17 Ways Your Body May React When You Quit Ozempic

Nutritionist and diabetes health coach Mila (The Hangry Woman) is detailing her experiences with Ozempic and Trulicity—specifically, what happened when she stopped taking the drugs. Mila discontinued her use of the weight loss medication due to heart palpitations (yes, it’s one of the side effects of Ozempic) and went on insulin instead. What happened next was surprising even to Mila, who didn’t know quite what to expect. Here’s what she has to say about what happened when she stopped taking Ozempic.

Successful Weight Loss

Mila continued to lose weight after stopping Ozempic. “I actually ended up losing more weight off of Ozempic, which I was truly surprised about,” she says. “I stopped Ozempic in the middle of September, and from that point until right now, it's almost the last day of November. I've lost another 15 pounds. I don't need to go to Ozempic to continue my weight loss. And unlike what I suspected, I thought that I was going to just immediately gain all of the weight back because I thought that it was really the medicine that was helping me with the weight loss, but it truly lowered my appetite.”

Appetite Changes

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Ozempic may have changed Mila’s appetite long-term, as she no longer has out-of-control cravings. “I didn't start to get super hungry again,” she says. “I didn't get this crazy insatiable appetite like I had once had. And that surprised me also because going on insulin, I thought it's going to make me hungrier, it's going to make me gain weight. That's what happens to everybody going on insulin. And it actually hasn't. My appetite hasn't been this crazy insatiable. It's actually kind of stayed what it was with Ozempic.”

RELATED:20 Possible Ozempic Side Effects

Small Meals and Portion Control

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Mila continues to eat the smaller meals she had while taking Ozempic. “Because of the smaller meals that I was eating more frequently, and not just having big giant meals all the time for three meals a day, I was eating smaller meals because it was helping with nausea,” she says. “And so I've kind of continued that pattern, and I think that's also been really helpful because I cannot eat a lot per meal. I really have to structure it into smaller bites, smaller portions.”

Calories and Exercise For a Deficit

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Mila continued to stick to her calorie count and workout routine. “I'm still eating roughly the same amount of calories,” she says. “I'm tracking and eating about 1400 to 1500 a day. And then, along with exercise, there's also that deficit. I'm exercising like I was before, about three to four times a week. And so honestly, aside from the timing of the portions, my actual lifestyle hasn't changed much, but I'm still seeing the weight loss effects of it.”

She Has Carbs

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Mila doesn’t limit carbs these days. “I wouldn't say that I'm limiting my carbs at all because now that I'm taking insulin, I just correct for what I need,” she says. “So I'm probably right now eating about 40 grams of carbs or less per meal. That's a little higher than where I was before before I was 20 to 30. Now, I've allowed myself a little bit more because I can correct it. That doesn't necessarily mean more calories for me; it just means more carbohydrates and adjusting my insulin doses at that point.”

Better Relationship With Food

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Mila’s relationship with food has changed for the better. “I feel like I've gotten a lot happier in this process because I don't feel like I am using food restriction as a tool to manage my blood sugars as much anymore,” she says. “And I feel like I was doing that a lot before, and that was very hard for me, coming from a place where I have had disordered eating and I have lived that life of counting every little thing, and I still have to count it, I still have to understand how many carbs I'm eating, but with the correction factor and the ability to adjust, I feel like it's a lot healthier of a relationship with food.”

RELATED:20 Things to Avoid While on Ozempic

No Deprivation

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Mila doesn’t feel deprived of her diet anymore. “I am able to look at something and be like, here's the carb count for that. Here's how much insulin I need to take for it,” she says. “So I think that has changed the way I'm eating more healthily, instead of me feeling like I have to restrict food to make sure that my blood sugars are in line. So I am very happy with that switch. I'm very happy that the weight loss has continued, and I don't feel like I'm being deprived. That's one thing that I think has changed my quality of life a lot in these past two months, and it's just made me overall a happy person.”

No More Heart Palpitations

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Mila’s heart palpitations disappeared after she stopped taking Ozempic and Trulicity. “I had gotten over the nausea. I had gotten over the diarrhea and stomach issues and all of that stuff, but the one thing that just kept happening to me was the heart palpitations,” she says. “So I stopped after that, and probably within the two weeks that I stopped taking it, the heart palpitations were gone.”

Resting Heart Rate

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Mila’s resting heart rate went from 130 to an average rate after stopping the Ozempic. “I don't know if anybody has ever had that situation, but it was not a good time for me. And so I finally said I’m not doing it anymore. My heart rate had lowered to the lower 70s within those two weeks. And so resting my heart rate is usually anywhere from 75 to 80 beats per minute, which is absolutely normal. And I don't have those heart palpitations.”

