Bio-Hacking with Ozempic
The struggle with unwanted weight gain
Weight gain has never been a major issue for me, except once in a while a nuisance, but always controlled. I hovered around 134 pounds, creeping up at times, but manageable the majority of the time—for over thirty years, to be exact.
After I got married at 61, my weight increased, and stayed 137 pounds. Around then I started noticing a slight decrease in muscle mass. It was gradually being replaced with a thin layer of subcutaneous fat that seemed to loiter in the most unwanted places but like I said… manageable.
Until four months ago.
An out-of-control weight gain started with a (not so innocent) lunch shared with my husband, Carl, at Chili’s Bar & Grill. I ordered salmon, a lunch-size portion Caesar’s salad with shrimp, and a tall (double) White Russian. Carl ordered a brisket quesadilla with sweet potato fries, nothing out of the ordinary..
We shared our food, I picked at the fries sparingly. We followed the caloric, delicious meal with a trip to the local ice cream shop where I indulged in my favorite two scoops of peppermint stick ice cream, topped with one scoop of hot fudge.
Total caloric intake from the leisurely lunch we shared: 3,165 calories, (for me).
Within weeks after that fateful lunch my weight gradually crept up nine pounds. At 5’2 (and 3/4 inches) the additional weight was more than uncomfortable. It was unbearable.
It hurts being heavy
I whined and bemoaned to Carl that my clothes no longer fit, and that I was up two pant sizes. “I can’t take this anymore, even my eyelids hurt,” I said, exaggerating that everything hurt with the additional pounds clinging on, as if my life force depended on them.
“Getting married does that, you know. We’re happy and we get comfortable. Are you happy?”
Definitely not the question to ask a postmenopausal woman who is struggling with unwanted weight gain.
“If my weight keeps inching up and I can’t lose it… and I’m obese, are you going to keep loving me?” I asked, fishing for the answer that I wasn’t sure I really wanted to know.
“I don’t care what you look like, I love you no matter what; we’re locked in forever…”
Comfort and Security
My (subconscious) perception that Carl loves me regardless of my physical appearance may have reduced emphasis on weight management.
The struggle with eating larger proportions surfaced shortly after we moved into our new home. It was our safe haven. The kitchen was the testing ground for new recipes made with calories and love, and me learning how to be married.
Hormonal Changes
I read somewhere that hormonal changes in cortisol levels can occur related to marriage and cohabitation (My observation is strictly anecdotal evidence to support this claim.)
Disrupted routines are stressful to me. I adapt my eating, exercise and sleep habits around my husband’s return home, after a long week of being apart, due to his work schedule.
The mean cortisol level was found to increase approximately 9 times in stressful periods compared with that in relaxed periods. In stressful periods, dynamic balance scores showed obvious decrease in all directions. — National Library of Medicine
Changes in Lifestyle and Geography
I took a job that required sitting for long periods of time. My exercise program no longer consisted of outdoor hiking or climbing in elevation.
Overweight, sedentary people who spent a week at an elevation of 8,700 feet lost weight while eating as much as they wanted and doing no exercise. A month after they came back down, they had kept two-thirds of those pounds off. — Wired
Aging process:
It’s inevitable aging plays a part. We lose muscle mass at an average rate of 12% between 60 and 70 years old. Married late in life, it is possible, okay, probable that my aging and weight gain coincided with getting and staying happily hitched.
“Metabolic decline may cause you to gain 10 to 15 pounds, but not 40 or 50 pounds. That’s lifestyle.” Piedmont Medical Org
Over the years when my weight inched out of control I experimented with Keto, DASH, intermittent fasting, Paleo, and the Mediterranean diet. I curated all the usual suspects that caused weight gain, like snacking and eating nutritionally dead food such as potato chips and crackers, eliminated dairy, and limited red meat to once a month. I addressed sleep hygiene, drank more water, and followed the rote advice typically given by the medical profession and the weight loss industry.
This time it didn’t matter what I did or didn’t do, what worked before was not working now.
Thigh gap… ever heard of it?
It’s a senseless, silly way to gauge obesity. And still…
Back in 2016 supermodel Cara Delevingne’s thigh gap was an impossible beauty standard set by her thighs for women and young girls. It paved the way for Cool Sculpting inner thighs (cost today is $1,500—price can go up to $4,000 plus) and typically only one session is needed. However, if you gain weight after the procedure, new fat cells develop and the procedural work is for naught.
I stood in front of the mirror and (daily) cursed my morphing body and chaffing thighs. I started to fixate on the fact that there was no space between my upper thighs when my feet were close together, and touching.
Additional body fat and composition are an expected curse that comes with post-menopausal aging—but damn it, was I really that far out? Did I have to change my wardrobe and start wearing high-waisted matronly, polyester pants with elastic waist bands? Or monochromatic outfits that hung like gunny sacks? What about leggings?
Clothing hack: Leggings only enhance your legs if your ankle is at least half the width of your thighs.
I wasn’t happy so I set out to find a solution. Remember. Part of the reason I write this newsletter is to share my working experiments with you—both successes and failures—to help you learn to live vibrant, thriving lives.
Biohacking with the new kid on the block, Ozempic
I made an appointment to see my go-to anti-aging/ biohacking practitioner. She suggested and prescribed nine weeks of Ozempic for me to try.
