After decades of dieting, you’ve never been able to ditch the weight for good. The promise of a medicine that finally helps you reach your goals (and gives you a break from stomach growls and the treadmill) seems too good to be true.
Unfortunately, it is. While people are shedding dozens of pounds with the help of weight loss drugs, these medications don’t guarantee sustained weight loss, especially when certain steps are skipped.
Let’s look at the research for a moment:
A recent study published in the Journal of Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism found that once people stop using the medication semaglutide (better known by the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic), any weight they’ve lost will likely return.
Besides bariatric surgery, these drugs are the most effective medical treatment for weight loss, but if the results don’t stick, what’s the point?
Today, I’ll share three steps that you must take while using Ozempic if you want your weight loss to stick.
What Are GLP-1 Drugs?
GLP-1 (or glucagon-like peptide-1) is a hormone that we naturally produce in response to eating food. Weight loss drugs use GLP-1 inhibitors to change the way our bodies respond to food.
Here’s how they work: GLP-1 inhibitors bind to and activate GLP-1 receptors in your body. This stimulates an increase in insulin secretion, a decrease in glucagon secretion, and slowed gastric emptying. As a result, people experience lower blood glucose levels. They also feel full for longer and don’t want to eat large portions.
Several different types of GLP-1 inhibitors are used in weight loss drugs. Some include exenatide (found in Byetta), liraglutide (found in Victoza), dulaglutide (found in Trulicity), and semaglutide (found in Ozempic and Wegovy).
How Do GLP-1 Drugs Help People Lose Weight?
GLP-1 inhibitors artificially manipulate hormones and digestion to help promote weight loss. These medications lower blood sugar levels and help regulate insulin. They also imitate hormones that tell our bodies we feel full and prompt our stomachs to empty more slowly.
GLP-1 inhibitors can lower blood glucose levels, reduce A1c levels, promote weight loss, and reduce the risk of cardiovascular events in patients with type 2 diabetes.
However, like all medications, GLP-1 inhibitors come with a list of side effects and precautions. Many people report nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and decreased appetite while using weight loss drugs.
Some people taking these drugs will have an increased chance of thyroid cancer. Therefore, these medications should not be used by people with a history of medullary thyroid carcinoma (a type of thyroid cancer) or multiple endocrine neoplasia syndrome type 2 (a genetic disorder that increases the risk of thyroid cancer).
What Happens If I Stop Taking GLP-1 Drugs?
Drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic might seem like a miracle to people with diabetes or obesity. But their magical results only last while you’re taking the medication.
One study from April 2022 took a closer look at how people’s body weight and cardiometabolic risk factors change after they stop taking these medications. They found that after only one year, people had regained two-thirds of the weight they had lost.
The researchers had more bad news. All the positive changes people had seen in cardiometabolic risk factors (like blood pressure, blood lipids, HbA1c, and C-reactive protein) had also reversed.
The study’s authors explained that, if you want to maintain the benefits of these medications, you have to keep taking them.
Can I Keep the Weight Off After I Stop Taking Ozempic?
Two factors will determine how much weight you’ll regain after taking Ozempic:
1. Your lifestyle while using the drug
Your daily habits and lifestyle while taking Ozempic will impact whether you lose primarily body fat or lean muscle mass.
Here’s a disturbing stat: Recent data on these drugs show that people are losing weight, but up to 40% of that weight is from lean muscle mass. Lean muscle mass is incredibly hard to rebuild. It’s also your metabolic powerhouse. 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.
Without intentional habits to protect against muscle loss, any short-term success on Ozempic will make it even harder to maintain weight loss or lose any in the future. Your hydration, adequate calorie and protein intake, food quality, activity, and sleep quality will determine how long your weight loss will last.
2. Your approach to coming off the drug
While on a weight loss drug like Ozempic, your metabolism will slow down. Jumping off the drug without a strategy, therefore, can easily lead to weight gain.
Think about your Ozempic-led weight loss journey in three steps:
- Phase 1: While taking Ozempic, practice healthy habits that promote fat loss and protect your muscle mass.
- Phase 2: Drop the weight loss drug and rebuild your metabolism with Reverse Dieting (I teach you exactly how to increase your daily calories without weight gain in my GLP-1 course).
- Phase 3: Create a healthy lifestyle you love—with proven practices like Intermittent Fasting, strength training, and whole-food nutrition—so that your results last for a lifetime.
Improve the Success of Ozempic Long-Term With This Protocol
Drugs alone can’t carry all the weight! If you’ve used a weight loss drug, think of it as a push at the beginning of a journey. Your lifestyle has the biggest impact on your body composition and overall health.
1. Don’t Stare at the Scale. Measure Your Body Composition Instead.
Your goal while on Ozempic should be fat loss, not weight loss. Before starting this drug, get a DEXA scan to analyze your body composition. Continue monitoring your lean muscle mass in relation to your percent body fat to make sure that 40% of your weight loss isn’t coming from your lean muscle mass.
2. Minimize Muscle Loss.
Eating at least 100 grams of protein per day is a non-negotiable while on a weight loss drug like Ozempic. Adequate protein will provide your body with the nutrition it needs to protect against muscle loss while you’re in a caloric deficit. Strength training at least 3 days a week will also help you sustain as much of your muscle mass as possible.
3. Don’t Cut and Run.
In my GLP-1 Nutrition Protocol course, I’ll give you detailed steps to keep the weight off after Ozempic! You’ll learn more about how these medications have affected your body, what you need to know while you’re still taking them, and how to maintain your results once you come off them. If you grab your copy now, you’ll also receive a free 1-hour phone call where we can talk one-on-one about all your questions and concerns.
