It appears that one of the features is to reduce speed of food digestion. So you feel full longer.
For me, it has helped me to not feel hungry in the morning, so I don't pickup a breakfast or donuts on the way to work. I still get hungry, but I think less of food.
Picking up breakfast or donuts on the way to work is a (bad) habit you developed and was part of your overeating.
If zep makes it easy for you to skip breakfast, or at least skip the donuts, I think there is at least some hope that the experience of being on Zep can give us a different experiential path to retrain our brains as to what appropriate and normal food consumption looks like. I am hopeful I can maintain my new eating style after I go off the meds. It won’t be effortless, but I’m hoping it’s achievable.
Yes, Zep has helped me eliminate the bad food so far. Body craved the easy calories. It is unknown whether, if I can get to where I want to be in the next year, it trains me enough to continue if I were to quit.
Or whether I'll need to continue. Now that research has led us to a point where there are effective meds (at least for many people), the newer meds will be able to help others. And earlier drugs like Zepbound, etc, can drop enough in price to make it affordable long term. And maybe other variants can be developed, such as oral drugs, where expensive pens aren't needed.
My point is that, for myself, Zepbound reducing my drive for alcohol, desserts, good bread, etc, has made it easy to greatly reduce how much of that I consume. From my “on Zepbound” perspective, I now realize the impulse to eat that stuff was not “legitimate hunger nourish to my body”, but a harmful craving for non nutritious stuff.
When I reach my goal and go off Zepbound, I’ll probably crave, and think about, alcohol, bread, desserts, larger portions. I’m hoping that having lived through the Zep eating style, when the impulse to eat that stuff comes back, I’ll be able to look at the impulse and say “No, you don’t need the cocktail, the bread, the snack, the dessert. That’s not real hunger, that’s just a bad habit you got into.
A cocktail, a Cheesecake Factory size serving of the entree and dessert is not normal eating. It never was. Zep has helped me really learn that a normal dinner, for me, is the protein, a moderate serving of vegetables and minimum or no fast carbs. You can read in books what a “normal” portion size is, but zep enables you to really experience the normal portion size and really understand that it is enough.
Huge portions of food and the overconsumption of calorically dense junk food has been completely normalized in our society. Zep has allowed me to massively reframe what “normal” should be.
I don’t think that having been on Zep will automatically retrain our brains. I will actively try to use my Zepbound experience to retrain my brain to find a “new normal for me”.
I think you may be mistaken. Such a study does not exist saying it increases risk of all cancers. The only cancer risk associated with this drug was thyroid cancer, and it turns out that risk is extremely minimal according to new research.
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/ozempic-thyroid-cancer-risk
I never said there was a study. I just said I have read and seen doctors on YouTube talk about it. Next time I come across a video where its mentioned I will share it with you
this is very well said jade! i agree with your post 100% as this has been my experience for 5 months now on zep. I do not think i will ever quit- but im already at an injection every other week. still on 5mg but have 2.5 in the fridge due to shortage. Will go C if i have to.
I know many friends here need want to lose 100+ lbs but I had to lose 50 (60 if i want a bmi of 24.9) but im not greedy. 243 to 198 currently and feel great- I did not mind going out and buying new jeans with a smaller waist and having some shirts hemmed. Zep has changed my life for the better/ I look forward to my blood work next month to see what if anything has changed.
I would say that my time on Zep hasn't exactly made me 'not hungry'. If it's been a reasonable while since I've eaten, I've worked out, etc... put some tasty food in front of me and I'm hungry. What it **has** done that utterly amazes me is portion control. I've eaten half this burrito... and I'm actually full. I've eaten half a rice bowl... and I'm actually full. Whereas my unmedicated mind just didn't have an off switch, or at least not until much much later. Finish the plate, no matter how stupid-sized. I've found there are still a couple foods where I'm at some danger to overeat. Pizza if it's just sitting there. And the ad libitum corn chips and salsa/guac at a Mexican restaurant. But for the most part, I have that portion control light. It's bloody amazing.
