I would say get checked by doctor/Endocrinologist and do the relevant bloodwork (Esp. Insulin levels, thyroid, etc). A family member is overweight and nothing changed even with diet changes and regular exercise. It took a long time to find out the root issues (especially Insulin resistance). Once we got the root cause, they put the member on Wegovy (weekly Injection) and started a low carb diet and exercise. It is amazing to see the effect Wegovy has taken with the member's weight loss. Couldn't recommend it enough now for people with genuine weight loss issues.
The main downside of Wegovy/semaglutide is that it is incredibly pricey ($800-$1100 USD per month), and most US health insurance providers will not cover it as a front line treatment, and many won't approve it as a second line treatment without a good deal of aggressive lobbying by the prescriber. More than one physician has told me that it's often easier to get bariatric surgery approved than it is to get Wegovy approved!
This insurance issue isn't particularly unique among weight loss treatments with solid evidence-based proof of efficacy - US insurers rarely cover other typical frontline obesity treatments like phentermine + metformin, or bupropion + low dose naltrexone. These latter options are available very inexpensively as generics; semaglutide is only available in pricey branded formulations.
Yes. You are absolutely right. My family member can afford to pay for it fortunately. It might not be in the budget for majority of people though unless you are desperate and nothing else seems to work. It literally doesn't make sense why insurers don't cover this treatment which might just save them a lot of money later on down if the affected person has host of other issues due to being overweight.
