How I Lost 40lbs and Changed My Life
We're living through a medical breakthrough as significant as anesthesia or antibiotics
“I am Iron Man” - Tony Stark, Iron Man (2008)
I can predict exactly how the conversation will go.
Someone notices I have dropped 40 pounds, that my face appears sharper, that I require an entirely new wardrobe. They ask what happened.
"I went on a health journey," I tell them. "Stopped drinking, began eating healthy, started exercising consistently."
Their response is enthusiastic. "That's incredible! How'd you finally get the discipline?"
Then I add: "Oh, and I micro-dose Ozempic."1
The reaction is immediate. Suddenly I have "cheated" or "taken the easy way out." The identical transformation they were celebrating becomes illegitimate.
This response reveals something profound: we have discovered how to modify human motivation at the chemical level, but we are collectively pretending it is cheating because it threatens our most sacred mythology about willpower and character.
See before and after pics here.2
Market Research at the Cellular Level
My decision to try Ozempic was not purely personal.
As a consumer investor, I needed to understand firsthand what would become a massive behavioral shift in modern history. This represents a transformation already underway, one that will fundamentally reshape the food, beverage, and consumer packaged goods industries.
The investment thesis was straightforward: if GLP-1 drugs successfully modify appetite and consumption patterns at scale, entire categories become obsolete while new opportunities emerge.
But theory required direct experience. To properly evaluate startups targeting this demographic, I needed to understand the transformation from the inside.
The Neurochemical Adjustment
The market research began immediately.
After six weeks on Ozempic, results were modest: five pounds lost. On January 2nd, I established a New Year's resolution: "Make Lisa Happy." This included attempting Dry January, something I had never successfully attempted.
The neurochemical adjustment made this effortless.
January extended into February without conscious effort. I redefined alcohol's function: celebratory use only, never as daily medication. This framework has persisted without modification.
For 25 years, I had been trying to impose discipline on reward pathways that were working exactly as evolution designed them, just not optimally for our current environment.
Ozempic did not replace willpower. It aligned my biology with my goals.
Eliminating daily alcohol plus associated poor decisions removed approximately 1,000 calories daily. Weight reduction followed automatically: 175 to 135 pounds over seven months.
From Cocktails to Keystrokes
Consider the transformation:
Previously: dinner, bourbon, digital content consumption until unconsciousness, frequently with late-night food delivery.
Currently: dinner, computer, writing for AirSugar, sleep.
I substituted cocktails for keystrokes. This emerged automatically when the dominant neural pathway was corrected. Mental bandwidth previously allocated to managing alcohol cravings became available for creative applications.
We are witnessing the emergence of precision tools for modifying human motivation itself. The same technology eliminating food cravings also reduces alcohol consumption, gambling addiction, and other compulsive behaviors.
We can now modify the source code of human desire. This is market research conducted at the cellular level.
The $100 Billion Lie
Yet the market has responded with collective cognitive dissonance.
GLP-1 receptor agonists represent a projected $100 billion market while most users construct elaborate cover stories about their success.
I observe individuals achieving dramatic transformations while crediting intermittent fasting or new workout protocols. They conceal pharmaceutical assistance as if effective treatment diminished their achievement.
These people are not just insecure. They are perpetuating a mythology that is literally killing others.
This gatekeeping delays treatment for people who might benefit while reinforcing stigma around the most effective medical interventions available. In any rational market, such behavior would be recognized as criminal hoarding of life-saving information.
"Wow. Just Wow."
Last week I consulted my cardiologist, Dr. Carlin Long, who specializes in cardiovascular disease prevention. His reaction to my blood work was uncharacteristic for a medical professional accustomed to reviewing data.
He nearly fell from his chair.
"This is the story I'm going to tell all my colleagues," he said. "I've heard of the metabolic positive effects, but wow. Just wow."
The data that prompted this response:
Cholesterol: 380 → 119 (from dangerous to optimal)
Triglycerides: 624 → 41 (from extremely high to excellent)
Blood pressure: dangerously high → 110/70 (textbook perfect)
Metabolic age: 50 → 32 (18-year biological reversal)
BMI: 28.2 → 21.8 (from overweight, nearly obese at 30+, to ideal range)
When specialists whose entire professional focus is cardiovascular optimization react with astonishment to pharmaceutical outcomes, it suggests we have discovered something approaching medical magic.
