The men who swear by Ozempic: They say it's changed their lives as the weight falls off... and there is one unexpected bonus side effect

As head of a digital marketing company with a turnover of £3million a year, Ben Austin has an enviable lifestyle, enjoying frequent foreign travel and dining in Michelin-starred restaurants.

Until recently, those gourmet trips to the likes of Las Vegas or Sydney, where he indulged in his love of fine food, wine and sugary cocktails, meant an inevitable weight gain followed by months on a gruelling crash diet trying to lose it.

But then, a year ago, he discovered the much-vaunted drug Ozempic.

Originally a diabetes medication, Ozempic is now being sold privately for weight loss. Ben, 43, began injecting it – and has lost a whopping three-and-a-half stone. Better still, he hasn’t felt even a teeny bit deprived.

‘It was amazing, the weight just fell off,’ says Ben, smiling as if he too struggles to believe it could have been so easy.

David Reed, a painter and decorator from Eastbourne, East Sussex, who is married with two children, weighed 23 stone. At 6ft, that meant a BMI of 41, making him morbidly obese

With a weight loss of six stone in a year, it’s proven to be a ‘miracle cure’ for David

‘At the start, I was consuming fewer than 1,000 calories a day [the recommended intake for a man is 2,500] and not even trying.

‘Before I started the treatment, I’d order three-course meals in restaurants, plus a couple of glasses of wine. At home in the evenings, I couldn’t resist snacking on crisps, biscuits and chocolate, but I’m just not interested in over-eating more.’

It turns out Ben, who’s fought a lifelong battle with his weight but has no health problems, is in illustrious company. Billionaire Elon Musk and TV maverick Jeremy Clarkson happily admit to being devotees of this the new secret weapon for staying slim in middle age. And in his first column for this newspaper, the former Prime Minister Boris Johnson wrote of his own rather more mixed experience with the ‘wonder drug’, which he tried after seeing members of the Cabinet visibly shrink on it.

Indeed, it seems men are especially embracing Ozempic – one of the brand names, alongside Wegovy and Rybelsus, of the drug semaglutide, an insulin-stimulating hormone released by the body when we eat, which reduces hunger by making us feel full.

The appeal of the drug to men in particular has become something of a talking point. ‘I’ve never seen people lose as much weight, as fast, as they do on Ozempic,’ wrote Piers Morgan’s wife Celia Walden. ‘At a recent dinner party, I looked around the table trying to work out what was jarring before realising that while the women looked perfectly normal, every man there looked like a deflated balloon.’

While her own husband lost a stone last year the old-fashioned way, men ‘like the straightforwardness of a drug that simply stops you from feeling hungry’, she surmised.

Produced by pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, Semaglutide is not a new medicine – it has been prescribed to treat diabetes and clinical obesity for more than a decade.

What’s new is the way it is being bought privately as the go-to diet drug by people who do not meet current NHS prescription criteria – a BMI of more than 35 and a weight-related disease like diabetes – but are attracted instead by the stories of large and rapid weight loss.

At 6ft tall and weighing 16st 3lbs, Ben had a BMI of 30 (the healthy range is 18 to 25), which means he has to pay for his Ozempic supply. It costs him £500 for three-months’ worth, not within everyone’s budget, but less than he would have otherwise spent on fancy dinners and wine.

The drug has certainly been worth it for him, he says. He has lost six inches from his waist, and is now wearing a size 30 as opposed to a 36. He hasn’t fallen victim to so-called ‘Ozempic face’ — the deflated balloon look that leaves men looking suddenly older overnight, with hollowed-out cheeks and wobbly jowls. On the contrary: ‘My face used to be round and now I’ve got definition to it,’ he says. ‘Far from making me look older, I’d say I look a good 10 years younger.’

It was his wife, Louise, 41, with whom he runs digital marketing company, Absolute.Digital from their home in Essex and their pied-a-terre in west London, who first suggested he try Ozempic.

‘I haven’t got time for the gym and I don’t like it anyway, so this seemed like a bit of a miracle solution. I went for a consultation at a private clinic, where they checked my weight, height and blood pressure before prescribing.’

