NY Times: “Older Americans Quit Weight-Loss Drugs in Droves”

It’s the side effects. It even accelerates muscle loss.

In some studies, half of patients stopped taking GLP-1s within a year despite the benefits, citing the expense and side effects.

Year after year, Mary Bucklew strategized with a nurse-practitioner about losing weight. “We tried exercise,” like walking 35 minutes a day, she recalled. “And 39,000 different diets.”

But five pounds would come off and then invariably reappear, said Ms. Bucklew, 75, a public transit retiree in Ocean View, Del. Nothing seemed to make much difference — until 2023, when her body mass index slightly exceeded 40, the threshold for severe obesity.

“There’s this new drug I’d like you to try, if your insurance will pay for it,” the nurse-practitioner advised. She was talking about Ozempic.