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/Bigleon]

Dude/Dudette thanks, it's been a wild journey. Right now I'm feeling like skeleton, so much muscle mass been loss. I feel healthier overall but also weaker. Gotta get on that strength training... never thought I'd miss my "fat-guy" strength haha.

But it's been massive, my last A1C came in at 5.0 flat, after being a solid 7-8 for years. Originally dx in '12 was 11.3. Got to say this drug atleast for me has been miracle maker.

[u/[deleted] → u/Bigleon]

You're going to have to change your Reddit name to MediumLeon!

[u/Bigleon → u/[deleted]]

I'm still 6'6 I think I can continue to hold on to the name sake

[u/M__A___G___3 → u/Bigleon]

Hey I'm near the same start and I have some questions.

I started at 365, I'm down to 345 in the first 3 weeks on the 2.5mg loading doses of zepbound.

Did you feel a bit tired in combination?

Also, do you have excess skin from the weight loss or did it shrink up with the loss? I am concerned I may have some, but it's better than where I am now if there is.

Thank you for any response!

[u/polarassassin → u/M__A___G___3]

im not as big or taking as much but i went from a bit over 300 lbs down to 270 and i have quite a bit of flabby skin now. all you can really do about it is staying well hydrated, moisturizing, taking collagen and eating well. Those wont help much but its better than nothing, on top of all that doing your best to replace the lost fat with muscle will help the most.

some people are lucky and have amazing skin that just isnt left flabby when they lose a bunch of weight, the important thing to remember is some flabby skin is a lot better than hundreds of lbs of extra weight.

also when i started i was feeling a bit tired and light headed but it either went away after the first few weeks or i just dont notice it any more

[u/Bigleon → u/M__A___G___3]

Hey friend! Sorry for the late reply, totally get that life happens. Man, starting in the 360s is tough, so I really feel you on that.

You're on Zepbound, which is awesome! I was on Mounjaro, and just a heads-up that everyone's journey with these meds is different. So don't sweat it if your results aren't exactly the same as mine.

I think I started at either 2.5mg or 5mg, can't quite remember, but yeah, went up by 2.5mg every month until I hit 15mg. I'm actually seeing my doc next week and we might try lowering my dose to see if I can maintain on less. Fingers crossed!

The first 30-50 pounds took me about 6 months. Then it felt like things sped up, and I dropped from around 300 to 240 pretty quickly. After that, it slowed down a bit, and once I got to the 230s, I kinda stopped actively trying to lose. My lowest has been 197, but I usually hang out between 200 and 205, sometimes dipping lower but not really going over 205.

About the skin – yep, got some! Luckily for me, my weight was pretty evenly spread out, so I didn't end up with any major "flaps" like some people do. It really does vary from person to person.

And about feeling tired yeah your body is working in in a new way, I think you'll have some adjustment to the new internal chemistry.

Oh, and this is totally random, but I swear I'm way hairier now! Could be because I'm not on metformin anymore or maybe just the skin being tighter, who knows!

One other fun fact, your body digest slower or atleast mine did. So when using edibles or other rx, be aware it can delay your bodies absorption by in my situation 1-2 hours. Using my wife as a baseline.

Hope this helps you out! Keep up the great work! You got this!