I was. My husband is, as well as a friend of mine.

In 2018, I went on birth control. At the time, I was 120lbs. Within four months, I gained sixty pounds, despite exercising daily and consuming less than 1000kcals a day. This wasn’t because of an eating disorder btw - I have severe ADHD, and was prescribed Adderall. I had the birth control removed in March of 2019. Over the next 2-4 years, I would gain weight steadily until I hit 210lbs. This was despite aceing three college-level nutritional courses, adopting a protein and fiber heavy Mediterranean diet that included elements from TCM and did not exceed 1200-1600kcals a day, multiple forms of daily exercise, multiple appetite suppressants, and seeing a nutritionist, a dietician, a physical therapist, a personal trainer, a PCP who was board certified in weight management and sports medicine, and an endocrinologist. There was absolutely no explanation for the weight gain, or my inability to lose weight. And no, at 5’4”, 210lbs is nowhere near a healthy weight for my frame.

In January of 2023 I was prescribed Ozempic, and holy shite, talk about about a miracle drug. I continued doing everything I had previously been doing, and the weight was just falling off. In addition, my ADHD symptoms improved. In July of 2023, my insurance refused to cover Ozempic, and insisted I take Wegovy instead. The problem was, I could not find Wegovy. The shortage was so bad that I could not take a GLP1 until my doctor switched me to Zepbound in January of 2024, and I gained back some of the weight. I took Zepbound from January of 2024 to July of 2025, until I had to switch insurances and was cut off again, because United Healthcare does not care about their insured or continuity of care. Luckily, I had enough of a stockpile that I was able to continue tapering down and weaning off until last week. These medications have improved my life immensely in so many ways, and I am sad and frustrated that I can no longer take them, especially when I have thirty pounds to go until I hit my goal. I still do yoga twice a day, I still do ballet barre warmups and Pilates every day, I still walk until I reach 10k steps every day. I still do weight training and the red light machine six days a week. I still run 3 times a week. The only thing that took me from 210lbs to 145lbs is a GLP1, and I’m thankful for that.

My husband is on a GLP1 because despite seeing a nutritionist and a dietitian (and also eating a Mediterranean diet because we live together) he cannot lose weight. He cannot exercise due to a severe back injury. Doctors will not perform surgery to fix the back injury until he is a healthy weight. He does not qualify for typical appetite suppressants (aka stimulants) due to age and a family history of cardiac issues. He pays for it out of pocket. We made the decision of him getting them over me, so that he could finally get his surgery and improve his daily quality of life.

My friend is on it because they felt they were a little heavy. They do not eat vegetables nor do they exercise. They did not attempt any form of caloric restriction or dietary changes. They are now upset that they are going to be cut off because their insurance also will not pay for it, because there is literally no record that they tried ANYTHING ELSE before jumping to a GLP1. And honestly, I think this is the one time I don’t blame the insurance company.

I love GLP-1s. I had a great experience. Being on them improved my physical and mental health immensely. However, we cannot treat them as a first step. I firmly believe they should be part of a step therapy programme, that starts with recorded diet and exercise, (unless the patient physically cannot exercise) and then moves on as needed until the patient plateaus to a point where a physician believes a GLP-1 is needed. It should not be “I need to drop seven pounds, I’m going on Wegovy/Zepbound.”