Yet we are treating it like moral failure.
The Economics of Shame
My insurance company initially declined coverage for a $500+ monthly prescription that delivered these measurable improvements. Actuarial models that price diabetes complications at $16,750 annually questioned the economics of prevention.
The cultural resistance reveals a simple problem: we believe real achievement must involve suffering. We choose ineffective methods that feel hard over effective solutions that work easily. If something works too well, we assume it cannot be legitimate.
At Sugar Capital, we are investing in companies serving the growing GLP-1 user base. When millions of people need higher protein intake, better hydration, or solutions for digestive side effects, entirely new product categories emerge. The opportunity is massive and immediate.
This represents more than market opportunity. For the first time in human history, we can directly modify the neurochemical basis of motivation, desire, and compulsive behavior. This technology will not remain confined to weight management. We are developing tools that could address addiction, depression, anxiety, and other disorders rooted in dysfunctional reward pathways.
Side Effects (Yes, There Are Some)
Comprehensive reporting requires acknowledgment of adverse effects. I experienced:
Mild stomach discomfort
Occasional heartburn
Reduced bowel movement frequency
Initially lower energy following injection (resolved after several months)
Recently, mild hair thinning
These symptoms did not interfere with daily operations.
The risk-benefit calculation remained heavily weighted toward intervention. Temporary digestive adjustment against permanent metabolic improvement represents acceptable trade-offs by any rational assessment.
The Crossroads
We have reached an inflection point in human optimization. Pharmaceutical precision can now modify the biological basis of motivation and desire.
Yet we are responding with the same cognitive frameworks that made us burn witches and reject anesthesia. We are allowing cultural mythology about virtue and suffering to prevent deployment of effective tools for human behavioral modification.
The weekly injection continues each early Friday evening, though I am now beginning to wean off the medication. The plan is to extend intervals gradually: every other week, then every three weeks, then monthly, then complete cessation. The changes appear permanent.
By evening, instead of reaching for bourbon, I reach for the keyboard.
This is not moral progress. It is simply better technology.
Time to Choose
We stand at a crossroads.
We can continue pretending that pharmaceutical intervention is cheating while people suffer unnecessarily. We can keep selling the mythology of virtuous struggle while effective solutions sit unused in medicine cabinets. We can maintain our cultural delusions while a medical revolution unfolds in secret, with millions lying about their transformations because honesty threatens our most sacred beliefs about character and discipline.
Or we can grow up.
History will judge harshly those who preached willpower while effective tools existed. But it will be especially unkind to those who secretly used these tools while publicly crediting discipline. They are not just cowards. They are accomplices to suffering. The future belongs to those willing to tell the truth.
Every week, millions of people inject themselves with pharmaceutical breakthrough and then lie about it. They transform their lives and credit willpower. They reverse decades of health problems and attribute success to discipline.
But the truth is simpler and more profound: we have learned to reprogram human desire itself.
Ozempic works. The question is not whether we are mature enough as a civilization to admit it.
The question is how much longer we will pretend otherwise.
What's your experience with GLP-1 drugs? Are you ready to be honest about pharmaceutical intervention, or are you still hiding behind willpower mythology? Let me know in the comments.
What Does “Micro-Dosing Ozempic” Actually Mean?
“Micro-dosing” isn’t an official medical term, but in the context of GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, it refers to using deliberately low doses to subtly recalibrate appetite, cravings, and compulsive behavior, without escalating to the full FDA-approved regimen. In my case, I started at 0.25 mg, titrated up to 0.5 mg, then stepped back down to 0.25 mg, where I’ve remained. The goal wasn’t aggressive weight loss. It was neurological recalibration. People micro-dose to:
• Dial down food and alcohol cravings
• Stay mentally clear and creatively sharp
• Avoid GI side effects common at higher doses
• Align biology with intention, not override it
Before & After Photos
Great post - does this mean that you now have to be on GLP1 your entire life to sustain the gain? what happen when someone stop the medication?
Well done Brian. GLP-1 agonists and their second and third generation peptides are an exceptional breakthroughs for our health. It’s worth it for our families to let go of old attitudes on health & suffering. Lisa and your girls deserve a long and healthy lifetime with you.