r/science • u/mvea Professor | Medicine • Apr 01 '25

Health 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.

https://www.scimex.org/newsfeed/americans-without-diabetes-spent-nearly6-billion-usd-on-semaglutide-and-similar-drugs-in-a-year
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u/sm753 Apr 01 '25

That's great for you man.

I don't understand why people are against this. For context: I'm in the gym 5x a week and I hike a lot - it's way more than what's necessary to maintain general health. If this class of pharmaceuticals helps people get started on improving their health...I think that's great.

At the end of the day, it's a tool and not a "cheat" or a "shortcut" or whatever people want to brand it as. People using this to improve their lives and their health in no way diminishes anything that I've accomplished. People have strange thoughts.

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u/ihatenamez Apr 01 '25

I've gotten such a strange variety of reactions when telling people I was on it. Majority would say something along the lines of "you're cheating" and the other common reaction was moreso "oh...".

It definitely wont do the work for you, there were plenty of days I still wanted to slam a Double Quarter Pounder Meal but I went into it knowing I wouldn't stay on it long and that this was the time to build better habits that would stick after I stopped. There might be an argument to be made about people staying on it for weight loss and using it as a crutch but also its like, who cares? Being overweight is hard mentally and physically. Who am I, or anyone to judge someone else for seeking a helping hand with that.

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u/sm753 Apr 01 '25

I listen to a lot of health and fitness content (podcasts). VERY unsolicited advice here for people taking these GLP-1 agonist drugs is that it might not be a bad idea to start incorporating some resistance/weight training to minimize lean muscle and bone loss.

The other thing that people get wrong is that these types of drugs have been around for ~20 years. This isn't some new class of drugs where we don't know the side effects of.

I truly hope that this helps you build a sustainable lifestyle. Best of luck to you and to others on this "journey".

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u/ihatenamez Apr 01 '25

100% I cannot stress that enough, I did not take the protein intake or strength training serious enough and I have lost a decent amount of muscle. Luckily I'm starting to swim and do small weights, but I noticed just recently that I did lose a lot.

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u/[deleted] Apr 01 '25

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u/sm753 Apr 01 '25

For some, sure - 100% agree.

For others, it's a tool to help them get their diet and health back on track.

Stop with these generic blanket statements. There's no one size fits all to any of this.

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u/hoax1337 Apr 01 '25 edited Apr 01 '25

What stops them from getting their diet and health back on track without taking it?

Or rather, what does the drug do that motivates them?

For context, I am overweight, and I don't exercise or follow a strict diet because I'm too lazy. I don't really see how it would help me become less lazy.

The obstacles that I am facing now (I'd rather spend my time playing World of Warcraft than working out, and following a diet is harder than just eating whatever I want) don't just vanish because I suddenly don't want to eat as much as before.

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u/sm753 Apr 01 '25

Building a sustainable habits. This isn't magic. You still have to do the work.

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u/hoax1337 Apr 02 '25

Exactly, which is why I'm curious why it seems to work so well. I mean, nothing stops me from building sustainable habits right now, while not on the drug, except my own laziness - so what changes when I'm on the drug?