Ozempic is injected into the flesh of the stomach once a week, which at first put him off. However, the needle turned out to be tiny and the process painless so, delighted with the impact on his appetite and waistline, Ben increased his dose from 0.25mg, to 0.5mg and finally to 1mg on a doctor’s advice.

Today his weight is 12st 9lbs, and his BMI sits at 24, which is in the healthy range, though he plans to stay on semaglutide until he loses ‘a couple more pounds’.

While Ben previously cleared his plate at every mealtime, on Ozempic he has nothing but a cappuccino and a glass of orange juice until lunchtime when he scrambles a couple of eggs and eats them on a Warburton thin. At dinner time he is satisfied with a couple of baked chicken legs or a small portion of spaghetti bolognese.

Adam Sharples, 48, has been on the drug for 18 months. He found it a more effective treatment for his diabetes than any other medication he had been prescribed over ten years

Adam was 20 stone – now down to 18 – when he started taking Ozempic which at 5ft 11ins tall meant a BMI of 39, just one point off being morbidly obese

He and Louise still enjoy dining out a couple of times a week, but instead of polishing off three courses, followed by cheese, Ben feels satiated by a main course – and is as happy drinking water as wine.

‘It just removed that craving to eat for the sake of it,’ he says. ‘I now feel like one of those people who literally only eat when they’re hungry, not because they like the look of food. Those people used to baffle me.

‘If I drink wine at all I’ll stick to one glass and, if I’m honest, I don’t really ever fancy that as my desire for alcohol seems to have disappeared too.’

Ben’s new-found aversion to booze is, anecdotally at least, a recognised side effect of semaglutide.

Several clinical trials are currently under way to see if it could help patients struggling with compulsive behaviour, following reports from patients who have lost interest in drinking alcohol, smoking, and even nail-biting while on the drug.

But what about the loss of pleasure that so many of us derive from eating and drinking? Ben has a solution to that too. On holiday in Dubai, he decided to reduce his dose of Ozempic to 0.5mg so that his appetite wasn’t completely spoilt.

‘There was lots of delicious food available and I celebrated my birthday while we were away so I wanted to be able to enjoy it,’ says Ben. ‘However, I wasn’t worrying about putting on weight and having to crash diet when I got back because I knew I could just increase my dose up to 1mg and it’d fall off.’

For a long time before discovering Ozempic, Ben spent six months of the year on a strict calorie-controlled regime having a month’s worth of pre-prepared meals and snacks delivered by Diet Chef, at a cost of £320 a month.

Karin Conde-Knape, Novo Nordisk’s senior vice president of global drug discovery, said: ‘Ozempic is not a licensed option for weight management’

‘From January to late May I’d eat nothing but Diet Chef food and lose about 2st 7lbs. Then I’d enjoy eating what I liked for the next seven months and put it all back on — before starting the process again,’ says Ben.

‘But the diet food is bland and you’re always hungry, so it’s a hard slog. I’d get the shakes from lack of sugar at the start and when I went out with friends for dinner I’d have to stick to soup, which was miserable.

‘My weight yo-yos such a lot that I have two separate wardrobes, one for when I’m skinny, the other for when I’m big, but I’m hoping Ozempic, which I think of as liquid gold, will mean I’ll never again need the big clothes.’

It’s here, in fact, that Ozempic loses its ‘miracle’ status, since it can’t help with the yo-yo-ing unless you stay on it all the time. Once off the medication, Ben is highly likely to put the weight back on, according to Karin Conde-Knape, Novo Nordisk’s senior vice president of global drug discovery.

In an interview, last year, she said most people will regain 50 per cent of what they have lost after two to three years, and most of the weight within five years of stopping an obesity drug.

The company is also keen to make clear that doctors prescribing Ozempic for weight control are doing so ‘off label’ — for a condition other than that for which it has been officially approved.

‘Ozempic (semaglutide) is a prescription-only medicine indicated for the treatment of adults with insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus, as an adjunct to diet and exercise,’ she said. ‘Ozempic is not a licensed option for weight management.’

