Should I be worried about my heart rate going up? — anyone have experience?

fiona_VT said:

Prescribed on cardiovascular grounds rather than for weight, and almost everything written for patients assumes the opposite.

CRP reduction on cardiovascular risk — this is the lab result that excites me most:

Baseline hsCRP: 5.0 mg/L (high cardiovascular risk)
Month 6 hsCRP: 1.5 mg/L (moderate risk)
Month 12 hsCRP: 0.8 mg/L (low risk)

This level of inflammatory marker reduction is comparable to what you'd see with statin therapy. Combined with the weight loss, my 10-year ASCVD risk score dropped from 12% to 4%. My cardiologist is genuinely impressed.

Dr.PainCLE said:

CRP reduction on cardiovascular risk — this is the lab result that excites me most: Baseline hsCRP: 5.0 mg/L (high cardiovascular risk) Month 6 hsCRP:…

Dr.PainCLE said:

...we're creating a generation dependent on cardiovascular risk...

I understand the concern, but consider this analogy: are we "creating a generation dependent on" blood pressure medication? Cholesterol medication? Thyroid medication?

Obesity is a chronic disease with biological drivers. Treating it with medication is no different from treating any other chronic condition. The "dependency" framing implies weakness or moral failure — neither of which is accurate.

If ongoing medication is what keeps someone healthy, that's successful treatment, not dependency.

fiona_VT said:

Prescribed on cardiovascular grounds rather than for weight, and almost everything written for patients assumes the opposite.

Can confirm. Same sequence, different timescale.

Adding the clinical framing, because it changes how the question reads.

Cardiac biomarkers and cardiovascular risk: my cardiologist ordered advanced cardiac labs given my family history. Results were encouraging:

• NT-proBNP: 57 pg/mL (normal, cardiac function preserved)
• Lp(a): 47 nmol/L (genetic, unchanged — expected)
• ApoB: dropped from 157 to 97 mg/dL (excellent response)
• Coronary calcium score: 0 (unchanged from baseline — reassuring)

The ApoB reduction is particularly meaningful — it's considered the best single predictor of cardiovascular risk. GLP-1 therapy seems to improve this consistently.