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I get occasional emails from this random medical center I don’t even remember visiting (maybe I got a covid test there once) and the other day I got one with a subheader that read “Answers to all your OZEMPIC questions.” And the email encouraged people to make appointments to discuss Ozempic and related drugs for weight loss. Ozempic is really everywhere if randos like me are getting email solicitations about it. Anyway, celebrity trainer Jillians Michaels is also chiming into the Ozempic conversation and warning against misusing it, citing the side effects and rebound weight gain.

Jillian Michaels is setting the record straight about why she’s not a fan of Ozempic.

The fitness trainer, 48, recently spoke to PEOPLE about how she convinced several loved ones to stop taking Ozempic, an FDA-approved prescription medication for people with type 2 diabetes. It’s one of the brand names for semaglutide, which works in the brain to impact satiety.

“I have taken at least eight family friends’ parents off of this drug,” Michaels tells PEOPLE, noting the side effects that they’ve experienced while on the medication. “They’re getting heart palpitations, they’re nauseous, they feel like s—. They feel so awful that it’s motivated them to reverse their type 2 diabetes.”

Michaels also explained that she doesn’t like the Ozempic trend because of the rebound weight gain that can occur if the medication is stopped.

“Once they get off of the drug, it does the rebound effect,” she says. “So you’re not gaining anything. You get off the drug in a year and go all the way back. You’ve not learned anything. You’ve not built any physical strength or endurance. You haven’t learned how to eat healthy.”

Michaels urges people to do their research on Ozempic and avoid misusing the medication. She explained that after convincing her family friends to stop taking it, she guided them toward making other lifestyle changes, including walking 10,000 steps each day and removing processed flour and sugar from their diets.

“The truth of the matter is, Ozempic has some pretty significant side effects. Do your homework on it. The results are not lasting, in very large part,” Michaels adds.

[From People]

From what Jillian says about family friends’ parents, it sounds like she is talking about older people who actually do have type 2 diabetes, who are also experiencing these terrible side effects. So the medication was making them feel bad enough that they stopped taking it despite needing it for diabetes. What Jillian says is very simple, but apparently needed to be said: the results aren’t lasting the same way the results of building a healthy eating and exercise routine would be. She put some really clear and accessible recommendations into comments, down to a specific step count and encouragement toward building strength and endurance. But I think the most important of her comments, which probably a lot of celebrities need to hear, is do your own research on it and see if the perceived benefits outweigh the side effects.

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