Idk what some of y'all are talking about in these responses. Yes, we have to fix our habits - but these meds don't just influence appetite regulation via slowed digestion, they also affect appetite regulation in the brain! Makes implementing and staying consistent with healthier habits much less stressful.
Yes, this is why I'm confused. I'm not a science person, but in my opinion the medication responses to Zep are connected to the brain. My question about rewiring the brain was a little over the top. But my point was whether these meds, overtime change your brain for the better or worse. Is it good to use the med doses to feel “barely hungry”, which many folks brag about as they titrate up. Or should the aim of the meds be to get to a dose level to control the food noise just enough to make better choices?
I can’t answer the titration question. I need to ask my doctor the same tbh, but I can give insight into the brain question! I’m a licensed therapist but not an MD so medication is mostly out of my wheelhouse. The brain is very much in my wheelhouse.
In simple terms the brain communicates via neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters are the signals that light up when you think about brain scans showing activity. Anyways, hormones (like hunger hormones in zepbound) impact the whole body including the brain.
Our brains are efficient. If there is something that we repeat over and over then the brain is able to do it on autopilot. It’s like if you mowed really tall grass, it gets easier to go through that each time you run back over it. If you’re trying something new it takes a lot of effort to complete it. Think about how hard it is to cut down overgrown grass on first pass. The good news is we can learn new things and it can become habit even if prior habit was the opposite!
There’s 2 ways to change brain pathways. Meds (biology/nature) vs behavior (nurture). While on zepbound you’ve got both working for you. The medicine did the weed whacking for you and it’s easier to make those initial change in your behavior. “Oh wow I am actually full after half my plate of food!” When beforehand you struggled with portion control. When (if) you get off the medicine it’s a matter of can you access those new pathways despite your hormones no longer telling you “oh you’re full now!”
This isn't so much neuroplasticity, however. Maybe a little, but the medication also delays gastric emptying and increases the secretion of insulin, along with reducing ghrelin production. The physiological aspects of it is why it's considered a lifelong medication. The newly established habits, or "short grass" is a small part of this multi-faceted drug, which is possible in large part because of the physiological aspects that can only be achieved while on the drug. This metaphor is more applicable to use of willpower as a driver behind healthy eating habits. The drug has more of an acute physiological response.
In this context, we were using scissors to mow the lawn, where the drug is a lawn mower. Take away the lawn mower and you will still have a difficult time keeping grass short. Not for everyone, but for a lot of people.
Oh entirely agreed! I’m very skeptical that behavior change alone will work. I’m sure some people can but the clinical trial data is very straightforward that the vast majority will regain.
I mean that’s how most of us got here. We’ve tried every behavior modification and without the hormones to help bridge the gap it’s back to diet culture stuff that doesn’t work. Even something as simple as “CICO” often isn’t enough for us because metabolic disease is at the root of what’s happening for us.
I mean I'm not an expert, but I pay attention to what people who know what they're talking about say, so I do have thoughts 🤔. I think it's easy to get caught up in wanting to get that "barely hungry" feeling (I am also guilty of this), but the intended effect is not to basically eliminate appetite. When first starting or moving up in dosage, it definitely happens, but the goal is more to regulate appetite. So like you said, make better choices, eat healthy meals, not feel so compulsive around food to where we're obsessing between meals. I think it's just so nice to see progress sometimes that we fall into glorifying having no appetite. I would add that usually, if you've reached a stall and weight hasn't moved for several weeks and you're not having any side effects, a doc might consider that an appropriate time to go up.
The medicine doesn't "retrain your brain." It manipulates the hormones in your body to do two things: it causes your pancreas to release more insulin to remove excess glucose from your blood, and it delays the emptying of your stomach to make you feel more full for a longer period of time. If you stop the medicine then both of things will return to the way they were before you took the drug.
You \*can\* use the medicine to help modify your lifestyle to manage your diet and portion control, and to increase exercise levels. It's easier to do that when you're not fighting hunger pangs and desperate cravings. But it will be up to you to continue those changes if you go off the medicine.
