Important Information to GLP-1 Agonists for Weight Loss

Kind 2 diabetes is likely one of the commonest and well-studied fashionable illnesses. So, new medicines to fight this situation are always being developed.

One such kind of medicine is named a glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonist. These meds have grow to be more and more standard just lately as a result of though GLP-1 receptor agonists had been initially developed to deal with kind 2 diabetes, they started to indicate a really promising profit: vital weight reduction. 

In the event you assume you’re a candidate for certainly one of these medicines, learn on to be taught all the pieces you have to learn about GLP-1 agonists for weight reduction, how they work, who ought to take them, their negative effects, and extra.

What Are GLP-1 Agonists? 

Hormones are your physique’s pure messengers. They carry vital messages to totally different organs to maintain your physique functioning usually. Each insulin and GLP-1 peptide are naturally occurring hormones. 

The meals you eat will get damaged down into easy sugars (like glucose) in your abdomen.

This sugar then enters the bloodstream and travels all through the physique. Insulin directs the sugar out of your blood into your cells for use as vitality. 

However when insulin can’t do its job effectively anymore, the sugar stays within the blood, and also you develop kind 2 diabetes.

For this reason individuals with diabetes have higher-than-normal blood sugar ranges. It’s additionally why most diabetes medicines (together with GLP-1 agonists) are focused in direction of blood sugar management. 

However like all good planners, your physique at all times has a backup. When insulin begins slacking off (prefer it does in people with diabetes), your physique sends out the GLP-1 hormone to select up the slack.

When scientists found this sensible transfer, they got here up with a strategy to mimic the physique’s actions. Thus, GLP-1 agonists had been developed. 

An agonist is any manufactured substance (like a drug or medicine) that copies or boosts the actions of a naturally occurring substance (on this case, GLP-1) by stimulating its receptor.

How Does GLP-1 Work? 

GLP-1 is normally produced within the small gut. It has a four-fold messenger motion:

1. It tells the pancreas to extend insulin secretion to handle your blood sugar ranges correctly.
2. It additionally tells the pancreas to not launch hormones like glucagon, which may transfer glucose from different storage locations (just like the liver) into the bloodstream.
3. It tells your abdomen to digest the meals slowly in order that extra sugars don’t get added to the bloodstream earlier than insulin can clear them out.
4. It tells your mind that you just’re full and never hungry in any respect — aka, it decreases starvation and will increase satiety. This prevents overeating and retains you from taking in additional meals earlier than the earlier meal is totally digested. 

This last motion has caught the attention of most of the people and has pushed GLP-1 agonists—probably the most well-known being semaglutide—into the limelight, even amongst individuals with out diabetes.

GLP-1 agonists can lower your urge for food and maintain you feeling full on a regular basis. They could assist you reduce weight, particularly in case you discover portion management difficult.

Does this imply anybody can take GLP-1 medication to reduce weight? Let’s discover the professionals and cons of taking these medicines for weight reduction results. 

6 Key Issues of GLP-1 Medicine 

GLP-1 agonists had been first accepted to be used as kind 2 diabetes medicine by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration (FDA) in 2005. These medication are normally accessible in a liquid kind, together with a needle and syringe. 

You must inject them into the fatty tissue below your pores and skin. The most typical injection web site is the stomach, adopted by the outer thighs, higher buttocks, and the backs of your arms.

These medication are normally advisable solely after extra typical strategies like weight loss plan and train have failed to provide the specified outcomes.

Even then, GLP-1 agonists aren’t miracle medication. They need to be accompanied by dietary and life-style modifications for long-term use.

1. Be taught who can and can’t take these medication

To learn from GLP-1 agonist medication, your physique mass index ought to both be 30 or increased or be 27 or increased with a well being complication like: 

• Prediabetes or kind 2 diabetes 
• Heart problems 
• Hypertension
• Excessive ldl cholesterol 
• Non-alcoholic fatty liver illness
• Obstructive sleep apnea
• Polycystic ovarian syndrome

In accordance with MyFitnessPal’s registered dietitian, Stephanie Saletta, you could seek the advice of your well being care supplier earlier than beginning this medicine. It’s because taking any medicine comes with sure dangers and potential negative effects. A superb well being care supplier will assist you weigh the dangers you face by taking the medicine versus the dangers of not taking it.

They’ll additionally issue within the well being advantages you’ll obtain by taking the medicine. These medication are finest suited to people who’re at well being threat associated to their weight. For instance, when you’ve got weight problems, you’re at a increased threat of growing diabetes or coronary heart illness. 

However in case you’re NOT at well being threat, then these medication aren’t advisable for you as a result of they put you at pointless threat of negative effects.

You additionally shouldn’t take GLP-1s if:

• You will have a private or household historical past of thyroid most cancers, as they improve the chance of thyroid most cancers.
• You’re pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning to get pregnant.
• You will have extreme bowel illness.
• You’re allergic/delicate to Semaglutide.

One other factor to contemplate when choosing GLP-1s is the affect of those medication in your meals consumption.  

For instance, GLP-1s affect meals consumption by quieting meals noise and subconsciously getting you to decide on much less salty, sugary, and fatty meals. This speaks to how highly effective your unconscious cues to eat are and the function your mind performs in weight problems. 

However it is a double-edged sword since you nonetheless have to be acutely aware and aware of what you’re consuming to make sure you’re consuming sufficient—which is the place monitoring what you eat is available in.

Whereas taking GLP-1 medicines, you have to keep disciplined about making nutritious meals decisions and monitoring your energy to stop malnutrition and obtain wholesome weight reduction.

