Ozempic question

[missfliss]

Hello -
I know there is a long thread on Ozempic and I've been following quietly.

It's something I might consider in the future - but not now ( training for a big sports event and need to fuel properly).

My question is though - what happens when you stop taking it? Does your appetite return to normal ? Or does taking it for a long period help retrain your food / satiety mechanisms to support willpower / education?

I'm totally open to trying but want to understand that if that kind of investment is needed, what else you might need to do to ensure long term success.

I'm overweight by probably 2 stone, reasonable fit, main problems are sugar and emotional / boredom eating and portion sizes.

Any help or experiences welcome.

( successfully lost weight previously but tend to go back to old overeating again - I have a decent knowledge about what i need to eat / good nutrition but seem to lack the control or consistency to avoid overeating)

The diets people tried clearly didn’t work or not enough self discipline.

fat loss is simple but not easy. You just need self discipline and to be consistent. Sadly a lot of people don’t have what it takes so resort to wegovy, Ozempic or stomach bypass or gastric band etc.

im not denying though that some people aren’t more prone to being overweight than others. Also that hunger can possibly go up as ghrelin goes up as lose weight. However, fundamentally you CHOOSE to eat too many calories and not exercise enough or sleep enough which leads to calorie surplus and fat gain.

@SerenadeOfTheSchoolRun
Surely everyone is tempted by the temptations on offer though. What is the difference between someone obese and someone if normal weight on that situation?

Fat has always been seen as a moral issue. Too fat = lazy and don't exercise or try hard enough. Ergo, people who rely on things like Ozempic are just not trying hard enough.

Obesity kills. Simple as that. If your weight has crept up over the years and there is a way of shifting weight even if only for 5 years or so (how.long it took me to reach the top of my obese trajectory) then that's a good thing right?

Obviously providing diabetics can get their medication. Which they can.

Genetics, epigenetics - why do Labrador’s get fat without strict diet control but greyhounds don’t?

It’s all the the Why We Eat (too much) book.
Such a good read.

Yes we can chose to stick to a number of calories but that choice gets increasingly hard as we lose weight.
It’s like we could chose not to drink despite being very thirsty or we could chose to keep a coat on on a hot day.
The feed back loops in our bodies are very powerful and it is really hard to stay far under our set points just as it is easy to lose a bit of weight after a holiday when the weight might have gone a bit over the set point.

Being on Ozempic I would say the difference between someone who is obese and someone not when (for example) being offered cake at work is a similar difference to someone taking and someone not taking Ozempic.
There is less desire to have it in the first place and stopping is easier.
Yes some people will be consciously resisting the desire but other people don’t really have to think about it much because they naturally limit what they want to eat.

And well done to the maybe 1-5% of people who can keep that willpower going for years. Lose a large amount of weight and keep it off. I have great respect for them but this is a tiny minority.

@ThisIsTrifficult thank you for your comment. Also have adhd and have been wondering about that.
My gynie (im not in the Uk) has suggested I could reduce and stay on .25 once I am at a healthy weight. So I’m considering that: but also have PCOS and have always struggled with weight.

You can't compare different breeds of digs to humans

Everyone knows eating too much is going to make us fat. It's a simple truth. We have to take control and say no to things we want. It's nothing like saying no to water when we are thirsty either. What strange comparisons.

I've lost over 4 stone on it and am currently weaning off which I think will take a year.

For me it enabled me to break a lot of unhealthy habits plus change what I cooked.

I've also started exercise which is helping.

As with everything you get out what you put in.

We will have to agree to disagree because I think they are good comparisons. Dogs are all the same species with different genetics. We don’t die because we know when to drink. Our bodies are trying (wrongly) stop us from dying by getting us to eat.

I agree with Legolover.

as for bodies wanting you to eat when you are dietting that is biology from caveman days. You didn’t know when your next meal is so it wants to eat.

water you need to survive.
you ain’t gonna die if you don’t have that cake or that wine though
big difference

@Alaldlccmemsjzja - I am taking Ozempic. Started at a BMI of 35. Now down to 29.

I do feel a bit guilty and I definitely don’t agree with anyone with a small amount to lose taking it. As others have said it is possible to lose 1-2 stone. I know. I have done it many many many times. Then I would boomerang back up.

Ozempic is approved by NICE for treatment of obesity in the UK and Europe. It is just not easy to have it prescribed on the NHS at the moment.

I think for me I feel ok about taking it as it’s not the only drug available for diabetes. As far as I know there are quite a few other drugs that have been around for years and diabetics have been taking them. My dad was. My MIL is. I don’t know why some diabetics are prescribed it on the NHS and not others.

It is an expensive drug for sure and I am very lucky I can afford to buy it privately. I hope that by reducing my weight and reducing the health risks associated with being obese I will ultimately not require expensive intervention by the NHS.

