I’ve been meaning to write about this topic for almost two years, and I’ve finally got round to it. Over the past year, I’ve had three clients drop more than 10kg while using a GLP medications (Ozempic, Mounjaro), which have become increasingly popular for appetite control and fat loss support.
I am not against using injections for getting into shape, my view has always been there are many tools to get you to your end goal, be this a nutrition strategy, diet type or supplementation.
I think the key is to agree on the end goal, which for me is having great fitness, vibrant health and to be in the ideal body composition range. If we both agree on that then whether you take injections or not is only a small part of process anyhow.
If you want optimal health then using the injections for the rest of your life is 100% not the answer, so at some point you will have to develop your food and movement behaviours, whether this is before, during or after changing your body composition doesn’t really matter to me. A journey can happen in many ways. Here are some of the key things to know:
–Individualisation – The injections vary greatly in how they affect people, for 15% of people they have barely any effect. For others, the symptoms, potency and side effects can be a fair bit different. So you would need to see what they do to your own body.
–Methodology – I feel there are multiple factors involved with how they work, the sales pitch is that it takes away the hunger signals and fills you up more quickly. This is definitely the case for people who have had great results with them, however there is more to it than just that.
One of these is the hangover effect, observing people who have taken them, the ones with the best results said after a while they had a bad day and they were like “f*** it”, I’m eating a load of food. After doing this, they felt so bad, it was worse than their most disastrous hangover. This feeling stopped them from doing it again. For a couple of clients who did not get this negative feeling when overeating, I saw slower fat loss results as they were able to have bad days.
A changed mood state is another reason they work, it is not just hunger that causes us to eat, or continue to overeat, it is often the person we temporarily become when we are hungry and start eating certain foods. With the hunger gone I feel it cuts off the pathway to drop into a negative eating food state, e.g. like being in a party mood, but for eating.
Finally, being on them encourages a focused mind. In a famous study on steroids, people given placebos who believed they were on steroids got significantly better results than the control group who had nothing (albeit less results than the steroid taking group). This was down to the participants getting focused and doing the things they should have been doing already such as training hard, eating protein and sleeping. I have seen this also in clients, while on the GLP meds they are now moving loads, which they weren’t doing previously.
What Does This Mean For You?
If you have taken them, or considering to take them these are the main things you need to consider.
–Fat Loss Effects – The majority of issues around taking them is about sustaining results & not losing muscle. These are a result of the weight loss. If you lose 10kg in 10 weeks you have basically undereaten by 1000 calories a day for two months plus. This means your body is hungry, I had exactly the same after each of my five bodybuilding shows. If you force yourself to undereat for a long time, be it through your own mind like i did or medication, you will be hungry afterwards with a desire to eat food. This can last for weeks afterwards until your body is back to a more steady metabolic state.
The best way around this, is to reduce the load of the medication gradually and have a period of breakeven with your weight before you come off them totally. If not doing that then just come a little past your goal. If you lose 22kg and regain 2kg yet restabilise at this new lower body fat, that is a big win.
–Muscle Loss – This is a real issue and accelerates while using them, much of this is simply the result of being on a very low food intake plan for a long period of time. This means that the body eats up valuable muscle tissue. The best way to prevent this is to weight train throughout your time on the medications as well as when you stop them. You should of course be weight training in some way anyway as discussed recently.
–Remember Nothing Has Actually Changed – Taking an injection to reduce hunger signals and/or stop overeating doesn’t change anything fundamentally. Just by taking this drug, it has not altered your hunger receptors long term for when you come off the medication, it has not taught you to enjoy moving, it has not changed how you act in social situations, or how you react to stress. It has not necessarily created a new mood state around food.
In the success stories, many of these things do change while on them. If you go to ten meals in a restaurant and have small portions while not drinking because of the medication you may actually create some positive connections so you are different long term. You may of course also create negative associations, so you are worse long term when you come off them.
It is for this reason they are just a tool on the journey, potentially a powerful one, or perhaps a negative one. The longer term health data will eventually be clear to see, but you need to be aware that the tool is not the whole solution. If you want to feel great, be vibrant and healthy long term, there are many other things that need to be put into place before, during or after the drugs.
Photos – A photo from my bodybuilding days and a before / after of a client who has lost 10kg:
Need Support Getting In Shape?
Changing your body on your own without support or an effective system usually ends in failure sadly. To avoid this outcome you can become one of my coaching clients either online or in person. I provide Holistic, Healthy & Sustainable Body Transformations. Contact me to discuss your goals further or see below for more details and the options available to you based on your location / preferences:
Worldwide (Online) –
For transformations, coaching and support wherever you are in the world read more here>>>>
London (Battersea) – If looking for Personal Training Battersea please contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or Personal Training Battersea Park. To see my locations please visit my Battersea Personal Trainer page>>
London (Oval / Kennington) – For Personal Training in Oval & Kennington please contact me. I am available for sessions in homes, private gyms or parks.
**************
Read My Book – The Grand Unified Theory of Weight Loss – My latest book is available in print, kindle/ebook and audio formats. You can read more about it and see where it is available here>>>
Follow Me – You can get more great advice, tips, hacks and more by following me on one of my social media channels. Follow Me>>>
Instagram>> You Tube>> Facebook>> Twitter>> Tik Tok>> My Weekly Newsletter>>
**************