A middle-aged woman who “let herself go” after the traumatic deaths of two loved ones has revealed how Ozempic helped her regain control of her health.
Karen Holman, a 52-year-old grandmother from Melbourne, has lost 16kg since she started taking Ozempic last September.
Ms Holman’s housemate suddenly collapsed and died aged just 33 in 2020, followed by the death of her sister from terminal cancer in August 2023.
The deaths took a heavy toll on Ms Holman, who quickly found herself neglecting her health.
“I was obviously grieving and very depressed, I think I completely stopped looking after myself at that point. It had been a very difficult six months looking after my sister,” Holman told Daily Mail Australia.
‘My other sister, Paula, had started at Ozempic about six months earlier.
‘I knew Ozempic existed, but I assumed I wouldn’t be able to get it.
‘After my sister died, I got in touch with Moshy (the online prescription and delivery service) and almost immediately started losing weight, which encouraged me to keep doing what I was doing, making good food choices and exercising.’
Ms Holman (pictured before using Ozempic) has followed Moshy’s advice to use Ozempic as a tool for sustainable weight loss.
Ms Holman (pictured after using Ozempic) was struggling to regain her health following the traumatic deaths of two loved ones.
Ms Holman lost 6kg in the first six weeks of taking Ozempic, which made a significant difference to her health and the weight loss has become more gradual since then.
“I weighed 88kg when I started in September last year and now I weigh 72kg,” he said.
‘My fatty liver was reversed, my back problems improved and I had fewer migraines.
“All those things that were impacting my life started to improve right away, which was really encouraging.”
While on Ozempic, Ms. Holman also changed her eating habits.
“A lot of people worry that this is some kind of ‘cheating’ – that you can eat whatever you want, but you’re still losing weight, so you’re not really learning good patterns,” she said.
‘I know that’s not the case for me. If I don’t eat healthily, I don’t lose weight, but if I eat well and exercise, that helps me lose weight.
“I see it as something that gives you a little bit of an advantage because diet and exercise alone weren’t working for me, but with the help of Ozempic, I was able to stick with healthy eating without giving up.”
Ms Holman believes she has been “lucky” in her experience with Ozempic as she suffered no adverse side effects and had no difficulty completing the weekly injections.
Moshy dietitian Kirby Sorenson believes that prescription weight-loss medications, such as Ozempic, may be the best way for people to lose weight quickly when used in conjunction with holistic methods.
Since using Ozempic, Ms Holman (pictured after using Ozempic) has been more motivated to improve her lifestyle.
“Unfortunately, some people still see weight loss drugs as the easy way out, which creates an unfair stigma. But the process of losing weight is never easy, it still requires a lot of work to make it sustainable,” she said.
‘To be successful with Ozempic, you need to focus on your overall diet, increase physical activity, and work on relationships with food that have been damaged by diet culture.
‘With the help of dietitians while on medication, we can work to rebuild this relationship with food and break away from diet culture and restrictive diets that lead to binge eating.’