Ben intends to move onto another brand, Wegovy, when he next gets a prescription, as there are now shortages of Ozempic. Once he loses a few more pounds he plans to stop the injections altogether, although he would be tempted to take a low-maintenance dose, if the specialist says that’s an option.

‘Otherwise, if my weight creeps back up to 14 stone, I’ll definitely ask for another prescription,’ he says. ‘Hopefully there won’t be any long-term side effects.’

According to Dr Samantha Miller of the charity Drug Helpline, close medical supervision of those taking it is essential. ‘No drug is entirely safe,’ says Dr Miller. ‘Side effects of Ozempic include gastrointestinal disturbance, pancreatitis, diarrhoea and, in rare cases, life-threatening diabetic ketoacidosis (when the body has insufficient insulin to allow blood sugar into the cells to use as energy).’

Dr Miller is also concerned that the rise in private prescriptions for weight loss is starting to cause a shortage for diabetics who rely on the drug. Indeed, earlier this year the NHS issued a national patient safety alert warning of global Semaglutide shortages because people are using Ozempic for weight loss. Diabetics have been offered a different brand in tablet form instead and healthcare providers have been urged not to dish out the drugs for obesity.

Adam Sharples, 48, is one of those who has struggled to find Ozempic this past year. On the drug for 18 months, he found it a more effective treatment for his diabetes than any other medication he had been prescribed over the ten years since his diagnosis. He also lost a stone-and-a-half in weight.

However, when he went to fill his prescription last spring, the pharmacist said it was unavailable.

‘I was prescribed an alternative, Rybelsus, in tablet form, but wasn’t able to source that either, so have been on Trulicity, an injectable, for a few months,’ says Adam.

According to clinical trial results, those taking Ozempic experience more than double the weight loss of patients on Trulicity and Adam has shed only another half stone since moving onto it.

He was 20 stone – now down to 18 – when he started taking Ozempic which, at 5ft 11ins tall, meant a BMI of 39, just one point off being morbidly obese.

A 1mg dose left Adam, a project manager from Bury, Greater Manchester, with blurred vision and nausea so his doctor reduced the prescription to 0.5mg which he tolerated without any unpleasant side effects.

‘It completely changes your attitude to food,’ he says. ‘I’m sure that one reason these drugs are so effective at controlling my diabetes is that I’m eating fewer carbohydrate-rich foods.’

Last year Rishi Sunak announced controversial plans to make the drug more widely available to people via their GPs rather than specialist weight clinics, which is where NHS prescriptions are currently handed out.

David Reed, 44, who discovered Ozempic after a life-long battle with his weight, thinks that’s certainly the right move – if supplies of the drug can be maintained.

With a weight loss of six stone in a year, it’s proven to be a ‘miracle cure’ for him. At his heaviest, David, a painter and decorator from Eastbourne, East Sussex, who is married with two children, weighed 23 stone. At 6ft, that meant a BMI of 41, making him morbidly obese.

‘I’ve been overweight since my teenage years and the main reason, if I’m honest, is greed,’ he says, candidly. ‘But Ozempic has taken away my desire for food. I don’t feel full up, I’m simply disinterested in eating.’

Since taking the drug, which he orders online, David has been content with a natural yoghurt for breakfast, cheese and bread for lunch and a steak with green beans for dinner.

Now 17 stone, he is hoping to stay on it until he gets down to 16 stone, despite the £190-a-month private prescription cost.

‘I do worry that when I stop the weight will pile back on – when I reduce the dose I notice my appetite comes back and I remember how hard it is, using willpower alone, not to over-indulge,’ he says. ‘My family, who are very supportive, are astonished by the change in me. I’m just very grateful. Being obese leads to significant health problems but also psychological issues, including shame.

‘In my view, Ozempic should be available on the NHS for weight loss, not for cosmetic purposes but to prevent illness and give people who struggle with obesity a better quality of life.’

Additional reporting by Gwyneth Rees