A women who weaned herself off Ozempic and has now quit using the drug has explained the effect it had on her body.
GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic and Mounjaro are often presented as miracle drugs that can help people lose weight without any real effort whatsoever, but the reality is often a long way from that.
The drugs, which it must be stressed are prescription-only medications primarily used to treat type 2 diabetes, have become increasingly popular after celebrities such as Amy Schumer and Jeremy Clarkson shared their experience using them for weight loss purposes.
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More and more people in the general public have managed to get their hands on them and they seem to have had plenty of positive results, even if they do sometimes have to put up with some pretty awful side effects.
But one woman has now discussed how she was able to stop taking Ozempic and maintain the results, after doctors issued a warning about GLP-1 jabs.
How does Ozempic work?
As Ozempic is a GLP-1 medication, it mimics a hormone (Glucagon-Like Peptide-1) which is naturally produced in the body, regulating the body's sugar levels and appetite.
It works by increasing the insulin production in the body when blood sugar is high, while also reducing glucose production in the liver and slowing down the process of food leaving the stomach, which makes users feel fuller for longer and it reduces their appetite.
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Clarkson said that he was managing on just snail caviar while on Ozempic, which shows just how little you need to eat to feel full, although that doesn't exactly sound like a healthy balanced diet.
What effect did stopping Ozempic have on her?
Posting on the Ozempic users Reddit page, one user suggested that they were able to wean themselves off the drug and have continued to lose weight through the likes of intermittent fasting and dieting.
She wrote: "I started at 250 pounds in July 2024, and now I am at 155 pounds, I stopped gradually by decreasing dosage!
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"I feel like I lose hunger by decreasing dosage .. it’s weird , but I am really fine and grateful for everything Ozempic taught me in this journey! To be in 3xl size and go to a medium size is kind of crazy."
The original poster in the comments confirms that while she does have some excess skin at the bottom of her belly, it's been a huge success story for her and quitting hasn't done the damage that most doctors expect.
What have doctors said about quitting GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic?
Plenty of doctors have all raised the same issues about taking these GLP-1 medications for weight loss purposes, and it's that once the body no longer has a drug to suppress its appetite and stimulate that feeling of being full, users will naturally begin to start eating far more, and will likely just put the weight they lost back on.
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Director of the Washington Centre for Weight Management and Research, Domenica Rubino, has often become frustrated with those who believe that these medications are a permanent cure for obesity.
She said: "Obesity is not like an infection where you take antibiotics and you're done.
"It's not any different than hypertension or diabetes or the many other chronic illnesses that we deal with, where you have to use chronic medication.
"People don't always appreciate this. I try to explain that these are chronic medications, but I think everybody secretly feels, 'Yeah, but you know what, I'm different, and once I hit my weight goal, I'll be ok.' But the reality is, the brain is quite powerful."
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Alex Miras, a clinical professor of medicine at Ulster University, suggested that only a small percentage of people will be able to say they have successfully quit the drug.
He said: "There will be a small proportion of people, 10 percent maximum, that are able to maintain [all] the weight they've lost."
So fair play to the Reddit poster, who can now count herself in the small percentage of people who have been able to maintain their weight loss despite going cold turkey on Ozempic.
A Novo Nordisk spokesperson said: "There is no evidence to indicate that patients will completely regain all the weight after stopping the medication. Novo Nordisk reported the results from the STEP 1 extension trial on the impact of treatment withdrawal, which found that one year after withdrawal of once-weekly subcutaneous semaglutide 2.4 mg and lifestyle intervention, participants regained two-thirds of their prior weight loss. These findings also confirm the chronicity of obesity and suggest ongoing treatment is required to maintain improvements in weight and health."
James Moorhouse