Ozempic for Weight loss
Numerous scientific investigations have helped us to understand the efficacy of Ozempic as a medical weight reduction treatment.
Additionally, Ozempic can assist folks who have battled their weight for years in achieving remarkable weight loss results and long-term health improvements.
How much weight you can anticipate to lose may be on your mind if you’ve been considering whether Ozempic could aid in your efforts to lose weight. We’ve included all the information you want about Ozempic as well as what the study tells us about the anticipated weight reduction on Ozempic.
What is Ozempic for weight loss ?
Ozempic is a straightforward weekly injection that contains the weight-loss medication semaglutide. It is a pharmaceutical medication that was initially created to assist diabetics in managing and lowering blood sugar levels. Clinical studies, however, have revealed that Ozempic is also a secure and reliable procedure for obese patients to help with weight loss.
How does ozempic work for weight loss?
The natural hormone GLP-1 in your body is mimicked by Ozempic. This hormone controls how full you feel after a meal by acting on both the brain and the digestive system. It is produced by your digestive system in response to eating food. Additionally, it delays the rate at which your stomach empties into the rest of your digestive system. In order to improve blood sugar control, GLP-1 regulates insulin secretion in response to meals.
By alerting your brain that a meal has been consumed, GLP-1 can even lower blood sugar levels and decrease appetite. The injectable medication works similarly to this natural hormone to prolong your feeling of fullness and lessen your desire for additional food. Enhancing the way your body regulates blood sugar levels and the storage of fat can help patients lose weight.
Can Ozempic be used for weight loss?
Although Ozempic was initially created to treat diabetes, it can also be used to help people lose weight.
We know Ozempic is the most potent weight-loss medication currently available to patients with obesity in the UK, and clinical studies on numerous patients have demonstrated its safety for weight loss.
The outcomes of recent research trials have actually been very exciting. 7,215 patients participated in 6 important trials (SUSTAIN 1) that tested Ozempic. 4,107 patients received treatment with Ozempic, while the remaining patients received a placebo, another diabetes medication, or occasionally both.
When compared to a placebo or other diabetes treatments, Ozempic treatment resulted in significant weight loss for up to two years. Ages, genders, races, and ethnicities all had similar outcomes.
In these preliminaries, following 1 year of treatment, up to 63% of patients lost 5% or a greater amount of their body weight and up to 27% of patients lost 10% or a greater amount of their body weight.
In one particular study, which lasted for two years, patients who received only lifestyle interventions were compared to those who received 1 milligram of ozempic in conjunction with lifestyle interventions like diet modifications and exercise. With Ozempic, patients lost an average of 4.9 kilograms, compared to 0.5 kilograms without the medication.
Higher doses of semaglutide were examined in the STEP-1 study (up to 2.4 milligrams; Ozempic currently contains up to 1 milligram).
More than 85% of people who took semaglutide lost 5% of their body weight, nearly 70% lost 10%, 50% lost 15%, and just under a third lost 20% of their body weight.
It’s vital to take note of that Ozempic is a drug and keeping in mind that it’s useful to assist you with beginning your weight reduction venture, way of life mediation — including reasonable and sound way of life changes — is expected to guarantee the weight stays off once you quit taking the medication.
How Ozempic helps lower blood sugar levels
Clinical research have shown that Ozempic can lessen blood sugar degrees in persons with Type 2 diabetes. Although it isn’t a therapy, it may be a beneficial method for lessening your need on insulin and other remedies.
A continuous glucose infusion was adjusted over a 3-hour period to achieve target glucose levels from 90 to 216 mg/dL, increasing by increments of 18 mg/dL every 25 minutes.
The remedy works with the aid of concentrating at the SGLT2 enzyme, that’s task of transferring blood glucose into the kidneys after which out of the body. By blockading this enzyme, Ozempic stops an excessive amount of glucose from destructive or inflaming your frame’s cells, which can bring about outcomes inclusive of kidney ailment.
Ozempic features by restricting the liver’s capacity to supply too much glucose. Because of this, it’s critical to work along with your doctor to increase a plan that will help you manage your diabetes.
