If you need to lose weight and if you've seen some of the big celebrity transformations recently,
like Elon Musk, or Adele, or Rebel Wilson, or even Oprah. You've heard that they're taking the drug
Ozempic and you're trying to figure out should you take that? Is it safe? Can you even afford
it? Are there side effects? This video is for you. Hey, my name is Lucas. I am a yoga trainer,
and I'm a nutritional coach, and for five years I co-owned a weight loss business where
we worked exclusively with people suffering from obesity. I've also run this podcast now
for 10 years and through my work in the weight loss company, through my work in the podcast,
I've really had unprecedented access to mainstream allopathic medical professionals, as well as all
the people in the alternative realm, personal trainers, nutritional coaches, and I think from
what I've learned I can help share some ideas, not in terms of what decision you should make,
but how to maybe think about making a decision for yourself. A quick disclaimer: I am not a medical
doctor, and especially if you're suffering from obesity, please go get some help. This is is a
serious condition with very serious implications. Whatever you decide, this is just for educational
purposes only, hopefully to help you in your own decision-making process. Before we talk
about Ozempic, the chemical compound is called semaglutide, it's really important to understand
what type of weight loss person you are. Very often, if you go to the bookstore, or you go to
the nutritional store, or even the pharmacy, it's almost as if all of us are in the same category,
but that couldn't be less true. There are three main categories that I usually use to think about
weight loss and I think when I share these with you you'll know exactly where you fit. The first
category I just call a little bit chubby. It's a silly word and I don't mean that in any way in a
derogatory way, but almost all of us at some point in life, and often many times throughout life,
get a little bit chubby. Maybe you eat a little bit too much during the holidays,
maybe you have some stressful time at work, or a bad breakup, or you're just making bad choices,
and you put on a little bit of weight. Maybe your face gets a little rounder, maybe you have trouble
getting into your favorite pair of jeans. This is for sure a hit on your self-esteem, but it's
probably not a health crisis by any stretch of the imagination. For people in this category,
just a little bit of weight, a little bit chubby, oftentimes the mainstream pop advice can be really
effective - diet and exercise interventions, little changes to your food and your macros,
all the best-selling New York Times books that come out in January, sometimes those things can
work for people who have a very minor problem. And almost certainly if you're in that category
I don't think it makes any sense to consider pharmaceutical interventions, things like
semaglutide - too expensive, too many risks. The second category, which is a very, very large group
of people, I would just call bigger bodied people. And for bigger bodied people, very often you've
been carrying extra weight for years or often decades, it may be causing a major health problem
right now, or maybe not, but for sure it's just become part of your life. People in this category
have almost always tried diet and exercise routines, had some success, gained the weight
back, and then a little more. These yo-yo cycles very often are typical of people in this middle
category and it's really really frustrating, and it may be leading to some health complications,
but you know that number one the traditional stuff hasn't worked for you, number two you
know that it's been quite a long time, and number three you're just not sure what happens next.
Is it possible that you'll find a new diet or exercise routine that will work? Totally
possible. Is it possible that you'll meet an endocrinologist, a hormone specialist, make some
changes, maybe a mental health professional that will make some shift, and this long-term problem
will go away? Totally possible. Is it possible, on the flip side, that things will get worse, as the
years go on that your bigger bodied condition will turn into clinical obesity? Also totally
possible. If you're in this category I think it's the most difficult place to be, trying to figure
out what to do to move forward. The final category is clinical obesity and this represents a smaller
but very, very growing part of the population. Clinical obesity, please know it's a disease. This
is not a moral failing, this is not about lack of willpower. The data is really, really clear,
you and I, pretty much everyone, we have very similar willpower, we have a very similar work
ethic and determination, there is not really that much variance. What happens with clinical obesity
is suddenly a weight problem has moved into a clinical realm, where quite literally someone
cannot lose weight and anything and everything needs to be considered to solve this problem.
Is it possible that you're clinically obese and healthy? Yes, it's possible to be healthy at
any size. Is it probable? No. Is it sustainable long term? Almost certainly not. The mainstream
medical community defines clinical obesity as somebody with a BMI of 30 or higher. BMI is
not really a great measure of anything, but it's all we have, and the reality is, if you're obese
you know because your weight is a major factor in everything that you do, it's affecting the
quality of your life, your movement patterns, your exercise, it's most certainly affecting the way in
which you get through your day, and it will almost certainly be correlated or causing major disease
and illness at some point. If you have clinical obesity, for sure go see a doctor right away.
