My Zepbound Journey | Background

Before I begin my Zepbound journey, I would like to share some information about myself.

I'm a 61-year-old male and live in Southern California. I've been overweight most of my life, except for my teen to mid-twenties and a few times since, as a result of dieting.

From the time I was 14 until I started a job as a software engineer in '91, I was in good shape. However, the pounds started piling up due to spending too much time sitting in front of a computer.

I was born into a family where both parents cherish and take great pleasure in food. Both my parents were overweight. My father used to say, "I've never felt full in my life". And to my mom, spoiling appetite was a big thing. So we were never into snacking or even allowed to. My mom used to always say, "Don't spoil your appetite." So, obviously, at mealtime, I was always pretty hungry and ate like a pig.

They say your personality is a combination of nature and nurture. Well, my pleasure in food arrives in full power in both ways. So, food —food that's not just a meal, but a mouthful of a good meal —is something I look forward to all day. Actually, it's precisely the same with all my siblings. Every time we get together, it's always the same story. Wait for dinner, and when it's served... attack.

Throughout my adult life, I've been on diets many times, including two or three times that I lost over 50 pounds. But, yes, you guessed it. Here I am heavier than ever.

I'm a very analytical person, so my mind is constantly working to find solutions to problems. Having been through my own experiences with obesity and realizing that I have absolutely no control over it, I came to the conclusion in my thirties that the solution isn't what everyone else says, which is to eat well and exercise.

Over the years, I've had countless arguments with my own family members trying to convince them of that. I've always considered the problem as something in my nature, and as such, something that's hard, if not impossible, to change. Trying to explain to them my problem, I've always used the analogy of the Salmon in that swimming up the current is obviously hard, but it's in their nature to do so to get to their breeding grounds. So it's essentially the same as the problem with weight gain. You can try all sorts of diets or weight loss methods, but in the end, it's a matter of time before your nature prevails and you return to your comfort zone.

I've always believed that weight loss by means of diet and/or exercise is futile for one primary and core principle, and that is the fact that it takes "effort". Putting effort into anything is not hard. We all do it all the time. However, the problem with placing effort into weight loss is that it must be sustained from the moment you start, for the rest of your life, if you want to keep the extra weight gone permanently. And I can't think of anyone who has successfully fought their nature all their lives. Let's face it, we all have natural personalities that we wish were different. But no matter what, we are who we were made and who we are. Here's a simple question: Does anyone in the world who's overweight "want or like" to be overweight? I think the obvious answer is no. So the fact that nearly half the population in the civilized modern world is overweight says a lot about the problem and the ineffectiveness of all the existing solutions.

So sometime after my last diet, some fifteen years ago, when I lost 50 pounds on low-carb and put it all back on in less time than it took to lose it, I decided I won't be dieting anymore. Due to our body's metabolism adjustments, every time we diet and go off, we come back heavier than we started, by at least 10%. I believe that had I not gone through the all too familiar yo-yo dieting, I'd weigh much less than I do now. So I've never dieted in the last fifteen years. Add to that the fact that I've always been highly inactive, and you get the reason for my current weight of 355 pounds.

Because weight loss is a lifelong mission, to be successful at it for life, you need to have one or more of a few natural personality traits. One is to be naturally "nearly" disgusted by food and only consume it as a need, not a want. Two is, in the absence of that, you should be the kind that has an insatiable desire to exercise like an athlete so that the heavier consumptions are well, consumed. Three, given the absence of the other two, you should possess the kind of discipline and determination to be able to apply the effort to fight your natural desires for all of your life. But then again, let's accept the obvious: if you had any of that, you wouldn't be obese in the first place, needing it to lose weight.

I know I personally have none of the above. I enjoy a good meal immensely. I've been an inactive person for as long as I can remember. And, no, I don't have that kind of determination. So here we are with the type of problem that I know will kill me much sooner than not, with no solution or even hope of one on the horizon. And to add insult to injury, every piece of information I found in my research and every doctor's recommendation was the same. Eat less and exercise. This was incredibly frustrating and depressing. Worst of all, getting the same exact advice from every skinny bastard around you :) like they know exactly what the problem is and how to fix it. "You just have to try it", or "You don't want to try it". I, myself, am guilty as charged, saying the same thing to a few people, smokers or drug addicts. In fact, my weight loss journey has given me a great deal of understanding of their problems.

Then, a couple of years ago, I discovered Ozempic. I noticed that scientists are talking about obesity as a disease that needs treatment like any other, rather than a behavioral problem. I started noticing that they're comparing the problem of obesity with addiction. I even remember reading an article where the CEO of a popular weight loss program had actually publicly apologized for calling the problem with obesity a behavioral issue. Now, she was going on record and calling it a mental problem or disease as other scientists were doing. And that's when I started feeling that the sun may be rising.

Being a very curious and research-oriented person, I had found my project. I kept a keen eye on everything Ozempic, and soon Wegovy, Zepbound, and Mounjaro. I learned about the good and promising aspects, as well as the realities, especially for a daydreamer like myself, who aims to lose half their body fat.

I won't delve into that in this blog post because, one, it's not my intention to write about it, and two, there's ample material available on the topic on the internet. I just want to write about my own personal experience with my battle with obesity and my attempts at weight loss, and where I am with it now.

For the past couple of years, I've been closely following these shiny new promises. As much as I consider myself an early adopter of technology, I'm the opposite when it comes to big business marketing hype. No matter how promising it sounded, I wasn't going to jump right in. Despite my desperate desire to drop the extra weight and try the new drugs, I wanted to learn more about them and, most importantly, hear others’ experiences. Also, let's be honest, I didn't want to be in another OxyContin-like disaster. So, I waited and kept an open eye.

I discovered some good news—I learned that millions in the US are using these new drugs, and that they seem to work and are actually safe, at least in the short run. Who knows if we're not going to have a large population of cancer or other kinds of serious issues in ten years as a result of taking these medicines! I also uncovered the realities: they only work while you're on them, they plateau after a limited time, and they're essentially another weight-loss solution where you lose weight but will gain it back if you stop. The only difference is that they make the process easier by suppressing your appetite and cravings. Couple that with the natural motivation it provides, and it's a much easier regimen than any regular diet. Despite all this, I remained skeptical.

That was, until I almost reached my breaking point and decided that, even though I knew it wouldn’t give me exactly what I wanted and kept reminding myself I had decided not to diet again—plus knowing another slip-up could push me into the 400-pound range—I still chose to go for it because I had no other hope and was tired of feeling exhausted, heavy, and essentially disabled at my age.

After consultations with my wife (well, actually trying to convince her) and my doctor, I started Zepbound, aware of potential issues but feeling I had to try something. I wasn't ready to "go" before I got to my seventies.

Read on for my actual experience with Zepbound and weight loss in my upcoming blog posts, and let me know your thoughts.