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How long til we're all on Ozempic?

asteriskmag.com

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Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#451
My wife was interested in taking the Ozempic route, and I am not fond of drugs.

We then started intermittent fasting together as a lifestyle, and it's been great. Losing weight while not restricting what we eat and feeling great as our body adapts and doesn't let us overeat. I just wonder about the long-term effects, but I'd rather take this risk than a drug like Ozempic.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#453
post #391
post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My view about obesity has shifted dramatically since Ozempic came out. Before this, I didn't think about it too much (I am not obese myself). I notice now that there is a LOT of judgement, bias(?), around obesity, that people, obese or not, carry with them [1]. I certainly carried that bias, and the reason I noticed it was because Ozempic is literally an external substance that you take that simply makes obesity go a…

Obesity is a side effect of the industrial food production system in advanced economies that is slowly spreading all over the globe. How about alcohol and smoking ? Is that the same as obesity then

> Obesity is a side effect of the industrial food production system in advanced economies that is slowly spreading all over the globe.

Yes, for the first time in the millions of years of existence of humanity and pre-humanity, we consistently have enough to eat.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#454
post #94

My god no. I'm 42 and I've never taken more than the odd painkiller or antibiotic here or there - less than a pill a year on average I'm sure. The last thing in the world I want is to be permanently on some drug that alters how my body works. I hike, snowboard, go to the gym and eat sensibly. That's all the "weight control" I need.

Good for you man. 40% of the US is obese, we need a solution for better health outcomes.

You make it sound like it’s out of your control.

The solution is already there. It’s free. It works for everyone, and even 60% of people in the US are doing it!

The right answer to being healthy is not more drugs.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#455

I've been on tirzepatide (Mounjaro) for 4 months now. I'm down 13% of my body weight. I realized that frequent cannabis consumption interferes with the weight loss, so I've kicked the habit from daily to occasionally on weekends. I've started walking 2-3 miles a day, 2-3 days a week regularly, in addition to eating less and being more motivated to calorie count. All this to say, this drug has been life changing for m…

I think this is such a helpful description of the totality of components working together to spur a positive outcome, which I think, at least in my personal experience, is an under-appreciated aspect of using a drug.

I've sometimes heard it said that it's an unhealthy reliance on a drug in place of curbing behavior, but I think it's important to understand it as, among other things, a stimulant to the activation of beneficial behaviors, which can be as critical as the drug itself.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#456
The American Academy of Pediatrics suggests starting children on weight loss medication as early as 12 years old:

https://publications.aap.org/pediatrics/article/151/2/e20220...

The farmers are subsidized to grow the corn. 10% of SNAP benefits are spent on sugary drinks. Yet we're expected to believe that these children were born w/ the chronic disease of obesity and they'll need to be on these drugs their whole lives.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tirzepatide and Semaglutide are both known to reduce addiction / substance ingestion. I noticed I was just less interested in Alcohol when I started on Wegovy, and didn't realize it's a common effect until much later. I retained most of my disinterest after going off, too, FWIW.

Sounds like a miracle drug that helps with all afflictions that come with our modern life/sedentary living.

The problem with this (and all diet plans/drugs) is the lifestyle that led to problem in the first place.

If you do not change your lifestyle, for real and not just superficially, then you will relapse with a vengeance.

That is to say, be careful with using a drug as a crutch. Sure, it can artificially make you much more interested in not consuming so many calories and/or perhaps being more active than before - but you have to continue that lifestyle after stopping the drug.

Will Ozempic users have developed the personal discipline to prevent themselves from relapse without the drug - or will they forever be on a the yo-yo of weight gain/loss?

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#458
post #269
post #229

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you have an open mind, I'd like to assign you some homework if you like. Take a look around r/zepbound and count the following: 1. Posts from folks who diet+exercise, or who have tried diet/exercise and nothing's worked so they then turned to Zepbound ("excited to hit the gym," "my diet is finally starting to work with Zepbound" and similar) 2. Posts from folks who haven't tried diet/exercise and turned to Zepboun…

I'm not sure how this applies to my comment. I'm not saying anything about self control. I'm not against individuals taking GLP-1s. But, if we're at a point where we're all on drugs to treat lifestyle diseases, we should at least recognize that these lifestyles are largely chosen for us , and we should consider that doing something about that will reap us the benefits we're after.

> these lifestyles are largely chosen for us

>> Unfortunately, I have to drive everywhere, work too many hours to have free time for recreation and have no idea which government subsidy is going to help big ag likely at the expense of my health.

At what point do people stop letting the choice being largely "made" for them and choose something else? The gov subsidy has nothing to do with my personal health choices. My grocery store has the same fresh fruits & vegetable sections grocery stores in Europe have. I am lucky to live in a state whose dominate grocery store sources regional meats & produce, sells their own brand of food made fully or mostly with ingredients I can pronounce, and has complete whole food prepared meals for 1-2 people that take 25mins in the oven. [for the same price as fast food]

It's part of the reason I choose not to move. Other choices are a standing desk with a walking pad, which makes it trivial to walk 3-4+ miles a day. I could make more money studying leetcode and living in "elite" tech valley, or hustling for more work instead of choosing myself over the large house in swank community that society has picked as what is "success" for me. Eventually I chose to take less of what "they" told me to choose; at some point we have to realize the only person that is going to live with our choices is ourself. If GLP-1s is needed to help people get back or get to that point of realization, then maybe it's a blessing to undo all the ills we(society made up of our neighbors) all contributed to creating.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#459
post #94

My god no. I'm 42 and I've never taken more than the odd painkiller or antibiotic here or there - less than a pill a year on average I'm sure. The last thing in the world I want is to be permanently on some drug that alters how my body works. I hike, snowboard, go to the gym and eat sensibly. That's all the "weight control" I need.

Do you drink coffee or tea?

Coffee really affects me, so I gave it up. I drink decaf tea these days.

Why do you ask?

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#460

One thing that it seems we are just starting to talk about with these drugs is the associated muscle and bone density loss. I'm concerned that this generation of GLP-1 early adopters will wind up more frail and suffer a lower quality of life in old age as a result.

My program strongly recommends some form of muscle training (pushups/weights/etc) as they see improvements from muscle development for weight loss and to counteract the muscle loss from losing weight.

The fact remains that having to carry around 50+ extra pounds of fat requires more muscle. When that requirement goes away so does your need for that musculature.

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