It has been 1.5 weeks since I began taking Rybelsus, an oral form of Semaglutides, on a daily basis. Just 3mg a day seems to be working almost too well. It baffles me how such a small dose works so well in combating my previously endless cravings for food.
The way to take the medicine is: first thing in the morning on an empty stomach. Only a sip of water that’s enough to swallow the pill. No food and drinks either, for at least 30minutes after taking the medicine. The reason for this is so that the medicine can be absorbed in the stomach to maximise its effectiveness.
To be prescribed the medication, you have to either have a BMI of at least 27.5, or a BMI of 23 if you have a weight-related chronic condition. Luckily for me, I was way above 27.5 in BMI and have high cholesterol too. So no issues getting the green light here.
During the week, my dietician analysed my day-to-day meals and habits. She provided valuable feedback and adjustments to help me achieve a more successful weight loss too.
How I feel so far
It’s been a long time since I last forgot to eat and skipped a meal. Which is why it felt so weird when it happened on the first day of taking the medication. The effects of food noise reduction were immediate, as I went about my first day having to adjust and remind myself to eat and drink enough water.
Another noticeable change was how satiated I was. This is probably due to the effect of food digestion slowing down in general. Don’t get me wrong, I still feel hungry, just not as hungry, and not all the time. Watching mukbang videos doesn’t make me feel like wanting any and food cravings were easily satisfied after a couple of bites.
As a certified human camel, I am used to drinking many litres of water throughout the day. Normally, I would go to the toilet almost every hour. Though nowadays, I have to constantly remind myself to drink more water.
What Changed?
One worry I had prior to being on the medication is that I might end up being unable to keep food down and lose too much weight too fast. This would be a huge problem, as my goal was to keep most of my lean muscle tissues. Luckily for me, I had no issue getting in enough protein. My lifting results were good even though I am losing weight.
Initially, my training runs were quite lacklustre; it felt sluggish and I often stopped before completing it. I quickly found out that it was due severe underconsumption of carbohydrates. This made me struggle to complete longer runs as my body lacks the energy source that it used a lot back when I was training for my marathons. With that said, I do feel a little lighter on the run due to the weight I lost.
The most interesting thing that happened in the past 10 days, was that I managed to lose 2.4kg. Since my lifting numbers were still up there, I believe that the 2.2kg was a mixture of fat and water. The reason why I called it interesting, was that it happened during the period where I hosted a birthday party at a buffet and had a scrumptious meal to celebrate Valentine’s day. Having dropped weight even with these events, is something that I’ve never experienced before, since I tend to overeat quite often.
Side effects
Based on my previous article, a large number of patients experienced nausea and vomiting as a result of the medication. Thankfully, I managed to avoid anything serious . Either I am lucky or I received very good guidance on the dosage.
The biggest issue I had in the past 10 days was constipation. Upon discussing with my dietician, I understood that it’s mainly due to two reasons. 1. The drastic change in water consumption after being on Rybelsus and 2. Lack of vegetables in my diet. After making some adjustments, constipation was no longer a problem and now I do feel much better.
The entire purpose of taking these medications for weight management is for a positive lifestyle change. It’s not for us to rely on them forever. Almost all of us know that vegetables are good for us, but that alone isn’t enough to make us change our old habits. Old habits do die hard, but change becomes a little easier when we have the help of latest biotechnological advances in the forms of a pill.
Zen Yi 