3 ms·
For anybody who is affected by this, here is a solution which worked for me and might work for you. I was on Ozempic for a few months, and I absolutely did los
by rhelz 3y ago
For anybody who is affected by this, here is a solution which worked for me and might work for you.
I was on Ozempic for a few months, and I absolutely did lose 10 lbs a month while I was on it. It is a miraculous drug. Of course, after a few months my insurance company dropped coverage.
I started gaining 1 lb a week. After a few weeks I went back to my Dr. and asked if there was anything that could be done.
She put me on Welbutrin and Metformin. Its the same drug combination which they use as an aide to stop smoking.
Its working great. I'm only losing about 5lbs a month now, instead of the 10lbs on Ozempic. But it sure beats the hell out of gaining 1lb a week. And I lost 70lbs so far!
The only side effect I had was....I lost all interest in smoking :-( The drugs work by reducing how much dopamine your brain releases due to pleasurable stimuli. So you tend to get less jollies out of anything you liked doing---eating, smoking, or even procrastination! Yeah, I procrastinate way less too, its just not as pleasurable as getting stuff done is anymore.
Basically, it's the drug of choice for Puritans. Less temptation on the 7 deadly sins, and more work ethic. So there's that. But if you've ever seen somebody die by congestive heart failure, you know its waaaay better than that.
- gangstead 3y agoAre you sure the combination is Welbutrin and metformin? What you are describing sounds like the combination of bupropion (Welbutrin) and Naltrexone. The two generic medicines are packaged together as Contrave, a branded drug for obesity with no generic. They are much cheaper and readily available as two generic prescriptions. I'm in the same boat as you but with ZebBound. EliLilly makes the starter dose (2.5 mg) accessible but all other doses are unavailable. I suspect their strategy is to get people to have a good first month then go screaming to their employers when they can't continue. I'm transitioning to the Bupropion / Naltrexone combo and while I'd like to stay with ZebBound I would still be happy if it works half as well as ZebBound (at 1/10th the cost!).
- treprinum 3y agoYou can switch to 100% carnivore diet and lose 2lbs/week, like with Ozempic. Must be 100% though which is annoying.
- rhelz 3y agoYeah, I did that, and you sure do lose weight that way. But after a while you REALLY start wanting to eat some carbs. I don't know about you, but for me, anything which requires extreme self-control, 24/7, eventually fails. If it's just a matter of changing habits, yeah that is hard, but it works. It takes a lot of self-control to change a habit, but once you have established a new habit pattern, you do it automatically. Even if its not a matter of habit--like you avoid cheating on your wife by just not hanging out with beautiful women--that works too. It takes self-control, but not continuous self-control. But continuously, actively, fighting against one of your strongest urges takes energy and depletes your willpower. I've been able to do it for 3-6 months, but after that I just cave.
- treprinum 3y agoAlternatively, buy a PEDELEC e-bike (the one that helps you only when you pedal), dump the car and use it for commuting or trips everywhere for 6 months (100+ miles/week). 4 lbs a week drop and you can eat almost anything. Hilly terrain is no longer a problem either (what would take you 4 hours on a regular bike will be done in 20-30 minutes on an e-bike).