I’m not sure whether being on any of these meds qualifies as a “diet,” but I didn’t know where else to park this.
Curious to see if any of our HOs are willing to share their experiences. I know several folks who’ve been on these rather successfully.
I don’t have direct experience of using this class of medication, but a colleague I share my office with has been on it and lost a significant amount of weight. He’s pretty open about the experience. He says the most unpleasant side effect is constipation. He thinks this is partly because there is less food going in and partly because of the slowing effect semiglutide has on the gut. As onlookers, we have noticed he barely eats anything at all nowadays. He just doesn’t feel like it. In social situations he just shuffles the bare minimum of food around his plate.
Personally, as someone who loves food, I don’t know if I could live with such a dramatic loss of appetite. Would it cause a lack of joy in living? If my weight was so high that my health was significantly affected, then perhaps I would consider it. I’m lucky I have managed to get near my target weight without needing medication.
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Researchers think semiglutide could also be used to treat alcoholism and other forms of addiction. This is an interesting article on that aspect:
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Yes, the total lack of interest in food would be weird for food lovers like us.
Does your colleague plan to stay on it indefinitely, or is he hoping to manage without once he’s reached a healthier weight?
The effects it seems to have on the desire for alcohol is fascinating. It also seems to curb impulse shopping and gambling.
I just wonder if we’re not going to learn about long-term effects once those can be recognized. I think at this point the drug is simply too new to know.
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I’m your huckleberry I guess. I was put on Ozempic for reasons other than diabetes and being obese. I was heavy…(5’10, 200lbs) and my medical condition would also benefit from the weight loss. Me…I love to cook, love to eat, love to talk food and cooking, have close to 1000 cookbooks in my house, and a medical professional.
You gradually increase your dosage of these medications to avoid side effects, but I found both the side effects and loss of appetite occurs pretty quickly. Because it acts on a very specific receptor in the brain, these are the only effects you feel.
What do you feel? Well it’s not a mood, but you simply dont have an interest in food and eating…it just doesnt cross your mind until you conscientiously remind yourself “hey I gotta eat”. You just dont crave food, so unless someone has other reasons that they compulsively eat, or consume too many calories daily, you’re just not hungry. I read someone describe it as “the food noise” is gone. When you do eat, you get full very quickly, and if you continue you feel really stuffed. So your portions are smaller. It’s effective, without trying, I now weigh around 160, and was 200 a year ago.
Side effects. GLP-1 drugs affect the brain and the GI tract. Some report nausea and vomiting. I had none of that. What I did have is irksome and very inconvenient. I had some reflux esophagitis aka GERD, before all of this, but the Ozempic really made it worse. I am very symptomatic right after I administer the Ozempic, with the effects waning as I approach my next dosage. I’ve had intermittent constipation since starting the Ozempic, but I also attribute it to decrease intake. I simply dont eat as much. When I notice it, I’ll increase my fruit consumption, and required a stool softener a few times this year.
I can tell you that for what it is used for, it is a very effective medication. Psychologically the only difference I notice is that since I dont eat as much, I am not as interested in food as a general subject as well. I still read all of my regular food blogs, and cookbooks, but not as much as I did prior to Ozempic
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I used to be rather fit, 6’4" 215-220 pounds, worked out a lot, weights and cardio. Took being fit for granted.
Covid hit and my gym closed. I found no other workouts and gained and gained weight. Ended up in Afib, just felt horrible. I joined a couple gyms, worked out mildly but kept gaining weight and Afib got worse. I was in Afib over half the time. Ended up at 244 at the end, no muscle tone, felt bad enough that I amended my will and made arrangements. I did not think I was going to die, I figured I would have a stroke first, but figured I ought to cover my bases.
I cannot carry extra weight and be healthy, it was killing me.
