WEIGHT loss jabs have boomed in popularity, and it seems everyone is trying to get their hands on them – even the fittest of Brits.
A new wave of people turning to the NHS-prescribed jabs – which include Mounjaro and Wegovy – are certain gym goers, who claim they can use them safely for added gains.
Gym goers are reaching for fat jabs to get jacked while staying lean. File picture[/caption]
The popular medicines reduce hunger pangs[/caption]
It may come as a surprise that gym-goers are reaching for a serious medication that helps burn fat, given they are much fitter than the target market.
But those chasing a chiselled physique tell Sun Health that it helps them to reach their goals of a lean, muscular build more easily.
Losing excess fat isn’t only a goal for those with a high BMI. It’s a key part of the process for bodybuilding to look as trim as possible, called “cutting”.
The official drug regulator in the UK (the MHRA) has warned against using weight loss injections like Wegovy and Mounjaro for ‘cosmetic’ reasons, however.
And experts have fiercely warned those who are slim against taking weight loss injections because the side effects and risks are not well studied, and could be amplified due to their lower fat reserves.
Dr Amos Ogunkoya, a GP and sports and exercise specialist, tells Sun Health: “Using weight loss jabs when you already have a low body fat percentage is not a good idea.
“These medications are designed for people living with obesity or diabetes and work by slowing digestion and reducing appetite. If you already have low energy reserves, this can quickly lead to dehydration, fatigue and even muscle loss.
“Side effects like nausea and diarrhoea can also be dangerous if you’re exercising regularly.”
He adds that having low-calorie intake or fat stores for energy can also “cause downstream effects and hormonal issues in both men and women, not to mention mental health issues like depression and anxiety as a result”.
“In short, it’s not a shortcut, it’s a risk,” Dr Amos warns.
What’s more, the growing buzz around weight-loss jabs is a huge concern for eating disorder organisations, who say that for those already obsessed with food and eating behaviours, use of these injections can cause more harm.
Dr Donald Grant, GP and Senior Clinical Advisor at The Independent Pharmacy, says many bodybuilders and the like “are also combining GLP-1s with performance-enhancing drugs and highly restrictive diets, raising concerns over safe usage”.
Dr Donald says: “What’s important to stress is that these medications were never designed for this group and have not been studied in lean bodybuilders. That means the risks and side effects in this population are largely unknown.”
I had no additional cravings. It was a total game-changer.
Dr Michael Israetel
Wegovy, which has the same active ingredient as the diabetes drug Ozempic (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide), are known as GLP-1 antagonist medication.
They help people with diabetes – who were first prescribed the drug – by promoting the release of insulin while suppressing blood sugar levels.
But additionally, the drug reduces hunger by mimicking the natural hormone GLP-1, which makes us feel full, and by delaying the emptying of the stomach.
‘GAME-CHANGER’
For fitness enthusiasts chasing abs and biceps, this may help them achieve low body fat without extreme diet restriction.
Dr Michael Israetel, a competitive bodybuilder with a PhD in Sport Science and 1.2 million followers on Instagram, tells Sun Health: “I wouldn’t be interested in dieting without it (Ozempic) to be honest.
“As long as you eat plenty of protein and train well and don’t crank your calories any lower than will sustain muscle mass, you’re better off taking it than not taking it.
Dr Michael Israetel, a competitive bodybuilder with a PhD in Sport Science, said it was difficult to finish meals when he used GLP-1 to cut excess body fat from his muscular physique[/caption]
Dr Michael says he had ‘no cravings’ and could sleep better using GLP-1[/caption]
“It helped me get about as lean as I usually do, but with less hunger and, the big ticket: way better sleep (because when you eat low
calories to get lean, the hunger can keep you awake or wake you up too early in the AM).
“So, same results, but in less time and with less stress by a long shot.”
Dr Michael said eating his usual foods became a difficult task.
“I went [for sushi] and I ordered only the fish and rice rolls (almost no fat), and ate like half of them, and putting each next piece of sushi into my mouth was like a herculean task!
Microdosing the medication (using smaller than the starting dose) is very useful for gym goers and fitness enthusiasts – it helps cut out food noise and has a very low side effect profile.
Dr Omar Babar
“It was like I started every meal already half-full!”
He also said it helps him to overcome the radical hunger that usually follows a bodybuilding show, which risks undoing all his hard work.
“I had a whole bunch of protein bars with me to eat in the car, and I thought I’d fly through them like usual.
“But a few bars in, I was like, ‘man, I’m totally good to stop here’. I could just stop eating when I was full from a normal amount of food, and I had no additional cravings. It was a total game-changer.”
Bodybuilding has become a highly competitive sport in recent years, and while performance-enhancing drugs are banned, they are still widely used by those seeking perfection.
In September 2023, Mr Olympia competitor Neil Currey was just 34 when he was found unresponsive in his Sheffield flat.
An inquest told how a mixture of methamphetamine and cocaine was in his system, but that he’d also struggled with prolonged steroid abuse – his parents saying that the chemicals had negatively affected his mental health.
