Serena Williams Gets Candid About Why She Opted For Weight Loss Medication After Second Child
Retired tennis champion, Serena Williams is getting candid about her weight loss.
In a recent interview with TODAY.com, the mother of two who had struggled with her weight after the birth of her second child, opened up about her 31-pound weight loss, aided by the use of a popular medication.
According to Williams, she used a GLP-1 — medications like Ozempic and Wegovy that impact satiety — to help her achieve her goals.
She said she made the decision to take a weight loss drug following the birth of her second daughter. The 43-year-old disclosed that she has lost 31 pounds since starting the medication about a year ago.
“I was on and off (the medication) and now completely on. It was a really good decision I had to make for my life, you know, I tried everything.
“This all started after I had my (first) kid. As a woman, you go through different cycles in your life. … No matter what I did — running, walking, I would walk for hours because they say that’s good, I literally was playing a professional sport — and I could never go back to where I needed to be for my health.
Then, after my second kid, it just even got harder. So then I was like, OK, I have to try something different.”
SEE ALSO: Self-love: Serena Williams Encourages New Mums As She Shows Off Post-baby Body
She also tried being vegan and vegetarian, she adds. Since starting the medication, she says she’s already seen and felt her health improve.
At a recent doctor’s visit, she was told her blood sugar levels have improved, and she says her joints feel “lighter.” She recalled:
“I had a lot of knee issues … especially after I had my kid (and) was never able to get to my normal levels of weight. And that, quite frankly, definitely had an effect on maybe some wins that I could have had in my career.”
She says she hasn’t struggled with any side effects. She continued:
“I put my body through a lot. … I understand that there are lots of side effects, I just didn’t have any.
“A misconception is that it’s a shortcut. As an athlete and as someone that has done everything, I just couldn’t get my weight to where I needed to be at a healthy place — and believe me, I don’t take shortcuts.”
Still, she battled the stigma around taking a medication to lose weight. She said:
“I definitely had struggles because, I mean, I believed it too. … But with Ro (the GLP-1medication), I could easily just ask all the questions, and … I didn’t have to worry about it, and not have to feel like someone was looking at me sideways.”
Asked if she sees herself staying on the medication long-term, she says yes.
“I feel like, after having my kids, my body was missing something. I don’t know if it’s something that the GLP-1 has, but I just feel normal again.”
GLP-1 drugs, also known as GLP-1 agonists, work by mimicking a hormone that the body produces after eating. This leads to reduced appetite, feeling full more quickly and slowed stomach emptying.
In addition to facilitating weight loss, these medications are also approved to treat diabetes because they trigger the release of insulin by the pancreas.