Ozempic, GLP-1 and other modern diabetes / weight loss medications

[FriendlySpartan]

My biggest concern with the TRT is getting it from places outside your normal PCP. Like the place that Williams (and now Hassell) promote on their podcasts. If you think you have a problem, just go talk to your doctor. Or get a referral to an endocrinologist. I also don't think people should be going around their doctor for GLP-1s. There is too much sketchy **** in the health and wellness space, being sold by people whose only goal is to make money. Your PCP is legally bound to look out for your best interests.

How many people do the clinics turn away for having enough T? Probably very few. They'll titrate your levels up to the top of the normal range or until you start having acute side effects. Do they take a history? Do they check other markers to know that the top of the range is right for you? There are places that do all this stuff remotely/by mail. I get that's efficient, but when it comes to my health I want to know I can see that person face-to-face.

With TRT it’s also usually (not always) a urologist doing the prescribing which can be hard for certain people to access and there can be very long wait times. As an example the local large urology group by me has about a 2 month wait time and you aren’t going to get a script usually on the first visit unless you have a recent test (possibly 2) showing your current levels which your PCP would have to specially order.

Totally agree on getting it from a reputable physician over some weird internet options but often a combination approach can work well from people where the script and meds are done online and the monitoring/follow up is done in person.

That being said going on TRT sometimes can take some dialing in and that’s where having a local established provider is best

 

[Omaha Cy]

My wife has lost 75-80 lbs with Zepbound over maybe a year and some change. She's had a severe chronic illness for decades and can't exercise. I read a post earlier in the tread with the phrase "food noise". She has mentioned that.

The cons.... she has really bad stomach pains for 2-3 days each time. She also had her gallbladder removed, which is a semi common issues with ZB.

We were buying the epi pen type administer thingy, but that was like $550 a month. Now we get the little bottle of it and I have to put it in a syringe and inject which im not a fan off, but its like $125 less a month. Maybe even more savings? Not sure.

Another deal is that things on her chart are in the normal range now. Cholestrol, for example and some other stuff. Can't remember exactly.

With her illness, she generally doesn't ever feel well anyways, so Zepbound just amplifies all that. Lots of stomach pains and nausea. We're stuck on this hellscape of a planet for now, so its the best that we can do. She would certainly do it all over again.

 

[jcf817]

Problem with this is people who are generaly on a GLP1 is they were lazy to start and didn't work out. To think they are suddenly going to start working out is a little bit strange. Most likely if they were doing strength training they would not have to go this route. I do calorie drop to lose weight but I slam two Protein drinks a day. One in the morning and one post workout. Just to make sure I am not losing muscle and losing fat. I am at the age where I am not trying to put on more muscle. I don't need gains, I need to stay where I am on muscle. Most people on GLP1 are not going to suddenly do some sort of workout. They are going to sit back, watch TV and lose fat because they have no appetite. Most likely they will be drained of a lot of energy as well from not getting the Nutrients and Protein they should be getting.

How is it that people like you never bother to educate yourselves?

 

[Drew0311]

How is it that people like you never bother to educate yourselves?

Just because I don't share the same opinion as you does not mean I am not educated. That is a terrible argument to make. It's actually a lazy argument instead of debating your point like the others have done. I am 100 percent educated in this. I used to work as a personal trainer. I also investigate every thing I put in my body. I also have seen who shows up and works out at the gym and who is there for a month before they quit as I worked at the gym. I also can go to Mcdonalds (Which I don't eat at) and see who is the prime customer at those places. So it's not hard to see that people who are obese are not eating the same nutritional value items as people who are in shape and trying to keep weight down naturally. It's even easy to walk around Hy Vee or Fareway and see what people who are like me and eating healthy are eating compared to bigger and fatter folks. Also when I am out hiking on trails it's easy to see who is out there getting after it. So don't tell me to Educate myself. That is insane and quite frankly a lazy start to debate.

 

[bluestarcyclone]

Just because I don't share the same opinion as you does not mean I am not educated. That is a terrible argument to make. It's actually a lazy argument instead of debating your point like the others have done. I am 100 percent educated in this. I used to work as a personal trainer. I also investigate every thing I put in my body. I also have seen who shows up and works out at the gym and who is there for a month before they quit as I worked at the gym. I also can go to Mcdonalds (Which I don't eat at) and see who is the prime customer at those places. So it's not hard to see that people who are obese are not eating the same nutritional value items as people who are in shape and trying to keep weight down naturally. It's even easy to walk around Hy Vee or Fareway and see what people who are like me and eating healthy are eating compared to bigger and fatter folks. Also when I am out hiking on trails it's easy to see who is out there getting after it. So don't tell me to Educate myself. That is insane and quite frankly a lazy start to debate.

Your "opinion" is an uneducated opinion, and you seem to have a lot of those.

 

[Drew0311]

Your "opinion" is an uneducated opinion, and you seem to have a lot of those.

