WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS such as Ozempic didn’t eat into pay for the director of Irish weight-loss firm Bodyslims in 2023.

The most recently filed accounts for the Dublin-based diet programme show director Gerard Moran’s remuneration increased to €2m in 2023, having already doubled to €1m in 2022.

Moran – who dubs himself the “weight whisperer” – increased his salary to €924,000, up from €340,000 in 2022, while his pension contribution increased to €1.1m from €700,000.

Moran announced in December 2024 that he is stepping back from running Bodyslims courses, but said the company he founded will continue. In an emotional video on Instagram he said that after 10 years he wanted to go out on a high.

Moran, 62, told The Journal this week: “The business at this stage has been wholly taken over by the BodySlims team and in terms of the remuneration this has been a long-term strategy to facilitate that being able to happen.”

Profit at Bodyslims, which files accounts under the company name Shard Ventures Ltd, dipped 5% to €782,000 in 2023. The company’s staff expanded from nine to 14 in 2023, with payroll costs – including Moran’s package – doubling from €2.7m to €5.1m.

Ozempic

The Bodyslims programme is based on calorie restriction, daily walking and motivational seminars, as well as online tools. Moran previously told The Journal that his programme coached people on how to maintain lifestyle changes, and defended the focus on calorie counting, which he said was essential. He characterises the programme as “healthy and natural”.

Scientific studies demonstrate that weight is often regained following lifestyle interventions and calorie counting aimed at weight loss. 

It has been a difficult period for some weight loss businesses, amid expanding usage of a new generation of effective weight loss drugs such as Ozempic. In 2024, global sales of Ozempic – also marketed as Wegovy – increased by 86%.

Irish multinational Glanbia announced last week that it was selling well-known meal replacement brand SlimFast – and booking a non-cash impairment charge of $91.4m (€85.5m) “reflecting continuing challenges in the diet category” in the US affecting the brand.

The body positivity movement has also brought increasing scrutiny and criticism of “diet culture”. Last summer, RTÉ cancelled its long running annual weight loss series Operation Transformation. The show had attempted to pivot to a more “holistic” approach to health promotion in recent years, having attracted criticism.

Dietitian Aoife Hearne told the Irish Independent last year that she left Operation Transformation after she was not allowed to discuss weight loss drugs such as Ozempic with participants in the 2023 season, the show’s penultimate outing.

Moran, of Bodyslims, said: “While the weight loss industry is going through a major shift, BodySlims’ unique approach is still in high demand from a global audience.”

“We would hope to see that maintain for the future,” he said.

With additional reporting from PA.