SaraMom3 said:

My reason for being on this is cardiovascular rather than cosmetic, which puts me in a small minority in most of these threads.

Anti-inflammatory mechanisms of GLP-1 agonists and cardiovascular risk: beyond weight loss, GLP-1R activation directly suppresses NF-κB signaling, reduces NLRP3 inflammasome activation, and decreases monocyte/macrophage adhesion to endothelium[1].

Clinical correlates: hsCRP reduction of 30-60% (consistently seen across trials), reduced carotid intima-media thickness, and decreased coronary plaque inflammation on PET imaging.

These anti-inflammatory effects likely contribute to the cardiovascular benefit seen in SELECT — and may explain benefits beyond what weight loss alone would predict.

Dr.ObesityMed said:

Anti-inflammatory mechanisms of GLP-1 agonists and cardiovascular risk: beyond weight loss, GLP-1R activation directly suppresses NF-κB signaling,…

Continuous metabolic monitoring dashboard for cardiovascular risk — I track everything in a spreadsheet and here's the month-over-month trend for my key markers:

Weight: consistent downtrend, -2.4 lbs/week average
Fasting glucose (finger stick): stable at 87 mg/dL
Blood pressure (home): 119/73 average
Resting heart rate: 67 bpm (down from 83)
Waist circumference: down 17 inches total

The resting heart rate improvement correlates with cardiovascular fitness gains. Everything is moving in the right direction.

SaraMom3 said:

My reason for being on this is cardiovascular rather than cosmetic, which puts me in a small minority in most of these threads.

Can confirm. Same sequence, different timescale. The detail I would add is minor and it is already implied above.

Clinical perspective, offered as context rather than as advice.

I want to bring up the cardiovascular angle on cardiovascular risk.

The SELECT trial demonstrated a 20% reduction in MACE with semaglutide 2.4mg[1]. This is practice-changing because the CV benefit appears to be independent of the degree of weight loss — suggesting direct vascular and anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

For cardiovascular risk, this means we need to think beyond the primary outcome and consider the cardiovascular implications. The all-cause mortality reduction (HR 0.81) is the most clinically meaningful signal.