*** OFFICIAL *** PFA Ozempic/Wegovy/Etc Thread

[Dan Druff]

At the 2023 WSOP, Andrew Barber approached me in the hallway and told me he thought I should change my mind about Ozempic. That's because I had recently tweeted that, while using Ozempic was tempting, I decided I didn't want to take on the risk and side-effects it might bring.

Had a skinny or fit guy approached me and lectured about Ozempic, I would have been insulted, but this wasn't the case here. Barber was about the same height and weight as me, so his advice was coming from a good place. Indeed, he told me he was about to start it himself, and suggested I do so as well.

"I understand and can appreciate your concerns about the danger of using it," he said, "But there's also a danger of not using it and staying at this weight."

He's about a decade younger than me, so the urgency for him to use it was less. But I was 51 at the time, and indeed he made a good point. Being tall and heavy doesn't usually lead to a long life, and I'm way past the point to where I can say "I'll deal with this later."

Unfortunately, I've gained weight at various times over the past 4+ years due to my on-and-off foot problems which sometimes restrict my activity level. At age 54, the time really is now that I need to lose weight.

I see that there is a Wegovy pill, but it's only been available for 2 weeks. Has anyone taken it?

If not, has anyone taken any of that class of drug to lose weight? If so, how did it go? Did you lose a lot? Did you start rapidly gaining after getting off of it? What were the side effects like?

I feel like exercising my way out of this isn't going to work, between the on-and-off foot issues, the declined metabolism at my age, and the 45 pounds I want to lose. I will feel like a dumbass if I have a heart attack in my 50s, and my last thought is how stupid I was not to have taken one of these drugs to knock the weight off. Unfortunately, tall and heavy men are at the greatest risk for a middle aged heart attack.

Amazingly I can still do fairly tough hikes for several miles, and I can still play sports like tennis, basketball, and baseball, but only when my foot isn't hurting.

No trolling in this thread. Only post if you have something useful to add.

[FNdonkey]

I'm pretty interested in this post. I was heads up at a WSOP circuit event yesterday and a buddy took a picture and sent it to me. Look I knew I've gotten fat, but I always thought of myself as a skinny fat guy. I couldn't believe how bad I looked. I've got some knee, ankle, and hip pain on the right side that I'm sure the weight isn't helping. I've thought about the idea occasionally but I'm ready, especially if the pill forms available.

[sonatine]

i got cleared for wegovy pills and the next day i started seeing articles about how the second you go off GLPs you are pretty much guaranteed to put all the weight back on, its a 100% lifetime commitment is how the data looks.

also started hearing first person testimonials about people who went on them, slimmed down, decided they were a new person and blew up their entire old lives / dumped their husbands (amy schumer syndrome) and went off them eventually and gained every fucking pound back within 2 months.

oprah said she went through the exact same thing with the weight coming roaring back. its pretty much a fully guaranteed thing according to the numbers.

im actually losing weight without them these days so im going to pass.

reminds me of the lapband craze.

im open minded about it and might reconsider if the hysteria is just that and nothing more. or if i hit a wall with my current weight loss. but honestly its not the miracle cure people seem to think it is so far.

btw so many fucking people are doing it that they have syringe disposal boxes in fucking airport bathrooms now.

[splitthis]

It’s Pavlov’s theory for cash.

Side effects are hidden from gen pop and there are many.

Unless you have serious health issues like diabetes or severe obesity, I wouldn’t. It’s too new.

Drug commercials need to be eliminated from advertising.

[BCR]

i got cleared for wegovy pills and the next day i started seeing articles about how the second you go off GLPs you are pretty much guaranteed to put all the weight back on, its a 100% lifetime commitment is how the data looks.

also started hearing first person testimonials about people who went on them, slimmed down, decided they were a new person and blew up their entire old lives / dumped their husbands (amy schumer syndrome) and went off them eventually and gained every fucking pound back within 2 months.

oprah said she went through the exact same thing with the weight coming roaring back. its pretty much a fully guaranteed thing according to the numbers.

im actually losing weight without them these days so im going to pass.

reminds me of the lapband craze.

im open minded about it and might reconsider if the hysteria is just that and nothing more. or if i hit a wall with my current weight loss. but honestly its not the miracle cure people seem to think it is so far.

btw so many fucking people are doing it that they have syringe disposal boxes in fucking airport bathrooms now.

Have a friend who took it and lost approx 70lbs. Quickly. Probably 4 months even though he took it for 6. Pretty much leveled out last two months. Quit the script. Stayed right there for over a year and now has went up about 7lbs. If it continues he will do another maintenance dose. That’s not a horrible bounce back at all and if he has to do another round no biggie.

It’s hard to tell. The thing I have noticed is the fatter someone is, they become depressed and don’t do as much. So they lose a bunch of weight and all of a sudden are more social, dating more, etc. All of that increased social activity is rife with bad dieting choices. I have a feeling a lot of the bounce back is just that. A return to poor choices and being out late and eating. If you maintain healthy diet I think you can mitigate it a lot. I mean most people who need to lose 50-75 pounds would take having to do a maintenance does again for 3 months every couple years. It’s also quite cheap now.


