Has anyone tried Wegovy for long-term weight management?

No, I saw way too many associated lawsuits related to bowel obstruction. That scared me so I am buying a Sanctuary 2 Infrared Full spectrum home sauna. The health benefits including weight loss are far better. Thank you for the followup.

Just another voice: I had bariatric surgery a decade ago, and it was a great success. I expected some long-lived side effects (it would have been pretty amazing if a chunk of my stomach could have been removed with no impact other than weight loss), and indeed, experienced some. Still worth it -- dropped about a hundred pounds.

I've gradually put about 30 pounds back on, which happens. Pretty much accepted it until I was told I would be a bad candidate for a knee replacement (I've bought a lot of time in various ways before getting to that point, but a lifetime of obesity kind of lends itself to knee osteoarthritis). As a result, I bit the bullet and tried Zepbound (tirzepatide). Worked great for the arthritis and weight, by OMG, the side effects. I was out on the tail, of course -- most people do not have my experience.

Lost the 30 pounds and started rolling back the dosage. Turned out that some of the side effects were dose-dependent and got better, while others were not. When I hit the lowest Zepbound dose, switched over to Ozempic (semaglutide). Unlike versions of these drugs that are sold specifically for weight loss (including Zepbound and in the US, Wegovy), Ozempic (which is the same product as Wegovy but in a different injector design) is sold as a multi-pen rather than a one-dose pen. This means you can fine-tune the dosage. Turns out that in my case, I'm having fewer side effects on Ozempic. I've landed on a dose that gets the side effects under control while maintaining the weight loss, after a lot of fiddling around. Now in the process of addressing each side effect, one at a time, with individual solutions.

If that doesn't work, there are older variants of these drugs that are known to be less effective for weight loss, but also to have fewer side effects, so they are on my list to try for maintenance if necessary. And there are newer versions in the pipeline that may have fewer side effects or produce greater weight loss, although none that are likely to be commercially available for another year or two. Finally, there are analogs which are not the branded product, are not made from exactly the same materials that were tested in clinical trials, are not FDA approved/regulated, and I have no idea whether they will genuinely work the same way or as well or with more/fewer side effects as the branded drugs, but some people try them because they are less expensive -- everybody and their brother seems to be trying to get into that particular racket because it is so profitable, and I have no idea how one separates the proverbial sheep from the proverbial goats.

It's perfectly OK to start with bariatric surgery and later try the drugs, or start with the drugs and move to the surgery. Obesity is a disease, and it can't be fixed long-term with willpower. Those of us with a lifetime of yo-yo weight loss and dieting have also done a certain amount of damage to ourselves that also cannot be wished away. When you are ready to go all-in, you'll know. And you may never be ready, which is perfectly fine -- it took me upwards of 50 years to get there.

These are also expensive solutions. One of the practical advantages of the surgery is that if your insurance will pay for it, it's one and done -- you don't need to go back to them for more money. You may find, however, that even if your insurance pays for the drugs now, they might not in future years. And anyone who thinks they can just lose the weight, stop the drugs, and the weight will just stay off is probably kidding themselves. I know I'm on this for life, or until I no longer care whether I regain the weight. I'm just really fortunate that I can find the money to private pay. (Although if you ultimately find you can maintain with a low dose, a multi-pen lets you click-dose, meaning that you can get more doses out of a single pen -- that is, more weeks of treatment -- than the manufacturer had in mind. This is going to cut the cost about in half for me.)

@projfan
Thank you for sharing your story. As your story illustrates, there is no magic solution, it is a lifelong struggle.