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Losing weight is a difficult process that can come with a lot of stress, and it can really take a toll on the body. Ozempic can help eliminate a chunk of that stress by making you lose weight faster than ever before, but your body will still wind up going through some things. Rapid weight loss can lead to some side effects despite all the benefits it brings, and one of those side effects is skin related. When rapid weight loss occurs, some skin may be left hanging a little loose, which is a phenomenon sometimes known as “Ozempic butt.”
When you’re losing weight, the last thing you want to deal with is sagging skin, but that can be the reality of the weight loss process. Nothing really comes without drawbacks, and one of the realities of losing a bunch of weight within a short period of time is that you are likely to have sagging skin. This may or may not happen depending on how much weight you have to lose, but if it does happen, all that you need to know about it is right here.
What Is Ozempic?
Ozempic is a drug prescribed for diabetes and for weight loss. It regulates blood sugar levels in the body, and through that process, also makes the stomach feel full, leading to weight loss over time. And for people with high BMIs, Ozempic helps them lose weight. Ozempic is taken at home as a once-weekly injection. It comes in a small pen that fits easily in anyone’s hand, and just to make sure you know what you’re doing, the doctor who prescribes it should give you a demonstration. Ozempic can only be given out in a prescription once you fit the right criteria for one.
The active ingredient in Ozempic is called semaglutide. Semaglutide is a substance in the body that makes the pancreas produce insulin to control blood sugar. So when the pancreas isn’t producing enough insulin, taking Ozempic can help make it function again. Through altering the way the organs function, semaglutide also suppresses the appetite, which causes a lot of weight loss. This potential for significant weight loss is the reason this drug is causing so much buzz.
Ozempic was approved by the FDA in 2017, and ever since then it has been everywhere. It has been featured in TV and magazine ads all over, and is popular among celebrities whether it's being used openly or only rumored. It is a lot more effective than the average weight loss drug, and saves anyone who uses it significant time and effort on the endeavor.
All you need to do to properly use Ozempic is to administer a weekly dose to yourself at home. You will need to inject it underneath your skin, and you will need to switch up that injection spot each day to avoid any irritation. It is best to switch between different areas of the thighs, the arms, and the abdomen. The abdomen is the ideal injection spot, but the other locations are next best.
How Exactly Does Ozempic Work?
Ozempic works as a glucagon-like peptide. Glucagon-like-peptides are also known as GLP-1 and it replaces a function that the GLP-1 present in the body no longer does. Ozempic is a GLP-1 agonist, and it works by replacing the body’s natural GLP-1 hormone in order to promote insulin production in the pancreas. It causes the pancreas to secrete more insulin to control the body’s blood sugar levels, which keeps blood sugar steady. And as it lowers your chances of a heart attack, stroke, or high blood sugar, it also lowers the appetite. A lowered appetite is the reason for all the weight loss people experience on Ozempic.
Ozempic lowers the appetite by making the user feel full on a lot less food than usual. Whereas before Ozempic, a person might have been able to eat a whole fast food meal and have room for later, on Ozempic, eating so much wouldn’t be possible. A person might feel full before they would even like to, and will have to get used to eating much smaller portions. One way that Ozempic makes a person feel prematurely full is by raising the hormone levels in the body and sending fullness signals to the brain. Ozempic also works to slow down the digestion process. And the longer the food takes to empty from your stomach, the longer you will feel full.
Ozempic’s Side Effects
Ozempic can come with a list of side effects that can have an impact on your body. These side effects can come on as one or several side effects and can range from mild to severe. Some potential side effects happen to be rare, and some are quite common and can affect a large number of those who take Ozempic. The most common side effects users experience involve nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, and constipation. These symptoms most often happen at the beginning of treatment and then usually stop after a few weeks as your body adjusts to the medication. You are also more likely to experience these symptoms whenever you up your dosage or overeat.
Other side effects of Ozempic include dizziness, fatigue, and low blood sugar. Low blood sugar is what can cause the other symptoms like fatigue and dizziness, but it isn’t exactly a likely symptom. It can happen if you don’t manage to get enough food in your system, and it can be reversed by watching what you eat to maintain proper blood sugar levels. One potential Ozempic side effect that is potentially serious but very rare is thyroid cancer. People with a history of thyroid cancer are most at risk for this side effect, and if that isn’t you, you likely don’t have to worry about that.
