Giant Semaglutide Thread (and other GLP-1 / GIP agonists)

[Doodle]

Wanted to create a thread where everyone can post their experiences with different sourced Semaglutide.

Who are you using?
Pharma vs non?
Dosage?
How long have you been taking it?
What are your thoughts?
Have you lost weight?
Side effects?
Oral vs injection?
Tests?

 

[SlamSumTest]

It's an epiphany when "food noise", and other addictive behavior "noise" finally shuts down. You don't even realize it was there until it goes quiet.

A lot of my contempt for addicts, and the obese, that I think most of us harbor, went away once the link to biology went from theoretical to something experienced. Even the inner "don't you have willpower??" self criticism finally STFU.

Now my contempt is reserved for fat people who have access, but choose not to take action to fix themselves. A surprising number. In the US something like 75% who have coverage and qualify don't bother, and most that do drop it within a year, 95% regaining the weight they lost.

Preach brother. I have a friend who is slightly overweight and has direct access to ozempic from a doctor; he has always complained to us about his weight.

He then peddled more excuses to us about why he wants to wait and we both shunned him for it. At this point, you quite literally have a medication doing the work for you…it’s always “what’s the down side” but never “what can I gain from this,” definitely a function of personality differences across people

What I’m curious about, and what I’ll find out myself, is I hope I can come off the tirz/reta and still maintain my habit of lower eating portions and not mindlessly drinking caffeine and using nicotine. Fingers crossed

 

[Photon]

No I'm so accustomed to Tirz at this point, my metabolic markers (BP,
Lipids, A1C, HS-CRP) are so dialed in, and I've built up such a buffer supply of Zepbound pens, and I don't need to lose any weight, I see no reason to switch. If I needed to lose more weight, higher dose Sema would probobly be my choice.

I doubt there's going to be a large appetite suppression difference for those who have been on Zepb 15mg->Wegov 7.2mg. I was just wondering if the GLP benefits would outweigh the GIP.

One thing i did notice was that the incidence of skin sensitivity was significantly higher on 7.2mg of Wegov.

Dysaesthesia was more common with semaglutide 7·2 mg (58 [18·9%] of 307) versus 2·4 mg (five [4·9%] of 103) and placebo (none).

Once-weekly semaglutide 7·2 mg in adults with obesity and type 2 diabetes (STEP UP T2D): a randomised, controlled, phase 3b trial - PubMed

For the Bulgarian, Hungarian and Polish translations of the abstract see Supplementary Materials section.

pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

 

[Photon]

Well said, I’ve always been fine with UGL AAS but I am willing to pay up for pharma Sema or Tirz, but it seems difficult to get from online clinics even if paying out of pocket — especially since my BMI is already very healthy and any practitioner would tell me to see a psychiatrist if I asked for a GLP1

All jokes aside, The lack of food noise, lower desire to use caffeine/nicotine, increased mental focus on other stuff is amazing.

The bar to hit is actually very low.
You just need to be overweight with high blood pressure or high lipids.
You don't need to be fat.

Most bodybuilders here have enough muscle mass to easily qualify for pharma simply based off BMI.

 

[Deadpool99]

I'm honestly surprised how easy it was to get prescribed and prior auth submitted via teledocs. I simply said i was obese with high lipids and the provider prescribed and submitted my p.a. No verification or labwork was needed at all. You could be underweight and they'd still prescribe it...

I'm planning to finish up my UGL Reta, will keep escalating reta till ~25mg then probably switch over to Tirz 15mg US Pharma. I've been upgrading most of my stuff from India/CN PCT -> US Pharma. If i knew it was so easy, i would have done it much sooner lol.

May I ask which teledoc did u use?
And price wise, under insurance or what's the price on it.

I am rly on the same boat as u, however my reta supply is gonna last a shit ton.

 

[Deadpool99]

Just FYI, you qualify for a prescription of your BMI is 30 (@6' 221lb) or 27 (@6' 199lb) if you have one other condition (Blood pressure >130/80, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, heart disease, pre-diabetes, Non-alcoholic fatty liver) and can get it from your regular doctor. You can see those weights aren't particularly high.

If you don't qualify based on the above, you can just lie about your weight via telemedicine.

The rest is dependant on your insurance. If your insurance doesn't cover it I think it's down to $499/mo for Zepbound for cash payers now.

You can check insurance coverage with this tool from Ro.

Ro GLP-1 Insurance Checker Signup

Sign up for the GLP-1 Insurance Checker to understand your insurance coverage for drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound.

ro.co

Apparently I'm eligible for free tirz

 

[explodingHeart]

GLP sides are the catch. Like the ever increasing list of diseases it treats and prevents, from dementia and skin disorders, to cancer and drug addiction. Lower all cause mortality. Too much for researchers to even begin to get a handle on in the next 20 years.

Every type of cell with a GLP receptor, and that's most of them, from neurons in your brain to nerves in your feet, that gets touched by the magic hormone starts a chain reaction of gene expression that leads to enhanced cell survival, reduced oxidative stress, and anti-inflammatory signaling.

But this has been hinted at for 30 years, when doctors started noticing the (rich) diabetics being treated with early, expensive GLPs (as an alternative to insulin) appeared to become healthier and live longer than their non diabetic counterparts.

On the other hand, we're in the wild west with UGL GLPs, and there's a possibility some people may be developing a long lasting, or even permanent immunity to the entire class of life and health extending drugs through exposure to poorly made copies, and reckless use of these potent meds.

Am I becoming immune to Sema? At my leanest, 8% or so, hurt to walk on my feet because I had no fat pads, I went up to 10mg per day. But at maintenance I'm at 3-4mg or so and appetite seems to be falling week or week. On my cheap chinese crap.

