Thanks for links, meara! I was talking to my doctor last month and brought up possibly getting on one of the new obesity drugs, and she came back with this long Health at Every Size spiel. Which was actually nice—thank you, doctor, for not assuming all my problems are due to being fat. But also, my knees hurt, and carrying literally twice their ideal load might figure into that. Then she said, “Yeah, but insurance won’t pay for those meds, so, maybe try a diet and exercise combo,” since that’s only failed me for the past 40 years. So I’m happy to try a clinical trial and see if I can get either skinny or superpowers.

Captain Crunch: Hah—I sent off an email and immediately got the response that they are full up. Guess everyone wants free drugs.

My sister is doing Ozembic and hers is covered. Though in her case she was nudging into pre-diabetic so that might be why.

If I knew the secret to my metabolic rate, I could possibly save people a lot of time. I would sincerely be a part of research, if they could promise that, like, my tongue wouldn't fall out or something. That is, unless it was that the Powers that be decided the "Out, but don't walk, Bitch," was kind of harsh and gave me a consolation prize I didn't really appreciate till I turned thirty. Although I hesitate to say I can eat whatever I want, because of the reflux, and because some of the things human nature really wants are dumb, but I'm not preoccupied by that one group of things.(At least there's one.)

You can search for other similar studies on clinical trials .gov too, search under either the drug name or the issue being obesity or overweight!

Calli, maybe Contrave would work for you? It’s not the same as the injection drugs, but for me it was a game-changer. I took it for a few months last year and it kick-started me into a very healthy weight loss (slow but steady). I was able to get a prescription through GetContrave.com. A 30 min call with a NP to see if I was a good candidate, and got my prescription shipped to me a few days later. I had a few weeks of adjusting during the dose-titration but within 4-5 weeks I was 100% side effect free. I started last May and am about 45 lbs lighter and feeling really good. I wasn’t pre-diabetic and generally was in great health going into this. But I was definitely feeling the effects of extra weight on my knees and feet, etc., like you mention. It’s really worked for me and it’s pretty easy to get. So maybe that would work well for you?

My issues were emotional eating (I eat healthy food but was eating way too much of it!) and a nightly red wine habit. I never got drunk or even tipsy, but my evening wasn’t started until I had poured a glass of red wine. The Contrave immediately put a halt to that habit, it was like magic. And I love that I can still drink whenever I want, and DO, but it’s not part of my routine.

Thanks, javachick. I’ll look into it.

I've started putting weight back on, which, yay! my body is not panic burning and apparently no big tumors consuming me from the inside - but, boo! now I have to start actually paying attention to and limiting what I eat, no fun! But I think my health is already a tricky enough balance just now that adding a weight loss drug is probably contraindicated for a good while to come. So I catch myself taking note of the drugs you guys recommend and have to remind myself, "maybe not right now, k?"

Yeah, Epic, smart thinking!

I hadn't heard of that drug, but it's got bupropion (Wellbutrin) in it, and I'm already maxed out on that.