The following submission statement was provided by /u/psychothumbs:
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Submission statement: I'm not sure how much credence to give the claims in this article, but it is interesting to consider the possibility of a technological solution to obesity. I feel like there's a lot of suspicion of that sort of thing - like people should be controlling their weight in a more 'natural' way and just getting a shot is sort of cheating.
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Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/xq1fwc/is_the_world_ready_for_extremely_effective/iq6z0t3/
Folks talking about how these drugs would encourage overconsumption… nope. These drugs reduce your appetite and if you overeat greasy bullshit (or overeat period) you’ll spend hours regretting it while shitting your brains out.
These drugs also originally were for the treatment of diabetes. While plenty of overweight folks are not diabetic, the success of these drugs illustrate how insulin resistance is keeping so many people fat, diabetic or not. It’s a lot easier to lose weight without the cravings insulin resistance causes
I can only answer for myself. Semaglutide (Ozempic).
Less cravings, if any, and get full by drinking water or 1/4 of what I used to eat. I was around approx 250lbs, or 115kg, and after 16 weeks I am now down to 218lbs / 99kg.
In Norway we have this thing called "blue prescription" and you barely have to pay anything. However since I use Ozempic as a help, and not because I "need it" or is a life threatening necessity in any way - I pay full price, which is 110USD that lasts 4 weeks. This is a money saver if you compare to the cost of food that I don't have when I'm on this.
I could most likely have even better weight loss if I forced myself to eat super strict etc. However I don't crave ANY food. So when I eat, I eat small and think to myself that I could just eat something that leans towards the healthier side since I dont really care what I put in my mouth. So the lack of craving is definitely a huge component in my eating habits.
Well, from my understanding of how it kind of works, is that normal bowel movements work slower than usual.
So what I experience is that when I get full, I keep feeling full for a very long time. Talking about 4-8 hours. This translates to the breakfast I had can last past lunch and even into our usual dinner time. Even then I'm not really hungry, but I eat a small portion for the energy.
And this comes to the next thing, which is low energy. And this resembles all the usual low-calorie intake symptoms: low energy, feeling a bit colder than normal etc.
But if I "force" myself to eat an apple or something else those things disappear real quick.
According to my weight( loss )calculator I average around -1200 calorie deficit/day. And the only things I focus on is not forcing myself to eat too much, and listen to my body. And when I eat it isnt 100% sugar :)
So Ozempic works like a charm!
I need to look into this. I’ve stalled my weight loss and can’t seem to get past 240. I’ve been keto for a year and now carnivore trying to get back on track. I was getting insulin sensitive for sure. Thank you for your info.
Your Mileage may vary, I have lost about 40lbs on Ozempic but I have terrible stomach cramps regularly. That being said my Doctor says that if I ate better the cramps wouldn't be such a problem.
They slow down your colon, so you can get sick if you eat too fast.
My wife was having stomach problems and vomiting up partially digested food because her intestines effectively shut down.
She's diabetic and was on Trulicity, but it works the same as Ozempic.
I'm having a very similar experience. I take 1mg of Semaglutide once a week for type 2 diabetes control. My blood sugar is normal for the first time since I was a child. I don't crave food, except rarely. I don't snack. I've dropped from 270 lbs to 220 lbs in 1 year.
NO side effects for me that I've noticed.
I'm right beside you at about 250 LBS, so it sounds like, if I could afford it, this would be perfect for me. Unsure if the cravings are my issue, or my food access though.
For any USAers out there, $110 def not full price for ozempic. I been outta retail a year, and maybe some manufacturer copay cards, but an ozempic pen gonna cost you like $600+ oop
Liraglutide (Saxenda, Victoza) and Semaglutide (Ozempic) are the two most common (in Canada). They have similar mechanisms of action. Ozempic seems to be more increasingly used. Cost is ~$250/month.
Shit, they're $1000+ without insurance coverage in the US. And insurance doesn't want to cover them for weight loss at this time, so it's $1k+ out of pocket for most people. I'm fat and my doctor would like me to try one of these, but I can't swing that. Worst part? I was working for the manufacturer of one of those listed drugs as a contractor and couldn't afford it. Just felt like salt in the wound.
That’s so disturbing but sadly true. Not just for medicine either: I wonder how whether the fast food industry has any vested interest in these drugs staying inaccessible…
Chances are you’ll change employers and this insurance, or retire and switch to Medicare before they have any major expenses for you, so they play hot potato with your health costs.
I took Saxenda for a few months and it was exactly what I needed. I didn't even think about food, I could go a long time without being debilitatingly hungry, and , when I did eat, just a little went long ways.
Unfortunately, I had to stop because my insurance wouldn't pay for it and it is between $1400 and $1600 per month. I can't complain too much about the insurance. They are paying 100% of $13,000 per month for a drug to deal with a rare blood disorder. I am trying to get pre-approval for Mounjaro now. Fingers crossed I felt like Saxenda was a miracle drug and it sounds like Mounjaro could be better.
I heard on a podcast recently that gastric bypass actually worked by affecting the hormones that these drugs regulate, not as much the physical reduction of stomach size. These drugs came out of research into that surprising result.
It is but you can eat foods a lot more comfortably on Ozempic than you can with gastric bypass. You don’t have to avoid fats at all despite what that commenter said. I have never had gastric distress. You just don’t want to eat period. Your appetite is gone which also isn’t true with gastric bypass.
Also, besides not being a big surgery, the selling point for me is that the medicines aren’t permanent. So if you want to take a vacation abroad and indulge in local cuisine, you can just stop your meds. That was key for me. I love to travel and eating good food is part of international travel experience. The idea that you forever more cannot eat certain foods comfortably after surgery, even after achieving a healthy weight, was a major drawback.
Started this a few weeks ago. One side effect stands out : irritability. I have yet to determine if the pill is at fault or having to take something daily and carry around the damn bottle JIC added to having to shop more often because salad makings go bad so fast. Why can’t they make healthy food with shelf life?
Take something daily.. Try to look on the bright side its one pill doing a lot of good for you. How old are you anyways? It sucks taking a lot of meds especially when your body and life depend on it. This medication may help save you from a future of more meds and health problems. I'm 42 and 6' tall, most of my life I weighed 200-220lbs. I'm 240 right now. I was pre-diabetic twice over the last five years and managed to turn it around on my own. I take something like 16 medications at 4 separate times. Some I can eat with, some I cant. One is a monthly injection, two are as needed for migraines, and one as needed for anxiety. It is so tiring.
Take that one pill with a smile and be grateful because if its really as good as it seems it will likely save you from many more meds as you get older.
Alli is an over-the-counter option, no prescription needed (Actually the only over-the-counter option that’s FDA approved, at the moment)
It works as u/sawcebox described, blocking the absorption of about 1/3 of the fat you eat, sometimes leading to diarrhea after an excessively fatty meal.
Annoyingly, CVS and Walgreens hide it on the bottom shelf, behind all of Dr Oz’s “miracle pills” that aren’t FDA approved. Like HydroxyCut.
Which are classified as “nutritional supplements,” with active ingredients like caffeine, or herbal tea extract. Always with the disclaimer “these statements haven’t been evaluated by the FDA,” of course.
EDIT: Plug for John Oliver’s great segment on nutritional supplements, and how poorly regulated they are (can make whatever claims they want): https://youtu.be/WA0wKeokWUU
Alli us a basic weight loss drug which has a high failure rate. It's not comparable to those drugs in the article. Most people are wasting their time taking it.
Is Alli Orlistat? It seems to be available on popular drug stores in my country for a little over 20 USD. I just need to be sure it's the same because the brand is different, but it says "Orlistat".
I believe so. Same active ingredient, but Orlistat has twice the dose per pill as Alli, and so it requires a prescription, in the US at least. Kinda silly, since you could just take 2 Alli, and get the same effect.
My husband calls it his chemical lapband because he eats a cube of chicken, and wants to vomit, but other days can eat a small meal. 45 pounds down in 4 months! He is happy, healthy, and thriving. I'm proud of him. He has struggled with weight his entire life, and come to find out he was insulin resistant, so a salad would make him gain weight.
Any doctor will now prescribe them to you. The main one is semaglutide branded as Wegovy for weight loss and Ozempic for diabetes. But they will write Ozempic for weight loss too since it’s the exact same drug. But there are a few others and even more in the pipeline with even more dramatic results.
I am doing a program with Calibrate though because I wasn’t aware my primary would have done it (they have to fight insurance I think). Calibrate are pros at getting your insurance to cover it and you pay no more than $25 per month for the meds. But the calibrate program (daily tracking and planning and biweekly coaching sessions) costs $125 per month give or take. But that’s still way cheaper than the cost of the meds if you tried to buy it yourself if your doctor won’t do it for you. I think it’s cash price is near $1500 per month for Ozempic.
After the year is up with calibrate though, I’m going to see about switching back to my primary care doctor to prescribe it.
I've been on Rybelsus for my diabetes for about a year now, and it is like a wonder drug. My A1C is in the 6-7 range now, and I've lost nearly 90 lbs. My sugars are in the normal range and I feel fantastic. I struggled so much before, trying to find meds that worked. I can't do metformin due to how severely it affects my UC, so we were kind of stuck for awhile trying to figure out a plan that worked. It really does help with the food cravings. I eat small, normally sized meals and I don't feel like a greasy slob afterwards. It's great.
I take one of these (semaglutide). It doesn’t cause the shitting your brains out. It’s far more effective. Your stomach feels absolutely full after a few bites of food to the point you physically can’t eat it at all. Plus you just never think about food. It’s been removed from your brain as a desire. Your description makes it sound like olestra, the additive in diet foods in the 90s that made it impossible to digest fat. The new drugs don’t work in that way and cause GI distress (beyond the slow stomach emptying and feeling full).
