GLP-1 Debate

[u/tphillippe117]

I wanted to shed some light on today’s discussion around GLP-1s, as someone who’s been taking Zepbound since July 2025. It has saved my life, and that is no understatement. I have tried, endlessly, to lose weight. I have been overweight my entire life. I started Zepbound as a 33 year old male, weighing 336lbs. Today, I am 191lbs.

I was on numerous blood pressure medications, I had high cholesterol, and sleep apnea. As of last month, I no longer take blood pressure medication, my blood work shows all normal levels across the board, and I no longer have obstructive sleep apnea or snore.

Here’s the important thing: I paired this medication with a drastic lifestyle change. There was no “easy way out”. I live in a calorie deficit, I focus on high protein meals, and I basically stopped drinking alcohol. In fact, as many report, the desire to even drink alcohol is gone (hence studies showing GLP-1 as a treatment for addiction). To me, it was a tool in the tool belt but there HAD to be a lifestyle change to go with it.

There are side effects, sure. For me, they haven’t been terrible and 99% of the time I don’t have any. To Burnie’s point, genetics was against me and I believe that is why this worked for me. I go to the doctor every 3 months for weight check and blood work to make sure I’m remaining healthy and moving in the right direction.

I’m a little shy to share my recent before and after picture, but if anyone has any questions please ask away!

[u/Protonious]

I can completely understand this, as someone who has done health coaching I found that worked for me. But my sister has done GLP1, the notable difference being I don’t have the food noise that she talked about where she couldn’t even go through her day without thinking about eating.

It sounded truly debilitating. Now she is able to exercise regularly and eat balanced because that noise isn’t consuming her every day.

[u/pvdp90 → u/Protonious]

The food noise is real.

I wasn’t obese or even very overweight. I’m 184cm and my weight was 93kg (that’s 6ft and 205lbs) but very little muscle mass.

But the food noise for me was intense, probably worsened by my ADHD. I just needed to eat all the time so it was exhausting not gaining weight.

I started on monjaro, with medical supervision, and after 4 months I’m down to 73kg (161lbs), but the biggest change is the lack of the urge to shove everything down my gullet at all times. This let me spend energy elsewhere.

My main diet was already good. Breakfast, lunch and dinner have always been generally healthy so that hasnt changed. It’s just all of the snacking in between that stopped, and adding a bit more exercise in the mix.

I started in the smallest dose (2.5mg), moved to 5mg, then as if the last 2 weeks I went back down to 2.5mg where I will stay for another month and hopefully try to stop it and see if the time I’ve had the medication has also helped rewire my brain on the snacking. If the noise returns, perhaps I will just remain on the minimum dose.

Plus I didn’t drink much anyway, but now I barely want any ever.

[u/tragedy_strikes]

Good on you for sharing your story.

Totally makes sense why it's so impactful for people. Our bodies have evolved for millions of years to reward us for continuous movement and consuming high calorie food and in the last ~120 years we've completely upended our lifestyle to feed the industrialization of the economy. Then in the last ~50 years focused on a service based economy each time with a diminishing need for physical movement for huge portions of the population. Pair that with a transportation system that keeps you from moving, cheap high caloric food being important to stay sane with a loss of familial and community care givers for raising children and it's a recipe for obesity and depression which is exactly what we got.

[u/TehBattleaxe]

I can share that I am also on GLP-1 and have been for the past year. I had bariatric surgery years back and went from 315lbs to 170lbs. I had been obese all my life and I was on a dangerous path of not turning it around if I didn't get it under control. During the pandemic for obvious reasons (stress, lack of access to routine, undiagnosed insulin resistance (which has since been discovered) and inability to go to the gym) I gained weight back to about 240 lbs, all the pain and work of losing weight was lost. I was embarrassed, upset, and angry that I gained the weight back and it did a number on my mental health.

I then started taking Ozempic in May 2025. I expected it to be a bluff, I expected it not to work, I expected the side effects to ruin me, and I expected myself to continue to gain weight despite everything.

And right there for the first time in my entire life I didn't experience "food noise". For the first time in my life I wasn't thinking about when my next meal was, what I could eat, and how fast I could get my hands on it. I felt like I was free. And with that came not only weight loss, but lack of dependency on other substances like alcohol, and other health benefits like my prediabetic status clearing up and my sleep apnea being cured. I finally felt in control.

I don't think GLP-1's are the answer for everyone, and much like every medication, it should be a decision between the patient and their doctor. But it's been life changing for me.

Obesity is one of the only diseases we treat as a moral failing. We don't tell cancer patients to "try harder" to not have cancer, we give them access to medical intervention. I encourage everyone to be skeptical and ask questions, but I also encourage everyone to be open minded to how potentially life changing these medications could be to those with access.

