I’ve Been Taking Ozempic for Weight Loss for 3 Months—Here’s What It’s Really Like

I am no stranger to fluctuations in my weight, especially as someone with polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), a condition that makes maintaining a stable weight particularly challenging. But after gaining nearly 20 pounds in two years and being just 5’2”, I felt like I’d totally lost control of the situation. Despite working out around three or four times a week for the past year, my body wasn’t changing in the way I wanted it to. My pants remained tight, and incessant bloating was par for the course. So when I heard about Ozempic, a type II diabetes medication being used off label for weight loss, my curiosity was naturally piqued—and after learning more, I procured a prescription for semaglutide.

What is semaglutide?

Better known under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, semaglutide is a weekly injectable medication that works in two ways to increase satiety. It strengthens the “dialogue” between your brain and stomach, letting you know that you feel full sooner, and slows your rate of gastric emptying, leaving you feeling fuller longer. 

Who should be prescribed semaglutide has been a subject of hot debate lately, largely because of a current shortage of Ozempic that is making it challenging for providers to fill prescriptions for their patients. That’s led to some outrage, especially online. Houston-based registered dietitian nutritionist and content creator Dana Omari, aka @igfamousbydana, who has been documenting her experience taking the medication for several months, has been trying to clear this misconception up with her followers. “I just keep hearing that we’re taking away medications from the people who really need it, for people with diabetes,” she says, noting that Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk released a statement that the shortage is due to patients receiving off-label prescriptions for weight loss. 

According to doctors we’ve interviewed on this topic as well as medical rep sources Omari has spoken to, there have been supply chain issues and a problem with the Ozempic auto-inject pen, meaning that weight-loss patients aren’t entirely to blame. There’s also nothing inherently wrong with prescribing medications off-label (for example, Botox isn’t indicated for lip flips), and Wegovy, the same exact semaglutide drug manufactured by Novo Nordisk, is FDA approved specifically for weight loss.

But I digress. Like Omari, I did not pursue a brand-name prescription but rather opted for compounded semaglutide. This is a form of the medication that takes the active molecule and mixes it into a base formula (mine contains B12) by a compounding pharmacist. “I dose semaglutide very differently than what is recommended by the manufacturer of Ozempic/Wegovy,” explains my provider, Dr. Jessie Cheung, a board-certified dermatologist in Chicago who specializes in aesthetics, regenerative medicine, and hormone replacement therapy. Unlike a lot of diets that have 6-week plans, semaglutide doses typically increase every four weeks, usually starting with .25 mg. “But we actually get our patients to a higher dose of semaglutide faster by increasing the dose every week rather than waiting four weeks between increasing the dose, as with Wegovy, and we increase the dose by smaller increments, to avoid the common side effects of gastrointestinal upset.”

Though using an auto-inject pen would probably be easier, jabbing myself with a needle (superfine, like the ones used to inject insulin) has been easier than I thought it would be—it’s neither nauseating nor painful. I typically stick myself in the lower stomach because I have more fat to pinch and inject there. The drug is one that needs to be refrigerated; on the advice of a friend who takes an injectable drug, I take it out of the fridge a few hours before injecting, to avoid discomfort from the chill.

My Ozempic results after 3 months

13 weeks have passed since the beginning of my semaglutide journey, and while it hasn’t been entirely smooth sailing—I am incredibly tired all the time—I do not have any regrets. I have lost 13 pounds, plus three inches off my waistline, and I’ve gained a sense of body confidence that I haven’t had before, even at my absolute lowest weight. I also look at food quite differently and continue to learn how different meals (and different sizes of meals) affect my body. For example, I’ve historically felt a sense of guilt when not finishing a plate of food (was anyone else indoctrinated with the “clean plate club” mentality?), then subsequently felt shame if I overate, especially when out to dinner when I have no control over portion sizes. Now, I will often start a meal by cutting the portion in half, knowing I will be full by the time I finish it, and that I can enjoy the rest of it later. I’m also still understanding my limitations; I recently went to breakfast and ordered two eggs and quickly realized that one would have been enough, which is still wild to me. 

It’s worth noting that as of my 13th shot, I am taking a new form of compounded semaglutide. Instead of being blended with B-12, which is said to support a healthy metabolism, the semaglutide is mixed with carnitine, an amino acid that helps your body burn fat to create energy before relying on carbohydrates. Clinical studies show that carnitine can help improve weight loss in patients with obesity. I am curious to see how this switch affects my overall progress; I have a ways to go yet.

