Why almost 80% of my patients are quietly quitting Ozempic
Are weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Tirzepatide truly miracle cures? In this in-depth video, Dr. Jason Fung breaks past the media hype to examine real-world data, including cohort studies from JAMA and Blue Cross Blue Shield (BHI), revealing a side of modern weight-loss treatments that few are talking about.
While clinical trials paint a glowing picture, real-world statistics tell a different story: a massive percentage of patients—ranging from 60% to nearly 80%—stop taking these medications within one to two years. But why are millions of people walking away from a drug that promised them results?
Dr. Jason Fung uncovers the three major hidden problems with modern obesity drugs that explain why patients ultimately throw in the towel. From the shocking drop-off in long-term persistence and the subtle erosion of life’s greatest daily pleasures to the frustrating reality that these drugs simply stop working over time, this video exposes the true cost of GLP-1 therapy.
📌 In This Video, You Will Discover:
● The Real-World Data: Why up to 80% of patients discontinue Ozempic and similar GLP-1 agonists despite having insurance coverage.
● The Quality of Life Dilemma: How suppressing appetite often strips away the joy of eating, socializing, and celebrating milestones.
● The Plateau Effect: Why weight loss quickly halts after 6 to 9 months as the body adapts and energy expenditure decreases.
● The Long-Term Trap: Why simply telling patients to "take it forever" ignores human nature, clinical economics, and patient well-being.
Whether you are considering these medications, currently on a weight-loss journey, or looking for sustainable, natural alternatives to health and fasting, this analysis provides the crucial insights you need.
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⏱️ Video Chapters (Timestamps):
00:00 The 3 Big Problems With Ozempic
00:32 Ozempic and the History of Weight Loss Drugs
01:55 Why Weight Loss Drugs Often Fail Long-Term
02:48 Ozempic: Benefits, Risks and the Weight Loss Hype
03:22 Why People Stop Taking Ozempic
04:01 What Happens When You Stop Ozempic?
04:53 Ozempic Discontinuation: 54% Stop Within One Year
05:30 Real-World GLP-1 Weight Loss Drug Data
06:29 Why People Really Stop Taking Ozempic
07:00 How Ozempic Changes Hunger and Food Pleasure
08:06 “Life Just Goes Beige” — The Hidden Cost of Ozempic
08:35 Ozempic and Quality of Life
09:00 Obesity Drugs, Side Effects and Quality of Life
10:18 Why Ozempic May Stop Working Over Time
11:01 Ozempic, Semaglutide and Tirzepatide Weight Loss Plateau
11:50 Why Weight Loss Plateaus After 6–12 Months
12:42 The Real Problem With Ozempic
13:31 The 3 Major Problems With Ozempic Explained
14:01 Is Ozempic Worth It? Final Thoughts
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📌 YouTube Medical Lectures (for specialist physicians):
▶️ The Roots of the Obesity Epidemic: https: // • The Obesity Epidemic, Explained
▶️ Therapeutic Fasting – The Two Compartment Problem:https: // • Fasting and Weight Loss – Solving the…
▶️ Does Calorie Counting work?: • Why Calorie Counting rarely leads to …
▶️ Two Big Lies of Type 2 Diabetes: • Two Big Lies about Type 2 Diabetes
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There’s no biological free lunch.
Agree 😊
Actually there is, but you have to be aware of food that you eat. There is no reason you can’t enjoy food and lose weight at the same time. You just have to know which food to eat, and which to avoid. It is that simple.
@markojerbic6128 I think he was referring to drug type fixes
It’s not a free lunch. It’s less calories in so less calories stockpiled.
Yes there is – fasting
I’m too scared of those drugs. I’m into fasting. My current problem is finding a dopamine high other than ultra processed foods.
nature. doing something hard. dopamine guaranteed at the end.
@peabeam6231you mean chopping wood for example? What do you do?
Go to a festival out in nature and dance it off! Dopamine therapy right there
this is what I struggle with too. I do 4 day water fasts and I get bored by day 3
I can relate and I’m usually good till it gets dark. For harder when I quit smoking but I’m going to overcome my late night ultra processed food addiction
Currently on my 5th month of Zepbound… I noticed the waves of “beige” or apathy but it should not be a reason to quit if you truly need to lose weight for your health. I found that feeling to almost completely go away with regular exercise. As well, it made me realize how “high” I would get from eating or even anticipating meals or alcoholic drinks. Almost like a junkie. It feels so good to be coherent and moderate in my habits now.
That apathy could be the dose is too high or wait till your body adjusts to the meds.