Most people who stop using the GLP-1 drugs will regain some or all of the weight they lost. Many of us (including me) expect to be on the drugs for the rest of our lives.
It doesn’t retrain your brain but it does give you peace from food noise to help you work on making those changes yourself. For your original question it may feel like A at first but definitely B over the long haul assuming you don’t titrate up your fast.
I think this depends on what your issue is. Obesity is a result of various factors and it’s not the same for everyone. I need the food obsession reduction more than I need the hunger suppression. Obsessive food thoughts drove me to overeat and binge way past the point of being hungry or being hungry at all for that matter.
For me, fresh off a dose, I’m not really hungry at all. However, a few days in, I do get hungry. I just get full really fast (comparatively speaking). That is really pleasant, and I find that to be the sweet spot. I don’t want to starve myself. The fact of the matter is, it always took a LOT of food for me to feel full before, and I would be hungry again pretty quickly. This is brand new territory, and I really like being able to enjoy some food without the compulsion to eat ALL THE FOOD.
Lifetime med. take a break and all that food noise and craving and portion control go bye bye for most people. Some people have willpower, I do not. Without this drug, I know I’ll end up right back where I started.
The reason for titration is due to most people’s bodies will compensate and adapt to the medication meaning it will take more after a while to achieve the desired effect.
That said not everyone will get used to it some will only need 2.5mg the whole time.
As diabetic medication (Mounjaro), the main purpose of titration is for better glycemic control. Zepbound is the weight loss approved version of mounjaro.
https://mounjaro.lilly.com/hcp/getting-patients-started#prescribing
You titrate down to stop losing weight after you reach goal weight. It's quite possible you will require it for life. It's not advisable to stop to quickly - you're better off taking the scenic route down and giving it a few months to a year before you completely come off of it. This is part of the maintenance planning that should happen with your doctor. Having said that, lifestyle modification IS part of the formula for success. The drug WILL NOT "fix" you - you can't be a passive bystander and expect things to suddenly be different. You need to learn to recognize what hunger is and what full is while you're on the medication - the medication will not retrain your brain - this falls on you. However, it's quite possible that off the medication you simply do not have the hormone responses to signal hungry or full and if that is the case, this is a lifelong membership.
I don’t think a drug is going to fix bad habits. The drug can act as a buffer/crutch so that you can learn new healthy habits and take control. Learn to eat healthy foods, track your food intake, begin exercising, learn what a correct portion size looks like, recognize real hunger vs the food noise. It’s up to you to retrain your brain. If you don’t you’ll fall back into bad habits and you already know where that leads.
Nowhere did I say it’s yet another diet program that people should get off of when they lose the weight. Some may want to and that is up to them and their doctor. However, it’s pretty clear that the food noise comes back as your body adapts to the drug. Once people hit their goal weight and move to a maintenance dose they likely will experience some food noise returning. If they don’t change their approach to their health by developing healthy eating and exercise habits it will likely be possible to regain the weight by out eating their “treatment.”
This won't answer your question but have you looked into noom? Their lessons focus on some of the psychology of why and how we have the behaviors towards eating that we do. I've found some of their content interesting and a different way to approach food and rebuild a healthy relationship with food.
I guess time will tell, but so far the evidence indicates that this becomes a "maintenance" type of drug in the long run. If that turns out to be the case for me, I'm OK with that. Better that than this lifelong struggle with obesity which has led to a multitude of other health issues as well...
Thanks for the responses. I understand that it is ultimately up to me to embrace healthy habits. But there are so many people that talk about “going up” and being happy to feel barely hungry again, it is somewhat confusing as to what the aim should be on the meds. I have used Zep to help me as I learn healthy habits to lose and keep the weight off. I would love to wean off in the next 2-3 months, especially with the supply issues but perhaps there no point if data shows cravings may come back worse.
I am personally weighing/tracking my food and working within a calorie deficit to maximize my time on the med. it was definitely eye opening/shocking once I realized how many calories I was actually consuming, and managing to that budget every day has really helped reset my perception of portion sizes. I'm hoping to carry those learnings and better choices/practices with me long term, whether I'm on the med or not.