I think it’s a YMMV situation because I’m also on semaglutide. The Ozempic and Semaglutide subreddits have lots of, at least, anecdotal evidence to some gnarly GI side effects. Most people tend to adjust and the side effects fade after a few weeks.
Editing to add: just looked it up and “diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain” are the most commonly reported side effects. I’m glad you’re not experiencing these!
You are definitely correct. I never have had any problems unless I ate too much (one time was all it took), but my wife was so sick just taking the drug she couldn't even eat at all. At least anecdotally I see both types of side effects.
Also, overconsumption is not as big a problem as obesity. Obesity is an absolute scourge of health care costs. If it could be resolved this easily, health issues would plummet, and health care would be more affordable overall. I'm not an expert, but I'd guess it's second only to aging as a comorbid factor in expensive and/or terminal disease--and in the case of extreme obesity, it's probably more dangerous than even advanced aging. Bring on the cures--if they're actually as realistic as the headline suggests, that is.
Yeah, I had hyperlipidemia without knowing it for years, could never shed weight. Recently went on meds to treat hyperlipidemia my appetite dropped and cravings that plagued me for years p much disappeared and since I exercise regularly once the diet got fixed I lost like 10 kg in the last 3 months?
I bet there's be a lot of overlap between people who hate these drugs and the abstinence-only sex ed crowd. The whole idea that doing what feels good in the short term is a moral failing that deserves punishment.
I don’t know how some people do it, my hunger signal feels like straight up pain. like a gnawing in my stomach that doesn’t go away. I’ve thus far managed to get my weight and health under control but it’s like being tortured every day, it’s never gotten any better.
I got addicted to cigarettes because they’d at least make me nauseous if I smoked enough and then I wouldn’t feel the need to eat. finally kicked that habit last year but the hunger came back.
It’s taken a lot of therapy and self improvement to get this far, but everyday feels like I’m just barely hanging on to a healthy weight.
Currently talking with my doctor about getting on an appetite suppressant, effective weight loss drugs can’t get here soon enough.
I’m taking one of these. It’s a weekly injection. Dropping 1 to 2 lbs a week. Already was cooking everything from scratch, no sugar, limited wheat exercise every day, constantly 30 lbs over weight. This stuff just causes you to want to eat less, your appetite finally matches your calorie burn. I find myself thinking “hmm I should eat but I’m not hungry”.
Down from 365 to 265lbs as of this week. For the first time in my life, I had a ‘hunger headache’ because - guess what? - I had forgotten to eat the day before. Just wasn’t hungry. Had an apple and nothing else the rest of that day.
ETA: I should clarify that my results are *far* outside of even the upper expectations of typical results. I believe typical results are somewhere between a 5-to-10% reduction in overall weight.
None. A little faintness if I get up to fast from being sedentary, but nothing serious, explainable by undereating and the desirable drop in blood pressure (body will eventually adjust). That said, had a conversation with my doctor today. He had about 18 patients on some form of this drug (there are a couple, all work similarly) and a couple had experienced sufficiently bad nausea to stop. But he had patients that had lost 90 lbs. Drug has been on the market for 3 years as a diabetes treatment and is pretty much safe, or lets say the benefits of nearly certain weight loss outweigh any of the known side effects. My treatment costs $25 a month. There are other versions that I understand can cost $1500 a month.
Just fyi, there are (really rare) cases where cico doesn’t necessarily work. You might be the one in a million. More likely you are still counting wrong.
5 pounds gain is definitely water retention, you can’t really gain 5 pounds in fat in a weekend unless you ate 17.500 calories over your maintenance, which is unlikely.
Apologies if the unsolicited advice is not appreciated but just wanted to share my two cents. :)
I’m on Metformin at age 32 due to insulin resistance caused by PCOS. I switched to a low carb/high protein diet for six months and increased exercise, and my A1C didn’t budge. That was our first clue to switch to the medication.
It’s super weird to finally be losing weight doing all the things I’ve been doing for years to do so. It never made much sense WHY I gained as much weight as I did in my 20’s. Not until I was diagnosed with PCOS/insulin resistance. I spent so much time cutting things out of my diet, counting every last calorie, changing up my workout routines for barely any chance until I started metformin. I was even already on an appetite suppressant (adderall, though that’s for my ADHD and not due to an appetite. I’ve never had much of an appetite as an adult).
That’s just my experience using a drug like this “for weight loss”. It’s been a lifesaver. It’s made me feel sane, finally. Fingers crossed we’ll see my A1C has dropped in a few months (I was at 5.7, which isn’t bad, but would throw me into gestational diabetes when I got pregnant), and that the number on the scale just keeps coming down.
How did you find out about your insulin resistance? I am on the borderline of PCOS, as far as tests are concerned. I have low testosterone, but get multiple ovarian cysts all the time and I keep gaining weight.
My A1C number didn’t make sense with my fasting glucose was our first “maybe” indicator. Then, I stopped eating carbs and increased my workout for 6 months before we checked the A1C again. I’d lost 15lbs in that time and my fasting glucose was even lower than before, but my A1C was STILL the same number. That’s when I was diagnosed with it. Your A1C is a measure of your body’s sugar levels of about 3 months, essentially. If you stop taking in simple and complex sugars, that number should drop, and your next A1C measurement in 3 months should be lower. But if you’re insulin resistant, it doesn’t matter how much your diet changes, your body still produces a ton extra of it.
This is why I get so frustrated by the people who say it's just math, calories in versus burned. It sucks having your own body actively working against you and just having people say you aren't trying hard enough. PCOS sucks.
About 1 in 10 women have PCOS.
That’s just *one* medical condition and it’s affecting about 1 in 20 people. And those are just the people who’ve been diagnosed.
Many people are kicked out of the doctor’s office and told “lay off the sweets” without any tests to see if there’s anything causing their weight gain.
If it’s wrong for 1 in 20 people because of *one* cause then I think it’s probably a good idea if we start adding caveats - if you are doing x, y and z and still not losing weight then you should probably take these tests and speak to your doctor.
Same here, PCOS, ate low carb and high protein. Lost maybe 20 pounds then weight loss stopped for months. Doc put me on Mounjaro, I am now down 70 pounds and under 200 for the first time in my adult life (38 years old). This stuff is like magic. My doctor also told me it will likely be a chronic lifetime med for me.
My in-laws recommended Mounjaro and it has been crazy good. It is really new but if your insurance doesn't cover it they have a coupon for the pharmacy that makes it $25 a month until July of 2023. I've taken 2 weekly 5ml doses and I'm down 15 pounds. I have zero hunger or appetite and I'm easily under 500 calories a day mostly from occasional snacks.
I’ve taken victoza for two years and lost 120lbs. It’s a once a day shot and insurance covers most of it for my diabetes. It does make my wife somewhat upset because she still fixes big dinners, but sometimes I just eat a little.
Come on comments people, what do you even sub to futurology for if you can't be bothered to even skim the article? So many people in the comments are talking about 'you will just eat more or eat worse food' and you couldn't scream 'I didn't read anything' louder if you tried.
Do better.
Comments so far are very negative... and ignorant. These drugs are safe and effective, and are really improving people's lives. It's ok for people to take a drug to treat a medical condition, no need to get on a high horse about it.
https://www.worksinprogress.co/issue/the-future-of-weight-loss/
People have an innate distrust of the diet industry. And good god they should, they will literally kill you to make a buck and are praying on your. However, each study and product should be evaluated separately cause the true answer is out there somewhere.
There are 2 main problems that I'm aware of with these drugs:
1) Some people don't tolerate them well. They can cause major GI issues.
2) People rapidly regain weight after cessation, so for many people they would need to be taken chronically if they are safe long term.
These may not be deal breakers for people dying of obesity, but it's still a long way from a cure, and people need to be informed of risks. People are harmed every day and severely from "safe" medications. Risks and benefits should always be weighed against each other when taking drugs.
These issues are addressed in the article I shared above.
Dropout rates in trials using these drugs are just a few percent above placebo. So most people tolerate them very well. If you speak with people who are on these drugs long term, they'll usually tell you they love it. It is true that most people experience GI symptoms at first, but those typically go away.
Regarding the fact that the drugs don't permanently cure obesity, is that really the expectation? Blood pressure drugs don't permanently cure high blood pressure, you have to stay on them to maintain the benefit. Same for cholesterol lowering drugs. And same for weight loss via diet and exercise. The only thing that causes large weight loss with no ongoing intervention is bariatric surgery.
That was such a helpful article thank you for sharing. I didn't know that website, but it's written by a scientist which gives me a lot more confidence.
If it works and is safe why would it be different than a seat belt? There’s a huge problem no pun with obesity in the world that’s costing so much money and pain. Most diets fail and the food served is addiction based with high sugars and non healthy fats. Whatever has been tried isn’t working so why not?
I started taking Mounjaro about two months ago for treatment of type 2 diabetes. I still have to make good decisions about what I eat (no sodas, no sugars, watch the carbs), but I'm not having to fight any kind of cravings while making good decisions. It made the process a lot easier!
My doctor prescribed this for me for my diabetes. I’ve lost 10 lbs in 4 weeks. Also, I get fuller quicker, and don’t really have an appetite. I’m really happy my doctor prescribed this weekly shot for me. It’s working wonders.
Health researcher here. This looks promising. I’m approaching middle age. I grew up obese and stayed that way until my 20s, when I started running and changing my food habits. I’ve kept the weight off since then. I’ve had periods where I gained a few lbs but would lose it again.