Helps prevent your liver from storing too much sugar and fat
When your blood sugar stays high for longer than necessary, it causes your liver to turn it into glycogen and store this form of sugar in the liver and muscles. This can then be released when your blood sugar falls too low or in response to vigorous exercise.
However, it can also cause your liver to store this excess energy in your body as fat. Both Ozempic, together with lifestyle changes such as increased exercise, act to improve blood sugar levels which reduces this from happening.
Slows down food leaving your stomach
Ozempic sends signals to your stomach that encourage it to empty into other parts of your digestive system more slowly. This means that as your digestive system breaks down your food into sugars, it powers the cells in your body more smoothly and slowly too.
You get a slow and smooth increase in your blood sugar, rather than large peaks and troughs.
Overall, this improves blood glucose control and likely also reduces the chances of developing diabetes and the health consequences of complications on your body’s organs.
Reduces the risk of cardiovascular events
Ozempic has also been shown to reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, particularly in those already at higher risk with type 2 diabetes.
The SUSTAIN-6 trial specifically looked at how Ozempic affects major cardiovascular events, such as strokes and heart attacks [7].
Treating people with type 2 diabetes who already had a high risk of heart attack and stroke with Ozempic resulted in significantly lower rates of death and non-fatal events than those who received the placebo.
How long does it take to lose weight?
Everyone is different and will start the Juniper Weight Reset Programme at their own stage of their weight loss journey.
Once you begin using Ozempic, some people can find it takes several weeks to see any weight loss, yet others may see some weight loss within a week or 2. While it can be difficult, try to remain patient — change looks different for everyone.
The Juniper Weight Reset Programme, using Ozempic, is designed around consistent, sustained gradual healthy weight loss over time, rather than fad diet plans that can often give you early rapid weight loss, but at the expense of reaching your long-term weight loss goals.
How much weight will I lose with Ozempic?
About a third of people who take Ozempic for weight loss will lose 10% or more of their body weight. Most people should expect to lose at least 5% of their starting body weight when using Ozempic for weight loss.
We know that people lose weight differently, but those who see the highest weight reductions are those who are supported by healthcare professionals — making the lifestyle changes required for sustainable change much easier.
This includes addressing diet, exercise and using behavioural sciences to adapt your food habits.
How to use Ozempic for weight loss
You’ll start on the lowest dose, 0.25mg, and then gradually increase over 8 weeks to the 1mg dose. This helps your body adjust to the medication in the first few weeks and reduces the severity of common side effects, such as nausea.
Ozempic comes in a pre-filled injection that looks like a pen, along with single-use needles. It takes just 2 minutes to use and is accompanied by full instructions on how and where to inject.
Ozempic weight loss journey
Simply put a new needle onto your Ozempic pen, select your dose and then hold the pen firmly against the skin of your tummy, upper thigh, or upper arm while you hold down the injector button.
Finally, pop the used needle into the secure sharps container that we provide to you as part of the Juniper Weight Reset Programme — that’s it!
Ozempic starting dose
Ozempic treatment for weight loss starts at 0.25mg once per week. You stay at that low dose for at least the first 4 weeks of treatment whilst your body gets used to the drug.
Ozempic maintenance dose
After starting on Ozempic low dose, you will increase to 0.5mg for a further 4 weeks and then move onto the 1mg weekly maintenance dose for the rest of your treatment plan — provided everything is going according to plan.
There’s the potential to increase the dose above 1mg if your healthcare professional team and clinical prescriber consider it appropriate for you.
Who can I use Ozempic for weight loss?
Generally, Ozempic is suitable for those who are considered clinically obese or significantly overweight with a weight-related health condition.
You can access Ozempic for weight loss in the UK as part of the Juniper Weight Reset Programme if you’re aged between 18 and 75 and:
- You have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more (clinically obese); or
- You have a body mass index of 27 or more (significantly overweight) and you also have a medical condition that is often caused, or made worse, by excess body weight.
Who shouldn’t use Ozempic for weight loss?
Most people can take Ozempic for weight loss safely, but there are some medicines and medical conditions that might make it unsuitable for you due to increased safety risks [5].
