Weight loss drugs are taking America by storm. Semaglutide medications, like Ozempic and Wegovy are stealing health headlines week after week. Could these drugs be the easy one-shot stop to weight loss?
On Monday morning, November 21, a large study made a big claim. According to the data collected, one weight loss drug surpassed all the others: Mounjaro. The study claims that Mounjaro is more effective than Ozempic in helping people lose weight.
As Mounjaro and other weight loss drugs soar in demand in the U.S., we’re left wondering, which is the most effective? Today, you’ll find out.
What Exactly Are These Weight Loss Drugs?
Weight loss drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, and Mounjaro were originally created for people with Type 2 diabetes. Once patients started losing significant weight while on the medication, however, the world started watching.
Each of these weight loss drugs contains the active ingredient semaglutide, which mimics certain hormones in the gut. The main way these drugs work is by curbing your appetite. These medications, therefore, help people stay in a caloric deficit more effortlessly.
Weight loss drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, and Mounjaro work in multiple ways:
- They delay your stomach from emptying. These drugs cause your food to stay in your stomach for a lot longer.
- They make you more insulin-sensitive, improving your blood sugar regulation. When our blood sugar is better balanced, we’re able to burn fat more effortlessly than we are when our blood sugar is imbalanced.
- Weight loss drugs also quiet your appetite and hunger signals. Many people on these drugs report not feeling hungry at all, and even forgetting about food.
How is Mounjaro Different From Other Weight Loss Drugs?
Several studies have suggested that Mounjaro is more effective than Ozempic for weight loss and controlling blood sugar in adults with Type 2 diabetes. The new study by Truveta Research found that patients taking Mounjaro were three times more likely to lose 15% of their weight than those on Ozempic.
Like Ozempic and other weight loss drugs, Mounjaro is a weekly injection that alters your appetite by mimicking certain hormones in your gut.
Ozempic and Wegovy mimic one hunger-related hormone, called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). This hormone makes us feel full and lowers our blood sugar levels.
Mounjaro, on the other hand, mimics both GLP-1 and another hormone called glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP). By mimicking both these hormones, Mounjaro may be more effective at regulating appetite and blood sugar levels.
Why No One’s Talking About Long-Term Effects
Besides the adverse gastrointestinal events and side effects, no one’s speaking out about the long-term risks of weight loss drugs. The promise of fast, effortless weight loss has overshadowed the disturbing long-term health risks.
The most up-to-date data on these drugs shows that people are losing weight, but up to 40% of that weight is from lean muscle mass. This statistic is scary and bad news for the future of anyone taking these medications.
Your lean muscle mass is your metabolic powerhouse. If we’re overweight, it’s good for our bodies to lose fat, but it’s very bad for our bodies to lose muscle mass. Lean muscle is incredibly hard to build. If our muscle mass drops, so does our metabolism, which means we have to eat less and less each day to maintain our weight loss.
These medications are extremely effective while you’re taking them. But the data shows that if you stop taking these medications, you have a very high likelihood of gaining back the weight, if not more.
The moment you go off a weight loss drug like Mounjaro, your appetite will return, but your metabolism won’t. That means that the food you eat to satisfy your appetite will be stored as fat. It’s a vicious cycle and a hard one to fix. Any short-term success on Mounjaro will, in the end, make it much harder to lose weight and maintain it if you don’t have a plan in place.
Should I Try Mounjaro?
Weight loss is hard work. Drugs like Mounjaro may be a good fit for some, and a bandaid for others. We all long to reach optimal health, and I don’t discredit anyone for taking whatever means possible to feel better in their body.
Now that you know, however, that drugs like Mounjaro simply help people stay in a caloric deficit and balance blood sugar, they might seem less appealing. After all, you can lower your calories and balance your blood sugar naturally without depending on medicine and living with its side effects for the foreseeable future.
In the long run, drugs like Mounjaro can have a drastic effect on your metabolism and body composition. Unless you plan on staying on these drugs for the rest of your life or have a rigorous exit plan in place, they could leave you worse off.
If Drugs Aren’t the Answer, What Is?
Weight loss is personal. There is no one magic diet or one exercise plan that works for everyone. The healthy lifestyle that you can stick with—whether that’s low-carb, Mediterranean, vegan, or paleo—is the right path for you.
However, there is one key to lasting weight loss. Lifestyle change is necessary for real, long-term results. Regardless of your regime, you’ll reach a healthy weight faster and more easily maintain it if you focus on these five lifestyle changes:
Take a few small steps forward this week in creating a healthy lifestyle. You’ll be amazed at how empowered and energized you’ll feel within a few days.
Need a guide along your health journey? I’m a click away. Let’s join forces and create a healthy lifestyle you love. Whether you are taking weight loss medication and need a proper exit plan, or are trying to avoid medication all together, creating healthy habits is key! Join LEAN, a 7-week online program where you’ll learn how to achieve sustainable weight loss that lasts with a Registered Dietitian.
Want to learn more about Ozempic? Read my breakdown on Ozempic here.
