[zdragnar]

This is not a charitable take of the critics.

If you go on a fad diet, lose weight, then gain it back when you stop, well, you haven't really lost anything other than time.

If you go on semaglutide, lose weight, then gain it all back when you stop, you're out thousands of dollars, I'm out money when my insurance premium goes up to support the new expensive drugs, and you might have permanent health complications (rare though they might be).

I haven't heard any success stories of people keeping the weight off after they stop taking it, though I've heard plenty of people gaining everything back, and being miserable from the side effects while they were on it.

If semaglutide worked as a stopgap to help you get to the point where you could manage your weight on your own, I think it would be hard to argue with it. So far, though, I've had people tell me that it should be treated as just another vitamin supplement that you'll be on for life, albeit one that costs $12k a year or whatever the case may be.

[const_cast]

Most obese people are going to be on lifetime drugs anyway, in the form of metformin, statins, insulin, you name it.

The "ooo scary medicine!" thing doesn't really work for people who are already sick and suffering. That ship has sailed.

[thebigman433]

A year after quitting semaglutide, 20% of people maintained their achieved weight. But, some 44% regained weight. Of that 44%, most (59% of them) still had improved weight: their weights had not fully rebounded to their pre-semaglutide level! Possibly even more importantly, the remaining 36% continued losing weight, either mildly (47%) or majorly (53%)

https://archive.md/Wsuoz

[zdragnar]

That's certainly a significantly better rate of success than what I'd heard from the people I know who took it! Perhaps there's just some weird selection bias in my network.

[mc3301]

Bad news spreads better than good news.

[throwaw-zxcvbn]

Do you hear more from people that made money in crypto or that lost money?

[Yossarrian22]

People buying crypto gain more from others buying crypto

[Spivak]

> I'm out money when my insurance premium goes up to support the new expensive drugs

It's a good thing then that insurance won't pay for it and these services don't even bill insurance.

It's also not $12k a year for the generic, it's around $1200 a year. The drug isn't that expensive to make, the brand is just jacking up the price.

[lotsofpulp]

> and you might have permanent health complications (rare though they might be).

Does obesity have permanent health complications and cost you extra in premiums?

[zdragnar]

There are other options for addressing obesity than "semaglutide or nothing".

[jjcob]

Yeah, but they don't work for most people.

For example, I could say, just start running/cycling/swimming if you want to lose weight. It's really easy! If you slowly work up to working out 5 hours a week, and keep at it, your obesity will probably disappear.

However, most people won't be able to do that, because it's boring, takes a lot of time, and they will stop sooner or later. There are some success stories of people who stuck with it and lost 50kg, but these stories are so rare that they are noteworthy.

Taking daily meds on the other hand is something that most people manage to do just fine.

[wonderwonder]

Best part is most GLP-s are not even daily, just once a week. Even easier.

[lotsofpulp]

Not according to the data about the change in proportion of obese people over time.