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I'm considering whether to try semaglutide. I live in Switzerland; I'm sure I won't get a prescription. However, a relative who takes it is visiting and can get me some. I'm hoping for Rybelsus; the pill form.
I've struggled with eating since I was about 9. The culture at home when it came to food was not great; I would describe it as somewhat competitive, kind of seeing who could eat the most the fastest. When I was 24 I finally managed to lose weight, but in the last few years it's been getting up a bit. BMI is now 25.5, not terrible, but definitely affecting my daily life. I always crave food, usually sweet food, and find myself snacking constantly if my willpower is down. I used to be able to keep somewhat of a lid on it by doing a lot of hiking uphill, but since the birth of my son I get almost no exercise.
I've never had any adverse reactions to medication before. Should I go for it?
Have you tried replacing sugary food with food with artificial sweeteners? An uphill treadmill is another thing you can try, I would walk around a lot when my son had colics.
Yes, I now have a Coke Zero addiction. Sugar-free chocolate is available, but still fairly high-calorie. I don't have any really unhealthy foods available at home; there my main problem is that I just keep eating. 2nd portions, a bit more rice, whatever is available. I also grew up with very strong morals around food waste. My wife is happy to let stuff go to waste, so I'm left finishing a lot of soon-to-expire things by myself.
I've read about how Semaglutide reduces "food noise". Really, that would be heaven. I think about food way too much, and to turn off those constant cravings would be a boon.
My experience is that it doesn't reduce the desire to eat. You're still gonna have cravings, at least I do (for sweets especially). What it does do is make you get full much faster. So, it might be helpful for you given that you have issues with overeating regular food.
Do you stop eating once sated? The really fat people I've known don't necessarily eat giant portions, they just eat all the time here and there. And eating even when full is something I've heard people do. I've never had that problem.
When I say "full" I don't mean "I feel good with this amount, I'm gonna stop now". I mean full like you've just had a huge meal and you don't feel like you can physically fit more in your stomach. In the former state, I can eat more if I want (though I am trying to get better at not continuing past that point). With the latter, I'm so full that the thought of eating more makes me feel a bit sick. But instead of being there after having a huge meal, I'm there after having a medium-large size meal.
Unfortunately, my primary problem is an addiction to sweets and they are really calorie dense. So by the time I filled up on those it would still be way too much. But it definitely has an impact on my normal meal times.
When I first came to Japan I'd eat a cookie or something and think "What? Where's the fucking sugar?" Now, these days, 20 something years on, I do taste the sweet in Japanese snacks (usually, still not in wagashi which in my mind should not be termed a sweet), but when I go back to the US, and have, as I did a few times ago, some peanut butter chocolate doughnut at Krispy Kreme, I feel as if I am about to go into a diabetic coma. And my friend had two! My point is you can wean yourself off really sweet stuff. I used to love it and now I have far less of a tolerance.
I have heard similar results from others. My aunt went through a phase where she halved the sugar of every recipe she made, and she said that after an initial adjustment period (which was rough) it tasted normal.
And yeah I'm not saying that I have given up because semaglutide doesn't help with my cravings. Quite the opposite - I'm trying very hard. My wife just lost her brother to alcoholism and I'm really trying to not be the next family member she loses to poor lifestyle. But for better or for worse, chemicals aren't helping so I'm trying to work on it through good old-fashioned discipline.
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