Ozempic question | Imamother

justforfun87

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 8:58 am

I didn't want to bump up an old thread but I have a burning question to ask. One of the most stated reasons for NOT taking weight loss shots is that one will gain all the weight back once they stop.

Isn't that all dieting? Isn't there statistics that say like upwards of 90% of people who diet and exercise end up gaining the weight back? Can't people incorporate both healthier eating habits AND the shots?

It seems a lose lose. Once you are fat, you will always be fat.

amother

Sage

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 9:06 am

Yes and that’s why all diets are not a good idea. Unless indicated by a dr for health. Better idea is small sustainable changes ie adding joyful movement daily, adding veggies to meals, drinking water instead of soda etc

amother

Foxglove

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 9:10 am

I don't understand the comparison. Making healthy lifestyle changes doesn't cost a boatload of money and come with a laundry list of side effects and health risks.

Also people need to realize that breaking the cycle involves a whole lot more than just losing the weight. You need to fix your microbiome, your insulin resistance, your hpa-thyroid axis, etc. That is what drugs address, but in a risky, pharmaceutical way.

https://www.scientificamerican.....mpic/

amother

Poinsettia

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 9:19 am

justforfun87 wrote:

All the people with the mentality of small habit changes...
I wonder how much weight you've ever gained?
How much you've ever lost?
And most of all how much weight loss have you ever maintained?

I dont think one person that had a hard time losing and maintaining chimes in with these lets do habit change replies.

justforfun87

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 9:21 am

amother Sage wrote:

You can do all these things and still continue to gain weight. Once you are overweight it is as if you are doomed.

lamplighter

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 9:22 am

Its not as if. You are.
You have to pick something to do and magically have the ability to do it forever.

amother

Blushpink

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 9:23 am

idk about ozempic but I've tried regular weight loss plans, the minute I go off, I gain it all back.
to be honest it's totally depressing. last year I was restricting and then I stopped and now all those clothes do.not.fit.

justforfun87

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 9:27 am

amother Foxglove wrote:

I am wondering practically what does this look like? I read the article. No canned beans? No frozen veggies?

Chana Miriam S

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 10:03 am

justforfun87 wrote:

This is a biological phenomenon. Obesity creates adaptation in the human body. Weight loss creates its own adaptations in the body. Once you’re obese, even if you lose weight, your body is still obese, just asymptomatic.

Homeostasis, which is the mechanism that our body keeps itself within a safe range for literally every body system ( and many of them interact) means that its basically inevitable that after a period of time (6 months on average says the literature) hormonal changes and signals will start changing to help you increase your weight again. The body, being below a higher weight, thinks you are starving, and is hormonally signaling for you to eat more.

This is the point where people start eating again, blaming themselves, thinking they are gluttons, and weak and gave something wrong with them.

It’s true that lifestyle changes may mitigate some of this however the body’s homeostasis will nearly always (98%+ of the time) kick in and try to keep you from starving to death. The number of people who can keep a weightloss off that have lost 10% of their body weight and kept off for longer than a year is about 2% but that metric can’t really be checked since it’s a self report method of research and the People who qualify have to have lost 10% of their body weight and kept It off for a specific period of time. It doesn’t include all the people who lost less or couldn’t diet for a day.

Confounding all of this is that each person’s history is different. A person who gains 100 pounds and loses it once on one diet may be able to maintain better than someone who was obese their entire life and tried to diet every day. Your personal history matters a lot to your outcome.

So, basically, the best way to not be obese is to prevent it. Weightloss, just like obesity is not benign. Yup, that’s right. Losing weight is not benign. It creates changes that then add to the life long fight.

One concept that is gaining traction in the world of health is a lower hanging fruit. A person can improve their metabolic health by not having weightloss as a goal but improving health instead.

Using type 2 diabetes as an example ( because it’s a raging epidemic), a person could have a BMI of forty ( BMI is a terrible metric but people understand it.) let’s say a person changes what they eat to address their metabolic issues with blood sugar. Their blood sugar can normalize without ever losing a pound, or their fatty liver can normalize. Mind you, people often lose weight in this process, but unlike former guidelines which essentially credit the weight loss for improving the sugar, it’s possible to do it without losing a pound, feeling deprived and hungry and miserable. So now the person is no longer damaging themselves with high blood sugar or a fatty liver. They’re still a person who has a bmi of 40 but they are absolutely healthier than they were, weightloss or not.

There are a few conditions where weightloss would actually make a huge difference even without metabolic change, like for example when people have hip or knee issues ( although eating non inflammatory food can help manage pain) or with snoring which seems to improve with weightloss alone. Only the person who is trying to resolve an issue can decide if it’s worth it to them to change their body composition or not to try to solve a problem.

I’m not saying it’s impossible. We all know people who have done seemingly impossible things. But I’m here to say that even if you do everything right, nearly 100% of the time, weight will be regained, regardless of lifestyle changes, regardless of macronutrients or style of diet.

My own experience tells me that this journey is one that everyone basically takes alone because no two people are alike. I am someone who bucked the trend. I did have some regain but very slowly instead of seemingly overnight like other times in my life.

I am someone who is metabolically healthy even with a BMI of 38-40. I have no body pain, my blood pressure is excellent, blood sugar well in control ( despite early damage with prediabetic levels 7 years ago) and I have the energy of a toddler. My brain is clear, I’ve accomplished insane things since regaining my metabolic health (including freedom from brain fog) and yet when I walk into a doctor’s office, I need to show them pictures of where I was physically seven years ago, because all they see is fat 56 year old. Bias and fat stigma in healthcare is real.

By the way, I consider obesity to be a chronic, multi factorial chronic illness. Just like with other diseases it can be well controlled or not well controlled. How you judge your control isn’t necessarily size ( although of mobility was your priority, then maybe).

