The Wednesday Wellness threads are meant to encourage users to ask for and provide advice and motivation to improve their lives. It isn't intended as a 'containment thread' and any content which could go here could instead be posted in its own thread. You could post:
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Notes -
I've never been shy about being an advocate for peptides. It's ironic, however, that despite me having to gently cajole and harrass and nag my brother to try them given all the benefits I've gotten, once he started using them he fully went head-first down that rabbit hole. While I've been content to gently climb down that rock face, he skipped all the steps inbetween and went straight for cliff-diving into the waters below.
During his research, he noted not only alternatives to Semaglutide in terms of hunger suppressants, but also what could be best termed as 'rest months', where taking a month or two off of Semaglutide would help to reset it's effectiveness as well as encourage further weight loss.
A few months back, he decided to do just that; eschewing his normal Semaglutide, he instead opted for a two-month dosage of Cagrilintide, which operates in suppressing hunger in a different manner than Semaglutide. Cagrilintide isn't a GLP-1 agonist; instead, it works by mimicking the hormone amylin. What this means is that, in theory, someone whom isn't afraid of taking peptides can let thier body rest from taking an GLP-1 agonist, while still getting similar results.
Once back on Semaglutide, the end results spoke for themselves. Before taking Cagrilintide, he had hit a rough plateau of a weight around 195 to 198 - now, his lowest recorded weight is around 186, and it shows very much in terms of his overall body shape. Why this is so remarkable is because he started taking Semaglutide when he was 245, and in high school, his weight was 215 - a barrier he was never able to get past via dieting. He has, quite literally, never been at this weight in his entire adult life.
Yay for peptides.
Naturally, being on Semaglutide longer than him, I decided to do similar, having been stuck at my expected weight plateau.
Speaking now from experience, Cagrilintide is very much a different beast than Semaglutide. I described semagltuide in the past as a sort of suppressor between I and the hunger - present, yet not overwhelming and easily ignore. Cagrilintide, however, killed the sense of hunger entirely, so much so I became just a tad worried about my food intake. Also of note, where people have described being on Semaglutide and not being able to stomach as much alcohol anymore, something that I was never afflicted by, being on Cagrilintide meant things I could drink without issue now damn near put me flat on my ass, which was quite the experience!
While taking Cagrilintide proved effective by atleast keeping my weight even-keel, I could also tell that I had less energy than when I was on Semaglutide, though it wasn't a dramatic shift. Sadly, roughly one month in, another side-effect arose - bruising at the injection site. Apparently, I'm one of the small number where that can arise, though I find it interesting that it took roughly a month before such symptoms arose.
So. Cagrilintide was out; I had planned for an initial 8-week regime, now cut down to 5. So I've been roughly 2 weeks free of any peptide, and what I find remarkable is that the changes I noted from after taking Semaglutide has persisted. Hunger is much easier to manage, water still retards hunger(this was never the case before taking Semaglutide), food intake is much slower even when I'm hungry, and skipping meals without any dramatic side effect is now possible should I feel the need to do so.
I am not a medical doctor in any way, shape, or form. Not even close; my college degrees dealt with numbers, not the flesh. So any postulation on my part is pure theory and supposition.
But.
I'm begining to suspect that the right stack of peptides for people can have longer-term beneficial alterations than what's going on with the surface, that they can actually shift, change, alter, augment, and repair the body in unexpected ways, some beneifical, some not. I don't ever expect to stop taking Semaglutide - again, I like the benefits it gives above and beyond the weight loss - but there is an iota of reassurance that, should a black swan event occur and I'm no longer able to source peptides that I won't be out too much of a loss.
Naturally, I could be wrong. I only have a single data point - me - and testing long term effects of peptide injections would require me to stop taking said injections for much longer, whereas I plan to resume Semaglutide in roughly 2 weeks or so.
Here's hoping I can get out of peptides what my brother got. Heh.
(TLDR: If you're still on the fence about taking peptides, just do it.)
Thanks for sharing. Are you still able to exercise and build (or at least maintain) muscle while taking peptides, or is it purely for slimming down?
edit: second question, how do you get them? do you go through an actual doctor, or one of the sketchy online services?
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