It;s a very educated opinion. Just because you don't like it does not make it wrong.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

It;s a very educated opinion. Just because you don't like it does not make it wrong.

I’d counter to a point and say that it’s an anecdotal opinion from your own biased experiences, not necessarily an educated opinion.

Ya gotta lot of confirmation bias in this post as well as an extremely limited sample size of the people you are observing and choose to remember.

 

[Drew0311]

I’d counter to a point and say that it’s an anecdotal opinion from your own biased experiences, not necessarily an educated opinion.

Ya gotta lot of confirmation bias in this post as well as an extremely limited sample size of the people you are observing and choose to remember.

I do understand there are outliers. However, the majority of the problem is failure to eat correctly and failure to train. Nobody can tell me that if you don't have an outlier, those two things will not shed weight and make you healthier.

 

[3TrueFans]

I swear half this country got their degree in Do My Own Research at Anecdotal Evidence State College.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I do understand there are outliers. However, the majority of the problem is failure to eat correctly and failure to train. Nobody can tell me that if you don't have an outlier, those two things will not shed weight and make you healthier.

Oh for sure, improving your diet and exercising is great for everyone, I totally get that. The food industry makes that incredibly difficult and some people have this “food noise” that is extremely hard to overcome and our society has really weird food habits brought on from an old era of more food insecurity.

The big issue for many is that they make some diet changes, they start getting some exercise in but the results are extremely minor or progress is very slow and they get discouraged/give up or just life happens and it becomes harder to stay in a balance.

Again your not wrong with this statement above (was pushing back a bit on your other statement) but it’s also kinda existing in a vacuum and for some people they have put in the work and their body just doesn’t respond and it that way the medication can help.

 

[MeowingCows]

I swear half this country got their degree in Do My Own Research at Anecdotal Evidence State College.

More than half. Minor degree in Confirmation Bias Studies, also. Whole lot of "I do [long list of abnormal things] easily, so everyone else is able to just like I do without any other conflicts whatsoever".

 

[Drew0311]

Oh for sure, improving your diet and exercising is great for everyone, I totally get that. The food industry makes that incredibly difficult and some people have this “food noise” that is extremely hard to overcome and our society has really weird food habits brought on from an old era of more food insecurity.

The big issue for many is that they make some diet changes, they start getting some exercise in but the results are extremely minor or progress is very slow and they get discouraged/give up or just life happens and it becomes harder to stay in a balance.

Again your not wrong with this statement above (was pushing back a bit on your other statement) but it’s also kinda existing in a vacuum and for some people they have put in the work and their body just doesn’t respond and it that way the medication can help.

I come on pretty strong on this because I am a naturally fat guy. I have to work extremely hard to keep my weight under control. I have to work out constantly and eat right. When everyone else is eating 2 and 3 tacos, I am eating one taco. I want a few more but I know myself and it sucks. I don't want to work out at lunch. i want to sit on the couch and watch TV. I force myself to do it. It's being accountable. I weight 275 in High school. I weigh about 215 now and have fluctuated from 210 to 2025 for the last 30 years. So it's not like I am Mr Motabolism and naturally a skinny guy making fun of fat people. I am a person that if I go off the rails for a month Ill gain 25 pounds easily. It's happened before. I am also not making fun of fat people and think it's great they have drugs that can help them.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I come on pretty strong on this because I am a naturally fat guy. I have to work extremely hard to keep my weight under control. I have to work out constantly and eat right. When everyone else is eating 2 and 3 tacos, I am eating one taco. I want a few more but I know myself and it sucks. I don't want to work out at lunch. i want to sit on the couch and watch TV. I force myself to do it. It's being accountable. I weight 275 in High school. I weigh about 215 now and have fluctuated from 210 to 2025 for the last 30 years. So it's not like I am Mr Motabolism and naturally a skinny guy making fun of fat people. I am a person that if I go off the rails for a month Ill gain 25 pounds easily. It's happened before. I am also not making fun of fat people and think it's great they have drugs that can help them.

I totally get that and could tell from your posts you had a personal stake in it just didn’t know exactly what that stake is.

Also wanted to say good for you for recognizing what was happening, making some life changes around it and seeing some positive success.

 

[FinalFourCy]

It;s a very educated opinion. Just because you don't like it does not make it wrong.

Right, it is not disputable American society is generally lacking in doing what is needed to avoid being overweight/obese. Hardly ground breaking that poor habits are a huge factor in why obesity rates have skyrocketed.

Insidiously, we don’t exercise enough. We make poor food decisions. Until we’re fat, and agency in weight management is actually lost.

Of course, there are exceptions. We all have those anecdotes. And advances have made it easier to be inactive than previous times. A lot of money goes into making food that is addictive. We’ll likely look back and increase the impact from endocrinological disruptions from things like forever chemicals.