Someone with clinical obesity needs to really look at pharmaceutical interventions, medical
interventions, things like bariatric surgery, hormone replacement, all the different things,
you really need to throw everything you can at the problem because it's such a major issue. And
in this case, this is where insurers have actually approved Wegovy, and eventually Ozempic, and other
of these semaglutide compounds for weight loss, because it's such a big condition. The reason I
want to mention that these insurers have covered this is because, number one well, that's going
to take the money issue off, and number two it's just really important to remember that
the insurance companies have decided that it's a better investment to pay for this medication
than to leave you on your own with a condition that might quickly turn into a more expensive,
from their perspective, more devastating, from your perspective, lifestyle condition that
they would have to cover. So those are the three categories and based on which category you're in
I think it'll give you a little bit more insight in terms of what happens next. Some of you need to
get rid of this video and go see something else. Some of you need to follow along as we talk about
what semaglutide is, Ozempic, Wegovy, and some of the other GLP-agonists that will come out in the
future. So the compound behind Wegovy and Ozempic, it's called semaglutide and it's a GLP-1 agonist,
which sounds like a word salad. Essentially, it's a glucagon-like-peptide-agonist, it's a fancy word
for this precursor to a hormone basically stimulates your pancreas to release more
insulin. Again, more words. Essentially, it helps you to manage your blood sugar. This
is why these drugs were first approved for diabetics and continue to be very,
very important for managing Type 2 diabetes. When your pancreas secretes more insulin, it helps you
to manage your blood glucose. The second thing that these GLP-1 agonists do is they slow the
emptying of your stomach, and from a weight loss perspective, if your stomach empties more slowly
you feel less hungry. What could be better, right? So, that's how these things work and the two brand
names that are available now are Ozempic and Wegovy. By available, I mean they're scarce,
they're running out, they're selling out all over the place. There are future similar drugs that
might be even more effective. So, what does it mean by effective? Why is everyone freaking out?
In the aggregate they're contributing to about a 15 percent body mass loss in about one year. So,
within a 12-month period, the average user of semaglutide is losing 15 percent of their
their body mass, which is remarkable. It's more than any other pharmaceutical intervention ever
before in history and there's even evidence to suggest that future derivatives, other things
acting on the same pathway, that will probably be approved and released later on this year,
will probably be even more effective, maybe even up to 20 percent. That's remarkable,
it's significant, it's also a little bit scary. So, let's talk about side effects. How does this
work? Well, you get these shots, a little bit in your belly, and you shoot it right into your
adipose tissue in your belly once a week. You do it at home, it's self-administered, and the most
common side effects are gastrointestinal stuff, so gas, bloating, constipation, dizziness, nausea,
fatigue, vertigo, these are really common side effects. Some doctors have protocols where they
throttle your dosage, so you slowly ramp up, and they claim that that makes it better. However,
some people get such strong side effects that they literally can't tolerate the medicine at all. Now,
that doesn't seem so scary for most people. For many people who are in a very severe situation,
they think hey if I get a little dizzy, that's not the end of the world. However, there are
suggestions that more serious complications might be happening, things like gallstones,
your gallbladder, gallbladder inflammation, pancreatitis, your pancreas from remember that
insulin stimulation, kidney problems potentially, there's even some research in mice that suggests
your thyroid might be susceptible to tumors and cancer. Who really knows? But I think we
probably will know within one to three years now that tens of millions of people are taking
these drugs on a regular basis. So, the first big consideration is are those side effects,
or those potential side effects, worth the risk? Second big consideration is cost. If you're in
that clinical obesity category it's possible that your insurer will cover this for some period of
time. Will they insure you forever? It's very unlikely. Will they insure you for a year?
Possibly. If you are not covered by insurance, or if your insurance runs out, you're talking about
six to eight hundred dollars per month right now, so let's call it seven to ten thousand dollars per
year, depending on where you live in the world, if you can even get access to this. That's a very,
very serious expense. Now, history has shown that people will spend just about anything,
but can you spend just about anything forever? Unlikely. And that comes to consideration number
three - what happens when you stop? Everyone needs to stop, whether that's because of the cost, or
because of the side effects, or just because how could you be on a drug like this for the rest of
your life? What happens then? The early research shows that probably people will rebound. If you
haven't made the diet, and the lifestyle, and probably more importantly, the hormonal changes
to balance your system out, it's very, very likely that you'll rebound. Now, the opposite might be
true. They might find over years that, you know, if you're on this for 14 months, or 16 months,
or 30, whatever the magic number is, maybe it does lead to greater insulin sensitivity, and
lowered overall blood glucose, and an A1C that's normalized. It might be the case that this is
just the kickstart you need for long term weight loss. The early evidence suggests that the rebound
effect is really, really strong. With those three things in mind, I think you need to ask yourself
number one, are those side effects worth it? Number two, can I afford it? And number three,
am I able to, if I decide to take this drug, am I able to make some lifestyle intervention,
some dietary interventions, and get some professional help, so that hopefully these things
can stick long term? Because that's a big risk and a big expense to take. Hope you found this video
helpful. Again, my name is Lucas, with YOGABODY. I have a teaching calendar you can find online
at yogabody.com. I have a podcast called The Lucas Rockwood Show. We talk about weight loss,
and health, and wellness. If you'd like more science-based yoga videos and health videos,
hit subscribe down below. If you have taken Ozempic or Wegovy, I'd love to hear from you
down in the comments below, if it's worked for you, if you've had side effects or challenges.
And lastly, if you would like to connect with me online, please check me out at yogabody.com.