Liraglutide user experiences: what users themselves report
Users’ own accounts, not research. The accounts are self-selected and prove neither that it works nor that it is safe.
This page does not list users’ doses or where they got the medicine, and no figure on it is a recommendation. The dose is for the doctor to decide: Liraglutide dosage.
In short
Of 188 people, 127 (68%) said liraglutide brought some benefit and 123 (65%) some harm.
- An AI model read and classified 300 public Reddit posts one by one, following written instructions. 206 were first-hand accounts, from 188 different people.
- Benefits mentioned most often: weight loss (87, 46%), less appetite and food noise (68, 36%) and more energy (4, 2%).
- Harms mentioned most often: nausea (33, 18%), constipation (17, 9%) and stomach pain or bloating (16, 9%). In addition, 22 (12%) described some other, rarer harm. People tend to post when something goes wrong, so this share does not tell how common harms are.
- Liraglutide is a prescription medicine. The figures describe users' experiences, not treatment advice: we did not record doses, dose changes, where the medicine came from or how much weight was lost. Almost all accounts (205 of 206) came from the forum r/liraglutide.
- The accounts cannot separate the substance from placebo or other causes. What the research shows: Liraglutide: what the research shows.
Where the accounts come from and how we read them
Sources: the Reddit forums r/liraglutide (205 accounts) and r/Ozempic (1), 17 Oct 2024 to 1 Oct 2026. The posts were retrieved from a public Reddit archive. From first-person posts about liraglutide, 300 were picked at random, and every one was read.
Coding: for each account we recorded the route, reported benefits and harms, how strong a harm was, whether and why the person stopped, length of use and other substances used at the same time. We kept accounts that reported some effect, some harm, or no effect. Questions and plans were left out. A harm was recorded when the person reported it during use, even if the cause was uncertain. Several posts by one person count as one person. One person can mention several things, so the shares in the tables do not add up to 100.
Check: an AI model read and classified the posts following written instructions. A second, separate AI run classified a random tenth (30 posts) again without seeing the first classification. The main fields matched: 27/30 (90%).
Whose accounts these are: routes mentioned: injection 130; the others did not say. The figures describe the writers and are not a recommendation. We do not know whether the writers’ medicine came from a pharmacy or from elsewhere.
Did liraglutide help? The overall picture
Of 188 people, 56 (30%) reported benefit only, 71 (38%) both benefit and harm, 52 (28%) harm only and 9 (5%) neither.
Stopping. 22 people (12%) said they stopped or paused: 11 because of harms and 11 because they noticed no effect or for another reason.
| Overall picture: benefit, harm or neither | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Benefit only | 56 | 30% |
| Both benefit and harm | 71 | 38% |
| Harm only | 52 | 28% |
| Neither benefit nor harm | 9 | 5% |
Most common reported benefits
Of 188 people. 127 (68%) mentioned some benefit; the table lists every benefit reported.
| Reported | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Weight loss | 87 | 46% |
| Less appetite and food noise | 68 | 36% |
| More energy | 4 | 2% |
| Better mood | 3 | 2% |
| Less urge to drink | 2 | 1% |
| Better blood sugar or HbA1c | 2 | 1% |
| Better sleep or sleep apnoea | 1 | 1% |
| Other benefit | 6 | 3% |
Share = people / 188.
Most common reported harms
Of 188 people. 123 (65%) mentioned some harm; 6 said explicitly they had none.
| Reported | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Nausea | 33 | 18% |
| Constipation | 17 | 9% |
| Stomach pain or bloating | 16 | 9% |
| Food aversion or eating too little | 15 | 8% |
| Fatigue | 15 | 8% |
| Vomiting | 15 | 8% |
| Diarrhoea | 13 | 7% |
| Burping | 10 | 5% |
| Injection site reaction | 9 | 5% |
| Headache | 8 | 4% |
| Mood or anxiety | 8 | 4% |
| Insomnia or sleep problems | 7 | 4% |
| Dizziness | 6 | 3% |
| Heartburn or reflux | 5 | 3% |
| Rash or itch | 4 | 2% |
| Hair loss | 3 | 2% |
| Raised heart rate or palpitations | 3 | 2% |
| Allergic reaction, hives or rash | 2 | 1% |
| Dehydration | 1 | 1% |
| Loose skin or facial change | 1 | 1% |
| Low blood sugar | 1 | 1% |
| Other, rarer harm | 22 | 12% |
| Harms mentioned but not named | 15 | 8% |
Share = people / 188.
