I just want to start off by saying I am not a Medical Professional. I am not offering medical advice, I am just speaking to my experience.

I have been overweight most of my life and have become increasingly overweight since the loss of my father in June of 2016. I am an emotional eater and addicted to sugar. I also have anxiety and depression. I had a Healthcare Professional, who I was seeing for my depression/anxiety, tell me that I should just not eat sugar everyday. For some people, I’m sure it’s as simple as that. There was a time in my life when I actually was able to just not eat sweets, but currently that is not possible. When I lost my Dad, I couldn’t get a handle on my emotions. I wanted to eat sweets and junk to feel better and to feel worse. I felt bad eating junk because I worked so hard to lose weight before he died, but I also didn’t care about my physical well being, I was in pain.

In the 6 years since my Dad had passed, I gained 60 pounds. Getting motivated to start exercising again was extremely difficult, but with the help of my brother, I started going to the gym. My brother would hold me accountable, if I missed a day, he would tease me in a playful way. After a year of working out though, I hadn’t lost any weight. It was hurting my motivation to keep working out because, what was the point? My brother likes to lift weights, so I was lifting weights. I was becoming stronger, but with the weight lifting, I noticed an increase in appetite. I was hungry all the time and I was not losing weight. There are multiple articles online related to burning fat through lifting heavier weights. These articles talk about eating more protein to gain more muscle mass, having more muscle mass increases your body’s metabolism. It obviously works for people, The Rock eats between 6000 to 8000 calories a day to keep his muscle mass. I’m sure if I had the time to really do research and experiment, I could find the correct ratio for my body, but I don’t have the time or energy to put into that. 

My current Doctor had mentioned weight loss drugs at my previous appointments. I had it in my head that taking a weight loss drug was a failure, that I should be able to do it on my own. I was also afraid I would lose weight and then gain it right back as soon as I was off of the medication. I did not want to do weight loss surgery for this very reason. I have known quite a few people who have had weight loss surgery and almost all of them have gained weight back years after having the surgery. Changing the underlying behaviors and your diet are key to losing weight and keeping it off. If I needed a drug to assist me, then I was not changing the underlying behaviors. 

I decided I needed help to get the weight loss started, I thought that if I started losing weight, it would motivate me to change these underlying behaviors. I decided to talk to my Doctor about the weight loss drugs available. She recommended Adipex. I started Adipex in June of 2022. It is an appetite suppressant, it causes you to not feel hungry. It is also a stimulant, it gives you energy. My doctor suggested I take it in the mornings, before breakfast, as it can affect your sleep schedule if taken too late. The first thing I noticed when I started taking it, was the dry mouth. The dry mouth was insane! I was drinking almost a full gallon of water a day! The next thing I noticed was the energy. I didn’t need caffeine and you shouldn’t have caffeine while taking Adipex, as it can increase the side effects of the medication. Before the Adipex, I didn’t want to do anything on the weekends. My depression made me feel unmotivated but I also felt worse for not getting things done because I couldn’t get motivated. I was thankful for the energy boost and started accomplishing some of the things I needed to get done around the house. 

After a month of use though, I still wasn’t losing weight. It was frustrating because I felt so energized. I was lifting weights with my brother four days a week at this point. I decided to ask my doctor if there was a different weight loss drug to try, since I wasn’t seeing results. She suggested Wegovy, a semaglutide. you have probably seen semaglutides mentioned in the news, or commercials on tv. Ozempic, Wegovy, Saxenda, these semaglutides are meant to help control A1C and lower blood sugar for patients with Type 2 diabetes. Weight loss occurs because semiglutides also work like appetite suppressants, but it is a secondary function of the drug. 

At the time I was trying to get Wegovy, due to the increase demand for semaglutides as weight loss drugs, they were not manufacturing doses for new patients. Wegovy and other semaglutides were only being manufactured at their higher doses, in order to be available for patients that were currently on the medication. I called 8 different pharmacies in Indiana and Michigan, trying to see if someone had the starter dose available, no one did. I was able to get a prescription for Saxenda and its starter dose, but even with my insurance, the drug would have been over $1000 a month out of pocket.  

I had a visit with my doctor and I told her about how I wasn’t losing weight with Adipex, that I wasn’t able to use the semaglutides, and asked if she had any other suggestions. This is when she mentioned cardio to me. I don’t know why I didn’t think of cardio. I enjoyed running before I gained a lot of weight. I used to walk everywhere and that is how I initially lost a bunch of weight. Before using Adipex, I tried walking a mile here and there, but I was very out of shape and it was very discouraging to be so out of breath and unable to walk it in 20 minutes. Once I started the Adipex,  I decided that I would dedicate 4 days a week to walking. I went down to lifting weights with my brother 3 days a week. I would walk 30 minutes a day when I did not work out with him. 

I began to lose weight. I lost a total of 30 pounds in five months. In January, I had my annual physical with my Doctor and she was very happy with how I was doing. She only wanted to prescribe the Adipex for 6 months at a time, so it was time to take a break. There is conflicting information online about whether Adipex is addictive. It is a Schedule 4 Drug, meaning it can be abused and it does have a potential for addiction. My last month of taking Adipex, I had noticed that the effects were lessened. I was craving sweets a little more and I was feeling hungry again. I also had a lot less energy, I needed caffeine to stay awake. Once I was completely off of Adipex, my sugar addiction came back with a vengeance. I forgot how intense my cravings were and it was a losing battle again. I naively believed that if I lost enough weight, and became active enough, that the cravings would go away. When I exercise, I find myself craving healthier foods.That voice from the Healthcare Professional kept popping up in my head: just don’t eat sugar, and the advice of so many others also went through my mind: just don’t buy sugar.   

Years ago, I watched the documentary Hungry For Change. It is about the abundance of processed foods and the addictive nature of these manufactured foods because they are created to get you to buy more. These foods have higher calories and less nutritional value. They also tend to have a lot of sugar. One thing that stuck with me from the documentary, that my mind goes back to when I think about my sugar addiction, is a story from Kris Carr. She would throw out her sugary foods but she would have to spray the food with cleaning supplies in order to not go pick it out of the garbage and eat it. Multiple times throughout the Documentary they mention sugar being addictive due to the chemical it releases and how it is similar to how drugs affect our bodies. We crave the dopamine release. Our bodies become use to eating sugar and they start to release less dopamine, so more sugar must be consumed to feel the same release. Adipex helped me to not crave sugar and I thought with the significant time away from craving sugar, that I would not feel such a strong desire for it when I was off of the Adipex.

At my most recent Doctor’s appointment, I had gained back 6 pounds. I had been off of Adipex for 3 months, which my Doctor considered a significant enough of a break for me to be able to go back on it. We discussed finding a way to curb my sugar cravings for when I stop taking Adipex again. She said I needed to find something that would satisfy the craving but that wouldn’t have too many calories. I took my first dose of Adipex again yesterday and I already feel the relief of not having those sugar cravings. I’m nervous for when I stop taking it, but I plan on being ready at that time. This time I will know what to expect when I go back off of it. 

I have not been able to try losing weight with a semaglutide. The average weight loss for Semaglutides is slightly higher than Adipex. Semaglutides can be taken as long as needed for weightless. Adipex cannot be taken long term. Semaglutides are not a stimulant, they do not increase energy. Semaglutides are injected once a week, Adipex is a daily pill. I may take a semaglutide in the future, but for now I am happy with the Adipex. It’s nice to know there are options for losing weight. Some people like myself, just need the push to get started. Lifestyle changes feel more manageable when you see some results, especially with my personality type.