Ozempic®* is the most recent weight reduction development making waves because of social media. Influencers and healthcare suppliers alike are praising its effectiveness in serving to individuals shed undesirable kilos.
With all the excitement, chances are you’ll marvel if utilizing an Ozempic® injection for weight reduction is best for you. However how does Ozempic® work for weight reduction, anyway?
Let’s take a look at the science behind this in style prescription. When you perceive what Ozempic® is and the way it works, you’ll know find out how to separate the hype from the details to make the only option on your targets.
What Is Ozempic®?
Regardless of its current recognition, Ozempic® has been round for some time, and it’s not technically a weight reduction drug.
Out there by prescription solely, it’s a self-injectable treatment taken as soon as weekly to assist individuals with Sort 2 Diabetes handle their blood sugar ranges. It may possibly additionally assist cut back the chance of stroke and coronary heart assault for sure individuals.
Weight reduction occurs to be a aspect impact of taking Ozempic®, however the FDA has not but accepted utilizing it solely for weight discount. Nonetheless, many healthcare suppliers are prescribing it off-label for this goal.
The reasoning is that Ozempic® accommodates the identical lively ingredient – semaglutide – as Wegovy®**, a sister drug that has obtained FDA approval for weight administration. Since its approval, nevertheless, Wegovy® has been in brief provide, leading to docs and sufferers turning to Ozempic® in its place.
The primary distinction between these two medicines is their dosage of lively substances. Ozempic® has a most weekly dose of two mg of semaglutide, whereas Wegovy® targets a barely increased dosage of two.4 mg per week. Each dosages produce weight reduction outcomes, and it’s anticipated the FDA will approve utilizing Ozempic® for weight reduction quickly.
How Does Ozempic® Work For Weight Loss
Ozempic®’s lively ingredient, semaglutide, mimics the impact of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone.
GLP-1 is a naturally occurring hormone launched by your intestine after you eat. It impacts weight reduction in three key methods:
- It improves blood sugar management by boosting insulin manufacturing after a meal and suppressing the manufacturing of glucagon – a hormone within the liver that will increase blood sugar ranges.
- It tells your mind that you’re full, turning off cravings and starvation alerts, so you’re feeling glad.
- It slows down your digestive system, permitting extra time for digestion and absorption of meals. This motion helps preserve blood sugar ranges secure and retains you feeling fuller, longer.
By enhancing the results of GLP-1, Ozempic® helps you handle your urge for food and use vitality from meals higher. Because of this, chances are you’ll eat fewer energy, in the end resulting in weight reduction.
How A lot Weight Can You Lose With Ozempic®?
So, how a lot does Ozempic® assist with weight reduction? Analysis outcomes present that semaglutide might help sure individuals lose round 1 pound per week when mixed with food plan and train.
- A big research confirmed that individuals who obtained a weekly injection of two.4 mg of semaglutide for 68 weeks misplaced 14.6% of their physique weight, whereas individuals who obtained a placebo therapy misplaced solely 2.4%. Each teams adopted a food plan and train program.
- A smaller research confirmed that semaglutide was efficient at a decrease dose of 1 mg per week. Over 12 weeks, research topics receiving semaglutide decreased their day by day calorie consumption by about 24%, reported much less starvation and meals cravings, and misplaced a mean of 11 kilos.
- One other research discovered that semaglutide produced comparable weight reduction ends in real-world sufferers as in managed medical trials. This research collected information from sufferers prescribed semaglutide at weekly doses between 1.7 and a couple of.4 mg for 3 to six months. Common weight reduction was 5.9% at three months and 10.9% at six months.
Do these outcomes imply that taking an Ozempic® injection alone will magically soften kilos? Undoubtedly not. However it might assist some individuals enhance their potential to reduce weight whereas following a nutritious diet and train plan.
Tips on how to Use Ozempic® Efficiently
There are a couple of essential issues that you just want to bear in mind in the case of efficiently utilizing an Ozempic® prescription for weight reduction.
It takes time to work.
Ozempic® received’t assist you lose these pesky 5 to 10 kilos earlier than your trip. As a result of unwanted effects of this drug, most individuals must scale up their dosage over a couple of weeks. All in all, it will probably take months to begin seeing this long-acting treatment’s full results.
You could must take it long-term.
Most weight reduction interventions require sustained effort to take care of long-term outcomes, and Ozempic® isn’t any exception. When individuals cease utilizing Ozempic®, weight regain is widespread.
