I’d be happy to detail my experience if anyone actually wants to hear it.
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Not opposed to hearing it
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Definitely interested in it
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Well ok. I’m 6’2”, 333 lbs as of this morning. True goal weight would be 200. Anything under 270 and I’m going to feel good about myself. I purchased semaglutide compound medication from Fella Health. They only do dudes. But if y it order 6mo of meds up front, they charge ~$240/month. Which is obviously expensive, but cheaper than most programs that are more like $300/month.
I did have my insurance checked by Fella. They initially said I’m covered. But that was only checking whether or not the medication itself is covered by insurance. When I actually signed up, they ran branded semaglutide through my insurance, but my insurance denied coverage. Felt a little bait and switch like, but ultimately I sucked it up and ordered the compound without insurance. The $240/month is the cheapest I’ve seen anywhere.
I skipped breakfast this morning and had roughly 650 calories for lunch. I was very hungry when I got home from work. Immediately gave myself the shot. Absolutely painless. Very small needle. But it is a weekly shot, so if needles scare you, good luck.
I was super hungry. Ate a 100 calorie granola bar right after the shot. Which usually does nothing. But in this case, I’m definitely feeling fuller. I’m still feeling a lot of hunger, but it’s not getting worse as hours go by. It seems like a very low level of hunger just kind of exists. Very helpful to not snack. Overall for dinner I ate about 500 calories and I’m very much just fine from a food perspective.
Will give weekly updates until someone tells me to shut the hell up. But that’s my first 5 hour impression. I’m less hungry, but it’s not like my hunger is gone.
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I have a co worker who has had tremendous success with it. If we’re being honest some of the stuff he still eats for lunch is mind blowing and he still has dropped close to 100 lbs and is maintaining it and feels great he says. I’m watching his dramatic transformation makes that stuff undeniable to me. The results are right there and he says he feels amazing.
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I’m definitely on team no shame around these products. Do whatever you have to do to be healthy
From my limited research, it seems like eating enough protein and lifting weights will be super important for maintaining muscle mass. That’s always true for weight loss, but apparently the appetite suppression can make that a real chore with GLP1 agonists.
Otherwise, good luck, I hope it helps get you where you want to go!
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Did you need to have any prescription from your primary doctor? Or was all of this handled by Fella?
I’ve been on Wegovy for 11 months now. If anyone has any questions about it generally or specific stuff, shoot me a DM. Happy to chat.
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No prior prescription needed. The websites all handle it. If you do have a pcp and you have had the necessary bloodwork done already, you can submit those to fella and they didn’t even have a virtual visit for me. Just used the bloodwork and my questionnaire to get the process going. Other sites simply do a virtual visit with an NP or something.
For what it’s worth, I did have a prescription from my pcp for a glp-1 medication. But I couldn’t get it anywhere. Called 7 or 8 different pharmacies around me twice a week for a couple months before I gave up on that.
Ive paid about $900/mo for my Monjouro which is expensive but worth every penny. I’d pay twice as much if I had to but I’m intrigued by this option to pay less.
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Yeah, this stuff goes in and out of stock quickly. I started on Ozempic and moved to Monjouro when I couldn’t get O anywhere. Now, I buy 2-3 months at a time if I can so that I can avoid the stock outs. I did have about 4-5 weeks earlier this year when I couldn’t get anything and, thankfully, I maintained my weight. It is easy and tempting to have a shitty diet on this stuff because you’ll probably continue to lose due to the small number of calories you are eating. But I can definitely see why the weight can come right back if you don’t make an effort to incorporate a sustainable healthy diet along with this.
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I Think that is great advice. If you’re suppressing appetitive you need to make sure you’re getting enough protein and fat to make your body can still function. Carbs you can can cut out if needed but you still need some for fiber so make sure it higher fiber.
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Is he still on it? My biggest fear for trying it is what happens after stopping it and my body has to go back to regulating itself
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Yes he is now. I was wondering how that works. If there’s a time you’re required to stick with it or you can wean off it when you’re happy with the results
The Acquired Podcast had a whole deep dive into the company who developed this drug and from what I got from it was these drugs end up being lifelong maintenance drugs for the majority of people and not a use it until now and I am good.
My experience with this stuff is that you can continue to eat like crap and still lose a lot of weight because you will just not eat very much of anything. So, if you don’t make a real effort to change diet habits, the weight will come right back if you go off the meds. This seems like a lifetime thing for most. The benefits from this and the weight loss (and the other measured cardiac and kidney benefits that are not simply due to weight loss) make this the type of meds that should be widely available to as many people as possible. This should be heavily subsidized because not having an obese population is so good for so many reasons.
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This is one of those things that always amazes me that insurance doesnt cover more aggressively than they do. For the reasons you state. The ideal is people just wouldnt be obese/overweight, but once they are getting them away from that point seems like its in all parties best interests.
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Shouout to @HaveOuimet for lots of great Q&A over DM. More and more I’m feeling like I need that ‘cheat code’ provided by semaglutide, but am struggling to get past the idea that it’s a shortcut and not sustainable. The best way I can think of the benefit of semaglutide is helping your body to set a healthier set point. My body just desperately wants me to weigh 30-40 pounds more than I do now, seemingly regardless of exercise, and I have to have the strictest of diets just to stay where I’m at now (and even more herculean diet effort to drop closer to a healthier weight).
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Battled the same thoughts and what felt like my body’s “natural” desire for the heavier homeostasis. The feeling of cheating is common, and is not an easy one for me to brush off, but I think about how if you can improve your physical health for yourself and your loved ones, it would be silly to not make that as easy and as healthy a journey as possible. It’s a great medication to help regulate and set that stricter boundary without the constant mental battle.
I started a compounded semaglutide four months ago, recently switched to tirzepatide (having a better experience thus far fwiw). Best of luck, happy to talk anytime.
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Was feeling pretty bad about myself after seeing some pictures of me playing golf and just having that typical feeling of being confronted with your own fatness, so figured I’d throw on a chop session episode of one of my favorite podcasts to cheer me up, only to once again have the hosts shitting on fat people just trying to get by in the world (on top of a bunch of other really shitty and insensitive takes that come from a place of unexamined privilege). That stuff is starting to become way to common on there, and it’s feeling like I need to let the show go, just for my own mental sake
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