So maybe that's why Ozempic wasn't as impactful on me.. or maybe I didn't work with it enough and better structure my activity and meals to leverage it.

That was the point where I decided to follow through with the bariatric surgery.. which in a way afterwards felt a lot like being on Ozempic just much much more.

Overall I had a good experience with it.. starting it I had some symptoms but those only lasted a few weeks. After that didn't really have much in the way of symptoms.. it let me reduce my long acting insulin some and made it a lot easier to keep it under control even if I did heaven forbid have pasta or something. So from a diabetes management point of view it was successful.

There was one point where they tried to increase the dosage from 1mg to 1.5 and that did not go well AT ALL, terrible diarrhea. At one point I was dehydrated enough I had to go to emergency and they gave me 4 units of IV fluids!

After the surgery I was down to 222lbs at my lowest.. They said I'd naturally start to eat a bit more after a while and I've seen that, I gained back 7-8lbs but seem to have stabilized for now (It's just over 2 years since the surgery). I've spoke with a few people that have used Ozempic many years after bariatric surgery to maintain their loss or loose a bit more, I'm pretty open to that, my life has changed radically enough that I'd definitely use it again instead of gaining the weight back.

So I think Ozempic and the like can be good tools to help someone. I do worry about long term effects that we won't know about, but it's important to remember that many of the short and long term effects of obesity, not well controlled diabetes, high blood pressure, ARE known and should be weighed. The unknown future risk of using Ozempic in 20 years vs. going blind due to high blood sugars.

Not to mention the other life benefits of losing a lot of weight.

[undercoverbrother]

Originally Posted by photon

Not to mention the other life benefits of losing a lot of weight.

Penis looks bigger

[photon]

Lol true..

"Holy crap I can see my toes.. HOLY CRAP I CAN SEE MY PENIS!"

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I find Ozempic an interesting phenomenon. First of all, I'm super happy for all of those that it's helped, having a struggle/burden like that can't be easy and I'm glad to see so many people in a better place because of it.

But how North American is it to build a society that through urban planning, food industry and socioeconomic factors creates this problem for society at large, and then addresses it by a super profitable pharmaceutical. Le sigh.

Here's hoping for generics for everyone at least so this doesn't become a financial burden for people, or something people without the means can't access.

Our society has outpaced human evolution with ease of access to food. I am sure if any of us went for a 5 minute drive we would be able to visit any number of shops selling food for relatively cheap. That isn't even to mention the fact that we all have a refrigerator and a pantry filled with the food that would be a luxury even a century ago.

That being said we are still the same basic creatures who were hunter-gather-scavengers and who rely on feast/famine... it is just we are now always in a feast mindset, because we can be. All energy with zero output (or artificial output such as gyms).

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

I just started taking semaglutide in late September for assistance with weight loss. Ever since signing on to be a father and going back to university for my masters I was finding less time for fitness and the things that I used to enjoy to keep my weight under control... and my eating habits didn't change. Lots of late night snacks and waking up and having food at night. I went from around 170 to 240. I tried changing things but the weight just kept increasing. I had some cardiac issues and had some atrial flutter, which I attributed in large part to my increase in weight.

I started at 245 lbs and am at 225 at the current time. Still taking a relatively low dose of 0.5mg every week. I haven't noticed much in the way of side effects personally, some mild constipation if I haven't had enough fiber but with the use of metamucil this hasn't been too much of an issue. Just smaller meals and not finding the need to eat as frequently.

The interesting research regarding semagludite and addictions is something that I find fascinating at the current time, especially with alcohol use disorder. I don't know if this is an area of interest to other people but I noticed in other posters messages how there was a reduction in alcohol intake.

[Shazam]

Originally Posted by undercoverbrother

Penis looks bigger

They say for every ten lbs lost you gain 1/2 inch of penis length.

[Winsor_Pilates]

Originally Posted by kevman

My wife is a type 1 diabetic and she's always called them the diabetic parking spots.

I think people underestimate how much impact making the decision to move a bit more can have.

The vast majority of calories a person burns are through regular old daily movements (NEAT). People underestimate them and overestimate the effect of cardio.
People also tend to eat back what they burn through cardio since they feel they earned it and get hunger spikes from the workout.

