How GLP-1 Medications Are Revolutionizing Weight Loss

You’ve been dieting and exercising for most of your life, it seems, but nothing ever changes. You might lose a bit of weight, but you always gain it back — and sometimes more. What are you doing wrong?

Our team of experienced physicians at Women's Health Specialists, PLLC would tell you you’re doing nothing wrong; it’s just that some people’s metabolisms are slower than others’, or they have other issues going on that interfere with the weight loss process.

They would also tell you that some people require an assist from medication to push their bodies into weight loss mode. There have been any number of medications on the market billed to help you lose weight, but there hasn’t been anything as powerful and tailored as the GLP-1 medications, commonly called semaglutide.

What are semaglutide and GLP-1?

The newest anti-obesity medication, semaglutide, is still making waves more than a year after the US Food and Drug Administration approved it in 2021.

Semaglutide, an injectable drug, was initially used as a diabetes medication. In 2021, it became the first drug (marketed under the brand name Wegovy®) since 2014’s Saxenda approved for chronic weight management in the 70% of American adults who are overweight or obese. 

Ongoing research repeatedly demonstrates the effectiveness of semaglutide injections for weight loss. In addition, it highlights the value of treating obesity as a metabolic disease instead of expecting people to make significant progress on lifestyle changes and willpower alone. But semaglutide isn’t a miracle drug, and it shouldn’t be prescribed for everyone.

Semaglutide is part of a class of medications called glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1 RAs. It mimics the GLP-1 hormone, which is released into the gut when you eat.

GLP-1 prompts the body to produce more insulin, which reduces blood sugar (the simple sugar glucose that’s used as energy for the cells). That’s why doctors have been using semaglutide for over 15 years to treat type 2 diabetes, where the cells become resistant to insulin.

But wait, there’s more! At higher concentrations, GLP-1 interacts with the areas of the brain that suppress your appetite and signal you to feel full. When used as part of a treatment plan along with diet and exercise, it can cause significant weight loss — and reduced risks of cancer, diabetes, and heart disease — in overweight or obese individuals.

At this time, semaglutide is only approved for weight loss under the Wegovy brand. But because interest in semaglutide for weight loss is growing as the population becomes more weighty, some doctors prescribe other brands, including Ozempic® and Rybelsus®, “off-label” (using a drug approved by the FDA for one purpose for a different purpose).

But semaglutide was developed to treat diabetes; how effective can it be for weight loss in non-diabetics?

What the research shows

A 2021 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine looked at 2,000 obese adults divided into two groups: those using semaglutide in combination with a diet and exercise program, and those who made the same lifestyle changes without semaglutide.

After 68 weeks, half of the participants who used the semaglutide had lost 15% of their body weight, and almost one-third had lost 20%. Those who incorporated just the lifestyle changes had lost only about 2.4% of their weight.

Many studies have been done since that time, and most show similar results, which is a revolution for the weight loss industry and people trying to lose weight. There has been one caveat, though: people tend to regain the weight they lost if and when they stop taking the drug.

So, is a GLP-1 medication right for you? To find out, 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.