I have been taking Ozempic for almost and year and I up the dose as needed. That is what you are supposed to do. And some people have found that splitting their weekly dose in two is more effective than one dose a week. Not sure why. Along with taking Ozempic I am eating healthy foods. Limiting carbs. I am naturally eating less due to the appetite suppression so I’m making sure that what I am eating is healthy foods.

I have a plan for going forward once I lose the weight I want to. I know that if I gain over a holiday or Christmas or whatever it will be much easier for me to lose that small amount now.

Of course we want to eat more than we should. We can access food and lots of it 24/7. Tonight I could choose to order a curry with pilau rice, poppadoms, onion bhajis etc, or a Chinese with lots of noodles and spring rolls, or a huge pizza and chips. I love double carbs. But I'm not making that choice and will have something much healthier and smaller instead. A take away is just a massive temptation to overeat. #Just say no kids 🤣

Most of the people on the other thread (including me) have tried very hard to lose weight on many occasions and haven't succeeded. I imagine many of us are like me, staring down the barrel of a gun into middle age and seriously worrying about health impacts. For whatever reason, we have all failed using the eat less move more mantra and no-one ever seems to have any advice in that situation except "try harder".

Remember folks, if you're fat you're a lazy person and if you do set about losing weight, make sure you do it in a hair shirt, self-denying, morally approved way 😂

Get a PT instead of spinning your wheels doing the wrong thing
one that monitors the other 23 hrs of the day when you are not in the gym.
save money by cutting back on takeaways. In fact if you can afford Ozempic you can get a PT and get as good results but you know requires effort and healthy lifestyle changes not injections.

@E30 - can you please stop? We have all been there, bought the tshirt and it’s not that bloody easy. As you have been told. Repeatedly. You are obviously very superior to us lazy fat failures but you are not helpful.

You just been offered a solution. Use your money for Ozempic for a PT. You could thank me.

I think I'd rather have a PT than be injecting a drug that isn't without side effects and doesn't teach long term behaviour changes. A PT doesn't have any side effects. If I had the money I'd get one but I have to be content with telling myself no. I really fancy some toast right now, or crumpets, or the bag of sweets I'm saving for my holiday, but I'm not going to have anything because it isn't necessary and I'll be pissed off with myself for going over my daily calories and risking my target weight for holiday. I'm relying on me to suppress my appetite. No one has ever said it's easy but it is possible. People get very defensive when they don't succeed at losing weight. It's understandable. I used to make excuses and tell myself I didn't eat that much, or it's because of x y z but the reality was I was eating too much when I actually logged everything on my fitness pal. I was fooling myself and I felt quite ashamed and embarrassed about it. So I decided I didn't want to get any fatter and have been sticking to a healthier eating plan and lifestyle. Sometimes I'm a bit over thanks to that chip barm yesterday but as long as it balances out over the week it doesn't matter if you have a blip, you just need to keep going and not abandon it because of one blip. Denial and self-flagellation only hurts ourselves.

@E30 - well I have a solution. It’s Ozempic. What is it to you that that is MY decision? It has no bearing on your life whatsoever. So why the fuck are you so invested in it?

Because in America there’s a shortage of meds for diabetics because of people using it for weight loss

im pretty sure it’ll be the same here too soon

but no go ahead, be pissed off that others actually care about meds going to the people who actually need it

Obesity is classed as a disease.🙄

well good for you
let’s hope we have enough to go around

There are other medications for diabetes @Alaldlccmemsjzja

Thanks. One of the few people talking sense on this thread. Congrats on the fat loss. Would recommend some resistance training and keeping protein high about 1g per pound of body weight if you aren’t doing already. Yes fat loss is simple but not easy. People get very defensive. Was listening to a few you tube videos by Steve Siebold Die Fat or Get Tough. He explained a lot of overweight people are deluding themselves. You need will power to get you started then habit and consistency keep you going. Anyone can do it. If I can do it anyone can. You just got to make sure the habits and consistency is there for calorie deficit. Yet people will have a pop and say superior complex this that and the other or I don’t need your advice when clearly what they been doing has not worked and look for excuses like weight set points or hunger hormones. I’m not saying these don’t exist or aren’t true but everyone absolutely has the power to lose fat with diet and exercise. You always get people that get butt hurt about it all. I get it if you tried and failed many times you be frustrated. Get a trainer costs the same or less than Ozempic which is what £200pm.

There’s also other routes for weight loss if you want to play that game

I don’t want to play any game @Alaldlccmemsjzja. I want to be able to do what I feel is best for me without snide and superior bitchy comments from trouble makers. So kindly FTFOTTFSOFAWYGTFOSM. Thank you kindly.