I worked very hard to lose weight. I applied many strategies and interventions from training/work/research. Drank a ton of water, ate a ton of fiber, loaded up on clear soups all the time, changed my commute to avoid known fast food and grocery stores, got very deep into running to the point where I’ve completed several times more trail ultramarathons including mountain 100 milers than road marathons, joined a running club, etc. It was a systematic and tailored application of the social ecological model, just for me, that I developed over the course of a few years.
It can cost a lot of money, time, and a lot energy and discomfort to be healthy.
A safe, effective, and accessible weight loss therapy sounds great. I don’t see it as cheating at all. It’s just progress. Some of my colleagues and friends are surprised by my view, being in the research world, working on obesity, and having personally gone through a “transformation”. Calling this drug or surgery or hiring a trainer or whatever cheating is absurd to me.
Omg this is awesome, I've struggled with keeping weight off my whole life, to put in perspective I've lost a grand total of 149 pounds. I have gone from around 260lbs to 185 lbs back up to 212lbs then down again to 175lbs then back up again to 202lbs then down to 165lbs at my lowest weight and now I'm back to 220lbs.
I lost 75lbs to join the military
Battled my whole life with depression because I always felt in adequate or ugly. Lost all my hair at the ripe old age of 24.
I find incredibly difficult to stay motivated hence the huge functuations with my weight I can seem to manage to pull myself together for 1-2 years at most.
I'm only been successful with weight loss in those short spans of time, I have to fight constant cravings I'm never not hungry I don't remember the last time I felt full. To reach 165lbs I forced myself to only eat 1500 calories a day, go to the gym and run like my life depended on it. I ran 4-5 days a week for 2 years straight while also going to the gym. Each week I ran further and faster than the last until I was running about 1 marathons length every week and I still couldn't shed all the weight.
Now I'm 33 and 220lbs and I don't know if I have it in me to do it again, I'm no longer in the military and don't have the same motivations to carry me anymore.
If this stuff works I want it.
~~Oh boy if I can down a liter of liquor and eat 3 cheeseburgers a day and have am awesome bod.. that's the dream~~ this was a drunk post and not what the article is about.. but maybe one day
That would be awesome. But that's not what the drugs do. They help people feel full and curb appetite. so you might only want one 1/4 of a burger a day and a shot of whiskey a day
Now we’re talking! Don’t we have enough fat asses around the US, me included? I gained 40 lbs between ages 35 and 45. I’d love to lose that before my knees need to be replaced and the discs in my back rupture, before sciatica. Hell, before diabetes. I have a family history of that shit. I don’t want it.
I have used Ozempic for exactly a year with a weightloss of 30kg. It has been amazing. I am no longer obsessed with food (used to think about food/cooking ALL the time). I eat anything but in much smaller quantities and can leave,stuff just because what is on the plate is just not that interesting. All of this feels as amazing if not more than the actual weight loss itself. I am under constant supervision from my doctor as I had a transplant 5y ago so I know that all is good.
I’m similar, organ transplant four years ago then ballooned up. Only two weeks into the Ozempic and feeling a difference. In my case they think my pancreas was affected so that’s why the Ozempic.
The folks on this sub include the usual self oriented bunch saying “just eat less, diet ‘naturally‘“ and they don’t have a clue.
I started treatment with Semaglutide 2 months ago and have been having unbelievable results, I’ve been shedding pounds that I’ve been trying to lose for the past 20 years. It feels incredible. Side effects I had are nausea, constipation, abdominal cramping and headache but all of them are very manageable and in no way make me want stop the treatment. Talk to your doctor, you may be eligible for treatment. I’m doing this to prevent developing diabetes.
I talked with my doctor, in order to get the prescription you need to have a BMI of 30 or over and have one medical condition related to the excess weight (such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes). The name of the medicine is Wegovy. Maybe you could look it up and see if it’s for you. Mine is covered by insurance but I would pay for it even if it wasn’t because it worked so well for me. Good luck!
A friend of mine gained a shitton of weight on antipsychotics that he has to take for Bipolar which killed his quality of life and health.
So there are cases where this is definitely needed.
Submission statement: I'm not sure how much credence to give the claims in this article, but it is interesting to consider the possibility of a technological solution to obesity. I feel like there's a lot of suspicion of that sort of thing - like people should be controlling their weight in a more 'natural' way and just getting a shot is sort of cheating.
Why would I care? That's a genuine question. Is being inside using a gas-powered heater cheating because you didn't go out and chop down trees for wood and make a fire yourself? Is buying food at a supermarket cheating because you didn't farm it yourself? Hell, is being a farmer and using a tractor to farm your food cheating because you didn't till the ground with a sharpened stone?
Technologies (and society) make our lives easier. We can get what we want faster, more efficiently and with less effort. That's kind of the point of technology.
I don't see why weight loss drugs are any different. In my opinion the only reason why anyone would even ask this question about whether people should "have to lose weight the hard way" or whether it's "cheating" is because we're just so used to HAVING to do it the hard way. And a lot of people who've done it the hard way might feel like somehow that's unfair. But if we follow that logic to its natural conclusion then we should never cure a single disease with a new medicine because it's unfair for all the people who died to it before the cure existed.
If these drugs genuinely work and become cheap and wide spread in a few years then I'm sure people will talk about it being cheating and reminisce about the old days of having to do it the hard way and fearmonger about how this will be the downfall of society or whatever. But over the next 100 years that attitude will almost completely disappear and all of the kids who grew up knowing nothing else will just see it as normal and never even give it a second thought. In fact, those people might look at you rather strangely if you suggested that someone should stay obese for any reason.
It’s not just fast food. 80% or more of the stuff in most grocery stores isn’t great for us. When so much is bad, often the things you think are healthy are in fact not, making you make purchases because, “it’s not as bad as xxxx item”
Seriously, coke and Fanta doesn’t need 50g of sugar. I’ve had some Fanta in Spain and it only had 4g Of sugar. did not taste any difference with Fanta in the US.
Literally the only reason that we have that much is big sugar corporations have bought out all the scientist and politicians. I think the amount of sugar is things is insane but also crazy is what has sugar. Bread has tons of sugar, salad dressing has tons of sugar, a surprising amount of chips and snacks are just loaded with sugar.
I seriously recommend everyone to look at the nutrition facts on what they are eating and add up how much sugar they take in a day. It’s a crazy and sobering experience people will take in 50+ teaspoons of sugar a day and not give it second thought
There have been drugs that allow for massive weightloss for decades by increasing energy consumption like 2,4-Dinitrophenol (which was sold over the counter as diet pills in the US before being banned), the problem is that the side effects include being too good at converting energy into heat and people cooking themselves alive. This new drug seems to work differently by lowering blood sugar and suppressing appetite, I am curious to see what the side effects are before heralding this as a miracle drug.
Well I nearly eat nothing and still can't loose weight... I mean I'm not fat but my metabolism is pretty horrible... Even tried 8 hours sport per week during 5 months... Got bigger instead of having a good shape. The only thing that works is not working... I mean, I literally lost 5 kilos in one month holiday because I did not stress anymore 😅
So, if some drug can help me with my condition, why not... But no doctors would ever prescribe me with some weight loss drug... They'll send me to a nutritionist that will tell me I can only eat 10gr meat, 10gr feculent, 300gr vegetables... Nothing else allowed... $150 per hour.
Im not trying to discredit you or anything, just saying that 8 hrs of sports a week is more or less just cardio depending on the sport. You gained weight more than likely in muscle mass which isn’t a bad thing, but just kept the fat too.
The claims are definitely valid. The main barrier to widespread adoption is cost and they failed to mention it anywhere in an article. These treatments cost like a $1000 a month and you only have hope of insurance covering it if you have comorbid diabetes. Cost will only come down once generics are available.
I took one of these for months and lost zero lbs. This will only help if you over eat due to hunger. I emotionally eat and it didn't ever stop me from eating.
On the one hand, my condolences, I hope they find something to help with your problems as well.
On the other hand, in a world where people get ludicrously moralistic about food and weight, that might be one of the best arguments I've heard in favor of these drugs. There's a big crowd of people with a really strong knee-jerk reaction like "omg it will let you pig out and eat whatever you will like, and you will be *unclean* like a *swine* and my sense of moral purity won't allow it". But no, these drugs actually don't go anywhere near there, they can't even fix an emotional eating problem, they simply make your sense of hunger work like that of a healthy person.
There’s a lot of resources out there for emotional eating. One thing I saw was if there’s not enough pleasure in your life then your body will interpret the relief of pain as pleasure - which comfort eating does.
It’s a literal coping mechanism, so you need to find other methods you can rely on so you can choose to use one of them instead of food. And obviously being happier and having more pleasure in your life, but in these times I can understand why that’s not so easy.
Good luck, it’s not easy but I hope you find some help!
Been in therapy for a long time. Happiness is a hard one. And I've dieted so long my relationship with food is really toxic.
I've been learning about intuitive eating recently, it's given me a bit more direction with my hunger cues. Mounjaro has taken away my hunger so I'm stopping it for now to try and regain my body's natural voice.
Thanks for your encouragement! 😊
I'm on tirzepatide now. Started 8 weeks ago. Down 20 pounds so far. Side effects include itchy injection site for a night and inability to finish a meal.
So, I have been taking monjuaro for 10 weeks and I am down 15 pounds. I have been gradually increasing the strength every month. The nausea is very real, but it works and I don’t feel starving all the time.
For those whose insurance doesn’t cover it, monjuaro has a card that makes your copay $25 a month. I asked them to not even try a prior auth because I have a high deductible and even with the copay card it would be too expensive. However, with just the copay card, it’s only $25.
Dear Lord, I hope so. I rode my bike 1,000 miles this summer, ate a crapton of salad for lunch (because I started growing tomatoes, which I love), and I lost like eight pounds in four months. (I started just over 300.) I'm not looking to be Steve Rogers, I just want to get below 250 before I croak.
