In September of 2024, the Centers for Disease Control announced that the United States’ obesity rate had fallen for the first time in over a decade.
Obesity dropping to 40.3 percent from the previous high of 41.9 percent in 2020 is not that large of a drop. It is even more difficult to say what caused it exactly, though the fall does coincide with the rise of semaglutide injectables like Ozempic and Wegovy.
Since December of last year, Anna Curry has been on semaglutide treatments.
“(I) have lost lots of inches and 49 pounds,” she said. “I love it. It was just what I needed as I’ve struggled losing weight and keeping it off.”
While Curry had a lot of success in a short time, how much weight a person can lose on semaglutide can vary quite drastically. It is estimated that most people will lose roughly five percent of their body weight in the first few months of taking the drug.
Amanda Pepper was on Ozempic for around eight months before she realized she was losing weight.
“Some people that have taken this medicine lost a lot of weight quick… I haven’t had that,” she explained.
Side effects from the drugs are considered mild. One of the most common SG-1 side effect is nausea, though it is still relatively rare (in clinical trials, only 20 percent of participants reported nausea). Constipation, headaches, and pain at the injection site have also been reported, but these are also uncommon. Some mice in clinical trials developed both cancerous and benign thyroid tumors but so far there is no evidence the same result can happen in humans. Multiple people on the Community Voice Facebook page said their primary side effect was diarrhea.
Another individual stated, “I was on it for a year. It has been a disaster for me… It caused pancreatitis and a few other issues.”
One issue to watch for is losing weight too rapidly, which often involves shedding a significant amount of muscle along with fat. To counteract this, those on the drug are encouraged to maintain a high-protein diet with exercise.
But for many, even if they do have side effects, it does not offset how much better they feel from losing the weight.
“At my 40th birthday, I found myself at the biggest I had ever been. My health was not good. I have rheumatoid arthritis and, at the time, my sugar was starting to trend high. I weighed 260 pounds… I have been on it for almost two years and I have lost 65 pounds. For the first time in 20 years, I am under two hundred (pounds). My A1C is five (and) I have very few rheumatoid arthritis flare-ups,” said Ozempic user Gina McInteer.
Similarly, Amanda Pepper said, “I do feel a lot better… I’ve been on Ozempic for the past two years. I’ve had great success from it… I have lost a total of 68 pounds.”
Even with the high rate of weight loss and the low risk of side effects, Ozempic, Wegovy, and other drugs like them are not “miracle drugs.”
As for keeping the weight off, there’s still much research to be done, but a January 2024 report using data from the health records of 20,274 people who used semaglutide, 18 percent regained all of the weight they lost within a year. More than half, however, at 56 percent, either remained the same of kept losing weight after going on the medication.
The study comes from a company named Epic and was reported by webmd.com.
For those interested in weight loss treatments, the best place to get information is your local healthcare provider, who can guide you on the right path for your specific needs.
By Kenley Godby
kenley@adairvoice.com