 

[Mr.G.Spot]

I come on pretty strong on this because I am a naturally fat guy. I have to work extremely hard to keep my weight under control. I have to work out constantly and eat right. When everyone else is eating 2 and 3 tacos, I am eating one taco. I want a few more but I know myself and it sucks. I don't want to work out at lunch. i want to sit on the couch and watch TV. I force myself to do it. It's being accountable. I weight 275 in High school. I weigh about 215 now and have fluctuated from 210 to 2025 for the last 30 years. So it's not like I am Mr Motabolism and naturally a skinny guy making fun of fat people. I am a person that if I go off the rails for a month Ill gain 25 pounds easily. It's happened before. I am also not making fun of fat people and think it's great they have drugs that can help them.

What answer to give the people that eat and exercise like you do and their blood sugar is 150? Their cholesterol is 300? I have glucogenesis. When I fast and don't eat carbs is when my blood sugar is at its highest.

GLP-1s have taken my fasting blood sugar from 130 to 85. 11% weight loss and my HDL increase is from 37 to 50. Cholesterol cut in half and below 100. No diet and exercise ever gave me these numbers.

It sounds like you work your ass off to keep your weight down, but you are fortunate that your body responds to these activities.

 

[MeowingCows]

I come on pretty strong on this because I am a naturally fat guy. I have to work extremely hard to keep my weight under control. I have to work out constantly and eat right. When everyone else is eating 2 and 3 tacos, I am eating one taco. I want a few more but I know myself and it sucks. I don't want to work out at lunch. i want to sit on the couch and watch TV. I force myself to do it. It's being accountable. I weight 275 in High school. I weigh about 215 now and have fluctuated from 210 to 2025 for the last 30 years. So it's not like I am Mr Motabolism and naturally a skinny guy making fun of fat people. I am a person that if I go off the rails for a month Ill gain 25 pounds easily. It's happened before. I am also not making fun of fat people and think it's great they have drugs that can help them.

Problem with this is people who are generaly on a GLP1 is they were lazy to start and didn't work out. To think they are suddenly going to start working out is a little bit strange. Most likely if they were doing strength training they would not have to go this route. I do calorie drop to lose weight but I slam two Protein drinks a day. One in the morning and one post workout. Just to make sure I am not losing muscle and losing fat. I am at the age where I am not trying to put on more muscle. I don't need gains, I need to stay where I am on muscle. Most people on GLP1 are not going to suddenly do some sort of workout. They are going to sit back, watch TV and lose fat because they have no appetite. Most likely they will be drained of a lot of energy as well from not getting the Nutrients and Protein they should be getting.

It's interesting to me that you seem to be open to chastise people using GLP-1s, but you yourself would make a good candidate for one as someone who struggles primarily with appetite. That's exactly what these medications directly address. They help limit food intake. Just pointing out the dichotomy here, unless there's more context I missed earlier.

 

[Drew0311]

It's interesting to me that you seem to be open to chastise people using GLP-1s, but you yourself would make a good candidate for one as someone who struggles primarily with appetite. That's exactly what these medications directly address. They help limit food intake. Just pointing out the dichotomy here, unless there's more context I missed earlier.

I am 100 percent not open chastising people for using it. I am saying people who use to are not suddenly going to start working out and trying to put on muscle.

 

[Drew0311]

What answer to give the people that eat and exercise like you do and their blood sugar is 150? Their cholesterol is 300? I have glucogenesis. When I fast and don't eat carbs is when my blood sugar is at its highest.

GLP-1s have taken my fasting blood sugar from 130 to 85. 11% weight loss and my HDL increase is from 37 to 50. Cholesterol cut in half and below 100. No diet and exercise ever gave me these numbers.

It sounds like you work your ass off to keep your weight down, but you are fortunate that your body responds to these activities.

The problem is you all are not reading what I am saying. I am down for GLP1 for anyone who wants to use it. Just because I said people using it generally are not going to start working out does not mean I don't think it's a great thing for them. Nowhere have I said that. Maybe when this thread started in 2024 I was against it a little bit but that was before any research really had been posted on long term effects. Even then I assume I said but hey it's better than dying from heart disease. However, I have not said using it is a bad thing

 

[Nader_uggghhh]

Something important to keep in mind is that consistency wins over time, both good and bad. It isn't hard to unintentionally gain 1 pound per month over a period of years. Someone like that might feel lazy and worthless when they're pretty close to the margins.
It's really hard for people to put that into action the other direction. Almost no one is happy losing a pound per month but that's what healthy weight loss/discipline looks like. The margins are small and time wins.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I am 100 percent not open chastising people for using it. I am saying people who use to are not suddenly going to start working out and trying to put on muscle.

And I’m saying that this is an incorrect or anecdotal view based on your own observations. It isn’t universal one way or another but there are a whole lot of people who do start exercising, maybe not to gain muscle (although they most likely will) but more to not lose muscle as drastically

GLP-1’s are having big impacts on anxiety, depression and other additive behavior in many. When people start to lose weight their confidence often increases, they feel more comfortable exercising and it often will be less of a struggle.

Will plenty of people ignore the recommendations and never step foot in the gym, of course. But many will either start or continue going to the gym on a GLP-1