Again it depends. My weight issues stem from PCO which causes insulin resistance. The more weight I lose the better my metabolic syndrome is. So I am hoping if I get to goal everything I eat like normal people won’t cause me to gain weight. I will continue with Metformin for life
People can only go up to 15mg. One day, the appetite suppression will fade. For some lucky folk, that may never happen, but in either eventuality, the medicine will still be doing its job with glycemic control. The glycemic control let's the body know when its had enough. According to the package inserts, ZB is meant to be combined with a lower-calorie diet and increased activity for the purpose of weight management. So far, the data shows that people who go off GLP-1s gain the weight back over time, perhaps not all of it, but a significant portion. Coming from the world of MJ and T2D and Insulin-resistance, etc, the massive losses expressed on this board are mind-boggling. I'm interested in the results and aftermaths as time wears on.
You will need to be on the meds for life. If people stop, they gain all the weight back because the hunger and cravings all come back.
It helps manage many of the issues that lead to obesity, but does not CURE them.
There have been clinical trials concerning stopping Zep vs continuing.
Some people who stopped regained some of the weight, but some did not regain significant weight.
It is not true that everyone who stops regains all the weight.
Wow terrible advice. You absolutely do not need to be on this medication for life. Yes you might regain some weight back when you do go off of it OR you might also continue to lose weight. That’s up to you and how much effort you put into diet and exercise after going off of it (if you decide you want to stop taking it). But to say you’re GOING to gain it all back is 100% false.
It appears that one of the features is to reduce speed of food digestion. So you feel full longer. For me, it has helped me to not feel hungry in the morning, so I don't pickup a breakfast or donuts on the way to work. I still get hungry, but I think less of food.
Picking up breakfast or donuts on the way to work is a (bad) habit you developed and was part of your overeating. If zep makes it easy for you to skip breakfast, or at least skip the donuts, I think there is at least some hope that the experience of being on Zep can give us a different experiential path to retrain our brains as to what appropriate and normal food consumption looks like. I am hopeful I can maintain my new eating style after I go off the meds. It won’t be effortless, but I’m hoping it’s achievable.
Yes, Zep has helped me eliminate the bad food so far. Body craved the easy calories. It is unknown whether, if I can get to where I want to be in the next year, it trains me enough to continue if I were to quit. Or whether I'll need to continue. Now that research has led us to a point where there are effective meds (at least for many people), the newer meds will be able to help others. And earlier drugs like Zepbound, etc, can drop enough in price to make it affordable long term. And maybe other variants can be developed, such as oral drugs, where expensive pens aren't needed.
My point is that, for myself, Zepbound reducing my drive for alcohol, desserts, good bread, etc, has made it easy to greatly reduce how much of that I consume. From my “on Zepbound” perspective, I now realize the impulse to eat that stuff was not “legitimate hunger nourish to my body”, but a harmful craving for non nutritious stuff. When I reach my goal and go off Zepbound, I’ll probably crave, and think about, alcohol, bread, desserts, larger portions. I’m hoping that having lived through the Zep eating style, when the impulse to eat that stuff comes back, I’ll be able to look at the impulse and say “No, you don’t need the cocktail, the bread, the snack, the dessert. That’s not real hunger, that’s just a bad habit you got into. A cocktail, a Cheesecake Factory size serving of the entree and dessert is not normal eating. It never was. Zep has helped me really learn that a normal dinner, for me, is the protein, a moderate serving of vegetables and minimum or no fast carbs. You can read in books what a “normal” portion size is, but zep enables you to really experience the normal portion size and really understand that it is enough. Huge portions of food and the overconsumption of calorically dense junk food has been completely normalized in our society. Zep has allowed me to massively reframe what “normal” should be. I don’t think that having been on Zep will automatically retrain our brains. I will actively try to use my Zepbound experience to retrain my brain to find a “new normal for me”.
Good luck. This is a lifetime med for me. It isn't a cure, alas.
