Is it too late to welcome within the new yr? Initially of January, 87% of individuals resolve to get more healthy.* Most of them want to drop extra pounds.
I used to be a kind of individuals final yr. I reached a excessive of 197 kilos shortly after Thanksgiving. At 5 ft, 8 inches, that’s a BMI of precisely 30. I used to be medically categorized as overweight.**
Happily, that prime was not the norm. Due to the Fitbit app and my Fitbit Aria scale, I can see that I averaged 191.5 kilos final December. That’s higher, however not significantly better.
I made a decision to make some way of life modifications, and I wrote about them in each month-to-month replace. By June, my common month-to-month weight was right down to 179.4 kilos. I haven’t had a mean annual weight below 180 kilos since 2016. I used to be significantly proud to get up to now.
Then I hit a wall. For the following 5 months, my weight was inside one pound of that 179.4 pound common. I aimed to get to 175 however couldn’t break by way of the wall.
In early November, a good friend of mine obtained generic Wegovy from a compounding pharmacy. She stated it was transformative. She didn’t want meals after dinner and sometimes skipped breakfast. She stated it was a cheat code for intermittent fasting.
Even if you happen to’ve been hiding below a rock, you’ve in all probability heard in regards to the weight reduction medication Ozempic and Zepbound. Some well being insurances will cowl them, however sometimes, it requires an individual to have a number of medical situations—weight problems itself isn’t sufficient. With out insurance coverage, the medication could be greater than $1000/mo. For some individuals, that’s price each greenback. For a lot of others, that’s an absurd sum of money.
In some ways, it is a uniquely American downside. A month of those weight reduction medicine in Canada prices between $200 and $300. In Japan, it’s round $175.
My good friend had a little bit of an answer. Her value was $400, which was affordable sufficient for her. I had learn of cheaper costs within the information, so I provided some options if she wished to economize. Nevertheless, this obtained me pondering, “How low-cost can I get this, and is it price it for me?”
The Quest for Low-cost Generic Wegovy (Semaglutide)
To start out, I didn’t contemplate generic Zepbound. It’s been proven to assist individuals lose extra weight, but it surely’s virtually all the time costlier. That’s an amazing match for some individuals. I didn’t need to soar into the pool. I used to be simply curious to dip my toes within the water.
I discovered plenty of ideas on Reddit. Initially, I used to be going to go together with Henry Meds. Their $300/month prce is an effective financial savings over what my good friend was paying. I seemed into Hims, which has been profitable for me to develop hair up to now. The issue with Hims is that the most affordable pricing is for a yr dedication. On the time, it was $200, but it surely’s slightly decrease now. And not using a yr dedication, the pricing varies, but it surely was nearer to the identical value as Henry Meds.
The perfect worth in my search was Lavender Sky Well being. When you click on on that hyperlink, you’ll discover that the web site seems like your aunt designed it within the early Nineties. Nonetheless, all the things is useful. What’s the value for semaglutide on Lavender Sky? It’s round $250 for 10 weeks, relying on the pharmacy you select.
Now is an effective time for me to reveal that that is NOT a sponsored submit, and I DON’T make any fee if you happen to determine to go together with them. In reality, I might make a couple of {dollars} if I counsel you go together with Hims. So many individuals have requested me in actual life that it solely made sense to jot down about it.
Lavender Sky performs the service of getting you a prescription written and connecting you with a pharmacy. I accomplished the net questionnaire in only a few minutes and paid a $65 charge for his or her physician to evaluation it. Inside a day or two, I used to be accepted, and the pharmacy processed the prescription. I believe it may possibly take 5-10 enterprise days, however I had my medicine in round 5 days. It was fairly fast. I might have requested the physician questions, however I didn’t have any. Additionally, since my spouse is a pharmacist and was on board with this experiment, I used to be very comfy.
With the prescription charge ($65) and medicine ($250 for 5mg), I ended up paying $315. Nevertheless, as a result of this dosing is for 10 weeks, my value was round $136 a month. As soon as once more, this isn’t the model title medication, and this can be a priority for some individuals. It’s possible you’ll need to evaluation the the FDA’s issues about these compounded medicines. I had in the future that I felt sick within the final 8 weeks that I’ve been on it. I don’t understand how honest it could be to tie it to this prescription. It might have been any variety of issues.
I just lately ordered my first refill. That required a $45 physician seek the advice of to evaluation how the preliminary prescription went. The seek the advice of was simply me filling out a kind and ready a day for the physician to approve it. For the refill, I had the choice of going to tier two, which is $300 for 10mg of drugs. If my physique doesn’t construct up resistance, I’ll proceed to remain at a low dosage and stretch the medication longer. It’s twice as a lot medication, so it ought to final for 20 weeks. If I must up the dosage, it might moderately final for 16 weeks. That may deliver the pricing to round $90 a month.
There’s nonetheless one more tier (25mg) that I might go on and stretch the medication 2.5 instances additional. That might virtually final me a full yr and be below $500. I don’t see myself going to that degree although.
My Outcomes So Far
Wow, I used lots phrases increase the anticipation for this haven’t I? Time for the reveal.
