The Truth about Ozempic

The Real Truth about Ozempic

Ozempic is a once weekly skin injected medication that is usually given for diabetic patients who have not been successful with the common treatments for diabetes like metformin and with an A1c around 9-10%. Recently ozempic has been approved for weight loss and given the name Wegovy. Ozempic and Wegovy are the same medication but are given in slightly different ways. Ozempic can be taken by mouth as well as injected while wegovy is only injected. Ozempic also helps with reducing cardiovascular problems in diabetic patients.

Early Research Trials

The early research trials showing significant weight changes were done by the drug manufacturer. One of the most recent trials (PHASE 8) done on 338 participants, mostly white women, with an average age of 49 years old showed about 16% weight loss across 68 weeks. This means if you weight 200 lbs then you can lose about 32 pounds on this medication over the course of about a year and a half. 

However an important theme from all of trials was:

Weight loss was due to a reduction food cravings and thus calories and was even greater in those who received nutritional and exercise counseling. This means that no matter what you still have to reduce the amount of food you eat and if you want better results work on changing your lifestyle habits. 

Ozempic helps you to lose weight by controlling your appetite and making you have less cravings for food. Eating Whole foods, establishing a weekly exercise plan, getting great sleep, having a good social support group, and avoiding toxic substances like alcohol should to be made in order to help lose the weight and keep it off in the future. 

Phone apps like MyFitnesPal can help you to calculate the number of calories you need to weight daily to lose weight. There are many facebooks group that you can join to meet weekly and discuss tips on weight loss. Reducing your phone usage before bedtime and reading physical books from the library can help you get to bed earlier and get better sleep. The One-Year Challenge by Mike Mathews is a great scientific evidence-based book to help you exercise. This Naked Mind by Ann Grace can help you see the illusions of alcohol and quit or decrease your alcohol intake. 

The Cost of Wegovy and Ozempic

The cost of Wegovy on GoodRX shows a dollars for an injectable pen containing 1 month supply (4, 0.25 mg pens) is around $1400 and Ozempic is around $1000. Even review of my own supplier shows similar and higher costs. This means you can pay up to $22,400 dollars for one year. This is extremely expensive and not reasonable for the average person.

Expectations on Weight Loss Medications

You can see from the trials that weight loss will still take a long time and not every weight loss medication will work the same for each person. You may reach a point where you are taking the maximum amount of the medication and it will no longer help you lose more weight. This does not mean that the drug has stopped working. It means you will have to use a different strategy, like the lifestyle habit changes listed above, to help you lose additional weight. Finally when the drug is discontinued you can expect to regain some of the weight. 

Weight loss medications can be a good initial starting point to help lose weight and gain a moral boost in confidence and ability to lose weight. I have used weight loss medications in the past for my patients and they have been very helpful while at the same time giving detailed nutrition, exercise, and sleep plans. 

I hope you found this short article helpful and if you are trying to lose weight then congratulations and keep up the good work!