I wouldn’t take pills if I were you Druff. Pills are always less effective and come with more risk. It’s a sub q shot so it isn’t hard.

[Texter]

Doesn’t Bart Hanson do wegovy, talk to him.

Easy to tell at work who is them, seems like one day they are fat next day thin….crazy.

Try diet and exercise first…actually track your calories for a couple weeks….see if you can cut some long hanging calories.

[sonatine]

i got cleared for wegovy pills and the next day i started seeing articles about how the second you go off GLPs you are pretty much guaranteed to put all the weight back on, its a 100% lifetime commitment is how the data looks.

also started hearing first person testimonials about people who went on them, slimmed down, decided they were a new person and blew up their entire old lives / dumped their husbands (amy schumer syndrome) and went off them eventually and gained every fucking pound back within 2 months.

oprah said she went through the exact same thing with the weight coming roaring back. its pretty much a fully guaranteed thing according to the numbers.

im actually losing weight without them these days so im going to pass.

reminds me of the lapband craze.

im open minded about it and might reconsider if the hysteria is just that and nothing more. or if i hit a wall with my current weight loss. but honestly its not the miracle cure people seem to think it is so far.

btw so many fucking people are doing it that they have syringe disposal boxes in fucking airport bathrooms now.

Have a friend who took it and lost approx 70lbs. Quickly. Probably 4 months even though he took it for 6. Pretty much leveled out last two months. Quit the script. Stayed right there for over a year and now has went up about 7lbs. If it continues he will do another maintenance dose. That’s not a horrible bounce back at all and if he has to do another round no biggie.

It’s hard to tell. The thing I have noticed is the fatter someone is, they become depressed and don’t do as much. So they lose a bunch of weight and all of a sudden are more social, dating more, etc. All of that increased social activity is rife with bad dieting choices. I have a feeling a lot of the bounce back is just that. A return to poor choices and being out late and eating. If you maintain healthy diet I think you can mitigate it a lot. I mean most people who need to lose 50-75 pounds would take having to do a maintenance does again for 3 months every couple years. It’s also quite cheap now.


I wouldn’t take pills if I were you Druff. Pills are always less effective and come with more risk. It’s a sub q shot so it isn’t hard.

good data here, thank you for this.


the secret sauce is that they inhibit compulsive/impulsive behavior. so a lot of people are hopping on the train and suddenly reporting that they dont drink every day and/or stopped gambling. and a big part of the recoil when they decide to enjoy their new self is that all those urges come rushing back but even more powerful since defenses are down.

[SrslySirius]

I've been taking Retatrutide for about a month. I'm down 17 lbs. No side effects, feeling great.

AMA

[Kalam]

My understanding is all they do is restrict your appetite. So if you are just disciplined and have sufficient will power and eat less you can lose the weight without taking the pills. Seems like a better solution to just do it au natural.

As an aside, there was a recent article in Daily Mail documenting a phenomenon they called "Ozempic penis," where basically the external part of your penis increases in size as you lose belly fat. So extra motivation for all you fatties I guess.

FWIW, I have been able to maintain the same weight (~175 lbs) for about 15 years, but I definitely have had to decrease my eating over time as my metabolism has naturally slowed. At this point I am basically fasting 16 hours/day (8pm-12pm next day) and only eat 1 full meal/day. Sucks, but it is what it is. Maybe some day I will start taking testosterone to dial back the clock and have a better metabolism.

[Sheesfaced]

I've been taking Retatrutide for about a month. I'm down 17 lbs. No side effects, feeling great.

AMA

Have a good friend who did the retatrutide trial and he lost about 70lbs and has kept it off and had minimal side effects. Think he had some reflux and lower libido but that’s pretty much it. But he’s also been working out a ton so I’m sure that’s helped a lot.

Overall I know a shit ton of people that have used these drugs and it’s craziest how effective they’ve been. I’ve not noticed a single person that has gained the weight back but I guess it’s still early days in most cases.

I think generally speaking though people that tend to have their shit together in most other areas of their lives are more likely to be disciplined and keep the weight off versus your average sloppy over weight American.

[Tellafriend]

I've been taking Retatrutide for about a month. I'm down 17 lbs. No side effects, feeling great.

AMA

if you don't mind, why would someone with your weight need to take an "experimental" drug when there are others already out there? if you were 400 pounds, sure, take whatever will help. tia.

[Tellafriend]

the secret sauce is that they inhibit compulsive/impulsive behavior. so a lot of people are hopping on the train and suddenly reporting that they dont drink every day and/or stopped gambling. and a big part of the recoil when they decide to enjoy their new self is that all those urges come rushing back but even more powerful since defenses are down.

i have family and friends on the Lilly drug, and they have ALL lost a lot of weight. None have regrets (so far). But i write to note both imperially and from a financial standpoint (see Elon thread where i mentioned this some time ago), that most of the folks i know on them have concurrently decreased their alcohol intake, some even quitting altogether. When these drugs get ok'd for that, the scripts will go up even more. LLY for the long term win. I suspect i recommended it in the 400-500s. Now it's one of like 10 trillion dollar companies in the world. They are wisely using this money to buy other drug companies and expand, etc. It seems to be a well guided company. It's hard to buy above 1000 though and glad i don't have to think about it.

this stuff will either end up in our drinking water or will cause to become zombies just like in the movie Legend!

