It’s the blockbuster drug known to reverse weight quickly—even in those who have struggled to lose weight, and failed, for years.
However, this week reports emerged suggesting that weight loss on Ozempic is not a given. In fact, you may gain extra pounds while taking the drug.
Comedian Tracy Morgan told Jimmy Fallon on a recent episode of the Tonight Show that he gained 40 pounds while injecting the drug, which suppresses hormones that make you feel hungry.
The comedian, who first mentioned using the drug in August 2023, seemed in good spirits despite it, cracking jokes in his typical fashion.
But Morgan’s experience seems to contradict the weight-loss transformation stories that have long been associated with the drug, including Oprah’s, who lost more than 100 pounds while taking it.
Oprah Winfrey is a famous advocate of Ozempic, losing about 40 kg using the drug.
Comedian and actor Tracy Morgan said he still managed to gain weight on Ozempic because he was ‘eating out’ its effect on his appetite.
But what is the truth – is weight gain possible?
Ozempic contains a medicine called semaglutide, which is part of a family of medicines called GLP-1 receptor agonists. They work by suppressing the activity of a hormone called GLP-1, which is responsible for making us feel hungry.
However, experts say it is still possible to gain weight on the drug – or fail to lose any.
Gastroenterologist Dr. Steven Batash told Forbes that after a person initially loses weight on Ozempic, ‘the body adapts, progress may slow or temporarily stall.’
So you still need to make conscious diet and exercise choices to lose or maintain your weight while using Ozempic, International Association for Physicians in Aesthetic Medicine wrote on a forum for the substance.
If you eat a very calorie-dense diet, you can actually start gaining weight, said Dr. Sharon Giese.
This seems to be the case for Tracy Morgan, who told Fallon he would ‘out-eat Ozempic’.
In the interview, Morgan mentions her love of cooking and her plans for dinner after the show.
‘You know what I’m having for dinner tonight? Lasagna,’ comedian Fallon told.
Everyone who takes this drug will eventually hit a weight loss plateau because “you can’t lose weight forever,” Dr. Robert Gabbay of the American Diabetes Association New York Times.
Experts also say that those with some insulin resistance may see a plateau sooner than others.
Another reason you may gain weight on the drug has to do with dosage.
If your dose is too low, you may not get much of the appetite-suppressing effects of the drug, and you can continue with normal patterns, Dr. Batash Business Insider.
He has seen this in his own practice. With some patients remarking, ‘this dose that used to do its magic no longer does the trick. And I’m starting to go back to my old bad habits and I’m finding that the hunger suppression isn’t as effective.’
A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that participants who took small doses of semaglutide, between 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg, gained weight.
The rest of the cohort, who were dosed with 2.4 mg of the drug, lost almost 15 percent of their body weight.
Overall, it is much more common for people to lose weight on Ozempic than to gain weight. Studies have shown that that over 86 percent of patients do.
So if you’re plateauing, there may be ways to adjust your weight loss plan to make it work for you, Dr. Todd Worley, a bariatric surgeon, told Healthline.
‘Treating each patient as an individual, with a personalized treatment plan, means that all patients are wired individually and may need a different treatment regimen.’