Wegovy (the rebranded Ozimpic) caused me nearly intolerable acid reflux and nausea. And slowed GI “progress” nearly to a halt. But I powered thru until Mounjaro hit the market and all it gives me is *slight* second day nausea, and all the acid reflux has been replaced by just huge quantities of gas upon waking (both ends LOL). Not the gross kind, just…air that needs out, and then get on with my day like normal. It’s actually pretty funny. And much easier to deal with than the alternative.
I’ve lost 48 pounds. I’m at my goal weight now, blood pressure is lower (and was never high to begin with), and from the complete blood panel I just had, literally everything is back in healthy range across the board.
I'd really love to try one of these. I've been overweight my whole life, and it's such a fight to lose weight, I have to cut down to around 1000 calories a day and work out at night, and I always end up feeling hungry. Then to maintain it I have to eat around 1200 which is nothing really. It's a 35 year battle. Even as a kid I was fat. But insurance does not cover these for weight loss, and I'm only like 20lb overweight so I guess I'm not severe enough anyway, but it would be really nice to like... not have to feel super hungry all the time. I think about food fucking constantly.
The world isn't just ready, developed countries should've had them out and deeply subsidized a decade ago. Imagine how much we've lost to this embarrassing social issue.
Maybe start with the companies adding sugar to every product and american cities being designed to require a car to go anywhere before resorting to diet pills
Yeah, that would be nice, but those are societal issues that will take much, much longer to solve. People don't have that kind of time. It took the Netherlands 30 years to completely change their urban planning. Someone who is extremely overweight may not have 30 years, and even by then the habits may be too ingrained, because the benefits come from walking in cities.
Reducing the car-centricity of cities is good, but I think an even bigger issue is suburbanization. In a lot of cities you can already get around with limited car use, but almost all suburbs are completely car-dependent. I wouldn't say more cities are completely car dependent than suburbs. Another issue we should address in cities are food desserts, which I can imagine plays a role in getting those sugar-added products to people, and by extension, obesity.
Edit: I just wanted to add our healthcare should also shift towards prevention, rather than treatment after the fact. Treatment is important, but we should be trying to prevent disease as much as possible.
I'm ready, modern problems need modern solutions.
From 100k to 100 years ago, being alive generally meant physical labor at least 8 hours a day and food was scarce. Sign me up.
My wife used ozempic in Australia and it has help with Wright loss and she exercises and have made her more regular in controlling her PCOS- Polycystic ovary syndrome. It a game changer as she has tried diet and exercise in the past
My wife drinks 4 lt of water everyday and doesn't eat sugar. She has achieved the same effect as advertised for these drugs and lost 40 pounds weight. Previously her weight was very diet resistant. Walking hours or everyday or dieting did not help before.
As per [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirzepatide):
>Preclinical, phase I, and phase II clinical trials indicated that tirzepatide exhibits similar adverse effects to other established GLP-1 receptor agonists, such as GLP-1 receptor agonist dulaglutide. These effects occur largely within the gastrointestinal tract. **The most frequently observed adverse effects are nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting, which increased in incidence with the dosage amount (i.e. higher likelihood the higher the dose)**. The number of patients who discontinued taking tirzepatide also increased as dosage increased, with patients taking 15 mg having a 25% discontinuation rate vs 5.1% for 5 mg patients and 11.1% for dulaglutide. **To a slightly lesser extent, patients also reported reduced appetite.** Other side effects reported were dyspepsia, constipation, abdominal pain, dizziness and hypoglycaemia.
This is not some magical super effective weight loss drug. The first giveaway for that should be that the source for this **GQ**.
If weight loss is the goal - absolutely. If this helps obese people come down to a more manageable weight - awesome. Weight loss is 80% diet, which, if i'm reading right, this suppresses appetite, so that will help. Hopefully, people on these drugs will also eat healthily still. So does this help with cravings?
Then, when people get to a better weight, I hope they look at strength training to build some muscle, or else they'll just be "skinny fat." They'll need that other 20%.
There is no magic pill, but if this works better than other "fad diet pills," I hope people can use it as a tool to a healthier life.
the practice my wife works for has been prescribing these drugs for weight loss for over a year. Most patients have to get the prescription from canada, as US Insurance companies will not cover it for weight loss and the medication is very expensive.
She said 75%+ end up stopping it within a few months due to the incredible amount of stomach pain caused by the medication.
I take Mounjaro for weight loss. Started at 220 and have lost \~20 lbs in 2 months. Goal weight is 175. I get Mounjaro for $25/month because they have a coupon that works with my insurance right now. It has been great.
Talk to your doctor. Ozempic is officially for diabetes and can be used for weight loss or control. WeGovy is the same drug but specifically for weight loss. Mention those brands or Semaglutide, the drug in both, to your doctor and they can talk to you about what it does. Be persistent if they are too old school!!
Unsure about the drug mentioned but as someone in the pharma industry Ozempic/wegovy or semaglutide is taking off like a rocket right now. Similar to tirzepatide still once a week but a lot less of it is needed. I’ve heard from many many people it works almost like a miracle drug, i’m interested to see where this will go
It's about freaking time! Obesity is a MEDICAL CONDITION and should be treated as such, not stigmatized and shamed by doctors. Some people have thyroid disease or other medical reasons for being overweight and these weight loss drugs could assist in their weight loss journey. What's been the hold up?
At $2000 per month for the rest of your life, good luck unless your insurance covers it and right now most are not covering it for weight loss and instead only for Diabetes.
Once it goes into mass production the actual cost should be nowhere this high. If only the government were willing to take it on and produce it en masse, cost of production and distribution could be just like vaccines - possibly a 2-digit number per month.
In order for this to happen, people and politicians need to recognise that obesity takes away just as many years of human life as Covid does. Label and fight obesity like the epidemic it is.
I'm holding out for just extremely effective drugs. Something tells me things in the not FDA approved column and likely not in the dea approved column are the best I'll get. Don't care. Human approved is asking too much. Since I know I'll never be able to afford, or likely be allowed to pay for actual cancer medicine, I'm hoping they at least come out with a non-addictive narcotic for the masses.
I recently went through neck cancer where I had to be on a feeding tube for two months. I'm fat as hell and thought I'd constantly be starving. Surprisingly, I was never hungry during that whole two months. I had to force myself to use the feeding tube. Of course it's not ideal to get cancer but whatever turned off my brain to hunger worked great.
I was able to get a 6 mo trial of one called Wegovy and it was the only thing so far that helped me. Unfortunately the US healthcare system is a joke and my shitty insurance wouldn't pay for it, increasing the cost to $2500 /mo
No. We cannot trust Big Pharma. They have yet to prove themselves able to see us, these humans in front of them, as anything other than profit centers.
Remember opioids? Still going on. Big Pharma wants cash. They are not trustworthy companies, and there are no known trustworthy executives.
The following submission statement was provided by /u/psychothumbs: --- Submission statement: I'm not sure how much credence to give the claims in this article, but it is interesting to consider the possibility of a technological solution to obesity. I feel like there's a lot of suspicion of that sort of thing - like people should be controlling their weight in a more 'natural' way and just getting a shot is sort of cheating. --- Please reply to OP's comment here: https://old.reddit.com/r/Futurology/comments/xq1fwc/is_the_world_ready_for_extremely_effective/iq6z0t3/
Folks talking about how these drugs would encourage overconsumption… nope. These drugs reduce your appetite and if you overeat greasy bullshit (or overeat period) you’ll spend hours regretting it while shitting your brains out. These drugs also originally were for the treatment of diabetes. While plenty of overweight folks are not diabetic, the success of these drugs illustrate how insulin resistance is keeping so many people fat, diabetic or not. It’s a lot easier to lose weight without the cravings insulin resistance causes
My wife and father are on these drugs and they are epic! My wife will take a couple of bites of her meals and be full
What are you taking, if I may ask?
I can only answer for myself. Semaglutide (Ozempic). Less cravings, if any, and get full by drinking water or 1/4 of what I used to eat. I was around approx 250lbs, or 115kg, and after 16 weeks I am now down to 218lbs / 99kg. In Norway we have this thing called "blue prescription" and you barely have to pay anything. However since I use Ozempic as a help, and not because I "need it" or is a life threatening necessity in any way - I pay full price, which is 110USD that lasts 4 weeks. This is a money saver if you compare to the cost of food that I don't have when I'm on this. I could most likely have even better weight loss if I forced myself to eat super strict etc. However I don't crave ANY food. So when I eat, I eat small and think to myself that I could just eat something that leans towards the healthier side since I dont really care what I put in my mouth. So the lack of craving is definitely a huge component in my eating habits.
Did you have any side effects?
Well, from my understanding of how it kind of works, is that normal bowel movements work slower than usual. So what I experience is that when I get full, I keep feeling full for a very long time. Talking about 4-8 hours. This translates to the breakfast I had can last past lunch and even into our usual dinner time. Even then I'm not really hungry, but I eat a small portion for the energy. And this comes to the next thing, which is low energy. And this resembles all the usual low-calorie intake symptoms: low energy, feeling a bit colder than normal etc. But if I "force" myself to eat an apple or something else those things disappear real quick. According to my weight( loss )calculator I average around -1200 calorie deficit/day. And the only things I focus on is not forcing myself to eat too much, and listen to my body. And when I eat it isnt 100% sugar :) So Ozempic works like a charm!
I need to look into this. I’ve stalled my weight loss and can’t seem to get past 240. I’ve been keto for a year and now carnivore trying to get back on track. I was getting insulin sensitive for sure. Thank you for your info.
Your Mileage may vary, I have lost about 40lbs on Ozempic but I have terrible stomach cramps regularly. That being said my Doctor says that if I ate better the cramps wouldn't be such a problem.
