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Ozempic = Weight Loss = Better Health? A Dangerous Oversimplification

What they don’t tell you beforehand: Ozempic-fueled weight cycling is the Frankenstein version of yo-yo dieting

Dr. Lutz Kraushaar

Published in

Read or Die — HQ

12 min readFeb 23, 2025

Image designed by Dr. Lutz E. Kraushaar, integrating elements of AI tool Designer

What’s new?

More than 50% of Ozempic/Wegovy users discontinue their treatments within the first year. Most of them cycle their weight back to pre-treatment levels before reinitiating drug treatment. The media cheerleaders for these drugs ignore the health consequences of repeated weight cycling on these drugs.

Why it matters

The enthusiasm over the Ozempic/Wegovy path to more attractive dress sizes ignores the drugs’ potentially detrimental consequence of a worsening body composition that has sarcopenia and future frailty written all over it.

Your takeaways

a thorough understanding of the benefit/risk profile of GLP1-RA drugs
an 8-item checklist to help you make a better-informed decision about going the Ozempic way.

If It’s Too Good To Be True…

Whenever you can’t figure out who’s having the wool pulled over their eyes, it’s probably you. That applies to politics, business, and almost everything in…

To relay my life and challenges with weight cycling (no Ozembic necessary) would take up too much of your time and is boring, albeit I bet a common tale with women my age (66 yr). But at the risk of boring you, The familial, cultural, societal and…

It’s a shame more studies haven’t been done on women aged 40-60, and more on the psychological side of taking weight loss drugs.

I live in a community where ozempic has sold out repeatedly due to lack of supply because so many people take it as…

Excellent article, Dr. Kraushaar.

I have just completed 40 weeks (and lost 30% of my starting weight!) on an Eli Lilly trial drug, Retatrutide (LY3437943) - the successor, next-generation drug to Tirzepatide (Mounjaro).

For the most part, my…