INTRO Hello from an immunology MSc

HungryBarbie

HungryBarbie

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Hey everyone, I have an MSc in Immunology. These days I'm no longer working in that area, but science remains something I'm deeply passionate about. Losing weight is a real struggle for the people in my family, even with regular exercise and eating well, which is why I decided to give GLP1 a try. Since I'm constantly hungry, having my appetite suppressed was among the most amazing experiences I've ever had. On top of that, it had a side effect that helped my endometriosis a GREAT deal, and that's what pushed me to dive really deep into this rabbit hole.

At the beginning I was overjoyed, but sadly the effects have now faded and the weight is coming back, so I'm searching for other options. Came across this forum on reddit. Hopefully I'll find some answers here!
 
Welcome!

You've found the right community.

That said, while GLPs do an excellent job of suppressing hunger, they shouldn't be viewed as a permanent fix for losing or maintaining weight. Over time their effectiveness fades because of receptor desensitization, which means you'd need higher and higher doses — clearly not something you can keep up forever.

What matters is pairing GLP use with changes to lifestyle and diet. It's much easier to overeat vegetables than pizza, and whole grains keep you full far better than highly refined ones. A bit of a cliché, sure, but accurate.

For me, the biggest help was logging food and calories (for a few weeks at least) so I could figure out my maintenance intake and learn something about macros, then making small swaps — sugary cereal for oatmeal, white bread for whole grain bread, and so on.

It goes without saying (I hope) that you also need some kind of physical activity to keep your body in shape. A bit of weight-lifting to build or retain muscle, plus (hiit) cardio, does wonders.

Hope this helps.

Good luck on your health journey!
 
DrPEPr said:

Welcome!

You've found the right community.

That said, while GLPs do an excellent job of suppressing hunger, they shouldn't be viewed as a permanent fix for losing or maintaining weight. Over time their effectiveness fades because of receptor desensitization, which means you'd need higher and higher doses — clearly not something you can keep up forever.

What matters is pairing GLP use with changes to lifestyle and diet. It's much easier to overeat vegetables than pizza, and whole grains keep you full far better than highly refined ones. A bit of a cliché, sure, but accurate.

For me, the biggest help was logging food and calories (for a few weeks at least) so I could figure out my maintenance intake and learn something about macros, then making small swaps — sugary cereal for oatmeal, white bread for whole grain bread, and so on.

It goes without saying (I hope) that you also need some kind of physical activity to keep your body in shape. A bit of weight-lifting to build or retain muscle, plus (hiit) cardio, does wonders.

Hope this helps.

Good luck on your health journey!
Click to expand...
Sure, my eating habits aren't great, but they're not awful either. My biggest problem is a sugar craving that I simply cannot shake, and on top of that I was finishing my final year of study with last exams, which hit me really hard. Chocolate was my coping mechanism, haha. I now see that I should have stopped sugar abruptly back when the GLP was blunting my urges, but since I've become desensitised I've blown that opportunity. Right?

It's strange that I can get hooked on pretty much anything - alcohol, nicotine, every drug I've sampled - yet sugar stands alone as my ultimate downfall. Any advice for that?
 
HungryBarbie said:

DrPEPr said:

Welcome!

You've found the right community.

That said, while GLPs do an excellent job of suppressing hunger, they shouldn't be viewed as a permanent fix for losing or maintaining weight. Over time their effectiveness fades because of receptor desensitization, which means you'd need higher and higher doses — clearly not something you can keep up forever.

What matters is pairing GLP use with changes to lifestyle and diet. It's much easier to overeat vegetables than pizza, and whole grains keep you full far better than highly refined ones. A bit of a cliché, sure, but accurate.

For me, the biggest help was logging food and calories (for a few weeks at least) so I could figure out my maintenance intake and learn something about macros, then making small swaps — sugary cereal for oatmeal, white bread for whole grain bread, and so on.

It goes without saying (I hope) that you also need some kind of physical activity to keep your body in shape. A bit of weight-lifting to build or retain muscle, plus (hiit) cardio, does wonders.

Hope this helps.

Good luck on your health journey!
Click to expand...
Sure, my eating habits aren't great, but they're not awful either. My biggest problem is a sugar craving that I simply cannot shake, and on top of that I was finishing my final year of study with last exams, which hit me really hard. Chocolate was my coping mechanism, haha. I now see that I should have stopped sugar abruptly back when the GLP was blunting my urges, but since I've become desensitised I've blown that opportunity. Right?

It's strange that I can get hooked on pretty much anything - alcohol, nicotine, every drug I've sampled - yet sugar stands alone as my ultimate downfall. Any advice for that?
Click to expand...
Actually, if you take a break from GLP medications for some time, your body can become responsive again. Sema, tirz and reta each share a half-life of about 7 days. Staying off them for roughly a month ought to leave you ready to restart.