How severe were the harms?
Of the 122 people who described how strong a harm was, 56 (46%) described it as mild, 60 (49%) as clearly bothersome and 6 (5%) as severe. The strength is the writer's own description, not a doctor's assessment.
| Strength of the harm as the writer described it | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Mild: minor and manageable | 56 | 46% |
| Clearly bothersome: several days, sleep or work affected | 60 | 49% |
| Severe: emergency visit, hospital or unable to function | 6 | 5% |
Harms known from research and regulators: What side effects does liraglutide have?
How long did people use liraglutide?
147 of 188 people (78%) said how long they had been using it at the time of writing. Where one person wrote several posts, the longest stated time counts.
| Stated length of use | People | Share |
|---|---|---|
| Under a week | 24 | 16% |
| 1-4 weeks | 44 | 30% |
| 1-3 months | 51 | 35% |
| Over 3 months | 28 | 19% |
Many people post partway through, often in the first days or as soon as harms start, so short times are over-represented. The numbers describe the writers; they do not say how long it should be used.
Other substances at the same time
16 of 188 people (9%) mentioned using other medicines or products at the same time. We do not name them on this page.
A prescription medicine: what this page does not tell
Liraglutide is a prescription medicine; whether to use it and at what dose is for the doctor to decide. We did not record doses, dose changes, where the medicine came from or how much weight was lost, and we do not name the other medicines people used at the same time. Side effects seen in trials: What side effects does liraglutide have?
The weight-loss drug side-effects guide has its own section on the side effects users report: what users themselves report about side effects. Its side-effect shares are higher than on this page because its posts were chosen for side-effect wording, while this page's posts are drawn from all posts about the medicine.
About dosing
We do not repeat the amounts or ways of use people mention, and we give no dosing or how-to instructions. The dose is for the doctor to decide. Approved doses and trial doses, with sources: Liraglutide dosage in studies. Legal status: Is liraglutide legal in Finland?
What can be concluded?
Weight loss and less appetite were the most common reported benefits, but harms were reported more often than in this site's semaglutide and tirzepatide summaries. The accounts do not replace a doctor's assessment.
The accounts prove neither that it works nor that it is safe. The writers are self-selected, people tend to post when something goes wrong, and the accounts cannot separate the effect of the medicine from other causes. The research and its evidence levels: Liraglutide: what the research shows.
Quotes
Short excerpts in the writers’ own words. Writers’ names and links are not shown. We picked quotes from every group: benefit, both benefit and harm, no effect, harms and people who stopped.
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"I have noticed some clothes getting too big and others fitting again - but seeing the pictures next to each-other I can actually see the difference!"
r/liraglutide, 2025-01, Route not stated, almost six months of use. Weight has dropped visibly, there have been no binges and the writer reports no side effects; weight loss was the most common benefit reported in the sample.
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"So happy that my hunger has decreased and I can rarely finish a meal so I have started eating my favourite part first."
r/liraglutide, 2025-07, Route not stated, about five weeks of use. Hunger has dropped so much that meals usually go unfinished; reduced appetite was the second most common benefit in the sample.
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"No foodnoise and I just feel happy. The only side effect I have is obstipation but that's it."
r/liraglutide, 2025-02, Saxenda injections for about two months. Weight has dropped well and clothes have become too big, but constipation has remained a nuisance.
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"I've had no side effects so far. I don't feel my appetite being curbed and the food noise is crazy."
r/liraglutide, 2025-02, Injections, starting the third week of use. No side effects, but no effect on appetite either, and weight has barely moved.
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"I have been incredibly sick. Nausea and vomiting and just wanted to know if this is common and how long will it last."
r/liraglutide, 2025-03, Victoza injections, second day of use. The writer felt very unwell right at the start with nausea and vomiting; nausea was the most common harm in the sample.
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"Later on I spent an entire week having diarrhea and vomitting. I stopped taking saxenda for a few days"
r/liraglutide, 2025-01, Saxenda injections for about two months, with clear weight loss. A week of diarrhoea and vomiting led to a break, and the nausea came back after restarting. The writer also has an inflammatory oesophagus condition, so the cause is not fully clear.
Other summaries made with the same method: BPC-157 user experiences, Retatrutide user experiences, Cagrilintide user experiences, Semaglutide user experiences, Tirzepatide user experiences, NAD+ user experiences, MOTS-c user experiences and user experiences with collagen and skin peptides.
Content is general information about research, not medical advice. If you have symptoms, contact a healthcare professional.