While bodybuilder Zak Wilkinson, 32, suffered seizures, vomiting and sweats after spending £35,000 on anabolic steroids over two years.
After being rushed into intensive care and placed in a coma in a Middlesbrough hospital, he told the Mail: “After the coma had ended, one doctor said that he couldn’t believe I was speaking with him because he thought I’d have brain complications for the rest of my life.
“I was so frightened that that could be the end of me.”
ACCESS GRANTED
While gymgoers have been able to access steroids for years, how are those less in need even able to access tightly-controlled ‘obesity‘ medications?
You are only eligible for a prescription for fat jabs on the NHS if your BMI is 30 or higher and you suffer from at least four health conditions, such as high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, heart disease and sleep apnoea.
If you pay privately, you may only need one health-related condition and BMI of 30 to get your hands on them.
However, clinics have been criticised for loopholes that make the application process for weight loss jabs too easy.
Dr Donald says: “I think the biggest concern is that these people are obtaining the medication through illegal means, including black market sites, social media sellers or using other people’s prescriptions.
“This means there is no GP supervision throughout the treatment, making dosing and monitoring symptoms inconsistent and extremely dangerous.”
Plus, relying on BMI as an indication of weight has its limits. BMI cannot distinguish between a person with a lot of muscle, and a person with a lot of fat. Therefore, in theory, a muscular person may fit the criteria for GLP-1 drugs based on their BMI, even though they are not ‘overweight’.
Some clinics may prescribe “off-label” to people who do not meet the criteria listed on the medicine’s official UK license, or in other words, not recommended by the drug manufacturer or the UK’s drug licensing body.
However, this is not illegal and is a common practice within medicine if a doctor’s professional judgement is that a patient will benefit.
It includes the Headland Clinic in Leicester, run by Dr Omar Babar. He claims that, in theory, GLP-1 medications are safe for anyone.
“We have a range of patients using the medication for various purposes,” he tells Sun Health.
“The GLP1 medications are very useful in curbing appetite, reducing cravings, reducing inflammation, helping with peri-menopausal symptoms, etc.”
Crucially, this group of people tend to inject themselves with much smaller doses than the standard, known as ‘microdosing’, which they claim helps ease typical side effects.
Dr Barbar says: “Microdosing the medication (using a smaller than the starting dose) is very useful for gym goers and fitness enthusiasts – it helps cut out food noise and has a very low side effect profile.”
Most people are prescribed a 2.5mg dosage at the start of their weight loss journey, which increases by 2.5mg roughly every two weeks to a month.
Dr Michael says he started on a dose of 0.25mg before increasing to 1mg per week.
It is not recommended to adjust dosages without the guidance of a healthcare professional.
“I did get a little nausea after the first few workouts on it, especially when I sipped my workout shake a bit too fast,” says Dr Michael.
“I would definitely get pretty gnarly heartburn in the evenings, especially if I ate too much food all at once,
“By spacing out my meals, however, and eating lower-fat foods, the
heartburn greatly diminished.”
The MHRA have urged people to avoid using weight-loss medicines without a healthcare professional’s prescription (such as via social media or beauty salons).
POTENTIAL HARMS
The jabs come with side effects that those who are already ‘slim’ may need to consider more.
Here’s why…
1. MUSCLE WASTAGE
A big side effect of Ozempic-like jabs is muscle wastage. As the body burns fat so fast, it also burns through muscle.
This is a drawback because muscle not only shapes the body to give a toned physique, but it also makes a person more efficient at using up calories.
Essentially, it helps with metabolism.
In gym bunnies, muscle loss can be even more prominent because they have less fat to lose.
Dr Amos says: “Ozempic is good for central obesity [stomach], which we know causes inflammation.
“If you have none of that to start with, it can really only eat or get rid of tissue that is useful, such as muscle.
“If you’ve got nothing to lose, what you end up losing is your muscle mass because we need a set amount of fat for our organs to work, so you will just end up storing fat and losing muscle mass.
“Muscle wastage is dangerous. Loss of muscle means loss of function and loss of strength.”
According to Dr Amos, one of the biggest issues, especially for young women but also men, is something called relative energy deficiency (RED) – when calories do not meet demands.
It’s a condition specific to people in sport, having long-term consequences on health and sporting performance.
Dr Amos says: “It’s far more likely to happen if you’re taking something that suppresses your appetite.
“This is not caused by simply not eating a normal amount; this occurs in people with really high energy outputs, so we see it a lot in long-distance runners.
“If you combine a GLP-1 with high amounts of exercise, you’re at huge risk of issues with your hormones, issues with bone mineral density, which is really common, issues with menstruation in women and loss of libido.
“These are all problems that can arise from RED.”
2. STOMACH ISSUES
Typical side effects of weight loss jabs are vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation.
“If you’re trying to do a run and you’re on high doses of Ozempic, that’s one of the biggest concerns,” says Dr Amos.
“In extreme cases, you can develop gastroparesis, a condition where the stomach muscles don’t move food as they should for it to be digested.”