Assuming the bootleg chinese crap is half as potent as pharma, that means my absolute max use was 5mg.

 

[Deadpool99]

@Ghoul

When comparing tirz and reta, outside of BG and appetite.
Is the glucagon aspect rly noticeable and worth it, for example theoretically in terms of metabolism/energy expenditure

With Reta you burn fat from both eating less + increased fat oxidation (glucagon) and enhances fat mobilization via glucagon which is synergetic with HGH

All sounds good on paper but clinically speaking, should it be the reason I favor reta? As for a bodybuilder this sounds amazing.

 

[ParquetPatquet]

Getting the prescription is the easy part, the price is the sticking point. I was paying 600 for 60mg of tirzepatide.

 

[ParquetPatquet]

Am I becoming immune to Sema? At my leanest, 8% or so, hurt to walk on my feet because I had no fat pads, I went up to 10mg per day. But at maintenance I'm at 3-4mg or so and appetite seems to be falling week or week. On my cheap chinese crap.

Assuming the bootleg chinese crap is half as potent as pharma, that means my absolute max use was 5mg

Are you pinning sema or tirzepatide? These doses sound too high to be semaglutide.

 

[Ghoul]

Getting the prescription is the easy part, the price is the sticking point. I was paying 600 for 60mg of tirzepatide.

I pay $25 for 180mg (ie, 3 boxes of 4 15mg pens).

The receipt says something like $3,700 though lol.

I'm sure the insurance company has a far lower negotiated price than that. Probably around $400/mo at the most:

 

[nullandvoid]

One thing I cannot tolerate at all anymore is cold. I hated the cold anyway, but now it feels like a matter of survival.. which I guess it is. I can't swim anymore, either. Went to Tulum, and the water wasn't necessarily cold, but I just could not acclimate and shivered until I had to get back on the beach. And hot tubs in Mexico aren't "hot." They are just smaller (cold) pools.

 

[ParquetPatquet]

I pay $25 for 180mg (ie, 3 boxes of 4 15mg pens).

The receipt says something like $3,700 though lol.

I'm sure the insurance company has a far lower negotiated price than that. Probably around $400/mo at the most:

Nice! That's some good insurance.

 

[explodingHeart]

Are you pinning sema or tirzepatide? These doses sound too high to be semaglutide.

Really? How much sema was used in studies when they got users to 8% shredded bodyfat?

 

[Deadpool99]

@Ghoul

When comparing tirz and reta, outside of BG and appetite.
Is the glucagon aspect rly noticeable and worth it, for example theoretically in terms of metabolism/energy expenditure

With Reta you burn fat from both eating less + increased fat oxidation (glucagon) and enhances fat mobilization via glucagon which is synergetic with HGH

All sounds good on paper but clinically speaking, should it be the reason I favor reta? As for a bodybuilder this sounds amazing.

Cuz tbh @Ghoul I'm using reta at 15mg, plan on increasing. Rn running some 3.75mg cagri, however might titrate very slowly on the cagri dose as I bulk, so I can should be able to last on my cagri/reta hopefully for a few months but am interested in tirz

But the glucagon aspect makes me think twice, specially for someone who like improved metabolism and like to eat alot and have the best synergy with AAS but idk how effective it rly is.

I also use t4 alongside my gh is it matter it terms of metabolic health

 

[ParquetPatquet]

Really? How much sema was used in studies when they got users to 8% shredded bodyfat?

Semaglutide max dose is 2.4mg, I think they recently had trials for 7.2mg

Tirzepatide max dosage is 15mg, they are doing new trials that go up to 20 or 25mg.

Im not aware of studies that specifically say users got to 8% body fat.

 

[explodingHeart]

Semaglutide max dose is 2.4mg, I think they recently had trials for 7.2mg

Tirzepatide max dosage is 15mg, they are doing new trials that go up to 20 or 25mg.

Im not aware of studies that specifically say users got to 8% body fat.

Don't you think that, these users in studies, who most likely never even got down before 15-20% bodyfat, might use more when they got ultra shredded?

Could it be possible you need more to get damn near contest shape, nearly touching shredded glutes?

Might it also be plausible that chinese bootleg Sema is less potent than pharma?

 

[ParquetPatquet]

Don't you think that, these users in studies, who most likely never even got down before 15-20% bodyfat, might use more when they got ultra shredded?

Could it be possible you need more to get damn near contest shape, nearly touching shredded glutes?

Might it also be plausible that chinese bootleg Sema is less potent than pharma?

All very possible, yes!

 

[Photon]

Semaglutide max dose is 2.4mg, I think they recently had trials for 7.2mg

In the latest trials they used 7.2mg.
They've submitted for approval in EU to use 7.2mg but not yet in US to the FDA (Matter of time i guess).

EU will probably get 7.2mg usage first if approved, possibility in 2026.

 

[Earthworm Jim]

It's an epiphany when "food noise", and other addictive behavior "noise" finally shuts down. You don't even realize it was there until it goes quiet.

A lot of my contempt for addicts, and the obese, that I think most of us harbor, went away once the link to biology went from theoretical to something experienced. Even the inner "don't you have willpower??" self criticism finally STFU.

Now my contempt is reserved for fat people who have access, but choose not to take action to fix themselves. A surprising number. In the US something like 75% who have coverage and qualify don't bother, and most that do drop it within a year, 95% regaining the weight they lost.

Same "epiphany" experience when I started meditating... Just with random "noise" instead

 

[eryximachus]

I increased my reta dose to 8mg and I feel like death