Yeah, think I’ll stick with my middle age tummy for now then!
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Sad to see this gaining more popularity. I wish it would not spread. As a diabetic (type 1, but doctor wants me to try this typically type 2 medicine) that actually uses this as medicine, it’s becoming frustrating that the pharmacy cannot get it. Thankfully, I can still get one month’s supply at a time, instead of the three months’ supply that I supposed to get. I do hope to be progressing to where I don’t have to take it anymore, but for the time, it’s frustrating. Please do not promote it for casual use. You keep warning of side effects, and I will keep trying to get off of it. I would hope (and I do think) the price is limiting, but I’m hearing of more and more people using it to lose weight. What really gets me is that some people’s insurance is actually covering it just for normal weight loss. 
Disclaimer: I haven’t watched this video, yet, but I did start getting frustrated when Jonathan teased it on the podcast last week.
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Taking (“legal”) drugs for performance gains. Cheating culture is an interesting thing. 
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It caused a 15% weight reduction in trained cyclists or in couch potatos that were obese?
@Jonathan this is a big difference, maybe you can clarify?
So like an S-Works? A power meter, four carbon wheelsets, a bike bag, assos bibs… Par for the course for the overweight dentist?
Seriously, I’m not sure if cost should even be a factor in whether or not it is banned… I’m going with, yes, this violates the spirit of the sport, regardless of alleged/understudied lack of side effects…
I would imagine that someone will come up with a solid strategy to either drop the weight early, then train hard, or train hard, drop the weight quickly, then just maintain fitness and end up about where they want to be, so the balance might be tricky, but I don’t think it would be too hard to gain an “unfair” advantage…
-Clyde here.
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Without trying to be argumentative if it’s not banned it’s not cheating, it’s just another method to game the ruleset.
I have heard coaches from wrestling and MMA say if you’re not cheating you’re not trying. Hence eye pokes, “accidental” nut shots or cage grabs.
For clarity
I don’t agree with it at all however, if it’s your career and you’re that driven if it’s not banned or you can get a tue you can see how it happens.
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If you’re in the US, while watching the National evening news, you are absolutely inundated with commercials for these drugs. One after the other, every 5 minutes. These companies have big money and are pushing these drugs hard. It sucks for the diabetics who need the drug, but the rabbit is out of the hat as far as publicity goes.
I’ve seen them so much I could sing their jingles to you.
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I would be really surprised if this turned out to be useful for professional cyclists. They cause fairly significant decreased motility of your GI system, to the point where people physically can’t eat as much due to the resulting gastroparesis and whatnot. In clinical trials, around 5% stopped due to severe nausea and vomiting.
That decreased GI motility is going to be a big problem when you’re riding 3-5 hours a day and are now no longer able to eat or drink enough water to keep up with your riding.
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The 15% reduction in weight was a result from the STEP1 trial back in 2021.
Most participants in the study were obese, middle aged women.
So no, not active people. And it would not be expected to see similar results in people who were at a healthy weight.
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Stimulants probably.
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Can anyone explain if this drug help to cause weight loss outside of just the side effects of suppressing appetite and slowing gastric emptying?
I can’t see either of these things being good for an elite cyclist who is burning an extra 3000+ calories per day. But it would help the average overweight person who just needs help to not eat more than they should.
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No. Those are the only ways that it causes weight loss.
Hence why it’s unlikely to be very useful as a performance-enhancing drug.
But there’s no evidence that pro cyclists are having a hard time maintaining low amounts of body weight. Plus losing a couple of kilos isn’t going to turn an average rider into Pog or MVDP.
Plus, one can get the same benefit of Ozempic by simply under eating. REDS is already an issue in sports. Starving oneself with the aid of Ozempic is just not going to be a game changer at the pro level. It will actually hurt a rider’s performance.
The only area where I could see this as a big benefit is the cat 4 masters racer that uses the drug to lose 25 pounds and he moves from off the back to staying with the lead group.
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I specifically remember Ulrich constantly fighting with being over weight
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And it’s been decades since pro cyclists could get away with that. And he only got fat because he was partying and drinking all winter. Pros don’t do that show up fat and race into shape thing anymore either.
There’s nothing magic about Ozempic. If one was going to drink alcohol and eat ice cream all day, they would probably not lose any weight using these drugs.
Severely restricting calories is still a performance negative and that is all Ozempic helps one do.
No way is a rider going to Ozempic their way on to the podium of the Tour.
I’m not going to ever fall for the “no way pros are doing that” thing again. I do hope you’re right though.
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I’m sure there are some pros that are all over this, because if one can blunt their hunger just enough, it makes it that much easier to abstain from overeating. I listened to another podcast today on the subject and it was mentioned that the dosage can be adjusted to “modulate” hunger, so with some experimenting it can be dosed.
Someone will use the strategies I noted to do just this, in an amateur field. Doesn’t make it any less cheating, or an unfair advantage.
I have no doubt that someone is doing it now but currently it isn’t banned so I’m not sure why everybody is getting hot and bothered by it. And it’s not a performance enhancer. Not eating is going to lower one’s performance.
If people are worried about their overweight competition losing 10 or 20 pounds then their worries are probably misplaced.
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AICAR.