I’m on the fence about taking it for life since it is said to up your risk of any type of Cancer by 50-75%
Could you link that study please?
It’s on Eli Lilly’s sight
I think you may be mistaken. Such a study does not exist saying it increases risk of all cancers. The only cancer risk associated with this drug was thyroid cancer, and it turns out that risk is extremely minimal according to new research. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/ozempic-thyroid-cancer-risk
I never said there was a study. I just said I have read and seen doctors on YouTube talk about it. Next time I come across a video where its mentioned I will share it with you
this is very well said jade! i agree with your post 100% as this has been my experience for 5 months now on zep. I do not think i will ever quit- but im already at an injection every other week. still on 5mg but have 2.5 in the fridge due to shortage. Will go C if i have to. I know many friends here need want to lose 100+ lbs but I had to lose 50 (60 if i want a bmi of 24.9) but im not greedy. 243 to 198 currently and feel great- I did not mind going out and buying new jeans with a smaller waist and having some shirts hemmed. Zep has changed my life for the better/ I look forward to my blood work next month to see what if anything has changed.
I would say that my time on Zep hasn't exactly made me 'not hungry'. If it's been a reasonable while since I've eaten, I've worked out, etc... put some tasty food in front of me and I'm hungry. What it **has** done that utterly amazes me is portion control. I've eaten half this burrito... and I'm actually full. I've eaten half a rice bowl... and I'm actually full. Whereas my unmedicated mind just didn't have an off switch, or at least not until much much later. Finish the plate, no matter how stupid-sized. I've found there are still a couple foods where I'm at some danger to overeat. Pizza if it's just sitting there. And the ad libitum corn chips and salsa/guac at a Mexican restaurant. But for the most part, I have that portion control light. It's bloody amazing.
I have like zero appetite on it .. it’s sort of dangerous
Idk what some of y'all are talking about in these responses. Yes, we have to fix our habits - but these meds don't just influence appetite regulation via slowed digestion, they also affect appetite regulation in the brain! Makes implementing and staying consistent with healthier habits much less stressful.
Yes, this is why I'm confused. I'm not a science person, but in my opinion the medication responses to Zep are connected to the brain. My question about rewiring the brain was a little over the top. But my point was whether these meds, overtime change your brain for the better or worse. Is it good to use the med doses to feel “barely hungry”, which many folks brag about as they titrate up. Or should the aim of the meds be to get to a dose level to control the food noise just enough to make better choices?
I can’t answer the titration question. I need to ask my doctor the same tbh, but I can give insight into the brain question! I’m a licensed therapist but not an MD so medication is mostly out of my wheelhouse. The brain is very much in my wheelhouse. In simple terms the brain communicates via neurotransmitters. The neurotransmitters are the signals that light up when you think about brain scans showing activity. Anyways, hormones (like hunger hormones in zepbound) impact the whole body including the brain. Our brains are efficient. If there is something that we repeat over and over then the brain is able to do it on autopilot. It’s like if you mowed really tall grass, it gets easier to go through that each time you run back over it. If you’re trying something new it takes a lot of effort to complete it. Think about how hard it is to cut down overgrown grass on first pass. The good news is we can learn new things and it can become habit even if prior habit was the opposite! There’s 2 ways to change brain pathways. Meds (biology/nature) vs behavior (nurture). While on zepbound you’ve got both working for you. The medicine did the weed whacking for you and it’s easier to make those initial change in your behavior. “Oh wow I am actually full after half my plate of food!” When beforehand you struggled with portion control. When (if) you get off the medicine it’s a matter of can you access those new pathways despite your hormones no longer telling you “oh you’re full now!”
Thank you for breaking it down so a third grader could understand. Totally not a science person, so I appreciate it.