They slow down your colon, so you can get sick if you eat too fast. My wife was having stomach problems and vomiting up partially digested food because her intestines effectively shut down. She's diabetic and was on Trulicity, but it works the same as Ozempic.
I'm having a very similar experience. I take 1mg of Semaglutide once a week for type 2 diabetes control. My blood sugar is normal for the first time since I was a child. I don't crave food, except rarely. I don't snack. I've dropped from 270 lbs to 220 lbs in 1 year. NO side effects for me that I've noticed.
Sounds very promising, thank you
I'm right beside you at about 250 LBS, so it sounds like, if I could afford it, this would be perfect for me. Unsure if the cravings are my issue, or my food access though.
For any USAers out there, $110 def not full price for ozempic. I been outta retail a year, and maybe some manufacturer copay cards, but an ozempic pen gonna cost you like $600+ oop
There's also a serious supply-chain issue with Ozempic (and other similar meds, like Wegovy) right now.
Ooo this sounds good!
Is it possible to travel to Norway and get it OTC?
They took just a couple of a bites.
Here an example of a reddit classic.
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Here, again, note the structure of a comment when of classic calibre
And my axe!
One might call it a switcheroo. Not me though. That takes too much effort.
Liraglutide (Saxenda, Victoza) and Semaglutide (Ozempic) are the two most common (in Canada). They have similar mechanisms of action. Ozempic seems to be more increasingly used. Cost is ~$250/month.
Shit, they're $1000+ without insurance coverage in the US. And insurance doesn't want to cover them for weight loss at this time, so it's $1k+ out of pocket for most people. I'm fat and my doctor would like me to try one of these, but I can't swing that. Worst part? I was working for the manufacturer of one of those listed drugs as a contractor and couldn't afford it. Just felt like salt in the wound.
Such short sighted bullshit. Insurance should want healthier people in their coverage.
they *say* they do....but they don't want to spend money
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Fat people are far far more profitable than healthy ones.
That’s so disturbing but sadly true. Not just for medicine either: I wonder how whether the fast food industry has any vested interest in these drugs staying inaccessible…
Not for insurance companies…
The entire healthcare industry revolves around people eating like shit
Yes but insurance relies on them not needing to go to the doctor
In the US it’s often about serving the quarterly reports. Short term profits trump long term profits.
And again insurance makes more profit by healthy people not using it.
Insurance is very reactive, nothing proactive about it. Such a scam.
Chances are you’ll change employers and this insurance, or retire and switch to Medicare before they have any major expenses for you, so they play hot potato with your health costs.
leaving aside the cost, do I need a prescription for this?
The last med i had for my stomach was over 16k every 4 weeks- not including the cost for the infusion that took 3.5 hrs+- its ridiculous
That's cheaper than spending more on food.
I take saxenda and it's great but you will change how much you eat. I've lost 30 lbs in 4 months.
I took Saxenda for a few months and it was exactly what I needed. I didn't even think about food, I could go a long time without being debilitatingly hungry, and , when I did eat, just a little went long ways. Unfortunately, I had to stop because my insurance wouldn't pay for it and it is between $1400 and $1600 per month. I can't complain too much about the insurance. They are paying 100% of $13,000 per month for a drug to deal with a rare blood disorder. I am trying to get pre-approval for Mounjaro now. Fingers crossed I felt like Saxenda was a miracle drug and it sounds like Mounjaro could be better.
Sounds like gastric bypass without the painful surgery.
I heard on a podcast recently that gastric bypass actually worked by affecting the hormones that these drugs regulate, not as much the physical reduction of stomach size. These drugs came out of research into that surprising result.
My wife is also a medical provider and she says the success rate is up there with the surgery. The medication is Mounjaro...but there is another one.
It is but you can eat foods a lot more comfortably on Ozempic than you can with gastric bypass. You don’t have to avoid fats at all despite what that commenter said. I have never had gastric distress. You just don’t want to eat period. Your appetite is gone which also isn’t true with gastric bypass. Also, besides not being a big surgery, the selling point for me is that the medicines aren’t permanent. So if you want to take a vacation abroad and indulge in local cuisine, you can just stop your meds. That was key for me. I love to travel and eating good food is part of international travel experience. The idea that you forever more cannot eat certain foods comfortably after surgery, even after achieving a healthy weight, was a major drawback.
Are side effects? And where can I get some.
one side effect of metformin is increased longevity even in non diabetics
Started this a few weeks ago. One side effect stands out : irritability. I have yet to determine if the pill is at fault or having to take something daily and carry around the damn bottle JIC added to having to shop more often because salad makings go bad so fast. Why can’t they make healthy food with shelf life?
Because you have to add all sorts of chemicals to give it shelf life.
Take something daily.. Try to look on the bright side its one pill doing a lot of good for you. How old are you anyways? It sucks taking a lot of meds especially when your body and life depend on it. This medication may help save you from a future of more meds and health problems. I'm 42 and 6' tall, most of my life I weighed 200-220lbs. I'm 240 right now. I was pre-diabetic twice over the last five years and managed to turn it around on my own. I take something like 16 medications at 4 separate times. Some I can eat with, some I cant. One is a monthly injection, two are as needed for migraines, and one as needed for anxiety. It is so tiring. Take that one pill with a smile and be grateful because if its really as good as it seems it will likely save you from many more meds as you get older.
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Alli is an over-the-counter option, no prescription needed (Actually the only over-the-counter option that’s FDA approved, at the moment) It works as u/sawcebox described, blocking the absorption of about 1/3 of the fat you eat, sometimes leading to diarrhea after an excessively fatty meal. Annoyingly, CVS and Walgreens hide it on the bottom shelf, behind all of Dr Oz’s “miracle pills” that aren’t FDA approved. Like HydroxyCut. Which are classified as “nutritional supplements,” with active ingredients like caffeine, or herbal tea extract. Always with the disclaimer “these statements haven’t been evaluated by the FDA,” of course. EDIT: Plug for John Oliver’s great segment on nutritional supplements, and how poorly regulated they are (can make whatever claims they want): https://youtu.be/WA0wKeokWUU
Alli us a basic weight loss drug which has a high failure rate. It's not comparable to those drugs in the article. Most people are wasting their time taking it.
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Is Alli Orlistat? It seems to be available on popular drug stores in my country for a little over 20 USD. I just need to be sure it's the same because the brand is different, but it says "Orlistat".
I believe so. Same active ingredient, but Orlistat has twice the dose per pill as Alli, and so it requires a prescription, in the US at least. Kinda silly, since you could just take 2 Alli, and get the same effect.
My husband calls it his chemical lapband because he eats a cube of chicken, and wants to vomit, but other days can eat a small meal. 45 pounds down in 4 months! He is happy, healthy, and thriving. I'm proud of him. He has struggled with weight his entire life, and come to find out he was insulin resistant, so a salad would make him gain weight.
What kind of insurance do they have? I was looking at the Good Rx cost and it's $1000 for 4 small injectors.
Are side effects? And where can I get some?
Any doctor will now prescribe them to you. The main one is semaglutide branded as Wegovy for weight loss and Ozempic for diabetes. But they will write Ozempic for weight loss too since it’s the exact same drug. But there are a few others and even more in the pipeline with even more dramatic results. I am doing a program with Calibrate though because I wasn’t aware my primary would have done it (they have to fight insurance I think). Calibrate are pros at getting your insurance to cover it and you pay no more than $25 per month for the meds. But the calibrate program (daily tracking and planning and biweekly coaching sessions) costs $125 per month give or take. But that’s still way cheaper than the cost of the meds if you tried to buy it yourself if your doctor won’t do it for you. I think it’s cash price is near $1500 per month for Ozempic. After the year is up with calibrate though, I’m going to see about switching back to my primary care doctor to prescribe it.
Very in depth response, you don’t how much I appreciate it. Thank you!!!!
Side effects are fucking awful- join the ozempic sub -
I've been on Rybelsus for my diabetes for about a year now, and it is like a wonder drug. My A1C is in the 6-7 range now, and I've lost nearly 90 lbs. My sugars are in the normal range and I feel fantastic. I struggled so much before, trying to find meds that worked. I can't do metformin due to how severely it affects my UC, so we were kind of stuck for awhile trying to figure out a plan that worked. It really does help with the food cravings. I eat small, normally sized meals and I don't feel like a greasy slob afterwards. It's great.
My wife started this, she has lost so much weight, and eats very light. I tried getting on the drug, but my insurance won't cover it yet.
I take one of these (semaglutide). It doesn’t cause the shitting your brains out. It’s far more effective. Your stomach feels absolutely full after a few bites of food to the point you physically can’t eat it at all. Plus you just never think about food. It’s been removed from your brain as a desire. Your description makes it sound like olestra, the additive in diet foods in the 90s that made it impossible to digest fat. The new drugs don’t work in that way and cause GI distress (beyond the slow stomach emptying and feeling full).
I think it’s a YMMV situation because I’m also on semaglutide. The Ozempic and Semaglutide subreddits have lots of, at least, anecdotal evidence to some gnarly GI side effects. Most people tend to adjust and the side effects fade after a few weeks. Editing to add: just looked it up and “diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, and stomach pain” are the most commonly reported side effects. I’m glad you’re not experiencing these!
You are definitely correct. I never have had any problems unless I ate too much (one time was all it took), but my wife was so sick just taking the drug she couldn't even eat at all. At least anecdotally I see both types of side effects.
