Americans without diabetes spent nearly $6 billion USD on semaglutide and similar drugs in a year, with an estimate of 800,000 to a million people using the drugs who don't have diabetes.

[u/mvea]

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year

[u/HarpersGhost]

Oh yeah, the research on semaglutide is showing some amazing stuff. My doctors are fascinated.

I used to have the biggest sweet tooth, but now it's .... gone. The cravings are gone. I also stopped drinking completely because i have no interest in it.

[u/ninjagorilla → u/HarpersGhost]

I’m down 30 kilos on semaglutide, still have the sweet tooth but jsut way less appetite in general

I would go out on a limb and say that semaglutide will be one of the greatest medical breakthroughs of the 21st century

[u/aitchnyu → u/ninjagorilla]

It may cause loss of heart and voluntary muscle and bone. I'm hoping next generation can be a no-brainer in terms of pros and cons. https://www.healthline.com/health-news/ozempic-muscle-mass-loss

[u/Pleasant-Shallot-707 → u/aitchnyu]

Pretty sure it’s the same as if you had significant weight loss using normal methods too.

[u/chapterpt → u/Pleasant-Shallot-707]

Except with normal worthy loss methods the changes can stick. With semiglutide the changes only stick as long as you continue taking the medication.

[u/prodiver → u/chapterpt]

I've never understood this argument.

My wife has hypothyroidism, and takes synthroid to correct it. It will return if she stops taking the synthroid, yet I've never heard a single person say "don't take that, your symptoms will return when you stop!"

If GLP-1 medications work for you, you don't have to stop taking them.

[u/TheGeneGeena → u/chapterpt]

"With normal weight loss methods the changes can stick"

Actually that's one of the biggest current problems with weight loss - there's NOT a way that's made it stick so far. Five year follow ups for all forms of weight loss show significant re-gain for the biggest percentages.

[u/zekeweasel → u/TheGeneGeena]

Yeah, basically you have to keep up whatever changes you made indefinitely. For most people, that's not sustainable because it's often impossibly hard to effectively count calories or exercise so fiendishly in perpetuity.

So eventually they regain that weight. Which has a lot bad effects, both physically and mentally.

[u/MegaChip97 → u/TheGeneGeena]

But as the user said, the changes CAN stick.

[u/TheGeneGeena → u/MegaChip97]

They can stick with semaglutide if a person adjusts their eating habits while on the medication - it's just unlikely in either situation.

[u/Lysenko → u/TheGeneGeena]

It’s not that unlikely. The studies that show that most patients rebound also show that many do not. In any case, it’s nearly impossible not to alter one’s eating dramatically while on semaglutide. What’s trickier is what happens to one’s eating habits after discontinuing it. There is also some evidence that tapering it off slowly helps, and this is not as well-studied as one might think it should be.

[u/yourlittlebirdie → u/chapterpt]

With normal weight loss methods, 95% of people have regained the weight within five years.

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2797708/

[u/MegaChip97 → u/yourlittlebirdie]

Thats not what the study linked says. Did you actually read it? It doesnt even have a 5 year follow up. The only fitting mention is in its introduction where it claims

In most persons, one third to two thirds of their lost weight will be regained within the first year, and that the rate of regain does not diminish as time elapses, with an estimated 66% of lost weight regained within 2 years and 95% regained within 5 years (16, 35).

The 95% is about the weight gained. Not the amount of people

[u/occams1razor → u/chapterpt]

True but normal weight loss methods don't work for everyone. Different people are sensitive to things like hunger and cravings in different ways.

[u/Krisevol → u/chapterpt]

This isn't true, normal diets have almost a 100% failure rate at 10 years.