ST. LOUIS — New weight-loss drugs are changing the way some people approach diet and exercise. One St. Louis area woman is sharing the way that Wegovy is helping her to shed over 100 pounds. Jackie Bean wants to share her experience with
A study found that 87% of patients on Wegovy lost more than 10% of their body weight, while around 10% lost between 1–10%, and less than five percent gained weight. The drug isn’t cheap. If your insurance doesn’t cover Wegovy, purchasing the drug out of pocket could cost up to $1,400 a month.
Given the drug’s newness and high cost, there aren’t many real-life success stories yet. However, we asked our Facebook fans about their experiences, and one St. Louis resident, Jackie Bean, was eager to share her story.
“I’m close to losing 50% of my body weight,” Bean said. “So, I am almost, quite literally, half the person that I was. Which is bizarre and I never thought that I would get to this point, like, I mean, nothing has ever worked.”
“I’ve always struggled with weight,” she added. “Pretty much my whole life. I come from a long line of weight issues, and I think COVID really did affect me. My wife and I both really packed on the weight too. I got up to 278 and it was just hopeless. I tried Weight Watchers. I tried diets, and it just never worked.”
In October 2022, a friend of Bean’s posted a before and after picture, impressing Bean, who then learned about Wegovy. Bean’s BMI fell in the range for the trial drug, and her doctor thought she would be a good candidate.
“My BMI fell in the range and I had additional health issues,” said Bean. “But the problem was that in October 2022, there was a shortage. I wasn’t even able to get Wegovy until January and I did my first injection on January 4th, 2023 and I’ve been on it ever since.”
Bean’s relationship with food has changed since starting the drug. “I don’t 100% understand the mechanics of it. I just know that it completely changed the way I see food. The way I feel about food, like how my body reacts to food, has completely changed,” she said.
Bean now eats to fuel herself and knows when to stop. “I eat maybe half to 1/3 of what I used to eat,” she said. “Eating used to be an enjoyable adventure every time and I would finish every single bite on my plate and then some of my wife’s. If she didn’t finish like I would, I would just haul it in as much as possible because it just tastes so good.”
Bean is feeling great and is happy to have her eating habits under control. She did say that she lost weight due to Wegovy and didn’t change anything else; she hasn’t started an exercise routine yet but will, and definitely not on a diet.
Once you stop taking the drug, patients may experience weight regain, according to a news report which showed a statement from Novo Nordisk, the producer of Ozempic and Wegovy. “Obesity is a chronic disease that requires long-term management, much like high blood pressure or high cholesterol,” they stated.
“It’s unclear right now, like the future of it. It kind of depends on the doctor that you talked to,” said Bean, speaking about what the future holds now that she is at her goal weight. “My doctor and I think because it is still so new that it’s just uncertain. My doctor told me that the drug reps told her that it would be a lifetime drug.”
The other issue is that the drug is expensive out-of-pocket. GoodRx lists the basic price of Wegovy as $1,388.
“But for me, I don’t know how long my insurance will cover the cost,” she said. She did say she got approved for another year of the drug. “That seems to be the major issue with having coverage because it’s very, very expensive out of pocket. Anywhere from $1,400 to I saw $4,000 people paying for it for a month. I would never be able to do that.”
Bean said she talked to a different doctor she sees and that doctor said that Bean shouldn’t have to stay on the drug for the rest of her life, but definitely six more months.
“She said maybe another six months until you get an exercise routine in place,” said Bean. “In some of the studies I read, this is bigger than diet and exercise. There is something biologically different about people like me and my wife. We did diet and exercise, and every other trick in the books, but nothing ever worked. It just makes me wonder if there is something in this medicine that changes something in your brain. And if you do come off the med, will your brain go back to the way it was?”
She said she heard about different experiences from others who have come off the drug but she also stated that she was ready to do so.
“I’m going to ride the wave as long as I can. I’m ready to be done with the side effects, but the fear of gaining back the weight is very real,” said Bean. She said that some of her side effects include nausea, but her stepdaughter is also on the drug and has no nausea or side effects.
“I’m really susceptible to nausea. When I was pregnant, I was sick the entire pregnancy, like there was just a lot of throwing up. If I must get up early or if I don’t get a good night’s rest, I can always assume there will be some kind of nausea for about an hour or two. I don’t really keep track of it, but to me, it’s a small price to pay to be in an overall healthier place.”
Bean said she is on the maintenance dose now, just to maintain the weight loss.
“I try to look at it as not a diet. What I realized a couple months ago, when we first started tracking my calories religiously, was that I was getting between 1200 and 1400. But what I realized was that the further I continued, my body started intuitively eating. I didn’t even need to track anymore because I was only taking in about 1200 calories. So I look at it as more of a lifestyle change than a diet. Diets for me are temporary, and if I’m going to do this, I must find a new way of life. I must find a new way of life; I can never go back to how I was.”