HungryBarbie said:

DrPEPr said:

Welcome!

You've found the right community.

That said, while GLPs do an excellent job of suppressing hunger, they shouldn't be viewed as a permanent fix for losing or maintaining weight. Over time their effectiveness fades because of receptor desensitization, which means you'd need higher and higher doses — clearly not something you can keep up forever.

What matters is pairing GLP use with changes to lifestyle and diet. It's much easier to overeat vegetables than pizza, and whole grains keep you full far better than highly refined ones. A bit of a cliché, sure, but accurate.

For me, the biggest help was logging food and calories (for a few weeks at least) so I could figure out my maintenance intake and learn something about macros, then making small swaps — sugary cereal for oatmeal, white bread for whole grain bread, and so on.

It goes without saying (I hope) that you also need some kind of physical activity to keep your body in shape. A bit of weight-lifting to build or retain muscle, plus (hiit) cardio, does wonders.

Hope this helps.

Good luck on your health journey!
Click to expand...
Sure, my eating habits aren't great, but they're not awful either. My biggest problem is a sugar craving that I simply cannot shake, and on top of that I was finishing my final year of study with last exams, which hit me really hard. Chocolate was my coping mechanism, haha. I now see that I should have stopped sugar abruptly back when the GLP was blunting my urges, but since I've become desensitised I've blown that opportunity. Right?

It's strange that I can get hooked on pretty much anything - alcohol, nicotine, every drug I've sampled - yet sugar stands alone as my ultimate downfall. Any advice for that?
Click to expand...
"Yeah, this one is tougher. Where addiction is concerned, sugar functions like a hard drug, and it's present everywhere! Still, as with the rest, after you've stayed away from it for long enough, resisting becomes less difficult.

For me, going 'cold turkey' gave the best results. I stopped smoking that same way, since having 'just one cigarette' every so often only keeps the addiction alive. True, the start will be rougher, yet it will gradually get easier.

What helps is that GLPs are able to dull that initial 'pain peak', which makes getting through it far more manageable. In the meantime, build up dietary substitutes such as fruit (these days a bowl of strawberries does the job for my sweet tooth) and drinks with no sugar.

One more thing that made a big difference for me: bring a list (healthy items only, of course) to the grocery store, and make sure you weren't hungry when arriving there (so fewer impulse buys happen). Anything bad you skip eating is something bad you never purchased!

Hope this helps.

💪
 
HungryBarbie said:

Hey everyone, I have an MSc in Immunology. These days I'm no longer working in that area, but science remains something I'm deeply passionate about. Losing weight is a real struggle for the people in my family, even with regular exercise and eating well, which is why I decided to give GLP1 a try. Since I'm constantly hungry, having my appetite suppressed was among the most amazing experiences I've ever had. On top of that, it had a side effect that helped my endometriosis a GREAT deal, and that's what pushed me to dive really deep into this rabbit hole.

At the beginning I was overjoyed, but sadly the effects have now faded and the weight is coming back, so I'm searching for other options. Came across this forum on reddit. Hopefully I'll find some answers here!
Click to expand...
Greetings from next door!
 
HungryBarbie said:

Hey everyone, I have an MSc in Immunology. These days I'm no longer working in that area, but science remains something I'm deeply passionate about. Losing weight is a real struggle for the people in my family, even with regular exercise and eating well, which is why I decided to give GLP1 a try. Since I'm constantly hungry, having my appetite suppressed was among the most amazing experiences I've ever had. On top of that, it had a side effect that helped my endometriosis a GREAT deal, and that's what pushed me to dive really deep into this rabbit hole.

At the beginning I was overjoyed, but sadly the effects have now faded and the weight is coming back, so I'm searching for other options. Came across this forum on reddit. Hopefully I'll find some answers here!
Click to expand...
Hi HungryBarbie! Without a doubt, you've landed in the right spot. Being part of this forum and community has made my life so much richer. What I've learned and put to use here handed me a fresh start…it handed me hope.

What you'll discover is that the folks here jump in to assist, offer understanding, pass along what they've been through, and say things that lift you up—instead of the usual putting down, brushing off, bickering, trolling, and so on, which sadly shows up way too often online and in today's world.

Addiction is something I've dealt with too. My outlook has always been that when something feels good, you do it over…and over, and over. I get exactly how simple it is to drop your defenses, to mess up. Don't be hard on yourself. My way of seeing it is like a waltz: forward steps, to the side, back, twirl. Just keep heading one way and don't get stuck on…whatever it is that sets you off.

