Exclusive | These people are all taking Ozempic in secret the real reasons no one wants to fess up

A whopping one in eight adults in the US have tried GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Wegovy, but despite their massive popularity, many people taking the drug do so in secret.Certainly there are plenty of rumors about celebrities using the jab to stay skinny, but weight loss drugs have become incredibly common outside of Hollywood too — even if most people are keeping their usage hush-hush.So if millions of people love it and have used it successfully to lose weight, why are Ozempic users’ lips still sealed? The Post talked to three people taking semaglutide, plus one weight loss doctor, to find out what’s motivating them to stay mum.Jennifer*, a 50-something from New Jersey, has lost 40 lbs.in the year since she went on semaglutide.She’d started with a BMI of 28.3 — in the “overweight” range — and got as low as 125 lbs.

before she started lifting weights and putting on muscle.“I love how full it makes me feel with very little portions,” she said.“I love that it has stopped my cravings for sweets and alcohol.

I love my wine, but being on semaglutide stopped me from wanting my nightly two glasses.It felt great to not want to drink or want something sweet after dinner.”Jennifer had tried everything before turning to the jab — keto, calorie deficit, fasting — but “nothing was really working.” “I was hungry all the time.

I would get completely frustrated and give up.Not to mention, my metabolism came to a screeching halt once I hit 45,” she admitted.

“I hated it.I hated myself.

I was sad.I was angry.”But though she unequivocally loves the drug, she worries that people will judge her for “taking the easy way out” if they knew how she lost the weight.That’s something Dr.

Holly Lofton, the director of NYU Langone’s Medical Weight Management Program, has heard a lot from her patients.“[There’s] the idea that it’s an easy way out, which it’s not,” she told The Post.“You still need to follow lifestyle recomm...