To start out, right here is how my weight reduction has gone over the past yr.
I wished to point out the progress that I’ve made with conventional weight loss program and train. This graph reveals that my common weight was 181 – down from final yr’s common of 189. Nevertheless, you’ll be able to see that December’s common was 176 – so a lack of 13 kilos. You can too see that not a lot occurred from June by way of November.
I exploit an outdated Fitbit Aria that syncs physique fats to the Fitbit app. Google discontinued all Fitbit scales that report physique fats proportion, so it could take some analysis if it ever breaks down. Right here’s my physique fats over the past yr:
That reveals the same pattern with the burden loss. It’s essential to measure physique fats as a result of it’s no good if you’re simply dropping muscle.
These two graphs had been nonetheless a bit tease. It doesn’t present the modifications since I began with Lavender Sky Well being very effectively. It additionally ends in December, which leaves per week of January out of the image. Let me do higher.
Right here’s my weight reduction over the past three months. Take into account that solely the final 8 weeks have been on semaglutide. (November fifteenth was my first day.)
This reveals that on common I’ve misplaced 2.6 kilos for the reason that earlier 3 months. Nevertheless, I’m extra targeted on the present quantity which is round 174. That’s a lack of round 5-6 kilos. That’s very important, contemplating that I’ve plateaued for about six months.
And my physique fats over the past 8 weeks:
This graph is slightly anticlimactic, however I felt it was vital for completeness. I’d wish to get below that 22% physique fats proportion, however I would like to extend my train for that.
Aspect Advantages of GLP-1s
There are a bunch of reported advantages apart from weight reduction. Snack and alcohol firms have been involved in regards to the lack of gross sales from clients who take these drugs. Boo hoo! Cry me a river.
I’ve observed that I don’t must spend as a lot on the grocery retailer. There’s no method that somebody can save sufficient on the grocery retailer to counter-balance a $1000+/month invoice for these medicines. Even at $100/month, the financial savings may not add as much as break even. Nevertheless, the financial savings are important. When you eat at eating places lots, maybe GLP-1s will save a couple of costly meals.
Some individuals report that they haven’t any want for snack meals. I haven’t skilled this profit but. It’s simply much less of a must eat meals generally.
Personally, I’ve observed that I don’t have a lot of a want for alcohol anymore. I had a couple of drinks at a Christmas social gathering, and that’s about it over the past 8 weeks. Analysis on GLP-1s means that they might assist curb alcohol habit. Even when I used to be at my very best weight, I’d need to proceed the GLP-1s for this profit.
The varied well being advantages might be transformative. These drugs had been initially designed for diabetes, so it’s clear that they’ll assist there. Many well being situations are linked to weight problems. Much less weight problems immediately interprets to fewer continual illnesses. With the latest push to formally label alcohol as a explanation for most cancers, it’s one more reason why most cancers charges might fall.
How do you place a value on decreased continual illnesses? Financially, there’s definitely a quantity and it’s enormous. The standard of life is extra essential in my view.
Are These GLP-1s Authorized? If So, For How Lengthy?
For now, the compounded GLP-1s (semaglutide and tripeptide) are authorized. The authorized panorama is altering quickly. The house owners of the patents on the medication need to promote them for greater than $1000 a month. It’s not nice for his or her enterprise if you may get them for round $100 a month. The compounding pharmacies are allowed to make and promote the medication as a result of demand significantly outweighs the availability. Nevertheless, as manufacturing ramps up, it’s doable that compounding pharmacies will lose the best to make these medication. This may seemingly create a state of affairs the place individuals can’t afford them anymore.
Closing Ideas
The meals business has engineered a bunch of artificial elements and meals components that create cravings. It’s not a coincidence that Pepsi owns Lays – the candy pairs with the salt. Within the final couple of years, analysis has began to point out how harmful these ultra-processed meals are. Sadly, so many meals are ultra-processed. It’s virtually inconceivable to flee them. When you’re caught in a rat race, you usually don’t have time to cook dinner actual meals from actual fundamental elements.
It’s considerably ironic that the pharmaceutical firms are promoting the answer to an issue that the meals firms created. At the very least there’s one thing that now fights towards the issue. We’ve watched weight problems charges climb for many years. That’s not simply in the US however around the globe. It’s simple to say that individuals ought to take some private accountability, however the influence on the setting can’t be discounted. You may solely struggle so many battles, proper?
Many individuals want these GLP-1s much more than I do. This gave me some pause earlier than taking the plunge. If there’s a provide scarcity, then it feels morally unsuitable for me to get it, proper? Apparently, once I obtained my medicine in November, it had a date that it was created in August. It had been sitting within the pharmacy for a number of months. I concluded that the scarcity is about what the patent house owners can produce. It doesn’t apply to all of the compounding pharmacies which might be stepping in to fill the necessity. This was a aid. I wasn’t stopping anybody else from getting entry, and people who actually need it may possibly nonetheless get it.
* I utterly made up that 87% quantity. It feels proper although, doesn’t it?
** BMI isn’t an ideal indicator of well being, however it may be a superb rule of thumb for most individuals. My scale famous that I averaged 25.8% physique fats, which can be the vary of weight problems.
