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

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

She had tried everything, she says. Going on a stricter diet; being more consistent with her high-intensity workouts six days a week.

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

Then, friends let her in on a secret - they'd been using weight-loss injections and were thrilled with the results.

So despite being a long-standing fitness fanatic, Gabriela, 40, decided to do the same.

She bought her first Ozempic jabs in February 2024 from a pharmacy in Rio de Janeiro – with no prescription - and began taking them without medical oversight.

The results were almost immediate.

"It was surreal," recalls Gabriela, which is not her real name. "I'd go to a Japanese buffet, eat six pieces of sushi and feel like I'd had a whole rack of ribs."

The transformation was noticeable, but it didn't last. When she stopped taking the injections, slowly but surely, the weight crept back.

That's when Gabriela's new routine began. She would stop taking the jabs when she was satisfied with the way she looked. But when the reflection in the mirror wasn't quite what she wanted, the process would begin again.

She's been going through this cycle for a year now.

"When I look in the mirror and like what I see, everything in life feels easier," she says.

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

In the UK, the National Health Service generally won't prescribe weight-loss jabs - which mimic a natural hormone that regulates hunger and make you feel full for longer - unless your body mass index (BMI) is above 35 or 40, depending on the drug. The threshold is lower for some ethnic groups and people with certain weight-related health conditions.

Gabriela's BMI was 26.6 when she started taking the jabs. She had no weight-related conditions and was a muscular woman who regularly did high-intensity exercise.

"There is a growing trend of its use for cosmetic purposes," says Dr Bharti Shetye, vice-president of the Obesity Medicine Association in the US.

"I hear of so many cases of people using it just to look good."

Professor and endocrinologist Simone van de Sande Lee is clear: "These are drugs approved to treat conditions like diabetes or obesity - they are not cosmetic tools."

'I felt like I was a bit puffy'

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

A top executive of a food company used to hosting lavish parties in his central London penthouse, it was feeling unhappy about his appearance that compelled him to act.

"I felt like I was a bit puffy… I didn't feel good about myself," the 49-year-old, who also asked for his real name not to be used, says.

"I came back from Christmas holidays and thought, 'I'm going to fix this somehow.'"

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

Despite this, Andrew says he was able to obtain the jabs from an online pharmacy, simply by completing a self-assessment. As far as he is aware, no-one checked if what he'd written was accurate or whether the treatment was appropriate.

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

"Almost immediately what I felt with the jab is that the food noise went away from me… I really enjoyed not having to think about food so much."

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

"I never feel, or very rarely feel, that urgent hunger that I used to."

Like Gabriela, he cycles on and off the jabs depending on social events. He used them before a boat trip to the Mediterranean this summer, then stopped for a couple of months, only to resume again recently, before Christmas, he explains.

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

"If I know I'm going to drink a lot one day, I don't take it," she says. "I'm like, 'Come on, I'm already going to be drinking a ton of beer - why would I take it?' So I don't."

"These days, I'm probably taking it in a pretty sloppy way - honestly, I have no idea," she adds.

She explains cycling on and off the medication helps her make it last longer and save money. So far, Gabriela estimates having spent more than $2,000 (£1,500).

Risk of muscle loss

While both Gabriela and Andrew are positive about their experiences, health experts point to risks with taking weight-loss jabs irregularly and without oversight.

While earlier versions of GLP-1 drugs were used as early as the 1990s for type 2 diabetes, it's only in the past four years that the drugs have truly surged in popularity, after medical regulators around the world began licensing them for weight loss.

"We simply don't know the effects in people using these drugs purely for cosmetic purposes," says Simon Cork, senior lecturer in physiology at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK.

Prof Lee adds that most of what we know about these drugs comes from people who use them consistently under medical supervision, so any stop-and-start pattern makes it harder to gauge their long-term effects.

Dr Bruno Halpern, endocrinologist and president-elect of the World Obesity Federation, said research suggested the drugs for people with obesity or diabetes were "relatively safe".

"But if millions of healthy people start using them - some without medical need - we may begin to see rare side effects more regularly," he adds.

Common side effects of the drugs include nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea, and constipation.

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

Gabriela says her only issue so far has been mild stomach pain, which she blames on a combination of not eating and drinking alcohol while using the jabs.

"I was going through a wild phase," she admits.

Another drawback of the jabs is that they can cause people to lose muscle as well as fat, and this is likely to be particularly true for those who are slimmer, says Halpern.

"Slim individuals on restrictive diets tend to lose muscle more than fat," he says.

"If they regain weight later, their body composition worsens," he adds, noting that this "yo-yo cycle" of losing and regaining "raises the long-term risk of weight gain," especially when cycling on and off the medication.

The patient leaflets for Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro recommend once‑weekly injections on a fixed schedule under medical supervision, indicating the drugs are intended for regular, continuous use rather than occasional or sporadic dosing.

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

Emotional toll

There are also psychological dangers.

Dr Halpern says he sees patients who imagine that if they lose weight they'll feel loved, happy and accepted, but these expectations are rarely realistic.

When people stop taking jabs and the weight returns, they often feel like failures, he says.

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

"When you lose weight, your body doesn't just say, 'Great, job done.' Hunger hormones ramp up, your metabolism slows, and your body tries to restore what it sees as your natural point."

He points out that as soon as patients stop taking the jabs, which suppress hunger signals, the body resumes its fight 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.

No plans to stop

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

Brazil also tightened the rules this year around the prescribing of the drugs for similar reasons.

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

"I think I've become addicted to it," admits Gabriela, while Andrew sees the drug as a long-term commitment to his appearance.

He sees it as a "relatively informed risk" he's taking.

"If I happen to cycle on and off this for the rest of my life, that would probably be OK."