Did Ozempic make you realize how much you were eating/overeating?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It certainly made my eating more intentional. I fell into the “have kids, eat what you can (often “kid food”), when you can, as fast as you can before some little person needs you” trap.

I have definately learned to put a 1/2 to a 1/3 of my former portion size on my plate, concentrate on much more nutrient dense foods and SLOW DOWN. Eat protein and veggies first. And stop after I’ve eaten about 1/2 of what is on my plate, engage in conversation or read some, and see if I am physically hungry in a few minutes. If not, I stop eating. Seems obvious, but I’m from the “kids are starving in China, you will sit there until you clean your plate” generation. Turns out, you can package what’s left and presto— lunch or dinner tomorrow.

So, it’s made me more mindful of what I eat and how much. And changed some bad but deeply ingrained eating habits. I’m down almost 90 pounds in 13 months. I suspect I will be on some dose of a GLP-1 at some interval forever, and am okay with that. But also, that when I dose down, many of the good habits I’ve developed will stick. And I’ll need a much lower dose much less often to maintain, simply because I’ve reset my eating.

Also, even in weight loss mode, I’ve discovered that I can eat 2-3 bites of a dessert and enjoy it. And ten be done. Often because we eat out and I just try a couple bites of what DH has. Or serve a 2 bite portion. Ot eat only a little then put it up. Turns out I don’t need a huge slice of pie or cake to enjoy dessert sometimes.

Wow 90 pounds! Congrats! You must look like a different person?

Did you get any loose skin on lower face/neck and if so did it improve?

Thanks! People say so, but I can’t tell when I look in a mirror— although I can in side by side pics. The body dysmorphia piece of losing that much weight is awful for me.

And, so far no loose skin or aging on my face. And again— side by side pics. BUT (and this is a big one)— I’ve have crippling migraines since I was teen, so I’ve gotten a large amount of Botox injected in my face, scalp and neck every 3 months since I was 20– except when I was pregnant. In fact, was in one of the early clinical trials for Botox for migraines. According to my neurologist, this means I never formed wrinkles, so if I stopped now, I would have a 25 year olds skin tone. I’m sure it’s also helping with lose skin. So much pain for so long— it’s nice to see an upside.

Now, my abdomen (especially since I have an C-section apron) and under my arms— yeah— you can definitely tell there.

Wow thats interesting!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those on a semiglutide medication - has taking it (and losing weight) made you realize how much you were eating/overeating previously? Did it give you new perspective on what is a normal amount of food to eat?

No. It made me realize that I need to eat far less than that recommended for me to lose weight. I have counted calories for as long as I can remember, and I always struggled to lose weight — doctors have always recommended I eat around 1200 calories/day to lose weight, but it was always a struggle to stick to it because it never seemed to work (except make me hungry). Now on Wegovy, I realized I needed to eat about 1000 calories/day to lose weight, but Wegovy takes away those hunger pangs. I have lost about 45 pounds. I think “maintenance” will be around 1200 calories/day.

How long did it take you to lose 45 lbs? The only way your maintenance would be 1200 is if it's taken you 2 years to lose the weight.

About 10 months, but the weight loss came faster within the last 4 months or so (it was really slow at first).

[Anonymous]

YES. I eat for nourishment now and feel satisfied all the time. Without this medicine, I ate when I wasn’t hungry, overate delicious foods, craved sugar all the time. I probably had disordered eating, to be honest. In retrospect I think I binged. I knew what a normal portion was before but now I can eat that and it’s enough. FWIW- I’ve lost 40 pounds (185 to 145) in 10 months and am on the 1.0 dose of Wegovy. Slow and steady

[Anonymous]

very much so, very early on the journey but so far I would say and unequivocal yes to that question

[Anonymous]

No, it made me realize I really didn't eat that much before. I still ate around the same amount and lost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it made me realize I really didn't eat that much before. I still ate around the same amount and lost.

How do you explain that? Are you eating different things?

[Anonymous]

This is pretty fascinating and I feel like might be the key to figuring out to use tools like Ozempic to kick start weight loss but then wean people off of them, since many of us do wonder/worry about consequences of longterm use. A few thoughts:

- A friend of mine who went on Ozempic continued to eat the way he had before, but wouldn't finish anything. So he'd still order tons of food when out, get snacks all the time, etc. But then he'd eat half or less, sometimes only a few bites. I watched him order a huge ice cream cone recently and then have like 5 bites and toss the rest. I'm curious if at some point this will click to not ordering all the food to begin with. I know his wife is stressed about the waste of money and food, but he *is* losing weight and has more energy so at least that's good.

- My DH is interested in Ozempic but he's not overweight enough to qualify (carrying maybe 15 more lbs than he'd like, but very active and not a big issue). But he has many of the same snacking/overeating compulsions. Part of it is being raised to clean his plate. But then he'll also clean my plate and our kids' plates. He also just has snacking habits that are likely linked to boredom or stress, like always needing a salty/savory snack when he gets home from work, even if we are minutes from sitting down to dinner. We've been talking recently about whether it's possible for him to change these habits without something like Ozempic. Our friend's experience has been educational on this.

- But again, the key is to just not START snacking or over-ordering, and that's the hard part. I've started thinking about this with our kids (who are very healthy weights, and actually we have a picky eater who I often worry is underweight) and snacking or eating when out of the house. Again, there's this psychological component where so often "hunger" is actually driven by boredom, stress, rituals (always getting ice cream at the beach), or advertising. Since our kids are active and healthy, and with the picky eater we just want her to eat most of the time, I'm not really looking to curb snacking. But thinking about *why* we choose to eat outside of regular meals, or choose to eat extra during regular meals, has me thinking a lot about how I'm raising my kids as eaters, and wondering if there are things I can do to teach them to discern between real hunger cues and this other stuff that seems like hunger but is actually something else. Without being super food restrictive as I don't think that's the answer either.

Anyway, interesting responses here. I hope this is something we all keep talking about and studying. I actually think these drugs could hold the key to solving obesity, but not necessarily as the quick cure they are sometimes billed as. More as a way to better understand what causes us to overeat.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, it made me realize I really didn't eat that much before. I still ate around the same amount and lost.

I don't think this is possible. Ozempic/Wegovy don't really have the ability to cause weight loss without reducing food intake.

[Anonymous]

It made me realize how much I was drinking and how alcohol affected my life.
I cannot tolerate alcohol on Wagovy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those on a semiglutide medication - has taking it (and losing weight) made you realize how much you were eating/overeating previously? Did it give you new perspective on what is a normal amount of food to eat?

No. It made me realize that I need to eat far less than that recommended for me to lose weight. I have counted calories for as long as I can remember, and I always struggled to lose weight — doctors have always recommended I eat around 1200 calories/day to lose weight, but it was always a struggle to stick to it because it never seemed to work (except make me hungry). Now on Wegovy, I realized I needed to eat about 1000 calories/day to lose weight, but Wegovy takes away those hunger pangs. I have lost about 45 pounds. I think “maintenance” will be around 1200 calories/day.

Similar story here. My BMR is very, very low (my metabolism was likely wrecked thanks to psych meds and previous dieting).