If certain foods are wrapped in foil, hard to see, I’m not as likely to go after it. I can ignore a dessert menu but seeing a dessert trolley is a different story.
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Better living through chemistry.
A good commentary
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Yes, bingo, and that’s why I’ll never take these drugs if I have an alternative.
I’m not giving up my appetite and appreciation for food. A principal joy would be all but gone. Honestly, I’d rather starve than become an eat-to-live.
I have a colleague who, due to an esophageal condition, can now only eat a couple tablespoons of food at a time. She was formerly a great and imaginative cook and host. But she’s lost all desire to cook–for anyone. Her husband is paying the price along with her.
Hopefully, the future will give us healthier ways to manage satiety without killing appetite and appreciation.
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I don’t see my friends suffering terribly, TBH, but most folks on these drugs also often take them for other health reasons like diabetes, not just weight-loss.
And they can still appreciate good food — just in much smaller amounts. A lot of them seem to also really appreciate the lack of desire for drinking.
But no solution is for everyone, of course.
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A side effect of those drugs is increased nausea and vomiting if alcohol is consumed. Negative reinforcement works.
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From what I hear, there isn’t much of a desire to ingest alcohol, regardless of the possible consequences. The buzz or taste or what have you seems less attractive.
It’s really fascinating how this drug affects such a variety of things.
That’s funny.
And what happens when they stop taking it? Or is it for a lifetime?
For the diabetics I think it’s a lifetime commitment, and for anyone else studies seem to show that the weight returns fairly quickly once people stop taking it.
I thought some users here who’ve been on these drugs had reported on that (?).
If it’s like every other super fast diet, the weight not only comes back, but the average dieter adds even more.
These drugs only make sense to me if the diabetes patient cannot manage the disease and its markers by nutrient modification and exercise. Cannot, not will not.
A certain person close to me had a gastric bypass because she was morbidly obese and would not otherwise change her habits. She couldn’t even change her eating choices or volumes post-op, so shes now as obese as before, yet is physiologically unable to digest many foods that could’ve helped her dodge diabetes.
I think these drugs are too convenient, too easy a way out for many people. With unknown risks for long-term health.
Doctors describing Ozembic patients always also push for life style changes (if a patient is willing to commit to those to truly improve their health is a different story). Same with weight loss through GLP1 agonist which is only a long term solution if it includes life style changes.
Nevermind
While we certainly don’t know yet about long-term risks, it has helped a tremendous number of people, who otherwise would not have been able to get their diabetes or overweight or heart issues in check.
I’m not sure blaming them for using these meds to help them on their way is constructive. What does “too convenient” or “too easy” in this context even mean? Are you saying they should have to work harder for success?
Or is the alternative that they die of diabetes or develop other health issues because of their weight?
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Suicidal ideation has been observed with GLP-1 agonists but it’s not been shown to be causal. Too early to tell.
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I had an acquaintance whose mother had gastric by-pass surgery. Initially the mother lost all of this weight, but slowly gained it all back, plus some.
I couldn’t understand how this happened, as I thought the doctor decreased the size of the stomach to something very small. I guess the mother just ate constantly and kept filling up the tiny stomach?? I really had a hard time wrapping my brain around how she was able to gain the weight back.
Yes, she must have kept eating small amounts. I learned that drinking sodas makes your stomach expand. With a bigger stomach you get hungrier and can eat more. Maybe after the operation she drank sodas, thus enlarging her stomach.
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After Covid hit I gained around 25 pounds and spent a couple years in cardio afib from 2022 until late 2024. My heart was beating at over 200 beats per minute more than 50% of the time for a couple years. This happened to my Mom before she died a few years ago so it got my attention. I had worked out one way or another since I was a kid but by 2020 all my exercising was in a gym. Covid closed the gyms and I slowly/steadily went from 218 to 244 over the course of 4 years. I started working out again, tried to limit food intake, but I kept gaining weight because I ate way too much. Doc drugged me with various drugs, (I hated that), he shocked my heart trying to get me out of afib, everything failed over and over and my weight slowly went up.
My cardiologist finally prescribed Ozempic in July 2024 and I started it in August and my appetite just dropped off. and the weight began to slowly melt off. I went off it when the pen ran out, weight dropped to 229 and got shocked again (successfully this time, no more afib!!) got another pen in November, dropped to 222.8 shortly thereafter. Took my pen on my last trip and it ran out after a couple weeks but I felt good and did not feel like I was gaining too much weight. 2 months after my last pen ran out I got home and weighed myself, I was up to 225.8. So I was gaining again, slowly. So I got another pen this week. We will see.
Your mileage may vary, but for me Ozempic seems to really help. I have acid reflux when I am using the pen but Tums takes care of that. My appetite is huge normally. I love to eat but on the pen I have a light breakfast at noon, a moderate meal at 5 or 6, and a small snack at 9pm. I used to eat 4 large’ish meals a day. I love steak, pizza, wings, stews, chili, bacon, chicken, but on the pen I like it in smaller amounts. I used 2 pens in 7 months and I may end up using a pen every 3 months until I get my workouts elevated to the point where I do not need them. Or I may become dependent on the pen. We will see.
But for me, this has been transformational. I have lost a lot of the weight that was dragging me down and I have been out of afib for almost 4 months after 2+ years of feeling like my heart was just going to burst out of my chest.
I think Ozempic is a tool. It can be used well or poorly. And I am aware that it will be easy for me to rely on it too much. So I am trying to use it as little as possible.
We will see.
Sorry for the long post.
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It means, in many cases, taking a pill or surgery as a reflexive first , maybe only solution. For example (self-criticism here), if I’m overweight and putting myself into Metabolic Syndrome, sleep apnea, hypertension and gout by poor lifestyle choices, do I pop a pill or change choices?
A colorectal surgeon once offered me a tempting option: If he resected a specific 2-inch length of my small intestine, he could guarantee that I would never develop diabetes. So it wouldn’t matter (in that way, anyway) what I ate or drank. I chose a different direction.
