They have six packs – but they’re still jumping on and off weight-loss jabs

Gabriela was trying to lose the weight she gained during the Covid outbreak. But a few stubborn kilos just wouldn’t budge.

He says he tried everything. Following a stricter diet; He’s being more consistent with his high-intensity workouts six days a week.

But “nothing worked” for the Brazilian lawyer, who weighs 76 kg (11st 13 lb) and is 1.69 m (5 ft 6 in) tall.

Then his friends told him a secret; They were using weight loss injections and were very pleased with the results.

Despite being a fitness enthusiast for a long time, 40-year-old Gabriela decided to do the same.

He purchased his first Ozempic vaccines without a prescription from a pharmacy in Rio de Janeiro in February 2024 and began receiving them without medical supervision.

The results were almost instantaneous.

“It was surreal,” recalls Gabriela, not her real name. “I would go to the Japanese buffet and eat six pieces of sushi and feel like I had just eaten a whole rack of ribs.”

The transformation was remarkable, but it did not last long. When he stopped the injections, slowly but surely the weight came back.

That’s when Gabriela’s new routine began. Once she was happy with her appearance, she would stop taking the injections. However, when the reflection in the mirror was not exactly what he wanted, the process would start over.

He’s been going through this cycle for a year.

“Everything in life feels easier when I look in the mirror and like what I see,” he says.

Doctors warn that people like Gabriela, who have no medical need for weight-loss injections and use them intermittently and without clinical supervision, are gambling with their health.

In the UK, the National Health Service does not usually prescribe weight-loss shots, which mimic a natural hormone that regulates hunger and makes you feel full for longer, unless your body mass index (BMI) is over 35 or 40, depending on the medication. The threshold is lower for some ethnic groups and people with certain weight-related health problems.

Gabriela’s BMI was 26.6 when she started receiving the injections. She had no weight-related concerns and was a muscular woman who exercised at high intensity regularly.

Vice president of the Obesity Medicine Association in the United States, Dr. “There is a growing trend in its use for cosmetic purposes,” says Bharti Shetye.

“I hear a lot of people use it just to look pretty.”

Professor and endocrinologist Simone van de Sande Lee is clear: “These are drugs approved for the treatment of conditions such as diabetes or obesity; they are not cosmetic tools.”

Andrew, 49, was also well below the threshold for being prescribed weight-loss drugs in the UK.

The senior executive of a food company was hosting lavish parties at his central London loft; It was her unhappiness with her appearance that forced her to take action.

“I felt a little swollen… I didn’t feel very well,” says the 49-year-old, who asked that his real name not be used.

“I came back from Christmas break and thought, ‘I’m going to fix this somehow.'”

At the time Andrew weighed around 90 kg (14st 2 lb) and was 1.83 m (6 ft) tall, but he was also muscular like Gabriela. This gave him a BMI of 26.9.

Despite this, Andrew says he was able to get the vaccines from an online pharmacy by simply completing a self-assessment. As far as he knows, no one checked whether what he wrote was true or whether the treatment was appropriate.

In early 2024, he began weekly injections of Wegovy and later Mounjaro.

“Immediately after the impact, I felt the sound of food moving away from me… I really liked not having to think so much about food.”

Andrew still goes to restaurants, but eats out much less.

“I never, or very rarely, feel the urgent hunger I used to feel.”

Like Gabriela, she switches pins on and off according to social events. He explained that he used them before a cruise to the Mediterranean this summer, then took a break for a few months, only to resume using them recently, before Christmas.

Gabriela sometimes skips doses before parties so she can eat more.

“If I know I’m going to drink too much one day, I don’t drink,” he says. “‘Come on, I’m going to drink a ton of beer anyway, why would I?’ I said. So I don’t.”

“I’m probably handling it pretty sloppily these days; I honestly have no idea,” he adds.

He explains that turning the medication on and off helps it last longer and saves money. Gabriela estimates she’s spent more than $2,000 (£1,500) so far.

While both Gabriela and Andrew are positive about their experience, health experts point out the risks of taking weight loss injections irregularly and unsupervised.

Although previous versions of GLP-1 drugs were used for type 2 diabetes in the early 1990s, the drugs have only really taken off in popularity in the last four years, after medical regulators around the world began licensing them for weight loss.

“We don’t know the effects of these drugs on people who use them purely for cosmetic purposes,” says Simon Cork, a senior lecturer in physiology at Anglia Ruskin University in the United Kingdom.

Prof Lee adds that most of what we know about these drugs comes from people using them continuously under medical supervision, so any stop-start pattern makes it difficult to measure their long-term effects.

Endocrinologist and incoming president of the World Obesity Federation, Dr. Bruno Halpern said research showed that drugs for people with obesity or diabetes were “relatively safe”.

“But if millions of healthy people start using them (some without medical need) we might start to see rare side effects more regularly,” he adds.

Common side effects of medications include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation.

But rarer and more serious ones include acute gallstone disease, pancreatitis, and severe allergic reactions.

Gabriela says the only problem she’s had so far is mild stomach pain, which she attributes to a combination of not eating and drinking alcohol while using the injections.

“I was going through a crazy time,” he admits.

Another drawback of injections is that they can cause people to lose muscle as well as fat, and this can be especially true for those who are leaner, Halpern says.

“Thin individuals who follow restrictive diets tend to lose more muscle than fat,” he says.

“If they then gain weight, their body composition worsens,” he adds, noting that this “yo-yo cycle” of losing and gaining back, especially when switching on and off medication, “increases the risk of long-term weight gain.”

Patient leaflets for Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro recommend injections once a week on a fixed schedule under medical supervision; This suggests that the drugs are designed for regular, continuous use rather than occasional or sporadic dosing.

They are intended to be injected into the upper arm, thigh or stomach, with doses gradually increased.

There are also psychological dangers.

Dr. Halpern says he encounters patients who dream that they are loved, happy and accepted when they lose weight, but these expectations are rarely realistic.

People say they often feel like failures when they stop taking the injection and the weight comes back.

Another challenge is that our bodies tend to resist long-term weight loss, Dr Cork explains.

“When you lose weight, your body doesn’t just say, ‘Great, job done.’ Hunger hormones increase, your metabolism slows down, and your body tries to regain what it sees as its natural point.”

He states that as soon as patients stop using injections that suppress hunger signals, the body begins to struggle to regain the weight it has lost.

This is why they are intended for long-term use in patients who need them, he says, stressing that obesity is a chronic disease. In the UK, NHS guidelines currently limit the use of weight loss drugs to a maximum of two years.

In early 2025, Britain’s General Pharmaceutical Council tightened restrictions on how online pharmacies can sell and prescribe vaccines in response to growing concerns about misuse, safety and supply shortages.

Brazil also tightened rules on prescribing drugs for similar reasons this year.

Despite the risks, Gabriela and Andrew say they have no plans to stop.

“I think I’m addicted,” admits Gabriela, while Andrew sees the drug as a long-term commitment to his appearance.

He sees this as a “relatively conscious risk” he took.

“If I ride this bike for the rest of my life, that’s probably okay.”