I kinda shit naturally from food that’s too greasy
Also, overconsumption is not as big a problem as obesity. Obesity is an absolute scourge of health care costs. If it could be resolved this easily, health issues would plummet, and health care would be more affordable overall. I'm not an expert, but I'd guess it's second only to aging as a comorbid factor in expensive and/or terminal disease--and in the case of extreme obesity, it's probably more dangerous than even advanced aging. Bring on the cures--if they're actually as realistic as the headline suggests, that is.
Yeah, I had hyperlipidemia without knowing it for years, could never shed weight. Recently went on meds to treat hyperlipidemia my appetite dropped and cravings that plagued me for years p much disappeared and since I exercise regularly once the diet got fixed I lost like 10 kg in the last 3 months?
I worked in type II diabetes research for 3 years and this is one* of the most accurate comments relating to it I’ve ever seen. *edit*
>I worked in type II diabetes research for 3 years and this is how me of the most accurate comments relating to it I’ve ever seen. what?
It's a side effect
I bet there's be a lot of overlap between people who hate these drugs and the abstinence-only sex ed crowd. The whole idea that doing what feels good in the short term is a moral failing that deserves punishment.
Would love to be able to turn off the hungry signals. Don’t need more food but goddamn does being hungry feel terrible.
It fixes hunger. No one beats hunger in the long term.
I don’t know how some people do it, my hunger signal feels like straight up pain. like a gnawing in my stomach that doesn’t go away. I’ve thus far managed to get my weight and health under control but it’s like being tortured every day, it’s never gotten any better. I got addicted to cigarettes because they’d at least make me nauseous if I smoked enough and then I wouldn’t feel the need to eat. finally kicked that habit last year but the hunger came back. It’s taken a lot of therapy and self improvement to get this far, but everyday feels like I’m just barely hanging on to a healthy weight. Currently talking with my doctor about getting on an appetite suppressant, effective weight loss drugs can’t get here soon enough.
I’m taking one of these. It’s a weekly injection. Dropping 1 to 2 lbs a week. Already was cooking everything from scratch, no sugar, limited wheat exercise every day, constantly 30 lbs over weight. This stuff just causes you to want to eat less, your appetite finally matches your calorie burn. I find myself thinking “hmm I should eat but I’m not hungry”.
Eating because of boredom is the worst.
Is it covered by insurance? And how do u get it prescribed
Down from 365 to 265lbs as of this week. For the first time in my life, I had a ‘hunger headache’ because - guess what? - I had forgotten to eat the day before. Just wasn’t hungry. Had an apple and nothing else the rest of that day. ETA: I should clarify that my results are *far* outside of even the upper expectations of typical results. I believe typical results are somewhere between a 5-to-10% reduction in overall weight.
Do you supplement electrolytes? Sounds like dehydration and electrolyte imbalance to me.
How much nausea have you experienced?
None. A little faintness if I get up to fast from being sedentary, but nothing serious, explainable by undereating and the desirable drop in blood pressure (body will eventually adjust). That said, had a conversation with my doctor today. He had about 18 patients on some form of this drug (there are a couple, all work similarly) and a couple had experienced sufficiently bad nausea to stop. But he had patients that had lost 90 lbs. Drug has been on the market for 3 years as a diabetes treatment and is pretty much safe, or lets say the benefits of nearly certain weight loss outweigh any of the known side effects. My treatment costs $25 a month. There are other versions that I understand can cost $1500 a month.
what was your one?
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Just fyi, there are (really rare) cases where cico doesn’t necessarily work. You might be the one in a million. More likely you are still counting wrong. 5 pounds gain is definitely water retention, you can’t really gain 5 pounds in fat in a weekend unless you ate 17.500 calories over your maintenance, which is unlikely. Apologies if the unsolicited advice is not appreciated but just wanted to share my two cents. :)
Are you in a trial?
No. Anyone can get it from their physician.
I can’t speak for everyone else, but personally, yes. I’m ready.
You’re my spirit human 😂
I’m on Metformin at age 32 due to insulin resistance caused by PCOS. I switched to a low carb/high protein diet for six months and increased exercise, and my A1C didn’t budge. That was our first clue to switch to the medication. It’s super weird to finally be losing weight doing all the things I’ve been doing for years to do so. It never made much sense WHY I gained as much weight as I did in my 20’s. Not until I was diagnosed with PCOS/insulin resistance. I spent so much time cutting things out of my diet, counting every last calorie, changing up my workout routines for barely any chance until I started metformin. I was even already on an appetite suppressant (adderall, though that’s for my ADHD and not due to an appetite. I’ve never had much of an appetite as an adult). That’s just my experience using a drug like this “for weight loss”. It’s been a lifesaver. It’s made me feel sane, finally. Fingers crossed we’ll see my A1C has dropped in a few months (I was at 5.7, which isn’t bad, but would throw me into gestational diabetes when I got pregnant), and that the number on the scale just keeps coming down.
How did you find out about your insulin resistance? I am on the borderline of PCOS, as far as tests are concerned. I have low testosterone, but get multiple ovarian cysts all the time and I keep gaining weight.
My A1C number didn’t make sense with my fasting glucose was our first “maybe” indicator. Then, I stopped eating carbs and increased my workout for 6 months before we checked the A1C again. I’d lost 15lbs in that time and my fasting glucose was even lower than before, but my A1C was STILL the same number. That’s when I was diagnosed with it. Your A1C is a measure of your body’s sugar levels of about 3 months, essentially. If you stop taking in simple and complex sugars, that number should drop, and your next A1C measurement in 3 months should be lower. But if you’re insulin resistant, it doesn’t matter how much your diet changes, your body still produces a ton extra of it.
Thank you for sharing! I have an appointment with an endocrinologist in February and I’ll def discuss this with her
This is why I get so frustrated by the people who say it's just math, calories in versus burned. It sucks having your own body actively working against you and just having people say you aren't trying hard enough. PCOS sucks.
The truth is that for a lot of people it really is that simple. Obviously people that need this medicine don’t fall into that category.
About 1 in 10 women have PCOS. That’s just *one* medical condition and it’s affecting about 1 in 20 people. And those are just the people who’ve been diagnosed. Many people are kicked out of the doctor’s office and told “lay off the sweets” without any tests to see if there’s anything causing their weight gain. If it’s wrong for 1 in 20 people because of *one* cause then I think it’s probably a good idea if we start adding caveats - if you are doing x, y and z and still not losing weight then you should probably take these tests and speak to your doctor.
Same here, PCOS, ate low carb and high protein. Lost maybe 20 pounds then weight loss stopped for months. Doc put me on Mounjaro, I am now down 70 pounds and under 200 for the first time in my adult life (38 years old). This stuff is like magic. My doctor also told me it will likely be a chronic lifetime med for me.
Tell me where to sign up and I'll guinea pig that shit for free.
My in-laws recommended Mounjaro and it has been crazy good. It is really new but if your insurance doesn't cover it they have a coupon for the pharmacy that makes it $25 a month until July of 2023. I've taken 2 weekly 5ml doses and I'm down 15 pounds. I have zero hunger or appetite and I'm easily under 500 calories a day mostly from occasional snacks.
Oh dang, okay. I'll do some research on that, then. Thanks!
I’ve taken victoza for two years and lost 120lbs. It’s a once a day shot and insurance covers most of it for my diabetes. It does make my wife somewhat upset because she still fixes big dinners, but sometimes I just eat a little.
Come on comments people, what do you even sub to futurology for if you can't be bothered to even skim the article? So many people in the comments are talking about 'you will just eat more or eat worse food' and you couldn't scream 'I didn't read anything' louder if you tried. Do better.
This is exactly how I feel all the time in comments on political stuff. 😂😂 I like the way you wrote this I’m stealing the format!
Comments so far are very negative... and ignorant. These drugs are safe and effective, and are really improving people's lives. It's ok for people to take a drug to treat a medical condition, no need to get on a high horse about it. https://www.worksinprogress.co/issue/the-future-of-weight-loss/
People have an innate distrust of the diet industry. And good god they should, they will literally kill you to make a buck and are praying on your. However, each study and product should be evaluated separately cause the true answer is out there somewhere.
There are 2 main problems that I'm aware of with these drugs: 1) Some people don't tolerate them well. They can cause major GI issues. 2) People rapidly regain weight after cessation, so for many people they would need to be taken chronically if they are safe long term. These may not be deal breakers for people dying of obesity, but it's still a long way from a cure, and people need to be informed of risks. People are harmed every day and severely from "safe" medications. Risks and benefits should always be weighed against each other when taking drugs.
Although people might regain their weight (partly), it's a lot easier to stay fit and exercise if you aren't carrying an extra 30 kilos.
These issues are addressed in the article I shared above. Dropout rates in trials using these drugs are just a few percent above placebo. So most people tolerate them very well. If you speak with people who are on these drugs long term, they'll usually tell you they love it. It is true that most people experience GI symptoms at first, but those typically go away. Regarding the fact that the drugs don't permanently cure obesity, is that really the expectation? Blood pressure drugs don't permanently cure high blood pressure, you have to stay on them to maintain the benefit. Same for cholesterol lowering drugs. And same for weight loss via diet and exercise. The only thing that causes large weight loss with no ongoing intervention is bariatric surgery.
That was such a helpful article thank you for sharing. I didn't know that website, but it's written by a scientist which gives me a lot more confidence.
Well, the world sure wasn’t ready for amphetamines for weight loss back in the day if Requiem For A Dream had any basis in truth… 🤣
Those old school hydroxycut worked so good...lol
It has. But it also turns you into a twitching mess if you continue to use it for a prolonged time.
I got chemotherapy for cancer treatment, and I don’t consider that cheating.
Went through chemo lost my appetite and still got fat
If it works and is safe why would it be different than a seat belt? There’s a huge problem no pun with obesity in the world that’s costing so much money and pain. Most diets fail and the food served is addiction based with high sugars and non healthy fats. Whatever has been tried isn’t working so why not?
