A WOMAN who’d tried ‘every diet around’ was able to silence her incessant food cravings after trying game changing weight loss jabs.
Staci Rice, 40, from Gray, Georgia in the US, had cycled through different fad diets for years and tried a new one before going on holiday every summer.
Staci Rice, 40, had for years tried different fad diets to no availTikTok/@staci402
She was able to 62 pounds after taking semaglitude, saying her cravings and ‘food noise’ in her head disappearedTikTok/@staci402
When scrolling on Facebook in the spring of 2022, she came across an add for semaglutide.
Staci acquired a compounded version of the drug from a nurse practitioner in May that year and started injecting it weekly, she told Insider.
Semaglutide – which helps users shed weight by suppressing their appetite – was originally developed for diabetes and sold as Ozempic.
It was approved for weight loss by the US’s Food and Drug Administration in 2021 under the name Wegovy.
The drug has also been licensed for UK use and will be sold in Boots pharmacies via prescription this spring to obese adults given specialist weight loss treatment.
Trials for Wegovy showed that around half of people taking the drug experience experienced nasty side effects such as gut issues, including sickness, bloating, acid reflux, constipation and diarrhoea.
And in the US, the drug retails for a whopping $1,300 a month, leading many – like Staci – to seek compounded versions of it.
At first, Staci noticed her tummy was bloated and that her mouth remained dry despite drinking water.
As with many others who’ve tried the drug, she also experienced some nausea and fatigue. Her weight even fluctuated a bit, which she said was frustrating.
But by her third moth of injecting herself weekly, Staci noticed she was eating much smaller potions. And the sugar and snack cravings she experienced even when waking up were no longer there.
“The food noise was gone,” Staci said.
She also noticed that she longer had the urge to drink.
Though she originally only intended quit using semaglitude after the summer of 2022 – which is how long she’d usually stick to a diet – Staci decided to keep going.
By month eight of taking the drug, she’d lost 62 pounds.
In January this year, Staci started injecting semaglitude every 10 days instead of weekly and regained some of her appetite – but she’s managed to not regain any of the weight she lost.
Staci hopes to continue reducing the frequency of her shots but never wants to stop completely.
“I’m actually looking forward to it being long-term because I know myself and my habits, and if I don’t have something like that, then I will regain the weight,” Staci explained.
After years of trying different fad diets, Staci said semaglitude had allowed her not cut out any foods – she just eats smaller portions.
She now takes multi-vitamins to make sure she’s getting enough nutrients.
On top of boosting her confidence, losing weight also helped Staci start exercising – she noticed knee pain from an injury reduced after she shed the pounds and was able to enjoy exercising for the first time in years.
“Semaglutide has changed my life and I hope it’s around forever,” she said. “It’s been a miracle for me.”
Staci has been sharing her weight loss journey on TikTok.
Charities have cautioned UK patients to not use the diabetes drug Ozempic for weight loss purposes and cautioned against taking t without a prescription.
Meanwhile, American researchers developed a new weight loss treatment that doesn’t bring on crippling nausea like Wegovy and Ozempic – but since researchers have only just filed for patents on the treatment, it doesn’t look like it will available to buy anytime soon.