Like nearly 50% of Americans, Talia (not her real name) gained weight during the pandemic and wanted to do something about it. A friend piqued her interest after she lost 40 pounds using semaglutide, a prescription injectable weight-loss drug that is currently trending.
She, who lives in New York, made an appointment with a doctor friend to ask about the potential risks and whether she should follow a specific diet while on medication. People said they lost an average of 15% to 20% of their weight without it,” Talia told Yahoo Life. She adds:
Talia started weekly injections of semaglutide (also known as the Ozempic and Wegovy brands) in July 2021 and began to lose about 4-5 pounds per month. “Around Christmas, I noticed a change in my face that tended to put on weight. After the holidays, her co-workers started commenting on my appearance,” she says.
She ended up losing 50 pounds, hitting a significant weight loss goal she set for herself. She’s “very happy with the results,” says Talia. “I wanted to reach my goal sooner, but I don’t exercise, so I think it slowed the process down a bit.”
Vanessa (last name not disclosed) heard about semaglutide from the medical practice she worked for after the owner lost 30 pounds in five months on drugs. Decided to give it a try. She “seemed like a healthier way to lose weight than eating frozen processed foods and counting calories,” the Washington resident told Yahoo Life.
She already exercises regularly and eats healthy, but has made some lifestyle changes since starting semaglutide. “I ate more protein, drank more water, added electrolytes to my water, and ate more vegetables,” she says. Semaglutide also tricks the brain into making you feel fuller and less cravings for sugar, so you should eat less.”
She also found herself not very interested in drinking alcohol. “My body rejects it after a drink or two,” says Vanessa. “It’s the weirdest thing, but I’m not complaining!”
Within two months she had lost ten pounds. Now in her 11th week, she has lost her 14 pounds. “I am very happy,” says Vanessa.
It’s hard to read about these results — all achieved without the highly restrictive diet plans and punitive exercise routines that usually feature diets that promise significant weight loss — and semaglutide. is not considered a magic bullet of some kind.
But how does semaglutide help with weight loss? Is it safe? And does it actually make you lose weight? Here’s what you need to know, according to experts:
First, how does semaglutide help with weight loss?
Semaglutide was developed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and received FDA approval in 2017. However, clinical trials and post-marketing studies have “clearly shown that this drug also has the ability to help people lose weight,” said Dr. Zhaoping Li. He is a clinical nutritionist and professor of medicine at UCLA Health, he tells Yahoo Life.
In February 2021, the FDA approved semaglutide for chronic weight management in adults who are obese or overweight and have at least one weight-related condition, including high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, and high cholesterol. . Before that, it had been seven years since the FDA approved a drug for chronic weight management. According to the Mayo Clinic, the small list of approved prescription drugs now includes drugs such as orlistat (Xenical), liraglutide (Saxenda), bupropion-naltrexone (Contrave), and phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia). .
Dr. Claudia Ramirez Bustamante, a fellow medical endocrinologist at Baylor College of Medicine, told Yahoo Life that semaglutide is “very effective” in weight loss.her 2021 study on semaglutide in New England Journal of Medicine While finding a weight loss of 15%, Bustamante points to extending the original study to 2022. This indicates that the participant lost an average of 17% or more of her body weight while taking her 2.4 mg drug. For example, for a 175 lb person, 17% equates to a loss of about 30 lbs.
Given that people taking other prescription weight loss drugs lose an average of 3% to 12% of their body weight after one year, semaglutide’s results have led some experts to consider the drug ” It’s not for nothing that we came to call it a ‘game changer’. Li said:
So how does it work? Semaglutide controls blood sugar levels and prevents cardiovascular problems by stimulating insulin secretion. The drug also causes a “minor delay” in gastric emptying. This makes you feel full longer and eat less.
“Semaglutide slows gastric emptying, which slows the absorption of nutrients in the gut,” explains Bustamante. “Additionally, it acts on areas of the brain involved in regulating appetite. In fact, patients taking semaglutide have decreased appetite and feel fuller after eating less, leading to weight loss.”
What are the side effects?
This drug is not without its drawbacks. The main side effects of semaglutide are abdominal pain, bloating, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, or constipation, explains Bustamante. But they are temporary. “Usually these side effects tend to go away after her a week or two,” she says. “However, in some patients they persist and may warrant dose adjustment or, if severe, discontinuation of treatment.”
Vanessa shares she experienced “nausea, gas and fatigue at first,” but adds that once the side effects subsided, “it was a pretty seamless way to lose weight.”
However, bank accounts can also have some side effects. The reason, he said, is that the cost of the drug is “substantial.” “There’s also the issue of insurance coverage for weight loss,” she says, citing the fact that expensive medications may not be covered.
It is not clear why insurance does not necessarily cover semaglutide for weight loss if it is FDA-approved, but several factors may play a role. One possible reason is that nearly 1 in 3 of her U.S. adults is overweight, and more than 2 in 5 of her adults are obese. The potential patient population could be enormous. kidney disease. Another reason is that insurers may have “many lessons learned from multiple drugs that had to be pulled from the market despite their efficacy,” Li said, for example. The combination of the once popular weight loss drug fenfluramine and phentermine, known as phenphen and also considered a “miracle”, was withdrawn from the market in 1997 because it caused heart valve damage. was
Are there any risks?
Yes, experts say. “There is a risk of developing diabetic retinopathy,” says Dr. Bustamante, a complication of diabetes caused by damaged blood vessels in the back of the eye. “There is also a risk of acute pancreatitis. Therefore, this drug is excluded in patients with chronic pancreatitis or pancreatic tumors. [pancreatic cancer]”
Semaglutide is not recommended for people with a personal or family history of thyroid cancer (particularly medullary thyroid cancer).
Will the weight come back when I stop taking the medicine?
Both Talia and Vanessa have concerns about how stopping the medication will affect their weight. “I wonder what will happen if I stop taking the injections.
This is a legitimate concern, given that studies show that people who lost weight on 2.4 mg semaglutide regained two-thirds of the weight they lost within a year of stopping the drug. . ’ says Bustamante.
For Vanessa, she said it helps to know there is a “maintenance program,” and “I think it sets you apart in a good way.” I am committed to quitting it and that is half the battle with weight loss programs.
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