One research discovered that, on common, individuals gained about two-thirds of their weight again inside a yr of stopping the treatment. Nonetheless, extra analysis is required to grasp this higher.
Moreover, since semaglutide is a brand new drug, there may be restricted information obtainable on its long-term security. The longest research up to now lasted 68 weeks, which is about 1.5 years.
You’ll wish to contemplate your willingness to take this weekly injection indefinitely earlier than signing up for an Ozempic® prescription.
You continue to must make food plan and life-style modifications.
Ozempic® doesn’t substitute the necessity to eat wholesome and keep lively to reduce weight. As a substitute, by lowering starvation and cravings, Ozempic® helps you overcome a few of the challenges of sustaining a wholesome weight.
Following a reduced-calorie food plan stuffed with fiber-rich vegetables and fruit, lean proteins, and wholesome fat is a should if you wish to see long-lasting modifications to your weight and well being.
For many individuals, making these modifications is overwhelming, and that’s the place packages like Nutrisystem could assist. By delivering scrumptious, perfectly-portioned meals and snacks to the doorstep, our plans have executed all of the work of planning, measuring, and cooking for you.
The Nutrisystem packages are designed by Dietitians to fulfill dietary tips for weight administration. As a substitute of endlessly questioning which meals will assist you reduce weight and by no means making any progress, our packages lay all of it out for you.
We make it straightforward so that you can take the primary steps towards your weight targets by exhibiting you find out how to pair our handy meals and snacks with a couple of easy and wholesome grocery additions.
Over time, this learn-by-doing method teaches you about portion management and find out how to repeatedly incorporate scrumptious and wholesome meals, reminiscent of lean proteins, fruits, greens, entire grains, and wholesome fat, into your food plan.
Beneath the steerage of your physician, whether or not a pairing with Ozempic® is best for you, or used by itself, Nutrisystem might help relieve a few of the stress of losing a few pounds.
Is Utilizing Ozempic® For Weight Loss Proper For You?
With all of this thought of, Ozempic® could also be choice for you in case you are following a nutritious diet and train plan however are nonetheless not seeing the outcomes you need, and you’ve got one of many following situations:
- Sort 2 diabetes
- Insulin resistance or prediabetes
- Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS)
- Coronary heart illness
- BMI of 30 kg/m2 or larger
- BMI of 27 kg/m2 or above who’ve at the least one weight-related illness
Nonetheless, Ozempic® is just not for everybody. It helps individuals fighting long-term weight administration, so it’s positively not the fitting selection for somebody trying to shortly drop a couple of kilos.
Consultants additionally advocate you keep away from this treatment altogether if you happen to:
- Have a household historical past of thyroid most cancers
- Are identified with MEN 2, a uncommon endocrine dysfunction
- Have a historical past of diabetic retinopathy
- Are pregnant or breastfeeding
- Have a historical past of pancreas or kidney issues
- Are allergic to any of its substances
Facet Results
Lastly, you’ll wish to contemplate the unwanted effects of taking this treatment for weight reduction.
Essentially the most generally reported unwanted effects of Ozempic® are digestive signs reminiscent of nausea, diarrhea, belly ache, bloating, and constipation. These signs affected near 75% of the individuals in a big research, however for most individuals, they had been solely short-lived and occurred primarily in the course of the first few weeks of therapy.
Different, extra extreme unwanted effects, together with diabetic retinopathy, pancreatitis, and kidney issues, have additionally been reported.
You must converse to your physician about all dangers, advantages, and unwanted effects of taking Ozempic® that will help you determine if it’s the only option for you.
Conclusion
Reducing weight might be difficult, and it’s regular to wish to discover options that assist make it simpler.
Whereas Ozempic® has develop into a scorching subject in weight reduction information, it’s removed from being a magic wand for weight reduction and isn’t an alternative to wholesome life-style modifications.
In case you’re fighting managing your weight, talk about the dangers and advantages of taking Ozempic® along with your physician. Our Nutrisystem packages may assist you in your weight reduction journey by setting the muse for a nutritionally balanced food plan tailor-made to your weight targets.
*Ozempic® is a trademark of Novo Nordisk A/S, and isn’t affiliated with Nutrisystem, Inc.
**Wegovy® is a trademark of Novo Nordisk A/S, and isn’t affiliated with Nutrisystem, Inc.
