How has ozempic (et al) changed your appetite and so diet?

[lking12]

I’m curious to know how the drug has changed your eating habits that is… are you just eating less overall or are you craving less sugary food, do you still feel hunger etc? Or both?

I went into m&s for a train journey today and bought pasta, crisps, banana and a chocolate rice cake. I wondered on Ozempic what people would have chosen… just the pasta maybe and not the rest? Do you get up and just not fancy breakfast? Etc etc

I’m interested to know what the actual change is in your eating habits.

I just care less about food. I get hungry but am full quickly. I might 'fancy' something but a little bit will be enough. I dont over eat. I don't crave eating large amounts. I am just less bothered by eating. Before Ozempic I ate badly, craved sweet things, over ate every day.

(Four months on Ozempic. Currently on 1mg. Down just over three stone. Have just over three more to lose)

Sorry I answer to your train/M&S question. I came back via the train from a day out the other day with my adult son. We stopped off at M&S for a 'train picnic' but actually I wasn't hungry. I got only a drink. Son got food. I wasn't bothered.

It's both for me.

I've been on it since February and eat three square meals a day and healthy snacks. My portion sizes are greatly reduced but not enough for anyone to notice. In your example I would go for a sandwich (aiming to keep under 400 cals) and 1 snack such as an apple or "light" crisps (aim 100 cals).

Ozempic makes these decisions so much easier because if I over eat I feel ill and I no longer have ravenous hunger pangs I feel the need to satisfy. I'm hoping my stomach has shrunk too.

I was wondering if anyone on ozempic could tell me where they lost weight first? I can’t see much in the way or information. Is it stomach, legs, face? Anyone know anything?

You'll be less likely to crave/want/enjoy high carby foods like those that you bought.

Either you'll just get a cup of tea or if you are genuinely hungry you'll get something light/more protein based

Thats the changes I found

That's going to be different for different people. There's no one way that people lose weight on ozempic.

For me, I eat smaller portions and feel satisified. In the first few months of ozempic, I barely ate at all as I wasn't hungry and was severely nauseated. The nausea has become a lot less and I am eating more normally now but much less.

Like another poster above mentioned, I’m just much much less bothered about food, so food decisions are both better and smaller in volume.

I was never one to have large volumes of food before, but the foods I would gravitate towards would be high calorie. Now I’m eating a lot more salads because they are light and fill me up really quickly. When I’m in the office for work, I’ll go to pret for a sandwich and crisps at lunch, eat the crisps and be so full I just save the sandwich to eat for dinner.

Yesterday we were out with friends and everyone got icecream except for me because I just genuinely didn’t fancy it. We ordered pizza with them later and I could only manage 2 small slices, not tempted by the sides, cookies, desert etc. if we go to restaurants, I’ll just order a starter as it’s more than enough to fill me up.

it’s made me so much more aware of how much of my eating before was emotionally driven. Like it was a Friday, so we deserved a treat, or the food itself being a hugely integral part to the enjoyment of a day out or experience. Now it’s a much more rational choice of if I fancy something, I might have a bit, but most the time I can take it or leave it without any kind of mental ‘should I/shouldn’t I’ back and forth between my brain and my willpower.

I’m three weeks in.

I probably would have just bought a sandwich, but maybe wouldn’t have managed to eat it all. I’m eating far smaller portions and just don’t feel as hungry as I used to.

A week ago I “accidentally “ ate a jam doughnut, and a few hours later I had really bad diarrhoea so I’m definitely not inclined to eat anything with loads of fat and sugar.

Eating a starter portion when out for dinner sounds about right.

I care less about food. I’m not as hungry as I used to be. I’ll have smaller portions.

I see many posters saying they eat more healthily overall. However, I’m often a little nauseous so rather than eating salmon or avocado or nuts etc I turn to some simple carbs like toast, as I know I can keep it down!

Not moaning though, I have gone from an obese BMI to very nearly a healthy BMI.

And yes when out I have had a starter or a child’s portion and it’s genuinely all I need!

This isn’t a thing.

Just to add, the biggest change when I used it was it cuts out that food noise that a lot of us suffer from, constant and overwhelming craving, only got to see a picture or ad for food to then get craving and wanting it.

It just turns all that off.

I'm wondering if it makes you feel slightly nauseous most of the time?

Id like to try it but would like to hear more about others experiences with it

I still like all the foods I liked before and can still binge on chocolate. However I get full more quickly and just can’t finish big meals and if I have had a binge I really don’t fancy a meal. I am eating better at the moment - 3 meals a day and no sugar and am not finding this hard most of the time. My DH will finish my meals when we are eating out very regularly as I just can’t eat that much.

No - for the first few months and more so when I upped a dose, I felt nauseous in the mornings until I had had a cup of tea and was actually sick a few times but I don’t get this now. I was also really tired to start with.

I would have had half a packet of crisps, 4 months in, 4 stone down. To be fair though I would have bought nothing.

Losing weight in certain areas is person specific and not down to Ozempic or any other weight loss method.

To answer another's question - no I don't feel nauseous all the time. I do sometimes. Maybe a feeling of sickness every couple of days but most of the time I just feel normal (well as normal as I was before!)

I'm really interested in Ozempic but haven't tried. Is it a private prescription or online and do you inform GP? It sounds so effective. Having recently obtained a life changing prescription for something after decades of being given drugs that didn't help me and made things worse, I'm feeling a bit disillusioned and a bit let down with my healthcare. Keen to find out more, any info appreciated.

In M&S I would choose a grain salad with feta for example and an apple. That would be because I was trying to be healthy but it would fill me up.

Are any of you type 2 diabetic using it to help you manage your blood sugar. If not have you had a medical professional explain that once you stop it you're likely to put the weight back on again. It also affects your kidneys and I can't have it for diabetic control as my diabetes has damaged my kidneys.

It's awful that it's available on private prescription when the people it's aimed at cannot get it for its primary purpose.

Can you start your own threads about this and then I might discuss it with you. These opinions have been well discussed on other threads already and the OP is asking something specific which is what this thread is about.

Well for me I have a hormone imbalance, which this drug is helping. Would you spew your nonsense on threads about HRT, depression, thyroid illness? Off you pop now x

How sad you feel the need to comment negatively on something that is helping people. The understanding around obesity is changing. Go and educate yourself before making stupid comments.

Thanks.
I believe it’s being prioritized for diabetics now. Also it’s a relatively new drug for diabetics they still obviously have their traditional medicines like metformin. My parents are both diabetic and late 70’s and have been offered it but both declined as their diabetes is well controlled with metformin. (They’re overweight but not obese).

Also I think it’s very unsympathetic to say ‘resort’ to a drug when often the people have taken it have been on a diet or tried to diet for years. What if we find overweight people become so as our environment and natural hormone profile predisposes them to it? I don’t know why obesity is the last taboo where people are blamed for it.

I had a respite from thinking about food when I got a stomach bug at Christmas and it was a bit of a revalation but since then it’s just the same. Thinking about food, emotional eating, weekend ‘treats.’ It’s a shame and gets me down.
i’m still nursing my baby but when finished I’ll give myself a bit of time getting back to an exercise regime I think if it doesn’t work I’ll have to give it a go!