[SrslySirius]

if you don't mind, why would someone with your weight need to take an "experimental" drug when there are others already out there? if you were 400 pounds, sure, take whatever will help. tia.

I am 6'0, so being 220-225 puts me in the obese category, believe it or not. By a hair.

Perhaps I could have gone to my GP and just asked for semaglutide (Ozempic/Wegovy). But I anticipated getting a lot of pushback and just didn't feel like dealing with all that.

When looking into grey market suppliers, I found some very active communities of people who review them and even send the product to local labs to test for purity. Through this I found a highly reputable seller.

As a bonus, doing it this way is incredibly cheap. A full year supply cost me about $200.

I could have still just bought semaglutide through this route, but upon doing research on retatrutide I felt reasonably comfortable trying it out. It's basically the same thing, except it targets one additional receptor (glucagon).

It is currently in phase 3 of FDA clinical trials by Eli Lily. The results of these trials are publicly available, and the reported side effects are similar to semaglutide. It will very likely be approved and come to market in the US in 2027.

[SrslySirius]

the secret sauce is that they inhibit compulsive/impulsive behavior. so a lot of people are hopping on the train and suddenly reporting that they dont drink every day and/or stopped gambling. and a big part of the recoil when they decide to enjoy their new self is that all those urges come rushing back but even more powerful since defenses are down.

I have a problem with moderating alcohol. I drink very seldom, but when I do, I tend to binge and get trashed. It's always been difficult to stop at 2 or 3 drinks.

When taking GLP-1 agonists, however, I have no choice. Not only am I physically incapable of binge drinking, I no longer feel that desire to. My craving for certain types of foods has changed too. I no longer have those moods where I strongly desire carbs or sweets, I'm perfectly content to mainly eat protein rich meals and healthy stuff. This probably has something to do with insulin regulation

[VaughnP]

These drugs are not new. When I was kid I remember my grandfather explaining to me that one of his doctors had introduced him to a new drug to treat his type 2 diabetes. He explained how it was derived from Gila monster saliva.

The first version of this he took was Byetta (exenatide). This was at least 20 years ago - I thought he was trolling me initially about the lizard saliva, but it was true and these turned out to be incredibly effective for people with manageable diabetes. I actually remember him complaining that the drug made him not want to eat anything even back then.

Exenatide was the first in the class of these GLP-1 agonists to be made available. I think after a few decades of development and actual use we have a pretty good understanding of the long term side effects.

Someone like my grandfather becoming diabetic has always freaked me out. He was athletic as a young man, always active and in shape in his middle age, never overweight or in poor health in his old age, and had healthy eating habits the entire time I knew him.

The biggest benefit of these is reversing prediabetes/preventing diabetes, so if one falls into that category it's a no brainer.

[Dan Druff]

I didn't realize that these cause some psychological changes such as certain things not appealing to you anymore, and a lesser desire to engage in risky behavior.

Now, obviously I am not a person with impulse control problems anyway, but part of the reason I never did drugs was that I didn't like changing my mental state. I just wanted to be me, without something artificial forcing my brain to behave differently.

Now, I don't mind taking something like Xanax if it's needed to calm me down, but I would not want to take something every day which modifies the way I think or feel.

I already had something happen involuntarily which changed the way my mind perceived things, and it was awful. This is one of the reasons I wish I could just wait longer and see which medication best suits me. Too little is known right now.

I really wish my foot stayed out of pain more consistently. I really would just get out there every day and exercise this off, even if the progress was slow.

Maybe I'm overthinking it. Thank you to everyone for your responses so far.

[BCR]

Seems pretty limited to modifying cravings and alcohol just is a craving to many. I don’t think you’re going to turn gay or start protesting ICE

[Texter]

I didn't realize that these cause some psychological changes such as certain things not appealing to you anymore, and a lesser desire to engage in risky behavior.

Now, obviously I am not a person with impulse control problems anyway, but part of the reason I never did drugs was that I didn't like changing my mental state. I just wanted to be me, without something artificial forcing my brain to behave differently.

Now, I don't mind taking something like Xanax if it's needed to calm me down, but I would not want to take something every day which modifies the way I think or feel.

I already had something happen involuntarily which changed the way my mind perceived things, and it was awful. This is one of the reasons I wish I could just wait longer and see which medication best suits me. Too little is known right now.

I really wish my foot stayed out of pain more consistently. I really would just get out there every day and exercise this off, even if the progress was slow.

Maybe I'm overthinking it. Thank you to everyone for your responses so far.

You can exercise on an elliptical without needing to lift your foot, kinda boring vs hiking though.

[Texter]

Seems pretty limited to modifying cravings and alcohol just is a craving to many. I don’t think you’re going to turn gay or start protesting ICE

It might take away some poker edge and that sweet dopamine rush

[limitles]

Show your tits unto the court of public opinion you weakling
The world record for lying to oneself goes to (drum roll)
Todd Witteless, the pathetic

Spineless drain dweller