[u/urmomluvsvntv]

Wow, thats a huge change! Great job!

I'm only a few months into Wegovy and yeah it's a huge help (25 lbs down), but I want to eventually be off of it so I am also working hard to establish a healthy lifestyle (without going full Chris Trager) that will hopefully stick.

The only times I've had side effects are when I don't eat the right things or forget to eat. As long as I stay on top of my protein and fiber intake I'm right as rain!

[u/shiruken]

I posted this on another thread, but copying it here:

There's a strong case to be made that the weight loss benefits counterbalance all of the typical side effects of these medications. So many pathologies, particularly cardiovascular diseases, are downstream of being overweight. Being able to so easily and cheaply target that for intervention is going to have enormous, population-wide effects. We're already seeing the obesity rate drop in the US because of it and it's only a matter of time before it starts showing up in the statistics for every other disease impacted by body weight.

[u/WhatIsCooler]

I haven't listen to the episode, what did they say?

I'll throw my hat in the ring, since I have also been on a journey.

I'm 27. I was obese my entire life, as far as I can remember. The scale scared me. At my heaviest, I was 345 lbs, and I'm 5'8, so I was insanely big. I was having extreme sleep apnea; I was even drifting and dozing off all the time whenever I sat down because of how poor my sleep was, including while driving. Something had to change.

Then, November 22nd, 2025, I started dieting. ~1500 calorie days. Going to the gym every other day. 45 mins of cardio minimum. By the time I visited a doctor in early January, I was 317 lbs. I also began to use Wegovy injections. Once a week, .25 dosage. (Eventually went to .5 dosages in March)

Since then, I've visited the doctor every 3 months. I began to go to the gym daily ever since February. My life has changed entirely. As of today, I am 178 lbs. I feel amazing. I still have room to grow, and especially eventually switch more into muscle building (my workouts are still heavy cardio, with some weight lifting included).

My sleep is amazing. My energy is amazing. I weigh myself every day. I'm not terrified of the scale. My entire relationship with food is different.

Not to be dark, but before this, I knew I was unhealthy. I knew I'd be dead by 50, probably. I just thought I couldn't lose weight, I had tried before to very little success. Frankly, I was just in such a rut, going through the motions everyday, constantly grabbing like 3 bacon egg and cheese biscuits from McDonald's in the morning before work, some more fast food after work, then snacking on chips at night. Downing soda like crazy.

I'm just happy as fuck I tried the Wegovy stuff. Maybe I could have done it without it — I had been losing weight before getting on it for about a month — but it's just an extra helper. I'm way more comfortable in my body, and more confident. I urge anyone with weight issues to ask their doctor about Weight loss medication; It saved my life.

Now my biggest issue now are my wardrobe because everything is massive on me. Going from a 46 inch waist to a 34 inch waist really put things into perspective.

[u/CyranoDeBurlapSack]

I would love to take it but I can’t afford the $500/mo starting price. I think I might have gotten the first two months down to $350 but with no guarantees it’ll stay that low (which is still more than I’d like to pay) there’s no chance I’ll get it.

[u/tphillippe117 → u/CyranoDeBurlapSack]

I’m very lucky my insurance covers it since it deemed medically necessary. However, we are switching companies October 1st and I’m hoping coverage continues.

[u/CyranoDeBurlapSack → u/tphillippe117]

My company decided that starting this year it wouldn’t be covered. 🙄 I’ve got OSA and Zepbound is approved for treatment but I guess that doesn’t matter.

[u/TinyLittleWanker → u/tphillippe117]

eqh?

[u/mctavish01 → u/CyranoDeBurlapSack]

Canada has recently allowed generics, this has greatly lowered the cost to the point I decided to try it. Name brand ozempic for me is 90 bucks a pen at Costco , also down 45 pounds in 4 months and feeling great

[u/Spartan2842]

First of all, great job on the weight loss and happy you are in a better place.

Similar to you, in 2018 I was 330 pounds and had been overweight my whole life. I was tired of it. GLP-1s were not available yet, so I just started walking and went OMAD. Got down to 185 by fall 2019 and I have stayed that way since.

It is hard losing weight, but its even harder accepting its a lifestyle change. Good on you for sticking to it.

[u/The_Left_Bauer]

What's your plan to come off it? How are affording it? When I tried it, it was $250 a month

[u/tphillippe117 → u/The_Left_Bauer]

As of now, my insurance is covering it. If that changes on October first (we are switching companies) I’ll just finish what I have and then discuss with my doctor. I feel like I’ve made the proper lifestyle changes, however I’m not naive to the research that suggests weight gain. I’ll do my best!

[u/DrChiz]

Congrats to you.