Better Breathing

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Mila no longer has trouble with her breathing. “I don't wake up sweating in the middle of the night,” she says. “I don't wake up with shortness of breath. I'm able to sleep all the way through the night. I can exercise without being winded or just the things that I think for a 30-something-year-old person are very normal. I feel like my body has gotten way back to normal, which is helpful to me, and I feel like that's something that is just good overall.”

RELATED: 20 Things You Need to Know About Ozempic and Weight Loss

Stable Blood Sugar and Insulin Resistance

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Mila was thrilled to see her blood sugar was still stable after stopping Ozempic. “I think something else that was really important to me in terms of getting off of it was like, would my blood sugars stabilize?” she says. “And I think because we put insulin in place of Ozempic, my blood sugar still did stay stable. Like I said before, I think it’s in a better place now because I'm having more control with the insulin, and I'm not having nearly as much insulin resistance, which is also really good.”

Healthy and Happy

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Mila is in the best physical health of her life three months after stopping Ozempic. “Cholesterol numbers were fine, kidney function was fine, liver function was fine,” she says. “Everything was good. And so I think that that is really important. Also, I need to note that the weight thing for me is truly physical because everything else is okay.”

Working On Weight Loss

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Mila will continue working on her weight loss goals to look and feel her best. “It's not something I have to obsess about and not something I'm trying to obsess about. But it is something that's just on my mind overall. But I also wanted to shed some clarity on the fact that even taking Ozempic weight loss wasn't the goal. It was a bonus.”

RELATED:4 Best Exercises to Lose Flabby Arms

She Would Do It Again

Mila is still a big fan of Ozempic and, were it not for the side effects, says she would use it again. “If I could go back on Ozempic, I would, to be honest,” she says. “It is an easy injection. It's once a week. You don't have to think about it until the next week. It does a really good job of managing your blood sugars and all of that. But for me, it just did not agree with my body. And that is such a shame because it worked when I needed it to work. But I do feel like the after-effects of it, and I would say aftershocks are what I would call it, those things for me still made it worth it.” And if you enjoyed this article, don't miss 20 Incredible Ozempic Success Stories of All Time.

Gary Linkov, MD, is double board-certified by the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery and the American Board of Otolaryngology-Head & Neck Surgery. He happens to be married to Liz Grand, MD, a board-certified internal medicine physician. “Ozempic has been all over the news, and social media celebrities and many others have been using it, but of course, they don't admit to it,” he says, introducing his wife to “help me with this topic.” In the interview, she reveals everything you need to know about weight loss drugs.

What Is Ozempic?

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Dr. Grand explains that Ozempic is the brand name for a medicine called Semaglutide. “It's a once-weekly subcutaneous injectable medication, uh, meaning that the medicine gets injected into the skin, usually in the upper arm, the thigh, or the abdomen,” she says.

It’s Primarily Used to Treat Type 2 Diabetes

“It's primarily used to treat type two diabetes. That's what it was FDA approved for initially in 2017,” she continues. “Ozempic or semaglutide belongs to a class of medications called GLP-1 receptor agonists. GLP-1 is basically a hormone that's produced by the GI tract. And so the GLP one receptor agonists essentially work on these GLP-1 receptors.”

Where Are GLP-1 Receptor Located?

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“GLP-1 receptors are located throughout the body, but there are three main areas that we'll talk about today,” Dr. Grand continues. “The first is the pancreas which leads to the release of insulin. Insulin then promotes the absorption of glucose into tissues to be used for energy or to be used as a form of energy storage. And this ultimately causes a decrease in blood glucose levels. The second is the brain, which decreases appetite by reducing the feeling of hunger. And the third is the GI tract, which slows down the movement of food and thus makes us feel fuller.”

What Is the Correct Dosage and How Much Does It Cost?

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“In terms of dosing, we generally start with semaglutide at 0.25 milligrams weekly, and it can gradually be increased to a maximum of two milligrams as tolerated. The cost without insurance can be up to about $1,200 a month,” she says.

RELATED:12 Tips to Maintain Weight Loss After Using Ozempic and GLP-1 Medications

Wegovy Is Another Form of Semaglutide

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“There is another form of semaglutide called Wegovy, and this is basically semaglutide in a higher dose,” she says.“This is the medication that's actually FDA-approved for weight loss, but it is specifically approved for people either with obesity or who are overweight with at least one weight-related condition. These include conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and heart disease.”

Both Ozempic and Semaglutide Reduce Weight

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So, what is ozempic or semaglutide used for? “It was initially meant for the treatment of type two diabetes to help decrease blood sugar by augmenting the release of insulin. But people found that there was also this impact on weight loss, and it's been studied and it has been shown to reduce weight,” she says.

