There’s Now a Little Less Linker in the World

I hope my headline isn’t misunderstood. Thankfully, no one in my family has died. (Note that I didn’t write, “There Are Fewer Linkers in the World.”) This is a post about me—and specifically about the fact that this particular Linker has lost roughly 40 pounds since the second week of January 2026. If we date the start of my weight loss to the moment, in December 2024, when I began actively trying to lose weight, I’m down nearly 50 pounds.

But pushing back the start date of my weight loss obscures more than it clarifies. I spent 13 months trying to cut back on how much I ate and managed to drop a total of nine pounds. Nice job! said my family and friends. You should be proud of yourself! That was nice. But even nicer, it turns out, was what my cardiologist said to me at my annual appointment in December 2025: Losing nine pounds is great. But after a year of effort, you’ve merely moved from a little over the line where obesity begins to a little under that line, on the high side of overweight. If you really want to cut your risk of heart attack or stroke, you need to drop many more pounds. Why don’t you try Wegovy?

So, like millions of Americans in recent years who’ve begun self-administering a weekly shot of a GLP-1, I took the plunge. The consequences, in physical terms, have been wholly positive. But that doesn’t mean I don’t fret about the cultural and moral consequences of the widespread use of pharmaceuticals to overcome an age-old vice. (You’ll find before and after photos of yours truly on the other side of the paywall, if that’s something you find appealing.)