Ozempic is FDA approved for the treatment of diabetes only. It is not approved for weight loss. What does this mean for you and I?
It means we must go off market to find it or convince a physician to give us samples.
Caveat: Ozempic does not work for everyone!
Practitioner tried it on herself and lost only three of the desired 10 pounds after being on it for six weeks.
Practitioner prescribed Ozempic to approximately 50 patients over the course of a year. 15 had amazing results losing 20-110 pounds; the rest, results varied, all positive; there was a decrease of weight in 100% of the patients she prescribed to.
Only since the recent recognition that Ozempic and other diabetes medications could be used for weight loss has the debate started to shift from seeing weight as a test of self-discipline and personal responsibility for poor choices to understanding it as a mixture of contributing factors: genetic predisposition, brain chemistry and environmental influences. — Washington Post
How does Ozempic work?
It affects the hunger center in the brain, and stops the food noise. And it slows the rate of stomach emptying, effectively prolonging fullness after meals.
A 0.5 milligram (the smallest) dose of Ozempic currently retails on the Novo Nordisk website for $935.77 (without insurance).
I paid black market price and got six syringes of Ozempic compounded with B12; the latter plays an important role in fat metabolism. I had six weeks to see if Ozempic would work its magic on me.
How did Ozempic work for me?
In two weeks I lost seven pounds, the marshmallow (subcutaneous) puffiness melted off my thighs, cravings were nil, and my stomach bloat all but disappeared. Muscle definition was once again toned, and pant size returned to normal.
Does it sound like a miracle drug? Yes?
It is, except living with the side effects isn’t sustainable. My intestines twisted and convulsed—it felt like my insides were being wrung out from the inside. I also got GERD (acid reflux) that (twice) pushed stomach acid up through my esophagus and into my mouth, burning my throat and endangering the enamel on my teeth.
Both times happened in the middle of REM sleep, so I woke up gasping for air, wondering why my throat and mouth were filled with hot, burning fluid. Apparently these side effects were typical and should have subsided as time went on, but I didn’t continue to find out.
Since stopping (it’s been a little over three weeks) I lost another three pounds and holding steady.
The acid reflux is all but gone; cravings are returning slowly, but at the time of this writing, still manageable. Now I recognize the cravings and instead of thoughtlessly acting on them and grazing the refrigerator or cupboard like a heifer in heat—I know to change my state. I read, take walks, ride my bike for a few minutes, turn on music and dance, doodle, drink water, or take a shower. If I’m truly hungry, then it’s time to put into effect the lifestyle changes I worked on during my Ozempic trial.
I used the two weeks to create a sustainable eating plan and practiced changing the way I thought about food. I learned to understand what my emotions and physical body were trying to communicate to my brain through cravings, and it was rarely hunger..
Ozempic stays in an individual’s system for approximately five weeks after their last dose. — Forbes (Ozempic Weight Loss)
Takeaways from losing weight on Ozempic
Administering a shot of miracle juice didn’t give me a license to continue eating food that was loaded with oil, salt, sugar, fat and processing chemicals. It forced me to change my ways.
There are reasons for gaining weight such as environmental and chemicals in our food, in addition to how or what we eat. We need chemicals to interrupt the once’s we eat from our food, will power isn’t enough.
Not being hungry taught me how much time was spent planning meals, grocery shopping, preparing, cooking, eating, cleaning up the mess, and thinking about food.
After losing the weight, I felt more energized taking on challenges, the food-induced lethargy was gone.
My self-esteem improved dramatically. I was able to fit back into the clothes I’d been hiding in the back of the closet, ready to donate. I stopped body shaming.
My cravings disappeared. I didn’t spend time grazing and wandering around the kitchen. The food noise was silenced.
My cholesterol returned to normal levels. (This is a positive side effect that occurs while taking Ozempic).
Conclusion
Bio-hacking, anti-aging, and the art of (productive) longevity are forging new advances to help us live quality lives as we advance in years. And for me, vitality and energy are what I strive to keep as I age, with grace.
See you next week!
Thank you for sharing your results.
Like you, I'm over 60 and have gained a few pounds.
I've seen the ads all over the TV about this "miracle" drug. And as a pre-diabetic person, it does look appealling.
But as you describe some of the side affects, that a big no "thank you" from me.
I think weight loss in older persons needs to be evaluated with a back to basics plan.
Eat properly, move more.
And, most of us don't need as much food as we think.
In restaurants, have an appetizer instead of a meal.
And keep the alcohol on check.
Hey, way to go, Patti!
That honesty and vulnerability you be in each one of your article is a treasure!
Truly, I'm glad that you've found a way out of the weight-gaining hell you and your body were in.
Not so weird indeed that it existed alongside your newly blissful married life with Carl.
As for aging having an effect on weight, I'm not so sure.
We take in and buy so many points of view, even scientific and medical ones, about this that they become our body's reality.
Each one of our bodies are so different, there's no general rule that can apply to them.
Everything changed for my body (and me) from the day I started asking it questions and really listening to it. And acting on what it was telling me. It takes some practice, I can't deny it but it has changed my whole life into a playful and rewarding relationship with my body...and myself...and everybody around me.