Ozempic and other semaglutide weight loss drugs have arrived and it looks like they are here to stay, with Morgan Stanley reporting the global market for these obesity drugs to reach $105 billion by 2030!
If you have been thinking about taking these drugs in the bid to lose weight, here are some useful facts you need to know before hand and my thoughts from the perspective of a coach who has successfully helped obese and overweight men and women reach a healthy weight (NB I’m not a doctor!).
What Are Weight Loss Drugs And How Do They Work?
Ozempic has been described as a miracle drug due to the ease and effectiveness of the treatment and the reported health benefits it can have.
They have been shown to help people reduce weight as well as help individuals who are pre diabetic to reverse this and come back to normal blood sugar levels and control.
The drugs work by mimicking the action of a hormone in the body called GLP 1.
This hormone is released in the intestines when we eat food and it helps manage blood glucose levels by stimulating insulin and inhibits the release of a hormone glucagon.
It also slows gastric emptying and promotes feelings of satiety, and this will be the thing that has the biggest impact on helping you lose weight. You simply won’t feel like eating and therefore will quickly drop into a calorie deficit and therefore lose weight.
The drugs have a stronger effect and impact than the actual hormone produced by the body due to their longer half life, meaning levels stay higher in the body and have more impact for longer.
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What Are the Pros and Cons of Ozempic?
The pros of Ozempic include effective weight loss, appetite reduction, and being a non-surgical alternative. The cons include side effects, risk of malnutrition, and unknown long-term impact.
Pros
- Clinically proven weight loss: Studies show Ozempic helps many people lose significant weight, especially those with obesity or conditions like PCOS.
- Non-invasive: It offers an alternative to surgery such as bariatric procedures.
- Improved health outcomes: Weight loss may support better physical and mental health.
- Appetite suppression: Users often report feeling fuller, helping with portion control and adherence to reduced-calorie diets.
Cons
- Side effects: Common issues include nausea, vomiting, stomach cramps, and fatigue.
- Malnutrition risk: Some users consume very low calories (under 800 kcal/day), which may lead to vitamin deficiencies (e.g. B12, iron, vitamin D).
- Supplement reliance: To avoid deficiencies, supplements and regular blood tests are usually recommended.
- Unknown long-term effects: While Ozempic has been used for diabetes for 20+ years, its long-term safety for weight loss isn’t fully established.
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Ozempic can be life-changing for some—but it requires careful use, monitoring, and medical guidance.
As a coach, one of the biggest cons for me is that the method allows for weight loss to occur without any change in existing habits to exercise or diet. If you don’t address these things, then it sets you up for either;
- Long term dependency on the drug, which could have negative impacts on health as well as being very costly.
-Or alternatively, a very likely bounce back and return to being overweight once you stop and go back to previous eating habits with returning appetite ( I.e. the ones that made you overweight in the first place and you needed to address!).
This pattern is already being shown in research ,with one study of 327 participants showing they all regained 2/3s of the weight they had put on prior to taking semaglutide drugs within a year of stopping.
In addition, if there is no habit of weight training established alongside taking the drug, we are not helping the body hold on to lean mass as we lose weight. This means that when are appetite and poor eating habits return we are also likely to see a return of even higher body fat levels than we had beforehand, because we’ve been left with a reduction in lean mass and therefore metabolism.Not to mention missing out on all the other health benefits weight training gives us!
This need for exercise alongside the drug is also supported by research with a study by Lundgren et al 2024 comparing weight loss in those taking the drugs alone VS drugs and exercise, with those that did it alongside exercise losing more weight and putting less weight back on!
This for me highlights the important fact that if you do decide the side effects are worth it, it’s super important to also have a coach help you plan how to exercise effectively on reduced calories and start to build healthier food habits for when you come off the drug.
If not, then I think Ozempic very quickly becomes like the next fad diet, with people yo yo ing in weight when they are either on or off the drug.
I hope that’s given you some things to think about and please reach out with any questions or advice on training and nutrition when taking the drug.
Lizzie
The One Percent Club
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