Anonymous wrote:I was 155 pounds in November when I bought semaglutide off the internet for about $300/month. I am now 132 pounds. I am seeing if I can get to 125 lbs. I would be happy plateauing at 135 or 140. If it takes 10 or 20 units of semaglutide a week for the rest of my life, so be it. It’s just a few hundred bucks a month.

I’m the PP who had Zepbound denied by insurance. Can I ask where you get your script filled? I assume this is compounding?

I’m 5’ 5”
I was 230 pounds last June
I went on off brand Ozempic
And I’m currently 200 pounds
I pay 350 a month and it’s worth it.
Since my hysterectomy, I couldn’t lose weight.
This is the only thing that has worked.
Hope to be close to 170 at the one year mark.

I was 155 pounds in November when I bought semaglutide off the internet for about $300/month. I am now 132 pounds. I am seeing if I can get to 125 lbs. I would be happy plateauing at 135 or 140. If it takes 10 or 20 units of semaglutide a week for the rest of my life, so be it. It’s just a few hundred bucks a month.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just eat less, and move more. Now give me $1 million dollars for this advice.

If it were this easy everyone would be thin.

They can do it. They just have to tolerate the feeling of being hungry.

IMO intermittent fasting is a great option for this. You just have to decide to not eat at all during that period of time (maybe 7pm until noon the next day.)

It's not just about physical hunger. I have a tendency to binge when stressed and in that time no rational thought stops me. It has resulted in painful yoyo dieting and self hatred because I can't do it for the long run, hate myself, deprive, stress, binge, and repeat.

Honest question: have you sought treatment for the mental health condition underlying this behavior?

Um. Zero dollars. I’m currently losing weight postpartum and it’s not easy but, barring extreme outlying conditions, it’s possible for everyone to lose weight.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just eat less, and move more. Now give me $1 million dollars for this advice.

If it were this easy everyone would be thin.

They can do it. They just have to tolerate the feeling of being hungry.

IMO intermittent fasting is a great option for this. You just have to decide to not eat at all during that period of time (maybe 7pm until noon the next day.)

It's not just about physical hunger. I have a tendency to binge when stressed and in that time no rational thought stops me. It has resulted in painful yoyo dieting and self hatred because I can't do it for the long run, hate myself, deprive, stress, binge, and repeat.

Last year I decided to throw money at my weight problem. I'm 5'4" and was 185.
Personal Trainer- $180/hour x 52 = $9360
Pilates- $150/month x 12 = $1800
Wegovy- insurance paid

The Wegovy was what made me lose 35 pounds last year. The other money I gladly spent to make sure it was done in the most healthy way. No regrets at all. I'll pay for Wegovy out of pocket if insurance ever stops paying. I had no side effects and only took the .25 dose then the .5 dose. Now I take the .5 dose every 10-14 days.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just eat less, and move more. Now give me $1 million dollars for this advice.

If it were this easy everyone would be thin.

It's funny, but it's easy when it's easy. About 10 years ago I lost about 15-20 pounds. Great! During the pandemic, however, I gained almost all of it back, and couldn't stick with anything enough to get the weight off. But then, when I was ready - I was ready. I started eating less, adjusting my schedule, not eating the sugar. I lost the weight easily. It's still off (but ... you know, I understand it can come back if I'm in another bad place!!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just eat less, and move more. Now give me $1 million dollars for this advice.

If it were this easy everyone would be thin.

They can do it. They just have to tolerate the feeling of being hungry.

IMO intermittent fasting is a great option for this. You just have to decide to not eat at all during that period of time (maybe 7pm until noon the next day.)

If I had a magic wand and could lose 40lb without side effects, healing from surgery, or permanently damaging my metabolism like the people on The Biggest Loser? Probably $100k.
Maybe more. Assuming I could eat a normal maintenance calorie amount for my new weight and my body wouldn’t fight to regain the weight.


But if the question is how much would I pay for the new drugs out of pocket, the answer is $0. Not because I think it’s cheating or a shortcut. I can afford them. It’s because I truly feel there is no free lunch. I am not willing to risk the side effects of nausea and diarrhea. I am not willing to be on meds for the rest of my life or risk rebounding to a higher weight. I have lost and gained the same 25-40 pounds multiple times and each time I learn a bit more about how and why the weight comes back. I am lucky that I can exercise and my cholesterol, blood pressure, and blood sugar are in a healthy range. Being lighter is nice because I can run faster, but my quality of life is pretty good. If health markers start trending in the wrong direction and I can sincerely say I made an effort to control it on my own, I may change my mind.

