My goal was modest: drop < 10% of my body weight, from 220 to 200.
After 6 months on Tirzepatide at a cost of $1500 in rx and membership fees I can report:
Down 10 lbs, mostly muscle.
I could’ve done that by dropping cream from my coffee. Screw this.
Which one is Tirzepatide? Is that a shot or pills?
Is it a GLP-1?
I’m looking to go on something to reduce my appetite, I need to help.
By losing mostly muscle, you’re slightly more likely to regain the fat due to a reduced metabolic rate.
It’s sold as Mounjaro or Zepbound.
It’s Mounjaro (diabetes) or Zepbound (weight loss). It’s a GLP-1 injection.
I’m taking it for diabetes which means my insurance covers it so it costs me $60 for 90 days. I would never have paid for it myself which would be around $1000/month.
I’m getting a compounded version, which (apparently) means that by adding a vitamin to the mix they can sell it as a generic. We were told that Tirzepatide was more effective and had fewer side effects
I had trepidation about giving myself a shot but that turned out to be no big deal. It’s virtually painless.
It did reduce my appetite but I guess not enough.
I find particularly unnerving people do this for a simple “10% loss”.
And to pay that amount $$ when you can just step away from the coffee creamer or that dessert for a couple weeks?
Yeah, nah.
Dangerous to play with blood sugar. IMHO.
(Not talking about those who medically need these medications)
I’m with mostly you. These are powerful medications that are part of an approach to treat a chronic disease (obesity) that has serious morbidities. Now 10% weight loss, accompanied with healthy nutrition and exercise, can be of major medical impact … but the idea of using them instead of the rest of the plan, or casually, seems off to me.
As a rough rule of thumb, when it comes to injectable meds that have dual use for both type 2 diabetes and obesity, they have 4 different mechanisms of action. Generally, the more agonists you use, the better the weight loss.
The more receptors they hit, the more weight loss they cause.
People on ozempic may lose 10% of bodyweight. People on tirzepatide lose ~16%, people on retatrutide lose ~25% of bodyweight, which is on par with weight loss with bariatric surgery.
cagrisema is what happens when you combine ozempic + cagrilintide (GLP-1 agonist & DACRA agonist). That causes a ~22% bodyweight loss.
If you’re worried about losing muscle, the best thing you can do is try to make sure your weight loss is not too rapid (<2 lbs of fat a week) and you eat a high protein diet (1g protein per day per lb of lean body mass) and engage in resistance training. That will hopefully reduce the amount of muscle you lose.
Went on Ozempic, then Monjaro. Over 18 months went from 330 to 260. Then no further change until this winter (no exercise) when I gained back 10lbs. I suppose I’m on it for life.
It’s not necessarily easy to lose 10% of your body weight by stepping away from the creamer and dessert, for two reasons. First losing 13 lbs is easier than 25. Second, plenty of people are overweight without eating a lot of sweets. The 25 or so calories in the two tablespoons of 2% milk I use in my coffee every day is really not going to make that much of a difference in my weight loss. What does make a difference is that with Trulicity or Mounjaro ( I take it for diabetes) I eat less of non-sweet foods because I feel full faster and stay full longer. A lot less- like lunch today was three chicken wings and five or six French fries.
Hey I was talking to the OP, who said he could lose more if he just quit the creamer
I totally agree. It’s more than just elimating the sweets, carbs, fat, starches whatever is the going fad. It’s more of a total lifestyle change to successfully reduce while not losing muscle or health. Along with less sedentary lifestyle. I get it.
What was your dosage?
The creamer comment may have been a bit of hyperbole.
You’re absolutely right: dropping 10 lbs ain’t that easy. But these medications may be overkill for that kind of goal.
It’s changed, but as of now it’s 45 ml / 2 mg.
Isn’t 2 mg the starter dose? The one that’s just supposed to acclimate you?
Been using GLP-1 for over a year and have lost nothing. Tried Ozempic, mounjaro and Trulicity. Its a total waste of time and money for me. I’m going to stop wasting money on it.
It took a year? Wow.
Kept trying different ones to see if there was any impact per my doctor’s recommendation. Quack!
2 of my roomies are on it, one has been on it for a few years [she started because she was a nondiabetic who needed to lose about 75 pound or so, so she was trialling it for weight loss for a local test lab] and the other is using it for diabetes. The weight loss roomie lost her weight and was shifting doses to find the proper maintenance dose and the diabetic is now able to be off insulin for the first time in like 15 years and also lost something like 5 pounds.
I did Byetta started fine, ended up ‘losing’ the ability to eat pork, then beef and was losing chicken before we opted to take me off it. Not an allergy like alpha gal, but frex I had been eating a breakfast sausage, and I just knew the next bite would make me vomit, and suddenly even thinking about eating a sausage was nauseating. Then bacon, then ham and finally roast pork. Then it started with beef - hamburger first, then steak. We had noticed it was a sort of gradual rendering of nausea. Then I went onto Victoza, and the same thing started happening. So apparently while I can start out without nausea from the medication, my body takes around a year to decide that meat was going to make me nauseated. Cancer/chemo/radiation was my best ‘diet aid’, ultimately I lost around 100 pounds in the 5 years of active treatment but 0/10 would NOT recommend!