For a while now — about five months — I’ve not been taking Ozempic because I cannot in all conscience afford the (rip-off) price of $250 a month for the rest of my life. As my old buddy Patterson puts it so succinctly: “Fuck that for a tale.”
And he’s right.
Anyway, I had my semi-annual physical yesterday, and got weighed with a certain degree of trepidation because there are all sorts of stories extant that say categorically that if you quit taking your weekly stomach-jab, the weight comes screaming back on. To recap (for those unfamiliar with my tale of woe): I weighed about 275 lbs. before I started taking Ozempic; several months later I was down to 230 lbs. (n.b. my Army weight after boot camp was 225 lbs.), and at my annual checkup last November I was back up slightly (still on Ozempic), to 235 lbs.
So I got weighed yesterday, fearing for the worst: 236 lbs.
When I told the doctor that I had quit taking Ozempic, therefore, he just shrugged and said, “No big deal. Your weight seems to have stabilized.”
Then he said that I was one of his healthiest patients, and for my 70 years of decrepitude, the healthiest he’d seen in years. Then (as usual), he told me to fuck off and stop wasting his time because he had sick people to look after.
The interesting thing that happened to me with Ozempic was that my appetite disappeared completely: three meals a day plus much snacking dwindled away to one meal a day, with maybe a snack every few days. And what’s still more interesting is that the smaller food intake has become habitual; I haven’t gone back to gorging myself on a daily basis. (The day before yesterday, for instance, I had a couple pieces of biltong at lunchtime followed by an egg and bacon sandwich for dinner — that’s one egg and two strips of bacon on a piece of French baguette.)
And if I feel really hungry during the day, the biltong (with maybe a piece of Jarlsberg cheese) takes care of it.
As to why I have my main meal in the evening: I seldom feel like food first thing in the morning at the best of times; I take my meds at night (because they work better that way) and it’s best if I take them on a full stomach than an empty one; and finally, I enjoy having dinner with New Wife because marriage.
Sorry about all that personal stuff, I know: “TMI shuddup Kim.” But the takeaway from all this is that for some people — for me, at any rate — taking Ozempic doesn’t have to be a life sentence as they warn it will be.
So fukkem all: the drug company who makes Ozempic (apparently from diamond dust and gold flakes), and the doomsayers and all the worrywarts who infest our lives.
I’m doing fine, thank you, and that’s all there is to say about it.
And now, if you’ll excuse me… I’m off to a happy place.
Sounds like success. Weight lost and you don’t need to keep buying and taking the magical cocktail in perpetuity.
Congratulations on the success. It’s a struggle.
sounds great about getting off of Ozempic. I was about the same ballpark on weight as you, up to about 275 and down to 230ish. I get the medication cheaper than 250/month though. Maybe I’ll stop taking that this winter.
You’re absolutely right about appetite. I used to scoff down a cheese burger, fries and a beer when I went out to lunch. Often times now it’s half the burger a couple of fries and maybe a third of the pint of beer.
I’d be interested in seeing if you keep the weight off after 6 months to a year. Anything to decrease the amount of medications you take is usually better for your body.
Excellent! Glad to hear I’ll be able to enjoy this blog for a long time yet!
My doc just moved me from Rybelsus (pill form of pretty much the same drug) to Ozempic, but insurance will cover it because I’m diabetic. I’m curious to see what my fare will be, I’m picking it up for the first time today.
I’m also curious to see what will happen to the price after Trump’s new drug price EO. Provided a Democrap judge doesn’t mandate we need to keep drug prices high, which I fully expect.
I’m suspecting about half the price will come off.
Well, this is timely, innit?
Injunction coming in 3, 2, 1 …
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2025/05/the_free_market_that_isn_t_trump_big_pharma_and_the_price_of_courage.html
Is that $250 the cost with or without insurance? My insurance wont pay for it just for weight loss so it would run me between $900-1200 here in michigan. Cost across the border is $200-300 in Canada.
$250 after the insurance.
Did you get more active as well?
I went from 215 to 148 over a period of 5 years, then back up to my current 160 over 3 years. I’m pretty sure it was all simply from increased activity, which burned calories and took away my appetite.
I was on Ozempic for my diabetes before they started marketing it as a weight loss drug. It got to the point I had problems getting it because of the demand of it. My doc switched me to Rebelsus which is in the same class but in pill form. I have gone from 260 down to 225 where I would like to get back to 195 which was what I weighed when I was in the Air Force.
I tried Rybelsus last year but it seriously fucked with my stomach, so I went back to Ozempic.