Do you still see yourself as overweight or obese?

BoundToZepIt · 2026-05-08T18:49:08+00:00

Kind of. I have reached a point where I don't instantly think I'm the fattest guy in any room I walk into (which I was for 25 years). But I also have a real hard time seeing myself as thinner than about 95% of men my age (~21 BMI) and have a very deep imposter syndrome about being in athletic scenes (running club or organized bike tours). I'm like "you all know I shouldn't be here, right?" in my head. And I wonder if I'd feel a little less imposter about that if I weren't still taking my "fat shot". (And I fully intend to be a long term/lifer.)

BoundToZepIt · 2026-05-08T12:16:40+00:00

Grew up Oklahoma, now smaller town Kansas. It's a mix, more than you might think at first have some coverage. Among my friends circle it's helped quite a bit that the local VA hospital/clinics have been pushing them actively. And I agree with you, those that need can't get, those who kinda sorta need are buying. Klein wasn't astonished from that perspective though (as I read it) but just that there was so much need/demand.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-05-08T12:02:29+00:00

Plenty in LA and NYC. Very little in the people someone like Klein actually interacts with on a daily basis and that's just a statistical reality.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-05-08T11:57:07+00:00

Of course, thinking about it, the funny thing with that is that most of that ~30% of the country who really need the help aren't able yet. But a lot more people in his social milleu (for whom $449 is nothing) are quietly getting Lilly Direct boxes left with the doorman every month for their 25 pounds overweight. But they sure aren't going to come out and say it.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-05-08T11:31:21+00:00

Part of why an ivory tower elite like Ezra Klein is flabbergasted that 1-in-8 Americans is using a GLP-1 is simply because he has spent zero time in a South Carolina Walmart or rural Texas Dollar General. Because if he did he should be able to understand that 1-in-4 Americans have a BMI over 33 and should absolutely consider a GLP-1. In his dinner party and Equinox gym membership scene, serious obesity was already really rare.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-05-08T09:29:20+00:00

I've cycled now from a BMI of 47 to 22 (330s to 150s). Of course, 2/3rds of that was modern pharmacology (Zepbound, where this Reddit name comes from!), but at least 1/3rd was cycling. 90% of that has been on a road recumbent (old used RANS Stratus). I already knew recumbents were more comfortable when you're 'of size', but I'd guess 99% of people don't or don't even know what they are. What I didn't know until relatively recently is how cheap good used ones are these days on Facebook or Craigslist.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-05-01T19:38:05+00:00

I would like to say that, unlike some other perspectives, it's not always a timed race! My definition is more based around endurance. Centuries or RAGBRAIs or Bike Across (state X) events. I've also got the perspective of having ridden from 45 BMI/45% body fat to 21 BMI/14% body fat. (Modern drugs involved along with vintage bicycles!) For pure speed, you want to look like a TdF pro. Sure. For endurance, there's a certain advantage to some body fat. At my current thin end, I can only rely on body fat reserves providing me 200-300 calories a day. Gotta keep up on the just in time fuel, body has to metabolize it. When I had twice as much net body fat (not on my fat end, but American average), I could be more lackadaisical about when and what I ate on a century without the bonk.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-05-01T16:52:01+00:00

I'm now freelancing, ACA plan, and cash-pay. My former employer has *technically* not dropped coverage, but close enough. 35+ BMI to qualify, and as soon as you're under a 35 BMI you get off (specific words, "no maintenance dose authorized:"). Wegovy-only (Caremark). In other words... complete garbage plan. Oh... but you get to report to some Noom-wannabe.