Quit eating those carbs , processed or not! It will control your Blood sugars thus your insulin resistance. Replace with healthy fats and proteins, lots of electrolytes. I learned how to do keto, lost 45 lbs wo trying, my A1C went normal and everything normalized in six months to a year. You want something sweet?, we have sweets, just not the way you have learned it. Keto and carnivore is the way to health, the weight loss is a side effect lol. Millions of us can tell you the same. Millions world wide. Carbs is your killer. The food market would collapse wo them. Check out the aisles everything is carbs and sugars, and dyes, and chemicals.
My friend a male nurse for 30yrs did Ozempic, he’s 6 2, lost 80lbs, had to have his gallbladder removed, which graduated to his digestive system quitting, everything he ate tasted like vomit, he has the water runs, no more digestion, now a clot in his thigh that traveled to his lung, and last I heard he’s on a feeding tube. Be fat, although it has its own diseases attached, stop the carbs, they are NOT your friend and watch your health return. But it is a life style, if you live it, you will love it, I won’t ever go back. It’s so simple. I’m 70!! My bp excellent, A1C is 4.7-4.9, no more neuropathy in feet and hands, heart is good, good cholesterol, excellent kidney function, no damage to eyes, and much more.
Exactly.
@AnneMorrison-s6gCarnivore is horrible for your long term health and even worse for the planet. Whole food yes, meat should be slim to none.
This is why, though I would eligible for GLP1’s, the thought of gaining back the weight with no long term chance of keeping it off without medication, is just too much for my emotional well being associated with weight. I’d rather just improve my diet and not be forced to take a drug for the rest of my life.
I’m either on BP meds forever or GLP-1 forever.
I’d rather titrate down to a low dose of GLP and be thin
@tadsgirl if your high BP is caused by your weight, then that is a false choice. That said, you make your decisions.
P.S. I have close family that had BP over 200 mmHg (sys), got it down to a safe range (under 140) in a week after ditching carbohydrates and alcohol
It’s too expensive. People can’t afford to take it forever.
I’m surprised he didn’t mention that!
@marygrott8095 He did mention it at the start. But he dismissed it because most people get it with private insurance, because somehow he believes that private insurance makes it cheap.
it’s free here in Canada if you’re have type 2 diabetes. Covered by government plans
I wonder if that 80% number includes people who switched from the branded meds to the much more reasonably priced compounded meds.
@ThangPlantsSoon to be in Brasil, too 🎉🎉🎉
Cost… it is the cost.
Chatgpt -> 50% about costs
100% it is the cost, I am in Australia and illegal peptides are booming as it is 80% cheaper so people are moving over to that
Grey market. Tirz costs about $7 per month at a 4 mg dose.
@lukejohnson1274 4 mg is way too low, but $7 isn’t bad.
Exactly!!!
Honestly, nothing beats eating whole foods and do a fasting schedule that suits your life style! That is what I have been doing since February this year, and I feel just great!
The randomized controlled trials show semaglutide and tirzepatide obliterate diet and exercise for long term weight loss.
@billyhw99so continue to jab yourself with a Big pharma potion until death and hope that no long-term side affects arise?
@phoenix2112GLP’s have been around for 20 years! If it’s not for you… cool. It is helping millions of people get healthier, save your hate for people harming others
Fasting is different than diet. You can eat absolute garbage, and still see significant weight loss and other health benefits from fasting. Strange but true.
You can even do no exercise whatsoever, and still lose weight and get other health benefits from fasting.
@billyhw99I prefer the natural way. No problems with cravings, no weird chemistry in my food, and feeling just great.
So, what I am learning is that changing my diet and adding in fasting will maintain and even improve quality of life, but also give me the results I want and it will be sustainable. Check!
Yes and you also get to feel successful because you did it.
@tomkoranek1253 so true
but it will also, at times, require more discipline / mental energy from you
And, it’s free!
@Margaret-4321xx yes, it even saves you money (eating less food!).
My cravings for sugar and appetite was greatly diminished for the first few months only, which I found very liberating. I’ve been on tirzepatide for a year. I’ve gradually lost almost all the weight I wanted to lose. I am now at a healthy weight. I’ve had zero side affects and feel so much better. I still have a very good appetite and enjoy eating the same foods I used to eat without put on the weight. Inflammation and joint pain has greatly improved as well. I am hoping with continued use and the addition of BHRT I will reach my premenaupose weight. Whether I put the weight back on after I stop Tirzepatide will probably depend on how well I eat and properly balancing my hormones with BHRT. GLP-1’s can truly help someone that had unsuccessfully tried everything in the past.
