GLP-1s for Weight Loss: The Mistake to Avoid

If you’re taking a GLP-1 or thinking about taking one I want, you to hear this. I am not anti-GLP-1. In fact, I have some clients who are taking GLP-1s and I think we’re incredibly fortunate to have medications that can help people who have struggled with the disease of obesity. GLP-1’s are a disease management tool, and the medication is a lifetime commitment to manage the disease.

But there’s something about GLP-1s that concerns me. And it has nothing to do with the medication itself. It’s the idea that because the medication helps you lose weight that you don’t have to do the work of becoming a healthy person.

Because you do.

A GLP-1 is one tool. It can make the work easier especially for people who have the disease of obesity who have dysregulated hunger. For those with obesity, the medication takes a person’s hunger who is abnormally high to normal.

But the medication doesn’t meal plan for you. It can’t put protein on your plate. It doesn’t make sure you’re getting enough fiber every day. A GLP-1 doesn’t get steps for you. It doesn’t build muscle. It doesn’t strength train for you. It doesn’t teach you how to grocery shop, prepare meals, navigate restaurants, handle vacations, or deal with emotional eating.

It doesn’t teach you how to live a healthy lifestyle.

So today I want to talk about what I think is one of the biggest misunderstandings around GLP-1 medications: Losing weight and becoming healthier are not the same thing.

GLP-1s are a tool not a lifestyle. Let’s start here.

If you’re taking a GLP-1 and it’s helping you eat less, lose weight, feel better, and make healthier choices, that’s excellent.

If the medication regulates your appetite so that you can focus on building healthy behaviors you’ve struggled with for years, that’s a good thing. The medication may actually give you an opportunity you didn’t have before. I’ve seen this first-hand for my clients. And I think that’s an important distinction.

I’m not saying: “Don’t take the medication.”

I’m saying: Don’t confuse the medication with the work of living a healthy lifestyle.

Because the medication can help create an environment where making healthier lifestyle behavior changes becomes easier.  But you still have to build a healthier lifestyle and do the behavior changes. In fact working with my clients, we don’t talk much about the GLP-1.

We’re talking about developing the lifestyle habits and skills that they need to be a healthy person. I’m talking to my GLP-1 clients and working with them on the same foundational habits that I work with my clients who aren’t taking medication.

I believe some people have this perception that being on a GLP-1 somehow is easier or means you don’t have to do any work. Oh no, you still have to change your lifestyle and behaviors. Even more important when you’re on a GLP-1 I’d say.

What Does “Doing the Work” Actually Mean?

When I say you still have to do the work, I’m talking about the boring, foundational things that actually make up a healthy lifestyle. You need to learn how to eat enough protein. You need to get enough fiber. You need to eat fruits and vegetables regularly. You need to learn how to build filling and balanced meals.

You need to plan and prepare food. You need to move your body. You need to get your steps. You need to strength train. You need to sleep. You need to learn how to navigate stress. And you need to figure out what happens when life gets messy. Because life is going to get messy.

You’re going to travel. You’re going to eat at restaurants. You’re going to have holidays. You’re going to have stressful weeks. You’re going to have days when you don’t feel like exercising. You’re going to have days when you eat more than you planned.

A healthy lifestyle isn’t created by eliminating all of those things or just eating less. It’s created by building skills and learning how to navigate them so that you’re naturally living a healthy lifestyle.

Weight loss is not the same thing as health.

This is another piece I really want you to understand. Our society is incredibly focused on the number on the scale.

Lose weight. Lose 20 pounds. Lose 50 pounds. Get into this size. Hit this number on the scale. And we assume that once the weight comes off, we’ve accomplished the goal. But weight is only one piece of health.

You can lose 50 pounds and still have a poor diet. You can lose 50 pounds and eat very little protein. You can lose 50 pounds and barely eat any fiber and be at high risk for colon cancer. You can lose 50 pounds and be sedentary. You can lose 50 pounds and have very little muscle mass and have osteopenia or osteoporosis. You can lose 50 pounds and still have an incredibly dysfunctional relationship with food.

The scale can change without your lifestyle changing.

And that’s a problem. Because if the only goal is weight loss, you can accomplish the goal without actually building the skills that support your health.

This is where I think GLP-1s can be used differently.

I actually think there’s a really powerful opportunity here. Imagine someone starts a GLP-1 and suddenly their hunger isn’t consuming their entire day.

They’re not constantly thinking about food. They’re able to eat portions in alignment with their body’s requirements without feeling miserable. They have more control. That’s an opportunity.

Instead of saying: “Great. I’m losing weight. I’m done.”

What if you said: “Now I can finally learn how to eat and exercise like a healthy person.”

Now you can work on protein. Now you can work on fiber. Now you can learn how to build meals. Now you can learn how to grocery shop. Now you can start strength training. Now you can get your steps.

Now you can work on the behaviors that are going to matter for your health long-term. That’s the difference between using a medication to support a lifestyle transformation and using medication as another diet. Using the medication as a diet is what some women are doing.

My doctor told me something that really stuck with me.

A few months ago, my doctor told me that when she prescribes GLP-1 medication to patients, she recommends that they also work with a nutrition professional like me. Not just take the medication. But learn to eat, exercise and build a healthy lifestyle.