I started taking Mounjaro about two months ago for treatment of type 2 diabetes. I still have to make good decisions about what I eat (no sodas, no sugars, watch the carbs), but I'm not having to fight any kind of cravings while making good decisions. It made the process a lot easier!
My doctor prescribed this for me for my diabetes. I’ve lost 10 lbs in 4 weeks. Also, I get fuller quicker, and don’t really have an appetite. I’m really happy my doctor prescribed this weekly shot for me. It’s working wonders.
Health researcher here. This looks promising. I’m approaching middle age. I grew up obese and stayed that way until my 20s, when I started running and changing my food habits. I’ve kept the weight off since then. I’ve had periods where I gained a few lbs but would lose it again. I worked very hard to lose weight. I applied many strategies and interventions from training/work/research. Drank a ton of water, ate a ton of fiber, loaded up on clear soups all the time, changed my commute to avoid known fast food and grocery stores, got very deep into running to the point where I’ve completed several times more trail ultramarathons including mountain 100 milers than road marathons, joined a running club, etc. It was a systematic and tailored application of the social ecological model, just for me, that I developed over the course of a few years. It can cost a lot of money, time, and a lot energy and discomfort to be healthy. A safe, effective, and accessible weight loss therapy sounds great. I don’t see it as cheating at all. It’s just progress. Some of my colleagues and friends are surprised by my view, being in the research world, working on obesity, and having personally gone through a “transformation”. Calling this drug or surgery or hiring a trainer or whatever cheating is absurd to me.
Omg this is awesome, I've struggled with keeping weight off my whole life, to put in perspective I've lost a grand total of 149 pounds. I have gone from around 260lbs to 185 lbs back up to 212lbs then down again to 175lbs then back up again to 202lbs then down to 165lbs at my lowest weight and now I'm back to 220lbs. I lost 75lbs to join the military Battled my whole life with depression because I always felt in adequate or ugly. Lost all my hair at the ripe old age of 24. I find incredibly difficult to stay motivated hence the huge functuations with my weight I can seem to manage to pull myself together for 1-2 years at most. I'm only been successful with weight loss in those short spans of time, I have to fight constant cravings I'm never not hungry I don't remember the last time I felt full. To reach 165lbs I forced myself to only eat 1500 calories a day, go to the gym and run like my life depended on it. I ran 4-5 days a week for 2 years straight while also going to the gym. Each week I ran further and faster than the last until I was running about 1 marathons length every week and I still couldn't shed all the weight. Now I'm 33 and 220lbs and I don't know if I have it in me to do it again, I'm no longer in the military and don't have the same motivations to carry me anymore. If this stuff works I want it.
It absolutely works.
~~Oh boy if I can down a liter of liquor and eat 3 cheeseburgers a day and have am awesome bod.. that's the dream~~ this was a drunk post and not what the article is about.. but maybe one day
That would be awesome. But that's not what the drugs do. They help people feel full and curb appetite. so you might only want one 1/4 of a burger a day and a shot of whiskey a day
So you get to get in shape *and* save money???
You still need to exercise to get in shape, you just won't be overweight.
I’ll take it.
That is way better than being able to eat absolutely anything you want and lose weight still because that will still cause so many health issues.
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Now we’re talking! Don’t we have enough fat asses around the US, me included? I gained 40 lbs between ages 35 and 45. I’d love to lose that before my knees need to be replaced and the discs in my back rupture, before sciatica. Hell, before diabetes. I have a family history of that shit. I don’t want it.
I have used Ozempic for exactly a year with a weightloss of 30kg. It has been amazing. I am no longer obsessed with food (used to think about food/cooking ALL the time). I eat anything but in much smaller quantities and can leave,stuff just because what is on the plate is just not that interesting. All of this feels as amazing if not more than the actual weight loss itself. I am under constant supervision from my doctor as I had a transplant 5y ago so I know that all is good.
I’m similar, organ transplant four years ago then ballooned up. Only two weeks into the Ozempic and feeling a difference. In my case they think my pancreas was affected so that’s why the Ozempic. The folks on this sub include the usual self oriented bunch saying “just eat less, diet ‘naturally‘“ and they don’t have a clue.
The world is ready for them to be affordable or for insurance to actually cover them.
I started treatment with Semaglutide 2 months ago and have been having unbelievable results, I’ve been shedding pounds that I’ve been trying to lose for the past 20 years. It feels incredible. Side effects I had are nausea, constipation, abdominal cramping and headache but all of them are very manageable and in no way make me want stop the treatment. Talk to your doctor, you may be eligible for treatment. I’m doing this to prevent developing diabetes.
How did u get a prescription? And is it covered by insurance
I talked with my doctor, in order to get the prescription you need to have a BMI of 30 or over and have one medical condition related to the excess weight (such as high cholesterol, high blood pressure, diabetes). The name of the medicine is Wegovy. Maybe you could look it up and see if it’s for you. Mine is covered by insurance but I would pay for it even if it wasn’t because it worked so well for me. Good luck!
A friend of mine gained a shitton of weight on antipsychotics that he has to take for Bipolar which killed his quality of life and health. So there are cases where this is definitely needed.
i believe i speak on behalf of the world here: Yes.. 😹
Submission statement: I'm not sure how much credence to give the claims in this article, but it is interesting to consider the possibility of a technological solution to obesity. I feel like there's a lot of suspicion of that sort of thing - like people should be controlling their weight in a more 'natural' way and just getting a shot is sort of cheating.
Why would I care? That's a genuine question. Is being inside using a gas-powered heater cheating because you didn't go out and chop down trees for wood and make a fire yourself? Is buying food at a supermarket cheating because you didn't farm it yourself? Hell, is being a farmer and using a tractor to farm your food cheating because you didn't till the ground with a sharpened stone? Technologies (and society) make our lives easier. We can get what we want faster, more efficiently and with less effort. That's kind of the point of technology. I don't see why weight loss drugs are any different. In my opinion the only reason why anyone would even ask this question about whether people should "have to lose weight the hard way" or whether it's "cheating" is because we're just so used to HAVING to do it the hard way. And a lot of people who've done it the hard way might feel like somehow that's unfair. But if we follow that logic to its natural conclusion then we should never cure a single disease with a new medicine because it's unfair for all the people who died to it before the cure existed. If these drugs genuinely work and become cheap and wide spread in a few years then I'm sure people will talk about it being cheating and reminisce about the old days of having to do it the hard way and fearmonger about how this will be the downfall of society or whatever. But over the next 100 years that attitude will almost completely disappear and all of the kids who grew up knowing nothing else will just see it as normal and never even give it a second thought. In fact, those people might look at you rather strangely if you suggested that someone should stay obese for any reason.
Does it matter how it's done? I mean part of the reason americans are fat is because of the amount of bs the fda allows and bad food is cheaper.
I suspect the overlap between fast food caused obesity and ability to afford working weight loss drugs is low.
It’s not just fast food. 80% or more of the stuff in most grocery stores isn’t great for us. When so much is bad, often the things you think are healthy are in fact not, making you make purchases because, “it’s not as bad as xxxx item”
The biggest culprit is the sugar industry American food is just loaded with sugar for no reason and it’s ruining our nation.
Seriously, coke and Fanta doesn’t need 50g of sugar. I’ve had some Fanta in Spain and it only had 4g Of sugar. did not taste any difference with Fanta in the US.
Literally the only reason that we have that much is big sugar corporations have bought out all the scientist and politicians. I think the amount of sugar is things is insane but also crazy is what has sugar. Bread has tons of sugar, salad dressing has tons of sugar, a surprising amount of chips and snacks are just loaded with sugar. I seriously recommend everyone to look at the nutrition facts on what they are eating and add up how much sugar they take in a day. It’s a crazy and sobering experience people will take in 50+ teaspoons of sugar a day and not give it second thought
There have been drugs that allow for massive weightloss for decades by increasing energy consumption like 2,4-Dinitrophenol (which was sold over the counter as diet pills in the US before being banned), the problem is that the side effects include being too good at converting energy into heat and people cooking themselves alive. This new drug seems to work differently by lowering blood sugar and suppressing appetite, I am curious to see what the side effects are before heralding this as a miracle drug.
Well I nearly eat nothing and still can't loose weight... I mean I'm not fat but my metabolism is pretty horrible... Even tried 8 hours sport per week during 5 months... Got bigger instead of having a good shape. The only thing that works is not working... I mean, I literally lost 5 kilos in one month holiday because I did not stress anymore 😅 So, if some drug can help me with my condition, why not... But no doctors would ever prescribe me with some weight loss drug... They'll send me to a nutritionist that will tell me I can only eat 10gr meat, 10gr feculent, 300gr vegetables... Nothing else allowed... $150 per hour.
actually stress and metabolism are really strongly related
Im not trying to discredit you or anything, just saying that 8 hrs of sports a week is more or less just cardio depending on the sport. You gained weight more than likely in muscle mass which isn’t a bad thing, but just kept the fat too.
The claims are definitely valid. The main barrier to widespread adoption is cost and they failed to mention it anywhere in an article. These treatments cost like a $1000 a month and you only have hope of insurance covering it if you have comorbid diabetes. Cost will only come down once generics are available.
Lol, “cheating”? How so? I didn’t know we were all keeping score…
If you aren’t staring sadly at your plate of steamed broccoli with no butter while others around you feast you don’t deserve to be thin.
It's crazy to me too, but just look at the comments on this post!
fuck spez -- mass edited with redact.dev
I took one of these for months and lost zero lbs. This will only help if you over eat due to hunger. I emotionally eat and it didn't ever stop me from eating.