2. Know the GLP-1 medication accessible and their effectiveness

Many GLP-1 medicines can be found on the U.S. market. Nevertheless, solely the next three are at present accepted by the FDA to be used as weight-loss medication: 

Semaglutide (Wegovy)

• Kind: injectable
• Frequency: weekly 
• Beginning dose: 0.25 to 1.7 mg for the primary 16 weeks 
• Upkeep dose: 2.4 mg
• Efficacy findings:
  1. Producer-sponsored research of 803 and 1,961 individuals: common lower in physique weight of seven.9% and 14.9%, respectively, with smaller waists and decrease whole levels of cholesterol, systolic blood strain, and triglycerides
  2. Analysis evaluation in 2021: weekly dose of Wegovy led to weight discount results in a number of research

Liraglutide (Saxenda)

• Kind: injectable
• Frequency: every day 
• Beginning dose: 0.6 mg/day (with weekly will increase) 
• Upkeep dose: 3 mg/day
• Eligibility: Overweight adults and overweight youngsters older than 12 years 
• Efficacy findings:
  1. 2021 examine of 169 individuals with weight problems: 62.1% misplaced no less than 5% of their physique weight over 6 months and 17.2% misplaced no less than 10% of their physique weight
  2. 2021  manufacturer-sponsored examine of 277  individuals: 9-lb weight reduction over 7 months
  3. 2022 examine evaluating Wegovy and Saxenda in 338 individuals: Wegovy brought about extra weight after 68 weeks as a consequence of decreased starvation and meals cravings 

Tirzepatide (Zepbound)

• Twin GLP-1/glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonist
• Kind: injectable
• Frequency: weekly 
• Beginning dose: 2.5 mg in 0.5-mL liquid answer for the primary 4 weeks 
• Upkeep dose: 5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, or 15 mg from week 5 (primarily based on remedy response and drug tolerance) 
• Efficacy findings:
  1. Manufactured-sponsored SURMOUNT-3 trial: whole imply weight lack of 26.6% over 84 weeks
  2. Manufactured-sponsored SURMOUNT-4 trial: whole imply weight lack of 26% over 88 weeks

3. Take into account their potential negative effects

GLP-1 agonists include an extended record of potential adversarial results resembling:

1. Digestive system: abdomen ache, nausea, vomiting, constipation, diarrhea, heartburn, indigestion, flatulence, bloating, belching, and gastroesophageal reflux
2. Nervous system: headache, dizziness, fatigue, temper modifications, and suicidal habits or ideation
3. Low blood sugar and diabetic retinopathy in individuals with diabetes
4. Allergic reactions
5. Drug interactions
6. Coronary heart fee modifications
7. Gall stones
8. Pancreatitis 
9. Kidney injury
10. Elevated threat of thyroid most cancers

In accordance with heart specialist and MyFitnessPal scientific advisor Danielle Belardo, MD, most gut-related negative effects may be resolved by way of dietary modifications like consuming smaller meals, rising fiber consumption, and staying hydrated.

4. Perceive the insurance coverage protection of those medication

Insurance coverage protection for GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide relies on a number of components, resembling the kind of medicine, plan, supplier, and well being situation.

GLP-1s are generally lined by insurance coverage, however provided that deemed medically mandatory. For instance, some suppliers cowl them in the event that they’re used to deal with kind 2 diabetes.

Medicare doesn’t cowl these medication for weight reduction, however in some states, Medicaid does.

You’ll want to examine along with your supplier earlier than beginning this drug. Some plans could require prior authorization or a documented prognosis. You might also want to fulfill sure well being standards or pay some copayment quantity.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly (the producers) provide financial savings packages for individuals with out insurance coverage protection.

5. Know the weight problems remedy options to GLP-1

Listed here are some methods for weight administration if GLP-1s aren’t for you:

• Go for home-cooked as a substitute of ultra-processed meals.
• Make small, sustainable modifications to diet.
• Add extra protein and fiber to your weight loss plan.
• Minimize down on high-sugar drinks. Drink extra plain water as a substitute.
• Be sure that to get sufficient, high-quality sleep.
• Transfer your physique extra — whether or not it’s by way of train, taking a stroll, and even doing chores.
• In excessive instances, think about different weight reduction remedies like surgical procedure or medicines that trigger weight reduction (like phentermine).
• Search recommendation from professionals like a registered dietitian, psychologist, endocrinologist, or bodily therapist to obtain personalized care tailor-made to your wants.

6. Take into account the utmost remedy period for GLP-1

Analysis reveals that folks acquire round two-thirds of their misplaced weight again inside a yr after stopping GLP-1 dietary supplements. So, these medication will not be your most suitable option for long-term weight reduction. 

Weight problems is taken into account a continual situation. Medicine like GLP-1s suppress cravings, improve insulin sensitivity, and mute obesity-promoting pathways within the physique. However these results may be reversed as soon as the drug is stopped. 

In brief, GLP-1s can be utilized for the remedy of weight problems however can not treatment it utterly. That’s why you have to be mentally ready to be on GLP-1s doubtlessly for all times in case you want to obtain everlasting advantages.

The Backside Line: GLP-1s Aren’t Proper for Everybody 

Choosing the proper drug relies on many components like your well being standing, drug tolerance, price range, and insurance coverage protection. Converse to your well being care supplier earlier than beginning any medicines. 

On the finish of the day, weight loss plan and train are simply as vital in a profitable weight reduction journey. For a straightforward begin, introduce small modifications like planning your meals, monitoring your energy, or creating an train routine.

Initially printed June 12, 2024; Up to date December 2025

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