And she told me that many of those patients don’t want to do that. That really stuck with me. Because it illustrates exactly what I’m talking about.

If someone believes: “I just need this medication to lose the weight,” then why would they think they need to learn anything else?

But that’s the problem. You can lose weight without learning how to maintain it. And I’ve been talking about this for years with dieting.

A diet can tell you what to eat for the next three months. Some random coach can give you a calorie number to follow. But what happens afterward?

What happens when the diet ends? What happens when you stop following the meal plan or the calorie number? What happens when you stop tracking? What happens when you reach your goal?

If you haven’t learned the skills, you’re right back where you started. And medication doesn’t automatically solve that problem. This is why women go on the medication, lose weight, come off it and regain the weight. I’m seeing many women in my nutrition practice who have done that confused why they didn’t maintain the weight loss.

It’s because they never build the lifestyle plan, and without the lifestyle plan you go off the medication and return to the lifestyle that caused the weight gain.

I also want to point out that a GLP-1 is a lifetime commitment. The medication is for disease management and like any disease, you don’t stop the medication. You take the medication forever to manage the disease.

Research is clear that most people who come off the medication do regain the weight. It’s not clear to me if this is due to them not adjusting their lifestyle, the hunger or a combination of both.

Treat it like a diet and you’ll have the same problem.

This is probably the biggest point I want you to take away from this episode. If you treat your GLP-1 like a diet, it can become another diet.

And what do we know about diets? They can produce weight loss. But weight loss isn’t the same thing as lasting change. The goal shouldn’t simply be: “How quickly can I get this weight off?”

The better question is: “What kind of person do I need to become to maintain this result?”

That’s a very different question. Because now you’re thinking about behaviors. You’re practicing your daily routines. You’re practicing how you eat. You’re practicing daily movement. You’re practicing strength training a few times a week.
You’re working to improve your relationship with food. You’re learning to pivot when life doesn’t go according to plan. That’s the work.

And this is why maintenance matters so much!

I’ve said this before, and I’ll keep saying it: Losing weight is only one phase of the process.

Maintaining it is another skill. And honestly, it’s one that our diet culture doesn’t teach very well.

We’re taught how to lose weight. We’re not taught how to maintain. And that’s why I don’t want you to make your entire goal: “I need to lose the weight.”

I want you to think beyond the scale. What are you learning? What habits are you building? What does your normal breakfast look like? How do you build a satisfying lunch? How much protein are you getting daily? How much fiber?

Are you strength training two times a week? How much are you moving? What does your average step count like every month? What do you do when you have a stressful day? What do you do when you eat more than you planned? What does your life look like six months from now? One year from now? Five years from now?

Because that’s what lasting weight loss actually requires.

The goal isn’t to be perfect. And I want to make one more thing very clear. Doing the work does not mean doing everything perfectly. You don’t need to eat perfectly. You don’t need to exercise seven days a week. You don’t need to hit a perfect protein target every single day.

You don’t need to avoid restaurants. You don’t need to give up pizza. You don’t need to stop eating chocolate. You don’t need to live in a calorie deficit forever.
Healthy people aren’t perfect. They have skills.

They know how to get back on track. They know how to make adjustments. They know how to feed themselves. They know how to move their bodies. They know how to navigate real life. And those are the skills I want you to build whether you’re taking a GLP-1 or not.

Frankly, whether a client of mine is on a GLP-1 doesn’t matter. We’re working on the same habits, routines, mindsets and skills. The fact that they’re on a medication isn’t relevant because the medication doesn’t build a healthy lifestyle. You do.

So, what should you do if you’re taking a GLP-1?

If you’re currently taking one, I’d encourage you to stop thinking about the medication as a diet. Think of it as one tool in your toolbox.

Then ask yourself: What am I learning while I’m losing this weight?

Am I learning how to eat enough protein? Am I learning how to get enough fiber? Am I learning how to build balanced meals? Am I learning how to plan and prepare food?

Am I strength training? Am I moving my body? Am I developing routines that I can actually maintain? Am I learning how to handle emotional eating? Am I learning how to navigate social situations and restaurants? Am I learning what my normal life looks like when I’m not dieting?

Because eventually, you want more than a smaller body. You want a healthier life.
And a smaller body doesn’t automatically give you that.

I want to leave you with this: If a GLP-1 is helping you lose weight, that’s okay. If it makes it easier for you to control your appetite, that’s okay. If it’s helping you finally make changes you’ve struggled to make, that’s great.

Use the tool. But don’t outsource the work.

Use the opportunity the medication gives you to learn the skills you’ve never been taught. Because medication can change your appetite. It can help change your weight. But you still have to build the lifestyle that supports your health.

And that’s the part I can’t skip. Because the ultimate goal isn’t just: “How do I lose the weight and get skinny?”

It’s: “How do I become someone who knows how to take care of herself and keeps doing it for the rest of her life?”

Those are two very different goals!

Ladies, I hope this episode was helpful for you today. Please share it with someone you know or leave a 5-star rating and review so that other women like you can find the podcast. Talk to you soon!