So. I just wanted to say hi and wish you a happy Friday—
 
Welcome. In my case, GLP-1s weren't the solution. What worked was proper nutrition, staying disciplined, and working out regularly. The GLP-1 simply provided me with the opportunity to build those habits and drop a fair amount of weight fast. It's the underlying basis of discipline that will maintain it once GLP-1 is done. I imagine you'll discover your answer looks much the same.
 
HungryBarbie said:

Hey everyone, I have an MSc in Immunology. These days I'm no longer working in that area, but science remains something I'm deeply passionate about. Losing weight is a real struggle for the people in my family, even with regular exercise and eating well, which is why I decided to give GLP1 a try. Since I'm constantly hungry, having my appetite suppressed was among the most amazing experiences I've ever had. On top of that, it had a side effect that helped my endometriosis a GREAT deal, and that's what pushed me to dive really deep into this rabbit hole.

At the beginning I was overjoyed, but sadly the effects have now faded and the weight is coming back, so I'm searching for other options. Came across this forum on reddit. Hopefully I'll find some answers here!
Click to expand...
Hi and welcome! Well done on wrapping up grad school. In my opinion immunology is really fascinating. I'm studying for a bachelor's in biochemistry myself.

You mentioned that your GLP-1 medication quit working… may I ask which doses you used and over what period?

Also, perhaps you're already aware of this or it's been brought up, but often when people try to cut down on or stop sugar, they wind up losing their taste for it. For instance, I've heard of someone who relocated to Japan from the USA and described everything as tasting far less sweet than they had wanted or anticipated. Then, after a certain stretch of lower sugar intake, their body adjusted, and upon returning to the USA to visit, everything seemed overly sweet.

I'm not an expert, and I realize there's variation among individuals, but ideally after some time away from a GLP-1 your body becomes re-sensitized and you can get some benefit from it once more. And in that period, if you put in a focused effort to cut sugar, your body will adapt and you'll wind up wanting less sugar.

I hope this doesn't sound like I'm lecturing you to attempt something you've already tried that failed. But at least now you're part of this community, and hopefully things will turn out better for you than when you were going it alone.
 
ams116 said:

HungryBarbie said:

Hey everyone, I have an MSc in Immunology. These days I'm no longer working in that area, but science remains something I'm deeply passionate about. Losing weight is a real struggle for the people in my family, even with regular exercise and eating well, which is why I decided to give GLP1 a try. Since I'm constantly hungry, having my appetite suppressed was among the most amazing experiences I've ever had. On top of that, it had a side effect that helped my endometriosis a GREAT deal, and that's what pushed me to dive really deep into this rabbit hole.

At the beginning I was overjoyed, but sadly the effects have now faded and the weight is coming back, so I'm searching for other options. Came across this forum on reddit. Hopefully I'll find some answers here!
Click to expand...
Hi and welcome! Well done on wrapping up grad school. In my opinion immunology is really fascinating. I'm studying for a bachelor's in biochemistry myself.

You mentioned that your GLP-1 medication quit working… may I ask which doses you used and over what period?

Also, perhaps you're already aware of this or it's been brought up, but often when people try to cut down on or stop sugar, they wind up losing their taste for it. For instance, I've heard of someone who relocated to Japan from the USA and described everything as tasting far less sweet than they had wanted or anticipated. Then, after a certain stretch of lower sugar intake, their body adjusted, and upon returning to the USA to visit, everything seemed overly sweet.

I'm not an expert, and I realize there's variation among individuals, but ideally after some time away from a GLP-1 your body becomes re-sensitized and you can get some benefit from it once more. And in that period, if you put in a focused effort to cut sugar, your body will adapt and you'll wind up wanting less sugar.

I hope this doesn't sound like I'm lecturing you to attempt something you've already tried that failed. But at least now you're part of this community, and hopefully things will turn out better for you than when you were going it alone.
Click to expand...
Thanks, and I hope your studies go well. It's a very tough area, but in my opinion it's the most fascinating one 🙂

My first round with semaglutide lasted a year, and 1 mg was the highest dose I reached. After that I paused for 3 months. On the second attempt, tolerance was still quite elevated. That is, when I restarted at 0,25mg, I only began to notice anything at 0,5 mg. Side effects hit me harder (nausea, heartburn), while appetite suppression was weak and nowhere near what I had the first time, even after reaching a max of 1,5 mg. Sugar cravings were also much stronger than before. I quit roughly 2 weeks ago.

What I intend to do now is pause, then next time lean on the appetite-suppressing action to help me cut sugar out entirely and switch to a proper whole-food way of eating, since that is easier than trying it with no support at all (I have been attempting this my entire life, trust me). With luck, my body and my microbiome would adjust, and the sugar cravings would be gone for good.

