Can Semaglutide Shot Help With Weight Loss?

Nearly 40% of adults worldwide are overweight while 13% are obese. These rates have almost tripled since the 1970s. In the United States, the rates are even more staggering. Around 43% of adults in the U.S. are overweight while 31% are obese.

Being overweight or obese isn’t about the number on the scale or society’s perception of beauty and fitness. These health issues can raise your risk for many other health issues or worsen the ones you’re already living with. These include health issues such as:

Hypertension (high blood pressure)
Hyperlipidemia (high cholesterol)
Stroke
Type 2 diabetes
Certain cancers

It’s no surprise then that people keep looking for the best way to lose weight and keep it off. Compelling evidence suggests that shots of semaglutide may help with these global and still-rising health issues. Keep reading to find out what this medication might do to support your weight-loss goals.

What is semaglutide?

Semaglutide is a drug that mimics glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a naturally occurring hormone that acts on appetite centers in the brain and gut. It belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists, which have previously been used to treat type 2 diabetes in adults.

These agonists tell your brain to perform the same action as the GLP-1 hormone. They also support metabolic and heart health in other ways, including lowering blood pressure and total cholesterol.

How does it help you lose weight?

GLP-1 agonists help you feel full faster during meals and less hungry between them. You’ll be more likely to eat smaller portion sizes no matter how often you eat. It achieves this by acting on parts of your brain that regulate appetite and slow gastric emptying (how quickly food leaves your stomach).

Semaglutide also helps stimulate the release of the hormone insulin from the pancreas. Along with keeping blood glucose levels balanced, insulin helps break down nutrients — such as fats, carbohydrates, and proteins — for energy.

This weight-loss medicine has also been shown to reduce food cravings. Managing your hunger and cravings means you’re more likely to have better control over how much you eat, thereby helping you lose weight faster.

How does it complement lifestyle changes?

The first steps to take when trying to reach and maintain a healthy weight usually involve changes to your lifestyle habits such as:

Eating healthy, nutrient-dense foods
Staying mindful of why, what, when, and how much you eat
Getting enough moderate-to-vigorous exercise
Getting 7 to 9 hours of restful sleep
Easing stress in healthy ways that work for you

When to add it to weight-loss plan

When willpower and lifestyle changes aren’t enough to get to a healthy weight, adding a weight-loss medicine to the plan may be a more effective means of losing weight. And semaglutide may be the most effective weight-loss drug of them all, according to a recent systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) published in the Lancet.

These results back up earlier findings reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. In this double-blind RCT involving nearly 2,000 adults, participants lost almost 15% of their body weight when semaglutide was part of their weight-loss strategy. More than a third lost greater than 20% of their weight.

Another study published in JAMA also upheld these findings. In this 68-week RCT, semaglutide went toe-to-toe with its GLP-1 agonist sibling liraglutide (Saxenda). Participants given a weekly dose of semaglutide dropped close to 16% of their body weight. Those given a daily dose of liraglutide lost a little more than 6%.

Participants given semaglutide also saw more significant reductions in:

Waist size
Diastolic BP (lower number in BP measurement)
Total cholesterol
Triglycerides
Fasting blood glucose
C-reactive protein (made by the liver in response to inflammation)

Who can take this weight-loss medicine

Your healthcare provider may prescribe semaglutide if you:

Are obese with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 30 kg/m²
Or are overweight with a BMI of at least 27 kg/m²
And have a weight-related health condition, such as type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure or cholesterol

How is this weight-loss drug taken?

Wegovy is the brand name for the injectable form of the drug sold in the U.S. You inject it once a week subcutaneously (into the layer of fat between your skin and muscle).

Rybelsus is the brand name for the oral form of the drug sold in the U.S. But it’s only approved for use in the country to treat type 2 diabetes. An oral form of semaglutide for weight loss is being developed.

Does it have side effects?

The drug can result in hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in people with type 2 diabetes. Other common side effects of semaglutide include:

Abdominal distention (swelling)
Abdominal pain
Belching
Constipation
Diarrhea
Dizziness
Fatigue
Flatulence
Gastroenteritis (intestinal infection)
Gastroesophageal reflux disease (digestive disorder)
Headache
Indigestion
Nausea

And because semaglutide delays gastric emptying, the drug may affect how well the body absorbs other oral medicines you take.

Semaglutide should not be combined with products that use the drug in its formula or other GLP-1 receptor agonists. It’s also important not to use it with other over-the-counter (OTC) or prescription products or drugs for weight loss. These include herbal aids and other OTC weight-loss supplements.

Why does it carry a box warning?

The drug also carries the FDA’s black box warning on its label, which alerts the public and healthcare providers to serious or life-threatening risks tied to the drug. Taking semaglutide may raise your risk for thyroid tumors and cancer.

The drug also carries this warning due to potential risk for:

Acute kidney injury
Diabetic retinopathy (eye retina damage)
Gallstones and other gallbladder problems
Increased heart rate
Pancreatitis (inflammation of the pancreas)
Suicidal thoughts and actions

Is this weight-loss medicine covered by insurance?

Semaglutide comes with a hefty price tag. Although the drug may be covered by some insurers as a treatment for diabetes, most don’t cover it for the purpose of weight loss. Such is also the case for many obesity treatments currently on the market.

The retail price can run upwards of $1,500, give or take, for a month’s supply. There isn’t a generic version, given that it’s newly on the market for weight loss.

Bear in mind that semaglutide is for chronic weight management. This means you likely need to keep taking it, possibly for a lifetime, to keep the excess weight from coming back.

Although the price is steep, the manufacturer offers a co-pay card or up to $500 off per 28-day supply to help offset the out-of-pocket costs.

Can other medicines be prescribed for weight loss?

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved four other weight-loss drugs. These include:

Phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia)
Orlistat (Xenical)
Naltrexone-bupropion (Contrave)
Liraglutide (Saxenda)

The FDA recalled its previous approval of lorcaserin (Belviq) in early 2020 due to its increased risk of cancer.

The bottom line

Semaglutide is a prescription weight-loss medicine that helps control your appetite and helps you feel fuller faster and for longer periods. A weekly dose of the drug helps you feel less hungry and lessens cravings, helping you to eat less throughout your day.

Nausea, diarrhea, and other digestive issues are among its common side effects. But the drug also carries serious and potentially life-threatening risks, including thyroid tumors and cancer.

Only an injectable form of the weight-loss drug is currently available, but an oral form of it is in the works. The drug can be prescribed for adults who are overweight or obese and have another weight-related medical condition.

Despite the strong evidence supporting semaglutide’s effectiveness as a weight-loss drug, the out-of-pocket cost may prohibit most people from using it.

Discuss your weight-loss goals with your healthcare provider. They can let you know whether semaglutide is safe and appropriate for you to take. They can also let you know whether the weight-loss medicine is covered by your health insurance or what the out-of-pocket cost may be at your local or preferred pharmacy.