Still working for me, 5 years and trizepitide works the same as the first injection. 206 to 116, in maintenance 4 years. No more high BP, no more high cholesterol, edema and inflammation gone, ALC 5. This has been a miracle for me.
❤ love reading this! I’m 5 weeks in, 13lbs down, feeling great on tirzepatide.
Absolutely the same here. The effect on chronic inflammation is profound and started literally few hours after the first dose. I was a huge sceptic of GLP-1 and has been doing fasting for decades (very popular method where I live). Of course it’s not for everyone and especially not for ppl who want to lose 8-10 kg. 😊
I’m glad it worked well for you.
Same!
That’s the problem…It’s a metabolic boon to some, and a nightmare to others. I’m glad it’s working for you!
I started at 425 pounds. I am now 251…strength training, cardio, nutrients tracking, & whole foods…no GLP…I might have taken it, but my insurance sucks lol
“you see from these ads…”
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I’m glad I decided to try intermittent fasting as well as removing the ultra processed foods! In a little less than two months, I’m down 14 pounds! I still have about 30 more to lose, but I’m happy with my progress so far. I’m not hungry in between meals, and I definitely don’t miss the junk food!
Same as you…down 17 pounds from June to now. No counting calories either, IF and single ingredient foods.
Such a better way to go. Good for you!
What about body recomposition? Are you working on that too, Mary?
I lost 30 with intermittent fasting also. 2 years now, I thought it was the easiest and only diet that worked for me. But when I did stop doing it for a week, I did gain weight, so it’s a forever lifestyle.
I followed Jason Fung some ten years ago when he first published his book. IF worked then and a Keto like diet works now.
It has been life changing for me. Even if I didn’t lose weight, it brought my blood pressure, cholesterol, and diabetes under control. Best of all, my arthritis is gone, I can walk pain free which I haven’t done in years. I’ll happily take it for life if I can afford to.
That isn’t what it does.
Diet and exercise would be better.
wow, the power of placebo!
@CoreInterruptmaybe not but I know ALOT of peoplecwho says the same thing as poster did….not alotcof weight loss but quality of life greatly improved
Sé más inteligente, cambia tu alimentación y estilos de vida en general. pero lógicamente las drogas es para la gente que no tiene capacidad racional. Deja de consumir xenobióticos trata de ser alguito inteligente
No one is calling GLP-1s a cure. It is a treatment.
But some people use it as a maintenance. I saw a interview of a doctor that says he might not stop using it himself.
@Moks.22it is used to do maintenance when you’re done that’s what it’s designed for that’s what all of it is made for it’s meant to be on permanently. Not temporarily.
@Moks.22 Exactly, just like I keep taking my blood pressure medicine even though my blood pressure is now in a healthy range. If I stop taking the medicine my blood pressure goes back up. GLP-1s work the same way. They control the disease of obesity. In order to keep obesity under control you have to continue to take the medicine.
The good news is that they are developing “maintenance” specific variations of these drugs. They are also developing more effective weight loss versions. So in the future you will probably be able to use a highly effective with minimal side effects version for semi-rapid weight loss, then switch to an ultra low side effects super effective maintenance drug.
It’s not even just loss of pleasure from food. When I was taking it all I wanted to do was lay in bed, and that’s fine when I’m not busy but when work and life gets busy it’s really hard to keep going
My experience was ideal, 20-25 pounds overweight. Took it for six months, lost it all. Off of it now for two years and haven’t gained it back. I put on one pound a year for 25 years and just got pudgy. Now I’m stable. My biggest takeaway was – self discipline is largely a myth. It’s hard to be self disciplined when you are hungry all the time. It’s easy, so easy, when you’re full after a few bites. Not a wonder drug for all, but it was for me.
That’s awesome! But it’s truly much more of an uphill battle for the obese
that was indeed the ideal
Dr. Fong saying BAH made my day 😂
Agree!
He should do a “20 BAHS from Dr Fung” video.
I know three people who were on Ozempic, two are men, one is a woman. The woman totally lost a ton of weight, looks skinny as a runway model, got Ozempic face 😮. The two men lost a few pounds and quit, gained back the weight plus more. The men both had anhedonia really badly, and they didn’t enjoy their wives or children, or hobbies, or days off, or anything. It wasn’t just the food that they didn’t enjoy anymore 😢
The problem is the cost !!!! We get tired of paying for it
I felt weak and nauseous on Ozempic and lost a lot of muscle mass so I quit and now feel much better.
Same here. I took it for six months and lost about 20 lbs. but was consistently nauseous and weak. I used to lift weights 3-4 times a week and do cardio on the days I didn’t. I actually noticed instead of doing an hour on an elliptical I could barely get thru 30 minutes.