I went on a RTW trip and thought there was a real possibility that I would come home in a box so I started pushing my Physicians Assistant, who is useless, to get me to my cardiologist. My cardiologist and my cardio team are great, when I said I was desperate and wanted to try Ozempic they got me the prescription immediately and have been following up with me to see how I am.
I got on Ozempic about 6 months ago, started at 12 clicks/0.3mL (?) and started losing weight, which seemed to help me work out harder, reduced my hunger pangs, made satiation much easier to achieve and the weight just melted off. I do not have my weight log in front of me, but I think I dropped from 244 to 222 or 221 and worked out 14 days straight on my Peloton. Just 20-30 minute workouts, plus walking 6k to 9k steps a day, but I felt better.
My first Ozempic pen ran out after 11 weeks (?) and my weight hit its nadir a week and half later.
Then no Ozempic for two months and I gained back a pound or two, depending on the day.
Got another pen about 8 weeks ago and took my last shot last week, final dose 51 clicks or about 1.3mL?
Side effects were pretty bad acid reflux at night. I went through an extra strength Tums most nights but I never got sick.
I weighed myself the other day and I weighed around 99 or 100 kilos, but that is with a scale I never used before. But that is 218-220 or so, and I am just walking not working out on my Peloton or lifting weights.
I think Ozempic changed my life for the better and I do not think I could have done this without it. The question is, will I be able to maintain my weight, or better yet, continue to lose weight and get to 215? I think I may need another pen when I get home from this trip, but I think between the Ozempic, my Peloton and some weights that I am going to buy, I think I can do it. I can get to a healthier 215 and maintain it. Maybe I will need a pen every year or two, but I can do this. It was NOT covered by my health insurance and it is expensive. But I think it really is worth it. For me.
YMMV.
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Good for you, ZivBnd.
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Thank you, @ZivBnd & @wabi for chiming in! That sounds very much like what I am hearing from my friends, although all of them are still actively on the meds.
Most all of them describe it as never being hungry, and not interested in food at all — so much so that they have to force themselves to eat anything, since that can’t be healthy in the long run. I understand you need a certain calorie deficit to lose weight, of course, but starvation diets can’t be a permanent solution (?).
One has suffered no side effects at all, save for general lack of interest in alcohol, which I suppose is a rather positive side effect. They also occasionally skip a week when they have social engagements where they want to enjoy their food and booze, then just go back on it. Others lower their dose and see if that still works.
But pretty much all of them are nervous about stopping the meds at some point, since most seem to gain everything they lost back. The ones who take it to treat their diabetes seem to have to stay on it indefinitely, and in their case the weight loss is just an extra bonus.
You’d hope your body gets accustomed to smaller portions, but apparently that is not the case.
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I found this (gift) article quite thought-provoking.
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Interesting read, and thank you for sharing. I find it interesting that the purported ‘side effect’ of the weight loss seems to be more on the partner’s end, in that he no longer finds his wife sexually attractive bc her body has changed. Same might happen if the partner had married a slim spouse & suddenly found them less attractive once they gained weight.
Not to mention that the woman is either perimenopausal or fully menopausal, which — as I’m sure is common knowledge — entails a whole lot of hormonal changes that can severely affect libido.
This quote, for example, is rather enlightening in the context: "She hasn’t wanted to have sex for at least five years, she told me, but until last March, she complied: “I felt like it was my responsibility, and I wanted to solve this problem.” She told me that she wants to want to have sex, but currently she does not.
Other partners mention sudden insecurity or the fear their partner might leave them. There is just so much to unpack here (relationship dynamics, for one) that laying the blame solely on the drugs seems rather simplistic.
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Yes, I had Thoughts about several of the things you mentioned.
