Microdosing Willpower

My Takeaways from Microdosing Ozempic

A few weeks ago I found myself sitting at a Thai restaurant in Brooklyn listening to my friends boast about various (prescription) drugs they were taking. They shared stories about how these drugs really helped them live better and more enriching lives. During this conversation I realized just how much alpha I was probably leaving on the table by living a substance-free life. This conversation inspired me to give some serious thought to experimenting with substances that would help uplift my life as well.

I am a smart and hardworking woman with solid executive function. I work out 4x a week and my BMI ranges from 18.2-21.1 depending on where I am in the bulking/ cutting phase. I usually have quite strong willpower. After reflecting on how to uplift my life the most, the conclusion was that the biggest benefit to my life would still just come from better adherence to the values I care about and the habits I want to create.

With a goal in hand for what impact I wanted my new drug to enhance/induce I began research. I remembered the ACX piece, “Why Does Ozempic Cure All Diseases?”, which reveals that Ozempic has had some success in decreasing addiction symptoms and posits possible mechanisms for why Ozempic may be able to decrease addictive behaviors. Inspired by his blog as a starting ground it now became time to comb through scientific literature and anecdotes available on Reddit, bodybuilding forums, and beyond that address the cognitive impacts of Ozempic. Many of the reddit posts detail how Ozempic didn’t necessarily make unhealthy foods taste worse, it just made the difference between healthy and unhealthy choices smaller such that it was easier to exercise their willpower and make healthy choices. Many of the bodybuilding forum posts discussed how easy it was to cut weight due to lack of food noise. They also shared anecdotes about how it just felt easier to adhere to their work-out programs. Eventually, I had read enough anecdotes that had all floated around the same thing: Ozempic seemed to just give people more access to exert their willpower.

Then began the due diligence phase where I had to seriously consider the side effect profile and the possible risks of taking Ozempic. After deliberation, I decided the benefits were still worth the risk.

During my research I weighed several GLP-1 agonists but chose Ozempic after finding the most willpower-related anecdotes on bodybuilding forums. Ozempic and Wegovy are merely brand labels for the same molecule, semaglutide. Wegovy is licensed for weight loss and Ozempic for diabetes. Use is rampant in the fashion world, and many “anti-aging” clinics dispense this shit out like candy.

The protocol

Part of why I decided to engage in this experiment was that I happened to have just finished a bulk and actually had weight I could stand to lose without being in jeopardy of being underweight. I gave myself a minimum BMI with which I would automatically need to stop the experiment, 18.2. Since the project focused on cognitive gains, the optimal protocol was to microdose Ozempic to minimize the risk of strong side effects. The most common side effects of starting Ozempic are nausea and constipation.

The usual starting dose of Ozempic is .2mg once a week with titration up to 1.25mg+ over the span of about 2 months. Due to a lower BMI than the usual prescription I had to resort to reading bodybuilding forums to determine what the best protocol would be at my weight. They often reported that taking lower doses twice a week or even daily decreased the side effect profile compared to one large dose once a week. Many of them said that in the once a week dosage they got hungry again by day 5-6 and that they felt nausea for the first few days. There seemed to be consensus that to remedy this you should just split up that dose throughout the week.

The protocol ended up being .1mg twice a week with the possibly titrating up to .2mg depending on the side effect profile. I chose .1mg for a practical reason, namely that I do not think I could have pulled any less from the needle allocated to me reliably. In the needles given to me by the pill mill I ordered from, dosing .1mg is a comically small dose.

What did I notice?

Today is day 31 of the experiment. I did notice a greater ability to do the things I said I wanted to do. The biggest change I noticed was the ability to do cardio. I did cardio 8/31 days last month. Previously, I had tried to do cardio consistently over the last two years and only managed to run like twice a month. Note that I didn’t try super hard for this, it’s something I think I should do more, and would like to do more, but usually I’m already tired after lifting and it’s easy to just pass on. This last month it felt very easy to just decide to run and then go on the run. It’s really just that simple folks.

It felt like being on Adderall except I did not feel on edge. This is hard to describe, and it could be placebo but I think I just executed on more tasks, had more focus, was more social, and just was more consistent. Hell, I even finally got around to starting a Substack after loose plans to create a Substack for over a year.

I lost weight without much effort. Leaning into healthier choices and smaller portion sizes required little attention. Despite an exceptionally small dose, I still lost about 3.7% of my body mass.

I do not know if my muscle mass decreased. I do know that the amount I am able to lift has either stayed the same or increased since I began the experiment.

I drank less. Usually I have a few glasses of wine a week. In the last month without trying to change my alcohol intake I decreased the amount I usually drink by half.

What were the Downsides?

The main downside I experienced was a consistent sleepiness within 24 hours of the shot. I had been warned of this over on the bodybuilding forums. They recommended to dose at night to fight off the sleepies. I suspect this has something to do with a decreased blood sugar post injections but I am obviously unsure of the mechanism. This was the most annoying side effect and was strong enough that I had to plan my shots around days I could afford to be less energetic.

I felt dehydrated in a way I hadn’t before. I would wake up and really need water.

I also felt constipated more often. This wasn’t a huge issue and would usually be resolved with an increase in coffee, but I did notice I was less regular than usual.

Lastly, I developed burps for the first time. I have never really consistently burped in my life, but in the last month I have had the impulse to burp a few times in the day 3/31 days in the last month.

Will I Continue the Protocol?

Yes. I found that the benefits outweigh the negative side effects and I am curious to see what additional habits I can cultivate. I would like to now begin to make a conscious effort to go back to reading every night and that will be the next habit I will become intentional about attempting to (re)instate.

Do I recommend others begin microdosing Ozempic?

No. I am not writing this post to try to convince anyone to also take Ozempic to increase their willpower. I am writing this post to share my experience and potentially be a loud enough anecdote that researchers look for this impact explicitly in further clinical trials of GLP-1 drugs.

Why didn’t you link any sources?

This is not a treatment protocol. I’ve withheld citations so the piece remains a straight anecdote rather than a covert literature review.