Some of the reasons you shouldn’t use Ozempic for weight loss (or we may need to give you special advice) are:
- An allergy to any of the ingredients;
- Diabetes and taking insulin or certain other medicines;
- Kidney problems;
- Certain digestive system problems;
- History of an eating disorder;
- Pregnancy, breastfeeding or trying to have a baby.
This isn’t a complete list, as underlying health conditions may impact your eligibility, so when you have a consultation with a Juniper prescriber, we’ll make sure that Ozempic is suitable for your individual circumstances before prescribing it.
Ozempic for diabetes
Ozempic was approved and launched in 2019 for the treatment of diabetes for some patients where other medicines did not control their blood sugar well enough [6].
This followed many years of laboratory tests and human clinical trials to prove it’s safe and effective.
Ozempic works to treat diabetes by increasing insulin secretion to control blood sugar levels, with the added benefit of Ozempic for weight loss — which also helps many patients with diabetes control their blood sugar better.
What are other weight loss medications?
There are some other weight loss medications available that provide an option to treat people living with obesity prior to the extreme option of bariatric surgery.
All of these should be appropriately considered for your individual circumstances and prescribed by a qualified healthcare professional.
Rybelsus
Rybelsus is a tablet form of semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic, that needs to be taken daily, rather than a weekly injection.
It is not currently licensed for the treatment of weight loss in the UK. Whilst it has been shown to be effective for weight loss, trials showed that it was around 30-40% less effective for weight loss than Ozempic [8].
Wegovy
Wegovy is a higher-dose injection of semaglutide and has been shown to be more effective for weight loss than Ozempic in trials, due to the higher dosage [1].
It has already been approved as safe and effective for weight loss by medicines regulators in the USA, UK and EU. It was launched in the USA in 2021 but is not currently available in the UK at the time of writing (February 2023).
Metformin
Metformin is a drug that has been used to treat diabetes for many years and helps your body produce and use insulin more effectively.
It has been shown to have some positive effects on body weight in some clinical trials, however, the results and side effects can be very variable and unpredictable.
This means metformin is unlikely to be a good choice for a safe and effective weight loss treatment.
Trulicity
Trulicity contains dulaglutide and is injected weekly, like Ozempic. It works in a very similar way to Ozempic and has broadly similar results for weight loss in some drug trials, though there’s less data available for weight loss than there is for Ozempic.
It’s currently licensed in the UK for the treatment of diabetes, but not for weight loss.
Saxenda
Saxenda contains liraglutide, which works in the same way as semaglutide but requires an injection every day because the drug is much shorter-acting.
Saxenda is licensed for weight loss in the UK, but clinical trial results for weight loss show that Saxenda is slightly less effective than Ozempic [4].
Orlistat
Orlistat is a drug that blocks certain enzymes in your gut which normally work to break down fats from the food you eat and enable this to enter your bloodstream.
Blocking these enzymes means you absorb fewer calories from the fats you eat, and this results in weight loss.
Orlistat is significantly less effective than Ozempic and people often have some annoying digestive system side-effects — including severe to mild digestion discomfort issues, which can result in patients stopping treatment before getting significant weight loss results.
Other diabetes medications that may cause weight loss
Some other diabetes medicines, such as those that increase the amount of sugar removed from your body by your kidneys in urine (e.g. canagliflozin, dapagliflozin, empagliflozin) have been shown to cause small reductions in body weight.
However, the weight loss results are too small to consider this particularly effective.
Before taking Ozempic
Before you use Ozempic, always read the leaflet from the manufacturer that comes inside the pack before you take your first dose, which you’ll receive as part of the Juniper Weight Reset Programme.
Our programme combines medication with personalised health coaching and lifestyle changes to help you lose weight and keep it off in the long term. The leaflet comes with full instructions and pictures on how to use the pen properly, how to store and dispose of your pens and what side effects to look out for.
If you need some more help or reassurance with using Ozempic for the first time, our support team is also here to help guide you. And, always consult a specialised Ozempic weight loss prescriber, such as our Juniper team, before using Ozempic.
We will ask you for the right information to assess whether Ozempic is safe and likely to be effective for you as an individual.
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