He missed his comfort zone. An author who says he lost 42 pounds on Ozempic is sharing the “one risk” that he “didn’t see coming” — the psychological effect. “For the first six months I was taking the drug, I was getting what I wanted — I was losing loads of weight, my back pain went away, all sorts of good things happened,” journalist Johann Hari told Today.
com last week. “But I didn’t actually feel better in my emotions. If anything, I felt slightly worse,” Hari went on.
“I realized it was about my inability to comfort eat, and how bad that was making me feel.” Hari recounts the highs and lows of taking Ozempic in his new book, “ Magic Pill: The Extraordinary Benefits and Disturbing Risks of the New Weight-Loss Drugs .” Hari began taking the injectable medication last year when when he reached 32% body fat and was weary of his family history of heart disease — and he eventually lost 42 pounds with Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy.
Semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — mimics GLP-1, the hormone the body naturally produces after eating, so that users feel fuller for longer. While he was thrilled with the results, Hari was alarmed by the psychological ramifications of the prescription medication. His drastically reduced appetite compromised his ability to use food as a coping mechanism.
“I realized how much of my eating was about the need to comfort myself — stuffing myself to calm myself. And I couldn’t do th.