The fat-breaking bar that cCelebrities including Rebel Wilson, Sharon Osbourne, Stephen Fry and Elon Musk have helped thousands lose weight.
Now several MPs have confessed to taking a weekly injection of the “game changer” too.
Last week, Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick revealed he had been taking the weight-loss drug Ozempic “for a short time” in an attempt to shed the pounds.
The former immigration minister, who is set to succeed Rishi Sunak, lost four stone in 12 months after realizing he was “overweight”.
However, he is not the only politician who has confirmed that he is dabbling in weight loss.
Tory leadership contender Robert Jenrick, pictured earlier this month, has revealed how he took the weight loss drug Ozempic “for a short time”.
The former immigration minister, who was revealed in July last year, has lost four stone in 12 months after realizing he was ‘overweight’
Injections of semaglutide, generically known as Ozempic and Wegovy, mimic GLP-1, a hormone produced naturally in the body that helps slow the movement of food through the stomach – causing people to feel less hungry.
This changes the brain’s appetite control system, so people feel full despite eating less and don’t crave sugary, fatty foods.
As a result, people don’t eat as much and lose weight.
They were originally designed to treat type 2 diabetes, but have gained attention as a weight loss tool among a number of celebrities.
But there have been warnings about the drug’s serious side effects, including nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.
Mr Jenrick, 42, said Ozempic had been “helpful” but he “didn’t particularly enjoy it” and since then he has “lost weight in the usual way by eating less… exercising”.
Speaking to Politico about his own use of Ozempic, the Conservative MP for Newark said: “Honestly, I was overweight.
“I took Ozempic for a short time, didn’t really enjoy it, but it was helpful.
“Since then, I’ve just lost weight the normal way by eating less, eating healthier, exercising – going to the gym, going for a run.”
“I’ve lost four stone in 12 months.”
Semaglutide, along with its competitors, liraglutide and tirceptide, has been hailed as a breakthrough in the war on obesity.
Boris Johnson, pictured in 2023, wrote in the Daily Mail about his roller coaster ride at Ozempic
After the injections started to make him feel sick, Boris retired from the film in 2020, in favor of “exercise and willpower”.
Boris Johnson, 60, also admitted to using the drug to shed a few pounds.
The former Conservative MP for Uxbridge and South Ruislip wrote in the Daily Mail about her roller-coaster ride on Ozempic after being recommended by a government colleague.
“It’s a no-brainer,” said the doctor. All you have to do is inject a tiny dose of clear Ozempic liquid into your abdomen once a week, and hey, no more going to the fridge at 11:30pm for cheddar and chorizo washed down with half a bottle of wine.
“For weeks I poked my stomach and for weeks it worked. Effortlessly, I pushed the puddings and second parts aside. I must have been losing four or five kilos a week – maybe more,” he wrote.
But after the injections started to make him feel nauseous, he gave up the jumps in favor of “exercise and willpower”.
However, he added that he may return once diet pills are refined: “I look at my colleagues – thinner but not hungrier – and I hope that if science can do that for them, then maybe one day it can help me and everyone else . ‘
Nadine Dorries before she made the decision to jump on the Ozempic bandwagon – her excess weight was mostly around the middle
Nadine Dorries, 67, former Conservative MP for mid-Bedfordshire, admitted she too has jumped on the ‘Ozempic bandwagon’.
When she was still the Minister of Culture two years ago, the doctor told her that she had diabetes. She was told to lose “at least 12 pounds.”
But even after dieting and getting out of the “pre-diabetic” range, she was told she still needed to lose weight.
A blood test revealed she had non-alcoholic fatty liver disease – a build-up of fat in the liver common in obese and overweight people, which can lead to more serious damage later.
Dorries took up yoga, pilates and started walking more, but still the scale wouldn’t budge.
Eventually, she started taking Mounjaro, the brand name for tirzepatid, a drug that activates two receptors — GLP-1 (which Ozempic also targets) and another called GIP — that slows the rate at which food is broken down and lowers blood sugar.
Like Ozempic, Mounjaro suppresses your appetite and stops you thinking about food, meaning you lose all interest in it and eat much less than usual.
She wrote in the Daily Mail: ‘I had no appetite but I didn’t miss food either. I simply didn’t think about it the way I do when dieting, when the ever-present feeling of hunger means you’re constantly wondering when and what you can eat next.
After three weeks on the drug, she fainted. She admitted that she just forgot to eat for almost 24 hours.
But at the end of the first month she lost almost a stone.
In July, she wrote: “I’m going to continue for another month (a doctor from the website called me to talk through everything when I made another order) and then I stopped.
“When I finish I should weigh 9st which will put my BMI at 23, in the healthy range. But I will not continue. I have to achieve this, which will require a certain amount of self-discipline.’
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