However, to Maintain the Weight Loss, You Might Have to Stay on Them

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There is one major con about using drugs for weight loss. “They've also found that people generally need to stay on Ozempic in order to maintain the weight loss,” she says.

Risks and Side Effects

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“In terms of risks or side effects, the most common side effects that we typically see are nausea, vomiting, constipation, and sometimes diarrhea. We also see dizziness, increased heart rate, headaches, reflux, and even sometimes acute kidney injury, which is thought to be due to dehydration from all of the nausea and vomiting that ozempic can induce. It's also not recommended for people who have certain gastrointestinal tract diseases like inflammatory bowel disease, things like Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis,” she says.

RELATED:20 Things to Avoid While on Ozempic

There Is Also a Cancer Risk

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“There's also a black box warning for a specific type of thyroid cancer,” she says.”This comes from studies that were done in rodent models that showed growth of the specific type of thyroid tumor. Acute pancreatitis, which is a condition where the pancreas becomes quite inflamed, has also been noted in this class of medications. And it's really important to note that pancreatitis can be severe and can be fatal. It's unclear what this mechanism is for this possible complication. It's also unclear whether or not this has any implications for pancreatic cancer in the long run. But regardless if you have a history of pancreatitis or if you develop pancreatitis while on the medication, you should stop it, and you should never take it again.”

Significant Weight Loss with the Drugs Can Change the Way Your Face Looks

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“Significant weight loss with drugs like ozempic and Wegovy can change the way our faces look,” they add. “We have many fat compartments throughout our face, and these compartments are affected by anything that leads to weight loss such as bariatric surgery, such as just kinda natural weight loss with diet and exercise and or with drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy. As our weight drops, the fat in our face decreases as well. This could lead to areas appearing more hollow and gaunt, and also, our skin starting to droop. It may be that the faster the weight loss with these medications and the more significant the weight loss, the less the body has the ability to adapt and adjust, and that can lead to more sagging at a faster rate.”

Celebrities Have Been Using Ozempic

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She also explains how celebrities are involved in the Ozempic craze. “The cost of ozempic is about $1,200 per month for off-label use of ozempic as a weight loss drug. And that is a major expense for most people, but usually not a major expense for most celebrities,” she says. “And similar to the lack of transparency when it comes to plastic surgery for weight loss, there is a similar lack of transparency. For example, Kim Kardashian had to fit into that Marilyn Monroe dress for the MET Gala, and as many have surmised, including the New York Times, she may have taken Ozempic to drop weight quickly to try to fit into that dress.”

RELATED:20 Possible Ozempic Side Effects

Lose Weight Gradually

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“Remember that the safest way to lose weight is to do so gradually with these medications and with any other method as well. I'm anticipating that the popularity of facial filler, including fat transfer to the face, will increase because of medications such as ozempic,” she says.

Rising Demand for Lifting Procedures Due to Facial Fat Loss

“I also think that the incidence of lifting procedures such as brow lifts and facelifts will increase as well because, as we talked about previously, there's an increased sagging that occurs when the fat in our face declines,” he says. “We've been talking a lot about buccal fat removal on this channel and the risks of that procedure. And keep in mind that Ozempic is now introducing additional hollowing of the face. So if someone's had a buccal fat removal, then they go on Ozempic to lose further weight, now they're going to look even more hollowed out gaunt, and they may be looking to replace that lost volume.”

She Approves of Ozempic for People with Type 2 Diabetes

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Is Ozempic a good idea? “Certainly for people who have type two diabetes, yes,” she says. “I like the fact that, in general, it's not associated with hypoglycemia, which is when, uh, the blood sugar drops to a dangerously low level. This can be a very serious issue for people as they're trying to get their blood sugar under control for people who are obese or are overweight with conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, obstructive sleep apnea.”

RELATED:What Happens to Your Body When You Stop Taking Ozempic

Try and Focus on Self-Love

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“I would say you need to take a look at yourself in the mirror. And you know, the other issue I see with the increased use of ozempic for people who are just trying to lose that little bit of extra weight, it just speaks to this kind of viewpoint that, unfortunately, we as a society seem to have that our bodies, and I think in particular women's bodies, but certainly everyone's bodies are as well, we view our bodies as like a trend. Right now, it's going to look thin. But a few years ago, it was trendy to look voluptuous, but back in the nineties, it was also very in to look very skinny. I just think that we all need to learn to appreciate our bodies more, be kinder to our bodies, and maybe even just learn to love ourselves a little more,” she concludes. And if you enjoyed this article, don't miss 20 Incredible Ozempic Success Stories of All Time.