20% less fat...

Welcome to my weight loss journey. In June '24 I decided to cut right back on the amount I work and move much closer to retirement. Looking forward to having much greater freedom and spare time also carried the hidden danger of putting on weight as, like many people, it had gradually increased since my mid-thirties. Coming back from a wonderful 10 days all-inclusive in Turkey, I tipped the scales at a shade over 112kg making my BMI 35 - right at the crossover of obesity class 1 and obesity class 2. Eek!

Something had to be done.

For the past few months the news has been full of reports about Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro/Zepbound... The new miracle weight loss injections, about how they are revolutionary, how they are a cheat, how they are transforming lives, how the demand is stopping people with diabetes accessing them... I wanted to know, could one be right for me.

As a fiftysomething male, gaining weight has never been a problem, but losing it has always been a challenge. Huge amounts of effort into what I was eating for weeks on end seemed only to produce tiny results, yet I'd feel permanently hungry and this hunger would be intrusive in my mind throughout the whole day.

To cut a very long story short, back in 2013 researchers developing some drugs that prevented sudden glucose drops noticed that when the drug was given to obese mice, they lost weight. Fast forward through further research and development, clinical trials, and regulatory approval and in 2023 these novel drugs started to be approved by various public health bodies for weight loss.

Being a bit of a boffin, I looked at the weight loss trials for these new drugs and Mounjaro/Zepbound (Tirzepatide) seemed to show the greatest efficacy, so that's where my focus started. It works in several different ways; appetite reduction, slower digestive transit, lower glucose production in the body, altered insulin production and energy balance. All very technical and clever stuff, but in essence: Take the drug, you'll feel less hungry, what you eat will be more healthily handled and you'll lose weight.

So I decided, this looked to be the path for me to follow. Now I need drugs!