So I want to give it one final attempt and do things right. During my first try, I was preparing for finals and had little willpower to stay away from sugar, because honestly my life was packed and it was an extremely stressful stretch. The second time, the effects are, sadly, weaker. So I'm considering a last shot with something else, perhaps tirz or reta. How does that sound to you? Or would it be better to simply raise my semaglutide dose next time? Higher doses do make me somewhat nervous, though.
 
Oh I see. Okay, a few thoughts come up.

To start, I don't know the first thing about sema. Did a doctor prescribe your semaglutide, or are you "researching" it yourself? A coworker of mine mentioned she was about to begin it and she was really looking forward to it, and I believe it didn't even last 1 month. Way too many side effects. A few people on YT claim tirz is "great for appetite suppression," which might be true. But honestly, why not simply go with reta? Reta is the only 1 I've tried. I've been using it for roughly 6 weeks. I'm happy with it. I binge less, and when I do eat "unhealthy" food, I can stop earlier. To me, that's a sign of a good dose/effect. The can't-physically-eat situation some folks describe, I take as a sign the dose is too high. Sure, going full ana drops the pounds quicker, but those pounds come from fat and muscle both. Long term is what matters.

Along those same lines, I suspect you might be approaching this too rigidly for yourself. A no sugar, whole foods only way of eating would be ideal, no question. But it's also extremely restrictive and likely a huge shift from where you are right now. If I can be so bold as to suggest something, perhaps begin by just aiming to cut your caloric intake by 300-500 cals each day and keep that up for a few months. That gives your body and brain room to adapt. When I began, I also grabbed a calorie counting app where I put in a goal weight and how fast I wanted to reach it, and it told me, based on my (estimated) resting energy expenditure - which comes from your gender, height, and weight - that I ought to eat X cals per day.

I also saw a YT recently of a girl who did a bodybuilding or maybe it's called "figure" competition, and how she went through that really intense process of lifting and cutting, and how afterward she's now had a hard time going back to eating more normally. She feels guilty about every meal. Other women in the comments said similar things, that they ended up with body image issues they never had before because of how extreme that competition mindset is. So I suppose my point is, I appreciated hearing that maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself and should try to still enjoy some things sometimes.
 
ams116 said:

Oh I see. Okay, a few thoughts come up.

To start, I don't know the first thing about sema. Did a doctor prescribe your semaglutide, or are you "researching" it yourself? A coworker of mine mentioned she was about to begin it and she was really looking forward to it, and I believe it didn't even last 1 month. Way too many side effects. A few people on YT claim tirz is "great for appetite suppression," which might be true. But honestly, why not simply go with reta? Reta is the only 1 I've tried. I've been using it for roughly 6 weeks. I'm happy with it. I binge less, and when I do eat "unhealthy" food, I can stop earlier. To me, that's a sign of a good dose/effect. The can't-physically-eat situation some folks describe, I take as a sign the dose is too high. Sure, going full ana drops the pounds quicker, but those pounds come from fat and muscle both. Long term is what matters.

Along those same lines, I suspect you might be approaching this too rigidly for yourself. A no sugar, whole foods only way of eating would be ideal, no question. But it's also extremely restrictive and likely a huge shift from where you are right now. If I can be so bold as to suggest something, perhaps begin by just aiming to cut your caloric intake by 300-500 cals each day and keep that up for a few months. That gives your body and brain room to adapt. When I began, I also grabbed a calorie counting app where I put in a goal weight and how fast I wanted to reach it, and it told me, based on my (estimated) resting energy expenditure - which comes from your gender, height, and weight - that I ought to eat X cals per day.

I also saw a YT recently of a girl who did a bodybuilding or maybe it's called "figure" competition, and how she went through that really intense process of lifting and cutting, and how afterward she's now had a hard time going back to eating more normally. She feels guilty about every meal. Other women in the comments said similar things, that they ended up with body image issues they never had before because of how extreme that competition mindset is. So I suppose my point is, I appreciated hearing that maybe I shouldn't be so hard on myself and should try to still enjoy some things sometimes.
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My ozempic came from a pharmacy, obtained legitimately. Now I'm considering tirz, which would also come from a pharmacy, or possibly reta — though before anything else, I need to locate a safe source to buy it from.

On the subject of restrictions, quitting sugar strikes me as the most essential objective. Should I fail to adapt to life without sugar, the cravings would return in full strength, leaving me to endure a constant battle against them.

Calorie counting has never been effective in my case. Since I prepare most of my own meals, it involves a great deal of weighing, and given my lifestyle, staying consistent with it isn't realistic. My preference is simply to concentrate on cutting out sugar.

Were I to track calories, the mere awareness of doing so would leave me hungry and with food constantly on my mind.
 
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