Here is more about the same weight-loss drugs, the ones based on synthetic GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1), that have been referenced in several recent posts.
Mention was made of the weight rebound factor, an alternative way to say “When they quit, they regained all the weight they had lost.” To some interested parties, it comes as a big surprise that the weekly injection regimen will last forever.
Seemingly, every celebrity on the planet has been interviewed about Ozempic or Wegovy — which brand they use and what their experience has been. Or maybe, why they don’t want to go near the stuff. For RealClearScience, John Mac Ghlionn wrote about Ozempic that it “must be taken for the entirety of one’s life.”
Podcaster (“Not Skinny But Not Fat”) and model Remi Bader took Ozempic for a while, then stopped, and her binge eating came right back. Even worse, she regained all the weight she had lost, plus an additional, equal amount
Fellow podcaster Jackie Goldschneider calls the drug “an eating disorder in a needle” and says,
It’s just going to be a massive number of people who gain a huge amount of weight… There’s going to be a lot of people with eating disorders. You start dropping massive amounts of weight. That’s so addicting. That’s how I spiraled into anorexia. You get addicted to this new body and to the attention that comes with it.
In other words, now we’ve got people who don’t mind being stuck with (drug of choice) for life, along with enduring nausea and vomiting, or taking more meds to control those symptoms — all to avoid the possibility of developing a deadly eating disorder if they quit.
Training doesn’t help
In a prominent publication, an article about one brand of weight-loss medication made it clear that a person has to stay on it indefinitely — unless the were only using it to “jumpstart” healthier habits. But apparently, that is a big fallacy. Unfortunately, that is not how this works. It isn’t a jumpstart, or a kickstart, or a pair of training wheels; that’s baloney. Contributing health writer Lisa Rapaport wrote,
And even if people manage to maintain the eating habits they developed while on Ozempic, their blood sugar might still rise when they stop treatment because the drug boosts the production of insulin, a hormone involved in blood sugar control.
Still, the manufacturers of weight-loss pharmaceuticals have an answer for every criticism. The drug was not meant to be training wheels, or a life jacket to keep sick people afloat until they learn to swim. Comparisons are made with depression and diabetes — both conditions where the patient must expect to stay on the meds in perpetuity.
Your responses and feedback are welcome!
Source: “Ozempic Rebound Is Real,” People.com, 01/30/23
Source: “Ozempic, The Atlantic, and the Dangers of Anti-Exercise Rhetoric,” RealClearScience.com, 03/29/23
Source: “Stars Who’ve Spoken About Ozempic — and What They’ve Said,” People.com, 05/01/23
Source: “5 Things That Can Happen After You Stop Taking Ozempic,” EverydayHealth.com, 03/07/23
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