Obesity can be managed in several ways. Some people can sustain lifestyle changes. Well, really, no matter what you do, lifestyle changes are part of it. But some people can utilize only lifestyle changes as a tool, some people find success with medication and some with surgery. Some with more than one tool. These are all valid pathways in my opinion and according to the most recent literature from several sources.

Sorry this was such a novel. What I wrote above mostly came from the 2020 obesity Canada best practice guidelines, and peer reviewed literature from the national weight loss registry combined with my own experience and research.

You’re welcome to ask me questions. If I don’t know the answers I can research them.

amother

Trillium

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 10:06 am

I don’t understand why everyone thinks it’s bad to be on a medicine forever. Men with high blood pressure can be on Lipitor for their whole life. Diabetics can be on insulin for their whole life. People who have allergies can take allergy meds their whole life. No one tells them that they have to fix themselves naturally. I think it’s horrible that for some reason weight can’t be considered like any other medical issue. Take a medicine and stay on it for your whole life.

I think it’s demeaning to women and any overweight people to put this problem in it’s own separate class and make it a morality play. I for one do not go down that road.

Chana Miriam S

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 10:07 am

amother Poinsettia wrote:

I did it for many years but realized after three years that I was on borrowed time. I fought hard and continued my changes with lifestyle and some of the weight crept back slowly, giving me time to figure out next options. I had as much as a thirty six percent weightloss from my top weight but gained back about ten percent over all these years. I’ve been maintaining a 27% loss for six years plus.

For me, this has been a journey of my entire life. For a long time I gave up. I will keep tweaking and fighting when necessary for my whole life, because I know it’s possible using tools we have on hand.

justforfun87

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 10:23 am

Chana Miriam S wrote:

I appreciate your insight. I completely agree that the biggest issue for me was becoming overweight in the first place. I have to be honest I don't diet too often. I am not one of those YOYO dieters. I lack the will to sustain anything longer than a week. I appreciate delicious wholesome food. I don't see that as a punishment to eat whole foods.
I am wondering what your daily intake looks like?

amother

Babypink

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 10:52 am

amother Trillium wrote:

I agree with you but you can't really compare insulin (I'm on it for life) with weight loss injections, because insulin is something that the body is supposed to create on its own. You also have insulin, your pancreas gives it to you. Mine packed it in, I'm just giving it to my body manually. So there is a difference if it's a foreign medicine, or not. I'm seriously thinking about going on ozempic if I'm eligible for it. Losing weight seems so impossible right now 😦

ima22

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 11:29 am

The way we eat as a society is not healthy! Many aspects of both American and Jewish cultures are simply not compatible with living a healthy lifestyle.

A diet will never fix that, or ozempic. We can never expect to lose weight and go back to how we were eating before. The processed, grab and go, carb heavy diet we consume has to be addressed for any long term changes to be sustained!

justforfun87

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 11:33 am

ima22 wrote:

Right. We all agree that the way we eat is horrible. My question is why can't both tools be used?

amother

Trillium

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 11:36 am

Yes they should both be used. It’s like brushing your teeth (proactive) and getting a cavity filled (reactive). Or when you have a headache, you can drink a cup of tea and take an Advil. Both. No one says to the person with a splitting headache - oh, just relax and drink a cup of tea. Oh that didn’t work? Drink another cup. Drink tea all day. Which is what we are telling overweight women. Oh, your body doesn’t work well? Okay eat lettuce. Oh that didn’t work? Oh, eat more lettuce and drink some water. Ridiculous!!!!!!!!

amother

Foxglove

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 2:38 pm

justforfun87 wrote:

I am wondering practically what does this look like? I read the article. No canned beans? No frozen veggies?

See a functional nutritionist or MD. Read dr amy Meyers, mark Hyman, aviva romm, Elaine gotschall, Natasha Campbell Mcbride, Sally Fallon.

There's a whole world put there outside of calorie restriction or low carb etc.

Yes, diet will be a big piece, but the end goal isn't weight loss, it's a healthy microbiome that has healthy cross talk with the satiety and pleasure centers in the brain. Obesity is as much a symptom of disease as a cause.

[What a lot of people don't realize about keto and low carb is that they aren't only addressing the insulin piece. They're also starving yeast and pathogenic bacteria in their gut which lowers inflammation and is very healing in its own way]

There's a time and place for everything, but generally, you can't drug your way to better health. At most you'll be trading one set of issues for another.

Chana Miriam S

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 8:17 pm

justforfun87 wrote:

I don’t record my intake or keep track. Very low carb, not processed foods. I don’t starve. I eat to satiate. I have a pdf if you send me your email.

amother

NeonPink

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 8:20 pm

amother Trillium wrote:

Lipitor is not for high blood pressure.

I’d like to point out that if people fixed what they ate, many of these issues could be fixed without medication.

Type one diabetes MUST have insulin, but that’s replacing something our body makes ( and they’re doesn’t) that we would die without.

Fixing a metabolic problem with food fixes the problem. Fixing it with medication covers it up but doesn’t solve the problem.

EDITED TO SAY

I don’t have any issue with Ozempic and like medication. The concept behind it is solid. It’s a valid way to treat obesity as is bariatric surgery.

Both of the above options require serious lifestyle changes to work properly.

amother

Nemesia

Mon, Apr 15 2024, 8:57 pm

I started ozempic 1 month ago. I have since lost around 6 pounds which doesn’t sound like a lot , but my weight does not budge without it!!
I’m very scared about going off of it, and I don’t want to stay on it long term. My dr said that a lot of her patients take it for 3-6 months, lose 20-30 pounds and then work really hard to maintain the weight loss. Sometimes maintaining is easier than losing.