Achieve and Maintain Your Weight Loss Goals With GLP-1 Medications

This isn’t your first rodeo — you’ve ridden the weight loss/weight regain horse time and time again, but nothing sticks except the fat. Where can you turn for help?

Our team of experienced physicians at Women's Health Specialists, PLLC in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, offers a medical weight loss program that delivers on its promise to help you shed the pounds and keep them off. A new weapon in the arsenal is the glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP1) receptor agonist, more commonly known as semaglutide.

GLP1 reduces excess body fat and increases lean body mass, helping you reach a healthy weight and stay there. Here’s what’s involved.

Why is being overweight (or obese) a medical problem?

People who are carrying more weight than they should for their body type, especially if it’s around the abdomen, are more likely to develop a number of serious health problems, including:

• Cardiovascular disease and stroke
• Elevated cholesterol levels
• Type 2 diabetes
• Certain cancers
• Digestive problems: e.g., heartburn, gallbladder disease, and liver problems
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Osteoarthritis caused by extra pounds stressing weight-bearing joints and creating  inflammation
• Fatty liver disease
• Severe COVID-19 symptoms

Being overweight or obese can also diminish your overall quality of life, leading to depression, disability, social isolation, and lower work achievement.

How does medically supervised weight loss work?

When you try to lose weight on your own, the only person you’re accountable to is yourself, and it’s easy to choose the easy route (fad diets, little exercise, comfort foods over nutritious ones). That makes it easy to fail to keep the pounds off, or to yo-yo once you stop dieting.

A medically supervised weight loss program, on the other hand, provides you with an individually tailored plan with guidance on proper nutrition, appropriate exercise, and, with routine weigh-ins, the accountability factor you need to stay on track.

One of the other things our program offers is prescription medications like appetite suppressants to curb your hunger and your cravings. We also provide GLP-1 drugs, which go under the brand names Ozempic® and Wegovy®.

What are GLP-1 medications, and how do they help?

Semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, was originally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. It’s a synthetic version of the naturally occurring GLP-1 hormone.

By controlling insulin production, the drug reduces the high blood sugar levels characteristic of diabetes, making it ideal for treating diabetics. However, it also acts on appetite centers in the brain and gut to produce feelings of fullness, meaning it has a positive effect on weight loss.

The Endocrine Society conducted a study, known as STEP 1, to monitor the effects of semaglutide on the participants’ body composition, especially total body fat and abdominal (visceral) fat.

They discovered that weekly injections of semaglutide improved participants’ body composition in two ways: 1)They reduced excess body fat, including visceral fat, and 2) they increased lean body mass, the amount of weight you have that isn’t body fat. In fact, the more body weight a person lost, the more their body composition improved.

The researchers published their findings in The New England Journal of Medicine in February 2021. The data revealed that participants who used the GLP-1 medication lost close to 15% of their body weight, compared with 2.4% among those who received the placebo.

The data also showed that more than one-third of participants using the GLP-1 medication lost more than 20% of their weight and saw improvements in their risk factors for heart disease, blood sugar levels, and quality of life.

There is one caveat: Those who go off the medication tend to gain back the weight, so committing to taking it is really a long-term endeavor.

If you’re trying to lose weight and want to know if a GLP-1 medication is right for you, contact Women’s Health Specialists, PLLC, for a consultation with one of our physicians. Call our office in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, at 615-907-2040, or book your appointment online with us today.