About a year & a half.
Pants 48 inches down to 38.
I begin, however, by disappointing those who ask me to post my "techniques for success." I have none. To paraphrase Yoda,
"Oz works, or Oz works not. There is no try."
Having said that, I believe I was a "super responder" exactly because of Oz's effects on whatever part of the brain that is responsible for my lifelong demons: depression, anxiety, and self-comforting activities like binge eating and alcohol abuse.
While a lot of research has been done on the Oz-Gut relationship, research is just now beginning on the Oz-Brain relationship to compulsive and addictive disorders. I think this relationship is key to the drug's success.
I'll leave it to you to judge from my initial responses to Oz how my physiology might be similar to yours--or not--and how that relates to your situation:
- initial side effects were mild, mostly cramping and nausea.
- more pronounced and long-lived were feeling severely nauseous at the mere thought of food--any food. My wife and my doctor had to hound me into eating anything. My doctor even threatened to withhold refills if I didn't start eating. This lasted about a year.
- essentially, Oz allowed me to starve myself to a reasonable weight. Muscle mass suffered considerably.
- I cycled rapidly and without apparent cause between foods I could tolerate and then suddenly couldn't:
- protein shakes,
- protein bars,
- protein powders (anyone want to buy a couple of cases of protein drink?).
- Stews with lots of meat were delectable one day and repulsive the next,
- mashed potatoes,
- burger patties,
- salmon,
all took their turn at being in favor one day only to find themselves suddenly consigned to the wilderness the next. Nothing was tolerable for very long.
- and then just as inexplicably, I could eat those foods again, even crave them. The cycle was months, not weeks, the change without warning.
- a year and a half battling constipation (see the article on the miracle of Miralax.)
I didn't quit Oz, Oz quit me.
Over a few months, the weight loss slowed and then stopped.
But my stopping Oz in response to it quitting on me resulted in the return of irresistible food noise. Soon, every burger joint and taco hut called my name as I drove past. Baskin & Robins sent me a thank you notes for saving the company from bankruptcy. The Dunkin drive-thru knew my order by heart. At home, I was constantly raiding the reefer, prowling the pantry, and finding excuses to run out to the 7-Eleven daily.
Unexplored Territory
So I've been working with my doctor to find a maintenance dose that keeps my weight stable but silences the food noise. This is completely unexplored territory in the medical literature. What is working for me is right now is .25 every 6 days with an occasional .50 when the urges become irresistible.
This is important.
I have accepted the risk that Oz could be deadly at these doses and for this many months and years. It wouldn't be for first weight loss drug to backfire and turn lethal, seeding and feeding tumors. We're all test pilots in this dangerous program.
But...being fat is deadly, too.
About You:
I have zero insight into how people without the compulsive disorders I exhibit might manage Oz. Other than to say this:
Do not despair if Oz doesn't work for you. Historically, weight loss has been a profoundly disappointing, sometimes dangerous, career-killing, dead-end field of research...until it wasn't. Oz changed that. We're just beginning.
Tough out the side effects, within reason. I have a crackpot theory that the more your body initially reacts to the changing hormonal tides caused by Oz, the better your weight response will be. Women have the same kind of reactions to the hormonal changes during pregnancy, and most subside over time.
Be patient stay with Oz for six months or more of increasing dosages before giving up or considering alternatives. But if Oz doesn't work for you. Try Monjouro.
And if neither works, have hope in the dozens of new weight loss drugs in the pipeline.
Hope this helps.
(I am not a doctor, so I certainly am not your doctor. This is based on my own research and experience. I also have a lot of crackpot ideas. So take this all with a grain of salt.)