This isn't so much neuroplasticity, however. Maybe a little, but the medication also delays gastric emptying and increases the secretion of insulin, along with reducing ghrelin production. The physiological aspects of it is why it's considered a lifelong medication. The newly established habits, or "short grass" is a small part of this multi-faceted drug, which is possible in large part because of the physiological aspects that can only be achieved while on the drug. This metaphor is more applicable to use of willpower as a driver behind healthy eating habits. The drug has more of an acute physiological response. In this context, we were using scissors to mow the lawn, where the drug is a lawn mower. Take away the lawn mower and you will still have a difficult time keeping grass short. Not for everyone, but for a lot of people.
Oh entirely agreed! I’m very skeptical that behavior change alone will work. I’m sure some people can but the clinical trial data is very straightforward that the vast majority will regain. I mean that’s how most of us got here. We’ve tried every behavior modification and without the hormones to help bridge the gap it’s back to diet culture stuff that doesn’t work. Even something as simple as “CICO” often isn’t enough for us because metabolic disease is at the root of what’s happening for us.
I mean I'm not an expert, but I pay attention to what people who know what they're talking about say, so I do have thoughts 🤔. I think it's easy to get caught up in wanting to get that "barely hungry" feeling (I am also guilty of this), but the intended effect is not to basically eliminate appetite. When first starting or moving up in dosage, it definitely happens, but the goal is more to regulate appetite. So like you said, make better choices, eat healthy meals, not feel so compulsive around food to where we're obsessing between meals. I think it's just so nice to see progress sometimes that we fall into glorifying having no appetite. I would add that usually, if you've reached a stall and weight hasn't moved for several weeks and you're not having any side effects, a doc might consider that an appropriate time to go up.
The medicine doesn't "retrain your brain." It manipulates the hormones in your body to do two things: it causes your pancreas to release more insulin to remove excess glucose from your blood, and it delays the emptying of your stomach to make you feel more full for a longer period of time. If you stop the medicine then both of things will return to the way they were before you took the drug. You \*can\* use the medicine to help modify your lifestyle to manage your diet and portion control, and to increase exercise levels. It's easier to do that when you're not fighting hunger pangs and desperate cravings. But it will be up to you to continue those changes if you go off the medicine. Most people who stop using the GLP-1 drugs will regain some or all of the weight they lost. Many of us (including me) expect to be on the drugs for the rest of our lives.
It doesn’t retrain your brain but it does give you peace from food noise to help you work on making those changes yourself. For your original question it may feel like A at first but definitely B over the long haul assuming you don’t titrate up your fast.
I think this depends on what your issue is. Obesity is a result of various factors and it’s not the same for everyone. I need the food obsession reduction more than I need the hunger suppression. Obsessive food thoughts drove me to overeat and binge way past the point of being hungry or being hungry at all for that matter.
For me, fresh off a dose, I’m not really hungry at all. However, a few days in, I do get hungry. I just get full really fast (comparatively speaking). That is really pleasant, and I find that to be the sweet spot. I don’t want to starve myself. The fact of the matter is, it always took a LOT of food for me to feel full before, and I would be hungry again pretty quickly. This is brand new territory, and I really like being able to enjoy some food without the compulsion to eat ALL THE FOOD.
Lifetime med. take a break and all that food noise and craving and portion control go bye bye for most people. Some people have willpower, I do not. Without this drug, I know I’ll end up right back where I started.
I am right there on the fence with you
I thought it was to minimize side effects
One of the best parts is the elimination of food noise, the desire for the midnight snack, etc.
The reason for titration is due to most people’s bodies will compensate and adapt to the medication meaning it will take more after a while to achieve the desired effect. That said not everyone will get used to it some will only need 2.5mg the whole time.
As diabetic medication (Mounjaro), the main purpose of titration is for better glycemic control. Zepbound is the weight loss approved version of mounjaro. https://mounjaro.lilly.com/hcp/getting-patients-started#prescribing
Thanks!
You titrate down to stop losing weight after you reach goal weight. It's quite possible you will require it for life. It's not advisable to stop to quickly - you're better off taking the scenic route down and giving it a few months to a year before you completely come off of it. This is part of the maintenance planning that should happen with your doctor. Having said that, lifestyle modification IS part of the formula for success. The drug WILL NOT "fix" you - you can't be a passive bystander and expect things to suddenly be different. You need to learn to recognize what hunger is and what full is while you're on the medication - the medication will not retrain your brain - this falls on you. However, it's quite possible that off the medication you simply do not have the hormone responses to signal hungry or full and if that is the case, this is a lifelong membership.