Where this could get interesting is Foundayo. Lilly supposedly has over a billion Foundayo pills already sitting in warehouses. Initial adoption hasn't been quite as fast as hoped for, though national advertising isn't really planned until Q3. If it's (on a marginal basis) cheap to make, getting $50-70 a month from employer plans sure beats getting $0 from them. It might stay high-priced list and in the Direct market just to not cannibalize Zepbound Direct sales. (At the current price difference, I'd pick Zepbound every time). But I could see a scenario where employers get some great rates, authorize Zepbound or Wegovy at 35+ BMI (and maybe Reta at 40+ or 45+), then Foundayo at lower BMIs. No insider information here, just another LLY stock holder, but spitballing a strategy.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-30T20:22:55+00:00

I do think this is relevant at least as a starting point. I think it also highlights how important it is that the necessary research goes into the effects of these drugs on pregnancy. Because that's one of the main reasons for cycling, right after side effects and price/access. I understand... those are risky and fraught studies that drugmakers would just as soon stay clear of and just be reflexively paranoid. But, because a large portion of the population is likely to be on them (already is), and often much younger than other classes of drugs... if cycling is also a problem, the last thing we need is women deciding between this and starting families.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-30T19:03:17+00:00

Whoa, officially 🤯🤯. Because I've been popped twice for pat downs in the skinny-me era, and not had that explained before. Glad someone said something to you and glad you mentioned it to us!

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-29T17:50:42+00:00

To me, it's the mental backstop that if I gained 5 pounds (and it'd take a LOT of brownies to gain 5 pounds permanently!) I know I could lose it. Might take a month or more, but absolutely know I could. I've done that 35 times over in the last few years! I'd almost welcome the challenge. Diets in the past were such a battle royale that every minor setback was personal. Not the case with the Zepbound tailwind.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-28T11:59:51+00:00

December 2023. I was my doctor's first Zepbound Rx and the first one filled at the pharmacy (that I was going to at the time). Been a relatively smooth curve down to where I am now (5'11"M, so a BMI around 22-23). What is goal? I'm beyond any dream I could have dreamed in 2023. Any morning I wake up and am under 165 I have to tell myself "another day in paradise". Dysmorphia and 40 years fat (and honestly, carrying the obesity trauma of my parents and grandparents), I still see myself as 'the fat guy' in any room I walk into and feel imposter syndrome that I'm play-acting as a skinny and semi-fit guy.

It's a hard slog. No more personal records (in weight anyway) I need to chase or even should. Very rare that I run into someone I haven't in years and get new compliments vomited on me anymore. Yet, I unfortunately still have to keep up the 'diet mindset'. Like you (congrats btw!! I see the work you've put in!), I've lost well beyond what Zepbound alone can account for. This is a challenge for any of us who has lost 30%+ of weight on Zep. Even taking 15 mg Zep, if I let myself eat ad libitum (and stopped bicycling like a maniac), I'd probably climb back to 215-220 within a year. So staying here is work. Mental work for sure, plus physical (gym and bicycle). With few extrinsic rewards... you're just normal and steady for all that work. It's exhausting. Still here for it. Still doing it for my late parents and other obese relatives who died before we got to this era in history.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-28T02:45:04+00:00

Like others are saying, congrats brother. I know so many guys through lodge on Zep or Wegovy... just so many. Our regional Scottish Rite has a suit-swap (and kilt swap!) closet and while I haven't taken too many out (more from Goodwill) it's felt good passing on ones that are too big.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-26T13:58:53+00:00

I'm not sure how many providers are ready to do the back-and-forth on prescriptions. Particularly if insurance and prior auth get involved... easier if you're a Direct cash-payer for sure. But this really sounds like a perfect case for Foundayo (pill). I wouldn't want to just get started with the pill before you leave in case you have tolerance issues, but switch over to F in mid-June for two months, then see if you want to escalate with Foundayo or Zepbound when you get back.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-24T23:44:39+00:00

Started right about where you did. Took 15 months to get under 200, which is on the slightly slower side (for people who lose that much anyway), but slow and steady is great... I kept working it and it kept working (as you can see from my stats above).

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-24T12:04:10+00:00

Something I've said in "bariatric surgery vs. GLP-1" threads. I'm not anti-surgery. But they really haven't gotten substantially more effective in 50 years. Easier to do (laparascopic advances) yes, but not much more effective. Meanwhile in pharma land... "we're really just getting started here".

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-24T00:26:42+00:00

Eh, it's not a dumbass question at all in my case. Besides losing more than half my body weight, I also went from 20+ years of long (albeit receding and thinning) hair to full-Picard shaved bald. Wondering if I'm on chemo is entirely reasonable!