When I began injecting myself, I gave myself a legitimately reasonable goal weight to work toward, rather than the loftier ones I’d come up with in years past. I recently met with a personal trainer, who performed a body composition scan that gave me information including where the majority of my fat is (my torso) and a suggested target weight—which I was pleased to see was perfectly in sync with my own goals. I’m another 13 pounds away from that number. Moving forward, I’m planning on increasing my water intake, which I know is critical to weight loss, and shrinking my meals down in size even further but eating more frequently, which should help me get the nutrients I need without feeling too full.

It’s the change in waistline measurement that really convinced me that my semaglutide treatments were working well—while I don’t know for sure, as I didn’t do a body scan before treatment, I suspect I’ve lost some visceral fat, the fat that surrounds organs within the trunk of the body, rather than the pinchable subcutaneous fat I inject into. “Apple-shaped” people, like myself, tend to have more of it. 

Visceral fat is dangerous. “It’s so inflammatory—bad for many of the disease processes,” says Dr. Cheung. “I’m happy if [a patient] loses any visceral fat, because it leads to other issues.” Too much of it is associated with diseases like diabetes and stroke. It’s also linked with higher cortisol production levels (the fight-or-flight hormone). Cortisol levels are notably higher in women with PCOS, as are diagnoses of diabetes. 

All in all, I’m happy with my semaglutide experience so far and am excited to continue this experiment.

What I’ve learned from being on semaglutide

Ozempic is hot right now, which is obviously not only why I chose to try it but also why I decided to write about my experience. Certainly, no medication is one size fits all, but there aren’t a great deal of personal accounts of taking semaglutide online, and I wish I’d had more of them when I started. (And for what it’s worth, much of the feedback online exists in extremes; semaglutide is either described as magic or toxic.) If you’re thinking about trying semaglutide, here are a few things I’ve learned so far.

1. Some Ozempic side effects are dangerous; some are just uncomfortable

I am fortunate in that I have not experienced the scarier side effects of the medication, such as pancreatitis (so be sure to do thorough research and work with your provider to determine if it’s a fit for you), but that’s not to say I haven’t noticed a few unsavory effects. Most people talk about nausea, but for me, the most noticeable side effect at higher doses has been exhaustion. In the first few days after the injection, I struggle immensely to get out of bed in the mornings, hitting snooze for at least an hour after my typical wakeup time. However, this doesn’t translate into restful sleep or even getting into bed earlier. I hop into bed around the same time each evening but toss and turn all night. 

Other effects of the medication that I face are trouble concentrating—already an issue of mine and, no doubt, exacerbated by lack of sleep—as well as burping (fun). Burping is not uncommon for those on this medication, as it’s related to the slowed gastric emptying.

But it’s also an effect of being overweight—extra pounds put more pressure on the stomach, which can in turn force air up and out.

The latter—as well as acid reflux (which I’ve already faced on and off for years)—are made worse by eating poorly or too late at night. Generally, I don’t eat unhealthy foods, I just eat too much. But after one late night with friends eating spicy Thai-inspired sushi and, admittedly, a lot of sake, I suffered immensely. I was up all night with serious heartburn and ended up getting some restful sleep only after propping myself on a particularly steep wedge pillow. 

That painful reflux from one meal continued for more than two days, despite the fact that I was popping antacids like candy. I’d been informed this could happen: “Eating highly fatty and spicy foods—that’s not the way to success,” Dr. Steven Batash, a board-certified gastroenterologist in Rego Park, New York, had told me. “If you overeat, you are going to be one miserable person for at least three, four days because the food is just going to sit in your stomach and it’s not going to let you live.” Lesson learned.

2. It is an amazing craving buster and genuinely does help portion control

I am, by nature, a person with snacking tendencies. I am also someone who thinks about food constantly—the person who knows what she will order several days before going out on a dinner date, the one who has to “optimize” every meal experience—often to the point that when I start thinking about food, I cannot stop until I eat, whether I’m hungry or not.

To say that I am absolutely stunned by semaglutide’s ability to quash my cravings or desire to overeat is an understatement. Even in the first week, at the lowest dose, I found myself forgetting to eat a meal on days when I was running errands. More notably though, I would open the fridge and stand in front of it, staring blankly and waiting for snack inspiration to strike, only to end up shutting the door and walking away. Picking a meal has also become less arduous; when cooking dinner for my partner and myself, I go with what makes sense in terms of available supplies and seasonality without the need to adjust for a daily craving.

