I tried Ozempic for 30 days–and this is what happened

Up until his mid-40s, Kevin Poole didn't give much thought to his weight, mainly because he'd been athletic his whole life and ate whatever he wanted—but then, despite still working out at a high level, he noticed shifts in his body composition, and not in a good way.

"Obviously, my metabolism had slowed down, and I started struggling with it," he recalls. "I tried different things, including diets, but they always felt short-term for me. I'd go on a diet, lose weight, and then, of course, as soon as I wasn't following that plan, the weight comes back on. Then, eventually, it just got harder and harder to lose the weight at all."

Is age-related weight gain inevitable?

Although Kevin didn't gain a significant amount of weight compared to his starting point, he says all the extra pounds showed up in his midsection, and no amount of exercise or dieting made any difference. After he turned 50—he's 52 now—the South Carolina resident started to believe this was just a natural part of growing older.

"My body image was just really starting to get to me," he says. "When I looked in the mirror, I’d see all of my weight settling in my midsection. Nothing was working and I told my wife that I knew this is a natural progression in life, and she said, 'It doesn't really have to be.' And that was the moment when I thought: She's right."

A nurse confronts his biases toward medication for weight loss 

Because Kevin knew diets weren't the answer for him, he started researching other options online and came across Found on social media. While reading about other people's experiences with Found and weight-loss medication, he faced his own biases about using drugs to aid weight loss.

"I'm a nurse, and like others in health care, when it comes to medications in general, we veer away from them even though we see how well they work for other people all the time," he says. "Sometimes, nurses are the last people to take a medication."

But he was also open to giving it a try, given how much he'd started to avoid mirrors and feeling discouraged by ineffective diets. In some ways, Kevin thought he might use the medication just as a way to check it off the list and add it to the pile of strategies that didn't work.

After his initial Found consult, his Found-affiliated health care provider determined that Ozempic® was the best fit for him. Although he was still skeptical, Kevin thought he'd give it a couple of months anyway. However, all it took was 30 days for that skepticism to fade for good.

One of the reasons Ozempic works for Kevin: His provider was able to look at Kevin’s medical and weight history to personalize his prescription to work with his biology. It’s one of the advantages of having a provider trained in obesity medicine. Found uses MetabolicPrint™, a proprietary assessment, to help personalize weight care.

Kevin’s provider also monitors him to help manage side effects or the effectiveness of his treatment. Ozempic does have some known potential side effects. The most common are nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and acid reflux. More serious but less common side effects include pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, and worsening of diabetic eye disease. You can find detailed side effect and risk information on our dedicated Ozempic page. 

Kevin’s first 30 days on Ozempic  

"After the first month, I was like, I'm actually starting to change; I'm really noticing it," he says. During the time, he also began embracing the support from the Found community, a robust group that he says "gets it" when it comes to the kind of struggles he'd been going through largely solo for so long.

"Being able to get feedback from other people and vent, and just talk about anything, that was huge," he says. "It's really encouraging to have that support and feel like you're not in this alone."

How a supportive health coach made a difference

In addition to the Found community and his provider, Kevin worked with a Found coach. He says his coach was incredibly helpful because the coach didn't tell him what to do, but instead helped guide him through making personally meaningful behavior changes.

"You have the coach as a support person, but you're the one figuring things out; you're listening to your body and coming up with your own strategies," he says. For example, his coach asked about Kevin's everyday habits, and he talked about eating as soon as he got up—even before taking a shower or anything else. As they discussed shifting toward eating a little later and having water first instead, Kevin discovered that was a game changer, he says. Not only did it help him recognize when he was truly hungry—but it also boosted his water intake for the day, which was another goal Kevin had set for his health.

Kevin’s weight loss success on Ozempic

After five months on Ozempic, Kevin has lost 21 pounds, which is 12% of his body weight. (Individual results vary for each member.) Kevin started on Ozempic at a low dose, and together with his Found provider, they gradually increased the dose until he found the right amount that worked for him. He's never had any negative side effects—he says there have been occasional slowdowns, but he's still been meeting his goals, and his non-scale victories have been another major, pleasant surprise.

"I'm just super ecstatic now," he says. "My wife is seeing a huge change, my kids are noticing it, and I'm like: I'm feeling good. I'm much more positive about myself and have more energy, for sure. Plus, my sleeping habits have improved, too."

Kevin adds that his better sleep quality is an advantage that carries him through the whole day. Before joining Found, he had to drag himself out of bed every morning and felt fatigued for hours—he chalked it up to factors like 12-hour shifts and getting older. Now, he understands how much his excess weight and his poor health behaviors were having a ripple effect. 

Another factor was what he was eating, he says. Previously, he'd had a pretty protein and carb-heavy eating style. Now, he's transitioned to adding more vegetables and healthy fats and relying on good carbs like sweet potatoes for his meals.

Kevin says that his eyes were really opened during the first month. "It's interesting because they say it takes about 30 days to create new habits,” Kevin continues. “I just developed all these new, healthier habits that became part of my routine. It wasn't just about taking Ozempic, but instead about using that medication as a launching point for everything I was doing. It's been a great journey, and I'm really happy I found Found."

About Found

To discover your MetabolicPrint and start your journey with Found, take our quiz. Found is among the largest medically supported weight care clinics in the country, having served more than 200,000 members to date.

GLP-1*

GLP-1 prescriptions, filled through your local pharmacy, are now available as part of Found's weight-loss toolkit. While GLP-1s can be effective for weight loss, they are not clinically appropriate for everyone. Eligibility for a GLP-1 is based on a thorough evaluation of your medical history and lab work. If a GLP-1 is not appropriate for you, our providers will work with you to determine an effective medication for your health profile.