The jabs can induce tummy issues[/caption]
3. SEIZURES AND DIZZINESS
Feeling lightheaded is a side effect of using weight loss jabs.
Dr Amos warns that endurance athletes would need to consider that they are more likely to feel the effects of low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycaemia.
“With endurance athletes, it’s about fueling,” says Dr Amos.
“There are quick-acting carbs you can take which don’t require eating a lot, but if you don’t feel the drive to eat or fuel your bod,y then the likelihood that you’re gonna crash or hit a wall becomes more likely.
“This is because you use up your body’s glycogen (sugar) storage and you haven’t replaced it.
“Your brain’s main source of energy is sugar, so when you’re lacking, you experience anything from dizziness to seizures and even falling unconscious.
“It’s best to have 30 to 60g of carbs for every hour you exercise, depending on what you’re doing.”
4. THE MOST SERIOUS STUFF
More serious potential side effects of weight loss jabs range from gallbladder issues to pancreatitis.
Symptoms of pancreatitis can include sudden severe pain in the centre of your tummy, nausea or sickness, and/or a high temperature of 38C or more.
Dr Amos says: “Basically, the pancreas empties its digestive enzymes into the gut, but when it’s slow and not moving, the enzymes sit in the pancreas and cause inflammation, and that’s a problem.”
Dr Tom Curtis, Clinical Head of Obesity at Voy, says that there is a risk of acute kidney injury thanks to dehydration.
Pancreatitis symptoms
PANCREATITIS is inflammation of the pancreas.
While most people start to feel better within a week and have no further problems, some people can develop serious complications.
The most common symptoms include:
- suddenly getting severe pain in the centre of your tummy (abdomen)
- feeling or being sick
- a high temperature of 38C or more (fever)
You should see a GP immediately if you suddenly develop severe abdominal pain. If this isn’t possible, contact NHS 111 for advice.
Treatment usually involves admission to hospital. You may be given fluids directly into a vein (intravenous fluids), pain relief, liquid food through a tube in your tummy and oxygen through tubes in your nose.
Most people are well enough to leave hospital after a few days. Recovery can take longer in severe cases.
Source: NHS
“The primary mechanism for Ozempic-related acute kidney injury is dehydration,” he says.
“The medication can cause significant nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, leading to a substantial loss of fluids and electrolytes.”
If these fluids aren’t replenished, Dr Curtis says it can decrease blood flow to the kidneys, impairing their ability to filter waste from the blood.
is this worse if you are not underweight?
What’s evident is that regardless of whether your BMI is made of muscle or fat, you need to watch your diet carefully while on GLP-1 medication.
And doing so without support could risk side effects, nutritional gaps in the diet, or fast regain of weight once coming off.
The advantage already-slim people have over those with obesity is that they likely already have a good understanding of nutrition.
But whether it is safe or not is yet to be researched.
Everything you need to know about fat jabs
Weight loss jabs are all the rage as studies and patient stories reveal they help people shed flab at almost unbelievable rates, as well as appearing to reduce the risk of serious diseases.
Wegovy – a modified version of type 2 diabetes drug Ozempic – and Mounjaro are the leading weight loss injections used in the UK.
Wegovy, real name semaglutide, has been used on the NHS for years while Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is a newer and more powerful addition to the market.
Mounjaro accounts for most private prescriptions for weight loss and is set to join Wegovy as an NHS staple this year.
How do they work?
The jabs work by suppressing your appetite, making you eat less so your body burns fat for energy instead and you lose weight.
They do this my mimicking a hormone called GLP-1, which signals to the brain when the stomach is full, so the drugs are officially called GLP-1 receptor agonists.
They slow down digestion and increase insulin production, lowering blood sugar, which is why they were first developed to treat type 2 diabetes in which patients’ sugar levels are too high.
Can I get them?
NHS prescriptions of weight loss drugs, mainly Wegovy and an older version called Saxenda (chemical name liraglutide), are controlled through specialist weight loss clinics.
Typically a patient will have to have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher, classifying them as medically obese, and also have a weight-related health condition such as high blood pressure.
GPs generally do not prescribe the drugs for weight loss.
Private prescribers offer the jabs, most commonly Mounjaro, to anyone who is obese (BMI of 30+) or overweight (BMI 25-30) with a weight-related health risk.
Private pharmacies have been rapped for handing them out too easily and video calls or face-to-face appointments are now mandatory to check a patient is being truthful about their size and health.
Are there any risks?
Yes – side effects are common but most are relatively mild.
Around half of people taking the drug experience gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
Dr Sarah Jarvis, GP and clinical consultant at patient.info, said: “One of the more uncommon side effects is severe acute pancreatitis, which is extremely painful and happens to one in 500 people.”
Other uncommon side effects include altered taste, kidney problems, allergic reactions, gallbladder problems and hypoglycemia.
Evidence has so far been inconclusive about whether the injections are damaging to patients’ mental health.
Figures obtained by The Sun show that, up to January 2025, 85 patient deaths in the UK were suspected to be linked to the medicines.