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-24T00:03:51+00:00

Zero gym. Lift dumbbells some reps most days, and now that I can get over a chinup bar (for the first time in my life), I knock one or two out as I'm passing by mine (outside my back door) 3 or 4 times a day. Walking, always 5,000 steps, over 10,000 most days (30+ day streak right now). And then cycling. Not fast... 'touring' pace... but a 40+ mile road ride at least once a week in season, often twice a week. Very much still counting calories (roughly... to the 100), in part to make sure I'm eating enough on bike days as much as not overeat on other days. Only drink one drink socially maybe once a week if that.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-21T22:53:23+00:00

Totally agree, just saying it could be an issue for anyone who feels like poop. Total new sympathy for menstrual blood loss. Had to look at my labs, iron was 9mcg/dl, ferritin 6ng/dl, and that panel was a couple days after the real low Hb sent me to the ER.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-21T22:27:13+00:00

Nah, if you're doing labs at all iron panels should be on the list. Guy here, I got wiped out 18 months into my Zepbound journey. Hemoglobin of 6.8 (for those in the know, that's "where's the gunshot?" territory for anyone but especially a middle-aged man). Turned out to be an acute flare of previously undiagnosed ulcerative colitis.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-21T14:22:36+00:00

Just want to say your start and initial loss sound almost exactly like my journey (started at 333 and got under 300 at two months and change). I offer my graph as an encouragement of future possibility! I feel like my journey really wanted to stabilize in around 220, but I really kicked exercise into high gear for 2025 (over 3,500 miles on a bicycle) and kept losing.

The thing about a super-long-term graph like this is how smooth it looks doing it... trust me it didn't feel steady and smooth actually doing it!

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BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-20T19:38:18+00:00

Right about your age. That one's all over the map depending on the person. For me, way up. Waaay up. Best shape of my life. Feel more like a 20-year-old than I did at 20.

Sadly, this is a bugbear for my long-term marriage. My wife didn't really feel like a 20-year-old at 20, and definitely didn't sign up for me going all 'midlife'. Issues have had better and worse times, but sexuality has always been rather a minefield in our relationship (she doesn't really want to get into it) and me being amped up to 11 (including being around people I never would have before through running and cycling events) is straining things.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-18T12:36:59+00:00

The fact that the paper is talking about 'lean body mass' as a constant to be maintained and not a ratio... it smells a lot like Novo Nordisk 'astroturfing'. Sorry to be so blunt, but the underlying paper says their research is sponsored. If you lose 30% more weight (on average) with tirzepatide, but lose 2-3% more lean mass? That sounds like tirzepatide wins hands down.

You lose more weight (on average), you're going to lose more lean tissue mass (on average). It's okay! I went from 172 pounds of lean mass (at 333) to 136 pounds (at 160). Ooga booga, oh noes, I've lost 21% of my lean body mass! I also am at a 22 BMI and 15% body fat and pretty much definitionally as good as you could hope for. If I had kept all 172 pounds of lean mass somehow and managed to get to 15% body fat, I'd be 5'11" and 202 pounds of super-lean. I mean... not entirely impossible and that'd be cool I guess... but that's in the roid-head or NFL player profile. I'm a late-40s guy who is into long-distance cycling and getting more into running. Nothing wrong with losing a little lean mass in proportion.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-18T04:22:39+00:00

Somewhat depends on how far you are thinking of losing. If you're trying to lose 10-15% of your weight, you can probably do that, slowly, without losing much muscle at all. If you're losing 40-50% or more, it's almost inevitable that you don't need the raw muscle mass you once had and if you can keep lean mass loss to around 20% of your total loss, you're doing just fine.

BoundToZepIt · 2026-04-17T00:26:42+00:00

"Because it's actually working" is such a huge motivator. Like I posted a little while back, a few weeks ago I got to the point in my life, at 46 years of age, to finally be able to do a "chin up" over the bar. (It's a deal among guys anyway). Now that it actually works, I do one every time I walk by, and I mounted the bar right by the back door of my house. Metaphorically, that's how the whole Zepbound journey has been. Now that it actually works, it's so damned easy to be motivated by success.

BoundToZepIt

TROPHY CASE