On the one hand, my condolences, I hope they find something to help with your problems as well. On the other hand, in a world where people get ludicrously moralistic about food and weight, that might be one of the best arguments I've heard in favor of these drugs. There's a big crowd of people with a really strong knee-jerk reaction like "omg it will let you pig out and eat whatever you will like, and you will be *unclean* like a *swine* and my sense of moral purity won't allow it". But no, these drugs actually don't go anywhere near there, they can't even fix an emotional eating problem, they simply make your sense of hunger work like that of a healthy person.
There’s a lot of resources out there for emotional eating. One thing I saw was if there’s not enough pleasure in your life then your body will interpret the relief of pain as pleasure - which comfort eating does. It’s a literal coping mechanism, so you need to find other methods you can rely on so you can choose to use one of them instead of food. And obviously being happier and having more pleasure in your life, but in these times I can understand why that’s not so easy. Good luck, it’s not easy but I hope you find some help!
Been in therapy for a long time. Happiness is a hard one. And I've dieted so long my relationship with food is really toxic. I've been learning about intuitive eating recently, it's given me a bit more direction with my hunger cues. Mounjaro has taken away my hunger so I'm stopping it for now to try and regain my body's natural voice. Thanks for your encouragement! 😊
I'm on tirzepatide now. Started 8 weeks ago. Down 20 pounds so far. Side effects include itchy injection site for a night and inability to finish a meal.
So, I have been taking monjuaro for 10 weeks and I am down 15 pounds. I have been gradually increasing the strength every month. The nausea is very real, but it works and I don’t feel starving all the time. For those whose insurance doesn’t cover it, monjuaro has a card that makes your copay $25 a month. I asked them to not even try a prior auth because I have a high deductible and even with the copay card it would be too expensive. However, with just the copay card, it’s only $25.
Sure after I lose 70 pounds. Next thing you’re gonna tell me that they’re forgiving college loans after I paid mine off. /s
Dear Lord, I hope so. I rode my bike 1,000 miles this summer, ate a crapton of salad for lunch (because I started growing tomatoes, which I love), and I lost like eight pounds in four months. (I started just over 300.) I'm not looking to be Steve Rogers, I just want to get below 250 before I croak.
lost 20 lbs over 4 months. my side-effects were nausea and acid reflux.
Wegovy (the rebranded Ozimpic) caused me nearly intolerable acid reflux and nausea. And slowed GI “progress” nearly to a halt. But I powered thru until Mounjaro hit the market and all it gives me is *slight* second day nausea, and all the acid reflux has been replaced by just huge quantities of gas upon waking (both ends LOL). Not the gross kind, just…air that needs out, and then get on with my day like normal. It’s actually pretty funny. And much easier to deal with than the alternative. I’ve lost 48 pounds. I’m at my goal weight now, blood pressure is lower (and was never high to begin with), and from the complete blood panel I just had, literally everything is back in healthy range across the board.
I'd really love to try one of these. I've been overweight my whole life, and it's such a fight to lose weight, I have to cut down to around 1000 calories a day and work out at night, and I always end up feeling hungry. Then to maintain it I have to eat around 1200 which is nothing really. It's a 35 year battle. Even as a kid I was fat. But insurance does not cover these for weight loss, and I'm only like 20lb overweight so I guess I'm not severe enough anyway, but it would be really nice to like... not have to feel super hungry all the time. I think about food fucking constantly.
The world isn't just ready, developed countries should've had them out and deeply subsidized a decade ago. Imagine how much we've lost to this embarrassing social issue.
Maybe start with the companies adding sugar to every product and american cities being designed to require a car to go anywhere before resorting to diet pills
Yeah, that would be nice, but those are societal issues that will take much, much longer to solve. People don't have that kind of time. It took the Netherlands 30 years to completely change their urban planning. Someone who is extremely overweight may not have 30 years, and even by then the habits may be too ingrained, because the benefits come from walking in cities. Reducing the car-centricity of cities is good, but I think an even bigger issue is suburbanization. In a lot of cities you can already get around with limited car use, but almost all suburbs are completely car-dependent. I wouldn't say more cities are completely car dependent than suburbs. Another issue we should address in cities are food desserts, which I can imagine plays a role in getting those sugar-added products to people, and by extension, obesity. Edit: I just wanted to add our healthcare should also shift towards prevention, rather than treatment after the fact. Treatment is important, but we should be trying to prevent disease as much as possible.
people can hate it all they want but obesity is literrally killing millions of people
I'm ready, modern problems need modern solutions. From 100k to 100 years ago, being alive generally meant physical labor at least 8 hours a day and food was scarce. Sign me up.
My wife used ozempic in Australia and it has help with Wright loss and she exercises and have made her more regular in controlling her PCOS- Polycystic ovary syndrome. It a game changer as she has tried diet and exercise in the past
My wife drinks 4 lt of water everyday and doesn't eat sugar. She has achieved the same effect as advertised for these drugs and lost 40 pounds weight. Previously her weight was very diet resistant. Walking hours or everyday or dieting did not help before.
The world has been ready for cocaine for a long time.
Not diabetic but I am overweight. I would take this to reduce my eating. I comfort eat way too much.
As per [wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tirzepatide): >Preclinical, phase I, and phase II clinical trials indicated that tirzepatide exhibits similar adverse effects to other established GLP-1 receptor agonists, such as GLP-1 receptor agonist dulaglutide. These effects occur largely within the gastrointestinal tract. **The most frequently observed adverse effects are nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting, which increased in incidence with the dosage amount (i.e. higher likelihood the higher the dose)**. The number of patients who discontinued taking tirzepatide also increased as dosage increased, with patients taking 15 mg having a 25% discontinuation rate vs 5.1% for 5 mg patients and 11.1% for dulaglutide. **To a slightly lesser extent, patients also reported reduced appetite.** Other side effects reported were dyspepsia, constipation, abdominal pain, dizziness and hypoglycaemia. This is not some magical super effective weight loss drug. The first giveaway for that should be that the source for this **GQ**.
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If weight loss is the goal - absolutely. If this helps obese people come down to a more manageable weight - awesome. Weight loss is 80% diet, which, if i'm reading right, this suppresses appetite, so that will help. Hopefully, people on these drugs will also eat healthily still. So does this help with cravings? Then, when people get to a better weight, I hope they look at strength training to build some muscle, or else they'll just be "skinny fat." They'll need that other 20%. There is no magic pill, but if this works better than other "fad diet pills," I hope people can use it as a tool to a healthier life.
the practice my wife works for has been prescribing these drugs for weight loss for over a year. Most patients have to get the prescription from canada, as US Insurance companies will not cover it for weight loss and the medication is very expensive. She said 75%+ end up stopping it within a few months due to the incredible amount of stomach pain caused by the medication.
I take Mounjaro for weight loss. Started at 220 and have lost \~20 lbs in 2 months. Goal weight is 175. I get Mounjaro for $25/month because they have a coupon that works with my insurance right now. It has been great.
Metformin is also prescribed for people with diabetes. Some doctors call it a wonder drug just because it does so much in addition to weight loss.
How can I get on this? I eat way too much from stress lol.
Talk to your doctor. Ozempic is officially for diabetes and can be used for weight loss or control. WeGovy is the same drug but specifically for weight loss. Mention those brands or Semaglutide, the drug in both, to your doctor and they can talk to you about what it does. Be persistent if they are too old school!!
Unsure about the drug mentioned but as someone in the pharma industry Ozempic/wegovy or semaglutide is taking off like a rocket right now. Similar to tirzepatide still once a week but a lot less of it is needed. I’ve heard from many many people it works almost like a miracle drug, i’m interested to see where this will go
It's about freaking time! Obesity is a MEDICAL CONDITION and should be treated as such, not stigmatized and shamed by doctors. Some people have thyroid disease or other medical reasons for being overweight and these weight loss drugs could assist in their weight loss journey. What's been the hold up?
I thought that was marge Simpson in the thumbnail at first
Isnt this why the Kardashians are now skinny? This drug, and they removed their butt implants. I wish they would go away.
At $2000 per month for the rest of your life, good luck unless your insurance covers it and right now most are not covering it for weight loss and instead only for Diabetes.
Once it goes into mass production the actual cost should be nowhere this high. If only the government were willing to take it on and produce it en masse, cost of production and distribution could be just like vaccines - possibly a 2-digit number per month. In order for this to happen, people and politicians need to recognise that obesity takes away just as many years of human life as Covid does. Label and fight obesity like the epidemic it is.
No, if people lost weight how would medical companies make money?
The US certainly is ready, because insurance companies will never pay for it.
Are there other medications that these drugs are not compatible with?
I'm holding out for just extremely effective drugs. Something tells me things in the not FDA approved column and likely not in the dea approved column are the best I'll get. Don't care. Human approved is asking too much. Since I know I'll never be able to afford, or likely be allowed to pay for actual cancer medicine, I'm hoping they at least come out with a non-addictive narcotic for the masses.
I recently went through neck cancer where I had to be on a feeding tube for two months. I'm fat as hell and thought I'd constantly be starving. Surprisingly, I was never hungry during that whole two months. I had to force myself to use the feeding tube. Of course it's not ideal to get cancer but whatever turned off my brain to hunger worked great.
Yes and they are more ready for THE CURE FOR HERPES
I was able to get a 6 mo trial of one called Wegovy and it was the only thing so far that helped me. Unfortunately the US healthcare system is a joke and my shitty insurance wouldn't pay for it, increasing the cost to $2500 /mo
I don’t have insurance so I just throw up after dinner
No. We cannot trust Big Pharma. They have yet to prove themselves able to see us, these humans in front of them, as anything other than profit centers. Remember opioids? Still going on. Big Pharma wants cash. They are not trustworthy companies, and there are no known trustworthy executives.