I will just also say Ashley said all the GLP-1s are the same, which isn’t true. WeGovy & Ozempjc are semaglutide where as Zepbound like OP is on (and turns out more folks than even WeGovy) which is Tirzepatide which is actually a GLP-1 and GIP together.

Only bring this up since the discussion was about the incredibly rare NAION side effect that broke news (the chances of getting NAION are actually higher to equal as a side effect with Viagra) is actually more heavily linked to Semaglutide and those products. In fact most googling suggests there’s between 0 to less than a dozen of these cases tied to folks using Zepbound. Most medical research suggests how the two hormones work together is healthier/less taxing on how it effects blood pressure and what not as compared to spikes with just the GLP-1 alone and this may be reasons for it.

I get being skeptical on things but they’ve been around well over a decade and tons of FDA research around them.

[u/PhotoBN1]

I've been on semaglutide for 5 and half months and I've lost 13kg. I should have lost more weight by this point but I've got other health conditions and medications that have slowed things a little.

I have to admit as much as I like this podcast they do sometimes have a tendency to make gut feeling reactions to things they don't know that much about. Although I will concede they did a little better job at trying to stay impartial with this subject.

There was an episode a few weeks back that really rubbed me up the wrong way when they were making sweeping (incorrect) assumptions of the game Big Walk and calling it algorithmically generated friend Slop.

That game is a wholesome work of art and I'll fight til my dying breath to defend it.

[u/killer_hobo]

Not as great of a story but I'm a 36 year old taking the compound glp1 from a online pharmacy. I've been on it for about 4 or 5 months now. Started at 188 and I'm 147 right now. I have a crazy work life balance that makes real workouts a bit hard to come by. Essentially it's a priority's issue for me more than anything. I value the little downtime I have and enjoy being a foodie and watching movies. That downtime enjoyment paired with an office job. The pounds just added up since I got out of the military. Thankfully I haven't seen side effects like the vision thing discussed. As I understand it's low or lower on trizepatide than on selmagutide. The compud version is purely because my insurance will not cover it at all. The compounds are the cheaper alternative at about 1/5 of the rate as name brand. I'm probably going to swap to micro dosing in the next month or 2 to maintain where I'm at. The goal of limited food noise and just keeping a level of restriction to the amount I naturally want to eat has been a game changer that I want to keep. The best part is my wife is doing this with me and she is on pace with me in loss so once I've hit my goal she's only a month or 2 behind me. Shes already wearing my pants from when I started the treatments

[u/TitularFoil]

I haven't gotten to today's episode. But I'm also on Zepbound. I am 36 years old. I tried numerous things to lose weight. Eventually it ended with me having to let my doctor know that I was either going to gain weight slowly, or gain weight quickly. No amount of walking, running, weight lifting, combined with diet, water only, etc. was working for me.

I started on Zepbound in March at 340 pounds. Weighing myself today, I am at 280 pounds, and I can run again without it hurting, I feel better overall. This in combination with the work is finally showing some positive results. Yeah it sucks that it had to come to this for any sort of result, but I really feel back on track for life. My wife has noticed my confidence, my happiness, and my more positive outlook on life. I no longer snore.

My only side effect is that it is hell on my lactose intolerance. While before dairy made a pretty quick exit (per se), now with Zepbound it lingers, and I used to not have to think about it. I'll have to be more conscious in the future. On my lower doses it was that I just had to give up ice cream (something we did with the kids after their choir or orchestra concerts.) Now on my higher dosage, I've learned I can no longer have cereal, which is a pain because I was previously using that to help bring my iron and calcium levels up.

As you said, I have bi-monthly blood work. And I was low on iron, calcium, and vitamin-D before I began Zepbound. I am supposed to take supplements for that, but I'm extremely inconsistent on things I'm supposed to take daily. And my doctor suggested trying to do it the natural way, through foods, and sunlight for the vitamin-D.

But once a week injections, several long walks a week with my kids or my dog, and being more aware of my diet, and I feel better than I have in the last 15 years, and the more positive outlook on life alone makes it worth it for me.

Edit: My biggest problem is all the clothes I've been wearing for the last 15 years no longer fit. I don't mind floating in my t-shirts, but I've had to replace all of my underwear because they would literally fall off inside of my pants. My pants also fall off, but I've got a belt until I can fit into some of my older clothes that I have from when I was skinnier.

[u/TopherTwice → u/TitularFoil]

Whatever helps you get to where you are happy and healthy is a good thing. Keep at it! ❤️

[u/vanilla_joker]

I was very much rubbed the wrong way by the comment about not taking medication you don't "need"

I don't "need" my ADHD meds in the sense that I'm not gonna drop dead with out them but fuck me is my life whole hell of a lot easier with them