Interesting ...

CNN headline: "Overweight people lost 35 to 52 pounds on newly approved diabetes drug, study says."

The drug is tirzepatide, which "activates both the GLP-1 and GIP receptors."

I've been on a different drug, semaglutide, for some time now. Semaglutide "acts like human glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1)."

Semaglutide effectively made me non-diabetic -- it brought my A1C to sub-diabetic levels.

And I assume it's responsible for my weight loss.

Once I was "no longer diabetic," I stopped paying as much attention to my diet as I had been, although it's lately occurred to me that I just don't want pasta as often as I used to. Whether the drug's effects caused some metabolic change that affected cravings, or whether I just developed better habits, I can't say.

But even without worrying about my diet, or pursuing regular exercise, I lost weight.

At first, it wasn't clear to me that the semaglutide was really that responsible. I got down to about 225 pounds, but I've done that fairly often. In fact, the last 20 years or so, I've basically bounced back and forth between 220 and 250, but was never really able to get below 220.

At this point, I have to credit the drug. I weigh every week or two, and for the last few weeks I've been floating in the 210-212 pound range.

Which is why I'm thinking about getting back on a regular bicycle instead of just using the electric Nakto. Less weight to push around may mean my knees don't go to shit from riding.

If I can get below 200 pounds, I may even give running a try. Haven't been able to do more than a quarter mile or so for years without several days of knee soreness afterward.

Once I get below 200 pounds, if I am exercising regularly, I may even talk to my doctor about dropping the semaglutide. At that weight and with regular exercise, I don't expect that high blood glucose will be of great concern. But I plan to remain on metformin for life, as it may have anti-aging properties.