Anonymous wrote:I have paid for everything - diets, fat camps, and now Ozempic out of pocket.

Fat camp and Ozempic were both worth it. There's a lot of stuff I don't buy and I care zero if people think it's extravagant.

$600/month sounds like a lot if you live in a tiny bubble and you think everyone should make roughly the same and spend roughly the same on everything, and you see any aberration as a threat to your DCUM suburban hegemony.

But actually most of us on this board could move things around to prioritize this over other discretionary expenditures and I don't give people a hard time for having a Volvo instead of a Toyota so any one with an opinion about paying for semaglutide can f right off.

No one here is saying people shouldn't pay for semaglutide? You seem really sensitive about this, are you ok? Also, $600 IS a lot to some people, and that's....the opposite of living in a bubble? Not everyone makes in the multi 6 figures per year. I could pay 600 a month now if I needed to but there was a time in my life 600 may well have been a million because I never would have been able to swing it.

Anonymous wrote:It depends, can I pay this and stay this weight forever and not have to worry about what I eat and how it affects my health? I'd pay all my money for that! But if I have to pay 6 figures to be that weight, and then maintain that weight on my own, I'm not doing it. I wish I were 110 pounds but I don't want to eat like a 110 pound person.

I weigh 112. Here is what I eat in a day:

Breakfast:
Coffee with whole milk
Weekdays - Oatmeal with honey, butter, and salt
Weekend - Saturday and sunday have family breakfast with extended family that usually consists of homemade pancakes or waffles, bacon, eggs, fruit, roasted potatoes...usually on these days I end up having a really light lunch such a cup of homemade veggie soup because breakfast starts later than usual and I eat way more than usual and I'm not hungry for a robust lunch.

Lunch - Salad with lettuce, herbs, various veggies (onions, carrots, radishes etc) and topping like pumpkin seeds, goat cheese or feta cheese and then some kind of protein on the side - whatever I had for dinner the night before so could be salmon, chicken, or if no leftovers for the protein I'll have prosciutto, smoked salmon, paneer, or chickpeas.

Dinner - A protein with roasted veggies, so for example a steak with a side of roasted brussels sprouts/sauteed asparagus or some kind of bowl (the other night I had roasted sweet potatoes, sauteed onions and mushrooms, roasted red pepper and brussels sprouts over a bed of arugula with feta cheese and a balsamic vinegar drizzle, or taco night with all the fixings you would expect.

Snacks/desserts etc - Usually have ice cream once a week, definitely indulge in some chocolates or cookies fairly often, and enjoy a few glasses of wine probably 3 - 4 nights a week. A couple days a week I get a starbucks latte, but don't indulge in all these on the same day. So for example if I'm having a latte in the afternoon I likely will not have wine with dinner or have a bowl of ice cream. If I know I want wine with my dinner I won't have a latte or ice cream but likely will have some chocolates.

I'm going to be honest - I feel full at the end of my meals and while I am a normal amount of hungry by the time mealtime rolls around I'm certainly not hungry all day long. I guess your mileage may vary.

I have paid for everything - diets, fat camps, and now Ozempic out of pocket.

Fat camp and Ozempic were both worth it. There's a lot of stuff I don't buy and I care zero if people think it's extravagant.

$600/month sounds like a lot if you live in a tiny bubble and you think everyone should make roughly the same and spend roughly the same on everything, and you see any aberration as a threat to your DCUM suburban hegemony.

But actually most of us on this board could move things around to prioritize this over other discretionary expenditures and I don't give people a hard time for having a Volvo instead of a Toyota so any one with an opinion about paying for semaglutide can f right off.

I’m considering this now. I have a prescription for Zepbound but my insurance denied coverage. I’m debating whether I want to pay out of pocket for a few months - I think it’s around $500 a month with a coupon. I’m already paying plenty of money for boutique fitness classes that I enjoy.

Anonymous wrote:It depends, can I pay this and stay this weight forever and not have to worry about what I eat and how it affects my health? I'd pay all my money for that! But if I have to pay 6 figures to be that weight, and then maintain that weight on my own, I'm not doing it. I wish I were 110 pounds but I don't want to eat like a 110 pound person.

This. Except I don’t think I’d pay all my money and I’m thinking 155/160 based on my body type and when I felt best. So 30-40 lbs loss.

But I like food. Not junk, not in huge quantities, but my age/metabolism means that I’d have to give most of it up to lose that weight.

Semiglutides are amazing, but a side effect for some people is they aren’t interested in food at all. I have some medication that does that, and while it’s great at 3pm when I get the mid-day nibbles, it sucks at dinner time when I don’t have the motivation to even fix something easy to eat.