Having now sat with it for a couple of hours, I guess I am starting to think that it’s like many other life changes - new job, kid goes to college - it disrupts previous, maybe mostly-unconsidered, patterns and that can have unintended / unforeseen consequences. Most of us here (myself included) are obsessed with food; if I became disinterested would I even know myself / have an identity? As I say, thought-provoking…
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I think as long as the obsession doesn’t render one “obese” (I hate the term for many reasons) or leave one with serious health issues, I don’t see anything wrong with it per se — nor should it require taking any of these meds. But yeah, it’s def a huge part of our lives, and not having that would mean replacing it with other enjoyable things.
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Let me add further here. I was started on a GLP-1 medication, Ozempic for heart failure…not diabetes or obesity. I was overweight, but not obese. I still love food, food lore and food culture. I still love to cook and love to eat. Due to the effects of the medication, I cant eat as much, and the physical desire to eat is vastly diminished, no doubt. Before I joined here, like many members here I was active in Chowhound, I still read multiple food blogs daily, and still have a nasty Amazon cookbook ordering habit. I still have a tremendous intellectual curiosity with food, just not the physical appetite. That desire to read, explore, taste different foods is not gone, I just dont have the desire to eat as much.
Vis a vis alcohol…I always enjoyed a cold beer, some wine with dinner or a cocktail while making dinner…or drinks with friends around food. If I had to point a finger at one thing, it would be Covid…yes Covid. I managed to avoid the crud for almost 3 years, but finally got it on fishing trip in Sept of 2023. As a complication of Covid, I contracted a cardiomyopathy, of which one of the treatments of that heart failure is the GLP-1 meds. I have absolutely no taste or desire for alcohol since Covid, and the GLP-1 meds just nailed all of that desire shut. I just dont have any want for it. It’s not that I feel like some repentent sinner, I just have no desire… That is very curious after having been a social drinker for most of my adult life, and certainly enjoying a fine adult beverage as an accompaniment to food, dining and social events, but that part of my “appetites” is just gone. I didnt banish it, or make an effort to quit it…it just disappeared. There’s no emotional attachment to it, nor notions of being a reformed drinker…it’s just not for me now.
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All sorts of drugs, unfortunately. Anxiety meds, antidepressants, etc. Could make some relationships better, could affect intimacy negatively, could impact intimacy even once the patient stops taking the drugs.
So many factors.
I think a gastric bypass can also change relationships.
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Are you aware of side effects of using stool softeners like Miralax? Researchers accidentally discovered an association with dementia. I threw mine out.
I dislike taking meds and discovered Amlodipine was giving me severe constipation. With doctor’s approval. I stopped it (was still taking 40 mg Lisinopril) but knew I should start taking BP readings daily. After about 5 days it shot up really high 219/134 and internet said I should go to emergency so I took a taxi to UCSF. It was a Sunday, very busy, I was there 8 hours, it was about 5 hours until I got a room in emergency.
After several tests, X-Ray, they gave me an Amlodipine and when BP went down some they let me go home.
Now I’m taking ½ a pill daily but am forcing myself to eat an organic apple daily to ward off the constipation.
Since I have diabetes (6.5) and kidney disease I might try Ozempic since they just discovered it slows kidney disease. I don’t think I need to lose more than 20 lbs, I d be able to fit in my Calvin Klein size 12 jeans I’ve saved for years.
The only thing that ever eliminated all hunger for me was Phen-fen, taken off market of course. I have no yearning to drink alcohol, don’t like feeling drunk. (I do use it for cooking)
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PS: if I had not used BP machine, I never would have known it was so high. I had Zero symptoms, felt just fine!
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I was at the dentist 2 years ago for a routine cleaning, and they took my BP. It was 220 over 180 or some insane number. They were about to send me to the ER. I had zero symptoms, too 
Now on a low dose of BP meds & it’s all good. Phew!
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Wow
My dental hygienist never takes my BP, I go to Faculty Practice at University of the Pacific dental school, never students anymore! His oldest patient is 101 and still has most of her teeth, I still have all of mine.
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One would hope that those who take these under the guidance of a medical professional are well-informed about this risk, and pause their meds in time for their procedures.
One would hope…