At mealtime, I’ve become full from smaller amounts of food than I thought possible. An English muffin with half an avocado is often too much in one sitting. I’ve replaced some meals with things like Carnation Instant Breakfast powder mixes, which are plenty filling and can help me cram vitamins, minerals, and nutrients into my body without the discomfort I usually get from a kale smoothie (bloat city). And beyond the fact that I reconsider meals at restaurants in order to stave off acid reflux, I’ve found that dining out has been helpful for gauging fullness—the pacing of the courses makes me recognize how much “room” I have left, and the often smaller plates allow me to eat them.

3. Ozempic is not a miracle cure

Yes, semaglutide’s powers can feel miraculous, but it alone won’t necessarily fix the existing patterns you face with food. For people like Omari, who has never had an issue with keeping a stable weight until the pandemic and relocating to a city with great food—and has a foundation in healthy living—semaglutide can be incredible. “This was really the first time in my life that I’ve been overweight,” she says. “It’s all been very new to me in the last couple of years, gaining weight and trying to lose.” As of press time, she has lost nearly 30 pounds; once she’s off the medication, she’s prepared to maintain healthy habits.

For someone like me though, who not only struggles to lose weight due to medical issues but also has a complicated relationship with food because of that, it’s best to pair semaglutide with a fitness regimen (I have one) and nutritional counseling (not there yet). “It is critical to be under the guidance of a nutritional counselor who holds your hand and tells you how to take baby steps,” says Dr. Batash. “Nutritional counseling is a vital part of the success of any of these weight-loss procedures.”

Interestingly enough, semaglutide has taken a lot of the emotion and impulsivity out of my eating and has allowed me to observe my own patterns in a neutral way, which has been powerful. One of my typical habits is night snacking, even when I’m not hungry. While on semaglutide, I’ve noticed that I still mentally want to snack but am clearly not hungry physically—this medication has made it easier to confront the why.  

“We eat for other reasons other than hunger,” says registered dietitian nutritionist and intuitive eating advocate Elena Toumaras, MS, RDN, CDN, in Queens, New York. “We eat to celebrate, when we’re stressed, from peer pressure, and from boredom—with intuitive eating, we don’t assign those other reasons ‘right’ or ‘wrong’ determinations but name them in the moment.” By coming to terms with why you’re eating, it can be easier to figure out how it makes you physically feel—or if you actually even want to eat in the first place.

With the help of semaglutide, I’ve realized that the antsy feeling I get at night that I want to resolve with a snack is boredom. “It’s important to dissect what’s happening internally as to why we go for that snack,” says Toumaras. “You can do a hunger check, and if you’re not hungry and just bored, you can ask yourself, ‘Can I go read a book, take a walk, watch a TV show and maybe have a little snack?’—finding some kind of middle ground between the behaviors.” 

That brings me to another point: after years of dysregulated eating, I have literally no idea when I’m hungry or thirsty. According to Toumaras, this is not at all uncommon and can take years to learn. “So many of us actually have no idea how we feel in our bodies,” says Toumaras. “A good way to do it is to ask yourself how your body feels in the moment when you’re really hungry, at a 1 of starving, and then, if you’ve eaten too much, what a 10 feels like. With time, you’ll be able to start feeling where the middle ground is. It’s not going to happen immediately, unfortunately, because of how out of tune with our bodies many of us already are.” She told me that she is still learning these sensations for herself. “With years of diet culture, so many of us have been told to drink water or coffee when you’re feeling hungry or [alternatively] to always finish your plate—all of those things have messed with our internal cues.” Because of the delayed gastric emptying and expedited sensation of fullness, I’ve been able to better feel those cues, though I have a ways to go.

Slow and steady wins the race with weight loss—celebrity claims of losing 16 pounds in three weeks are not healthy, lasting, or likely accurate, considering much of it could be water weight—so I am being patient with my pound-a-week progress and using the support of semaglutide to better understand my habits and learn what foods give my body energy or make it feel depleted. Though the experiment is not a cheap one, with a month’s dose costing several hundred dollars, it seems worthy to me—I’ve got next month’s syringes waiting for me in the fridge.

Ozempic before and after results