Another unlikely symptom of Ozempic can be malnutrition. While it is unlikely, it is a symptom that you should look out for nonetheless. Since Ozempic makes you lose a lot of your appetite, it could cause you to eat a whole lot less than you should, leading to malnutrition over time. This issue can be avoided as long as you make sure to get all the nutrients you need each day even if it is in smaller doses. While all these side effects can be felt but not really seen, some of Ozempic’s side effects can be quite visible, especially when they affect your skin.
How Does Ozempic Affect the Skin?
The side effects of Ozempic that people notice most in the beginning of treatment are dietary ones, but towards the end of treatment, some people may experience some skin related side effects. Those skin related effects involve loose and saggy skin. It is a cause of losing a significant amount of weight within a short period of time, but it is not something that everyone who uses Ozempic will deal with. Because of the visible effects Ozempic can have on the skin of your backside, this side effect has earned the moniker “Ozempic butt.”
What Is “Ozempic Butt”?
“Ozempic butt” is known that way because the backside is one of the primary parts of the body to be affected by sagging in many people with this side effect. This happens because of the rapid weight loss Ozempic brings about, and because of the larger amounts of fat stored on the backside over other parts of the body. If you had a larger backside before the weight loss, you are more likely to deal with “Ozempic butt” over someone with a smaller backside. The places in your body where you hold the most weight are the most likely to sag, and that is why this side effect also has other nicknames like “Ozempic face.”
Though “Ozempic butt” is a very possible side effect, there are ways you can potentially minimize it or address it after weight loss. You don’t have to deal with sagging skin for good just because it happened as a result of your treatment. How much your skin sags after losing weight on Ozempic will depend on how much weight you lose, and how quickly you lose it, so it can happen anywhere from the face to the legs and even the arms. This can happen anywhere your body holds the most fat, but it definitely doesn’t have to be permanent. Keep reading for preventative measures and solutions.
Can You Prevent “Ozempic Butt”?
“Ozempic butt” might not be completely avoidable based on your size, but you can take a few measures to prevent or minimize its effects. The main things you will have to do is maintain a healthy diet and do muscle building exercises like strength training.
Maintain A Healthy Diet
One big thing you can do to avoid overly saggy skin is maintain a healthy diet. This might have already been something you struggled to work at, but when you are on Ozempic you will have to work on your diet from a different angle. Instead of worrying about getting too many calories, you will need to avoid getting too few calories when you take Ozempic since it will lower your appetite. The sagging skin known as “Ozempic butt” is more likely to show up the quicker you lose weight, so don’t let your loss of appetite lead you to consume too little calories. Make sure you eat enough to keep your weight loss process slow and steady.
Strength Training
Another way to prevent sagging skin when losing weight on Ozempic is strength training. As your body loses fat, your skin will get looser, but you can always replace that fat with some muscle. Growing muscle in certain areas can lessen any potential loose skin effects. It can fill your skin out a little bit in some cases, and even fill it out firmly in others. You will never fully know how much it helps you until you try it, so make sure to strength train and keep the skin on your butt and everywhere else a bit more firm.
Can You Fix “Ozempic Butt”?
So what happens if your skin has already begun sagging? Is there any way to fix it? There are certainly ways to fix loose and saggy skin, and that can depend on your ending weight versus your starting point. Some people will be able to prevent a little bit of sag with healthy eating and some weight training, but for people with significantly more weight to lose, sagging skin can be inevitable. If you can’t prevent saggy skin, you can do something about it after the fact. Here are your options:
Surgery
Loose skin can be impossible to fix without using invasive means depending on the volume of it. When you have a certain amount of loose skin, you may wind up needing surgery to fix it. If you can’t possibly grow enough muscle to fit into the space, surgery might be your only option to get rid of the excess. The main type of surgery used to get rid of loose skin is called a skin excision. Though depending on the severity of your loose skin, you could try other surgical options to get rid of it. You can always try fillers or implants in some cases, and all you will need to do is find out if you are a good candidate to try those options.
Dr. Emil’s Multi Collagen Plus offers five types of collagen that each do something different for the skin. It is the perfect supplement to add to your diet to help keep your skin healthy and firm during your Ozempic treatment. Your skin, hair, nails, and joints will all be healthier over time.
“Ozempic butt” can be a side effect of Ozempic depending on a few factors, but no matter how severe the effects, there are steps you can take to prevent or reverse it. Loose skin can feel like a burden to carry around, and thanks to the options available to you, you don’t have to do it for very long.