These drugs seem to be helping a lot of people, which is great.
I just hope the people who use them for weight loss create new habits that will help them keep it off after the drug use is gone.
It sounds like a few people in here have really done that which is awesome.

My father in law is on one of them and diabetic. He has lost a lot of weight and no side effects I'm aware of.

[TorqueDog]

I really, really wish I could convince my mom to get on Mounjaro or similar. One of her friends started and she's down 30 lbs in eight weeks (from 288 lbs). It would immeasurably increase my mom's quality of life.

Originally Posted by Yanda

My biggest comment I can add is that there is a reason they ween people on and off these drugs. If they didnt ramp you up on the medication you would probably feel so ill that you would give up on it.

It's more that the body adapts to GLP-1 agonists and builds a tolerance, so the effect starts to taper off and you need to titrate up. The starting dose is .25mg and -- unless you're a weak responder, which is a thing -- most people really feel it if they've never taken a GLP-1 before.

Originally Posted by Bill Bumface

I find Ozempic an interesting phenomenon. First of all, I'm super happy for all of those that it's helped, having a struggle/burden like that can't be easy and I'm glad to see so many people in a better place because of it.

But how North American is it to build a society that through urban planning, food industry and socioeconomic factors creates this problem for society at large, and then addresses it by a super profitable pharmaceutical. Le sigh.

Exceeeept Novo Nordisk -- the company that created Ozempic -- is a Danish company. Denmark's obesity rate is less than half that of the United States (18.4% vs 40.3%), but even still they were still like "huh, this might be a bit of a problem".

Or maybe it was a "we need to enable people to eat Danish chocolate without turning into diabetics" play.

Originally Posted by Ironhorse

My wife's doctor wants her to go on Ozempic. But my wife said no, she is very concerned about the side effects? It doesn't help that she is immuno-compromised.

There aren't any specific immunocompromised conditions that are contraindicated for Ozempic. Gastric emptying caused by GLP-1 meds can alter the absorption of oral meds -- assuming that's what she's on for her condition -- so her doctor might just advise her to keep a close eye on any symptoms.

[Mean Mr. Mustard]

Originally Posted by Winsor_Pilates

The vast majority of calories a person burns are through regular old daily movements (NEAT). People underestimate them and overestimate the effect of cardio.
People also tend to eat back what they burn through cardio since they feel they earned it and get hunger spikes from the workout.

These drugs seem to be helping a lot of people, which is great.
I just hope the people who use them for weight loss create new habits that will help them keep it off after the drug use is gone.
It sounds like a few people in here have really done that which is awesome.

My father in law is on one of them and diabetic. He has lost a lot of weight and no side effects I'm aware of.

The thing is that people are really on these medications for life. Likely not at the same dosages for weight loss but for management. Without them the same issues continue to arise and people gain the weight back which is in itself not healthy (the health ramifications of yo-yo diets are massive)

[Sled]

Originally Posted by Mean Mr. Mustard

The thing is that people are really on these medications for life. Likely not at the same dosages for weight loss but for management. Without them the same issues continue to arise and people gain the weight back which is in itself not healthy (the health ramifications of yo-yo diets are massive)

Not true! Myself and several people I have shared with and shared with me have lost 100lbs + and never looked back after being off it.

You are correct in that if you don't address the issues then yes you are going to continue treating a symptom not curing the cause.

We all know big pharma likes treating symptoms not curing so the skepticism is warranted.

[Bill Bumface]

Originally Posted by TorqueDog

Exceeeept Novo Nordisk -- the company that created Ozempic -- is a Danish company. Denmark's obesity rate is less than half that of the United States (18.4% vs 40.3%), but even still they were still like "huh, this might be a bit of a problem".

Don't kid yourself, the driver for this wasn't Denmark. It was the $8B and growing revenue they have in the US now.

First approval was in the US as well. Just because there are foreign companies that make drugs the US market and approval processes are driving the bus for global pharma.

[WideReceiver]

Originally Posted by Shazam

They say for every ten lbs lost you gain 1/2 inch of penis length.

This is true.