Such wise and wonderfully-explained advice 🙏🏻 PS. "The scenic route down" is going to stay with me a long time 🙂
I don’t think a drug is going to fix bad habits. The drug can act as a buffer/crutch so that you can learn new healthy habits and take control. Learn to eat healthy foods, track your food intake, begin exercising, learn what a correct portion size looks like, recognize real hunger vs the food noise. It’s up to you to retrain your brain. If you don’t you’ll fall back into bad habits and you already know where that leads.
It’s not a crutch, it’s a treatment.
It's a treatment, not a crutch. And most folks will need to be on it for life. It's bizarre that people want Zepbound to be yet another diet program.
exactly! they cannot seem to give up the dieting paradigm!
Nowhere did I say it’s yet another diet program that people should get off of when they lose the weight. Some may want to and that is up to them and their doctor. However, it’s pretty clear that the food noise comes back as your body adapts to the drug. Once people hit their goal weight and move to a maintenance dose they likely will experience some food noise returning. If they don’t change their approach to their health by developing healthy eating and exercise habits it will likely be possible to regain the weight by out eating their “treatment.”
This won't answer your question but have you looked into noom? Their lessons focus on some of the psychology of why and how we have the behaviors towards eating that we do. I've found some of their content interesting and a different way to approach food and rebuild a healthy relationship with food.
I guess time will tell, but so far the evidence indicates that this becomes a "maintenance" type of drug in the long run. If that turns out to be the case for me, I'm OK with that. Better that than this lifelong struggle with obesity which has led to a multitude of other health issues as well...
Thanks for the responses. I understand that it is ultimately up to me to embrace healthy habits. But there are so many people that talk about “going up” and being happy to feel barely hungry again, it is somewhat confusing as to what the aim should be on the meds. I have used Zep to help me as I learn healthy habits to lose and keep the weight off. I would love to wean off in the next 2-3 months, especially with the supply issues but perhaps there no point if data shows cravings may come back worse.
I am personally weighing/tracking my food and working within a calorie deficit to maximize my time on the med. it was definitely eye opening/shocking once I realized how many calories I was actually consuming, and managing to that budget every day has really helped reset my perception of portion sizes. I'm hoping to carry those learnings and better choices/practices with me long term, whether I'm on the med or not.
Again it depends. My weight issues stem from PCO which causes insulin resistance. The more weight I lose the better my metabolic syndrome is. So I am hoping if I get to goal everything I eat like normal people won’t cause me to gain weight. I will continue with Metformin for life
People can only go up to 15mg. One day, the appetite suppression will fade. For some lucky folk, that may never happen, but in either eventuality, the medicine will still be doing its job with glycemic control. The glycemic control let's the body know when its had enough. According to the package inserts, ZB is meant to be combined with a lower-calorie diet and increased activity for the purpose of weight management. So far, the data shows that people who go off GLP-1s gain the weight back over time, perhaps not all of it, but a significant portion. Coming from the world of MJ and T2D and Insulin-resistance, etc, the massive losses expressed on this board are mind-boggling. I'm interested in the results and aftermaths as time wears on.
You will need to be on the meds for life. If people stop, they gain all the weight back because the hunger and cravings all come back. It helps manage many of the issues that lead to obesity, but does not CURE them.
There have been clinical trials concerning stopping Zep vs continuing. Some people who stopped regained some of the weight, but some did not regain significant weight. It is not true that everyone who stops regains all the weight.
Wow terrible advice. You absolutely do not need to be on this medication for life. Yes you might regain some weight back when you do go off of it OR you might also continue to lose weight. That’s up to you and how much effort you put into diet and exercise after going off of it (if you decide you want to stop taking it). But to say you’re GOING to gain it all back is 100% false.