GLP-1 Weight Loss Aftermath

Ozempic is everywhere, and GLP-1 medications have made weight loss feel possible for people who have struggled for years. The part that doesn’t get enough airtime is what comes next: after the weight comes off, are we actually healthier or just lighter? I’m Dr. Enrico, and I’m digging into the good, the bad, and the practical reality of living on GLP-1s before, during, and after the “wow” phase.

We unpack what GLP-1 is, how these gut-hormone signals change appetite, blood sugar, and that constant mental pull toward food. Then we get honest about the wins: meaningful weight loss, improved A1C, reduced cardiovascular risk in the right patients, and downstream benefits like less joint pain and better sleep apnea largely because body weight drops. But we also challenge the dangerous assumption that every pound lost equals better health, especially when muscle mass and bone density can fall right along with fat.

From there, we lay out the habits that protect your body composition and your long-term metabolic health: protein targets based on goal body weight, resistance training to preserve muscle, daily movement to avoid “accidental inactivity,” and a clear exit strategy so your lifestyle can carry the load when the prescription changes. We also look ahead at where obesity treatment is going next, including oral GLP-1 options and newer multi-agonist drugs, plus why better monitoring matters as this space evolves.

If you want results that last, don’t just chase a smaller number on the scale, build a stronger human. Subscribe, share this with someone using a GLP-1, and leave a review with the habit you’re starting this week.

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Transcript

Ozempic Everywhere And The Real Question

SPEAKER_00 0:23

If you're open social media in the past year, you've seen Ozempic, GLP1s, celebrities are taking it, your neighbors are taking it, your co-workers are taking it. These medications have completely changed the conversation about weight loss. But here's the question nobody seems to be asking. What happens after the weight comes off? Today we're talking about the good, the bad, and what every patient needs to know before, during, and after taking GLP1 medication. Welcome back to Living a Full Life Podcast. I'm Dr. Enrico Dolchikori. And this week we're going through GLP1s a little bit deeper. Why is everyone talking about Ozempic and everything else? The current GLP1 statistics is that one in every eight Americans right now, 12% of Americans report having used GLP1 medications, such as Ozempic, Wagovi, Mongero, Zepp bound for diabetes, weight loss, or another chronic condition. Last year when I did this podcast, it was 7%.

Why GLP-1 Use Is Exploding

SPEAKER_00 1:24

Among adults aged 50 to 64, current use is roughly 22%. They're the biggest users of it, making it one of the highest groups that are using it. More than 25% of adults with diagnosed diabetes now use GLP1 injectables. And analysts project 30 million Americans could be using GLP1 medications by 2030. This isn't a fad anymore, like we were talking about a couple years ago. This is one of the biggest shifts in medicine we've seen in decades. In decades. Since probably the last one is statins, the movement of statins. And they're still around, right? So this is why we're doing the podcast. What is a GLP1? Oh no, no, I'm not answering. I'm asking you. What is a GLP one? For those 12% of you using it, please answer this question for me. Uh, that's what I thought. You don't even know what it is, but you put it in a syringe and inject it. That is insanity to me. You don't even know what it is. You'll

What GLP-1 Actually Does

SPEAKER_00 2:26

take it. But you also put vaccines in your body, too. So we'll get that into another day. You don't even know what's in that vial, but you'd put it in you. Um, I'm not against them. I'm just saying we put these injections in with trust from our providers, but our providers get that stuff from pharmacies, hopefully. And we just hope. At least we hope they're sterile and not going to kill us, right? That's the whole hope. But you need to know what they are. It's a hormone your body already produces. It's produced in the gut. Your gut produces a lot of hormones. We've talked about these in the past. But GLP1s and twos and threes are all produced in the gut. It helps regulate hunger, sends messages back to the brain saying, hey, we're full, we're stretched, we're distended, we've eaten. Get rid of the appetite and the hunger sensation. It gives us fullness, it regulates our blood sugar, tells insulin, hey, do your thing. It triggers the stomach to empty into the intestine. It creates the insulin release cascade to the pancreas, and it signals to the brain for appetite and all those things. Your brain literally stops obsessing about food when you GLP1s are injected into the body. People often say, I just don't think about food anymore. This is real. That was the purpose of it. Actually, the purpose was insulin regulation. That's where they all started, and it was very effective and is very effective. But then there's some other things that go on too. So if it's telling the brain certain things like about appetite, are we sure it's just telling the brain about appetite or is it influencing it about other things too? Is there an appetite spot on the brain exactly for appetite? No, it's conjuncted in the midbrain with a bunch of other stuff, and it affects that area. The good news, we got to give them some credit. GLP medications, GLP1 medications produce meaningful weight loss. The results are pretty, pretty. I mean, if you look at the numbers, people are losing weight. It improves blood sugar control. Uh, blood sugar goes down, blood glucose goes down, and A1C goes down, it reduces cardiovascular

The Real Pros Of GLP-1s

SPEAKER_00 4:38

risk in appropriate patients, it improves sleep apnea through weight because of the weight loss. So then now we have a sleep apnea pro there. It reduces joint pain by reducing overall body weight. Everything's a conjunction to loss of look, look at all the stuff they get to say. Once people lose 40 pounds, what happens? Their joints feel better, they sleep better, they breathe better, they move better, they have better energy, they have better will, they have better uh mood. So now they're like GLP ones can boost your mood. GLP1s can reduce joint pain. GLP, no, that's not true. GLP1s help reduce body weight, which have a huge effect to a lot of other things, which is great. This isn't cheating either. Don't if you're on them, don't feel like you're cheating. This is a tool. Obesity is a chronic disease for many people, and these medications are an important medical tool. It works, especially in the West, in North America. I mean, the obesity rates are out of control. This is solving that issue. It really is. Kind of. This helps you sound, you know, this helps you lose weight with it as a tool. The problem that no one's talking about is this this is the heart of the whole weight loss journey. Weight loss does not equal healthy weight loss. We don't talk about it. You know, uh putting on a garbage bag, get on your whole body, standing in a sauna, and then put it and running

When Weight Loss Becomes Unhealthy

SPEAKER_00 6:11

on a treadmill at the same time, sweating profusely to try and lose weight off the scale isn't healthy weight loss. That's dehydration. You're you're really pushing all the fluid out of your body so that on the scale you weigh in at a certain amount. Typically, this is in fighters and stuff like that that need to weigh in for a fight. Stuff that they do. That's not healthy. So we got to talk about is this healthy weight loss or not? And with weight loss comes all weight is lost. Bone mass is lost, muscle mass is lost, organ mass is lost, fat loss is it's it's a whole unit. You can't just target fat. So bone density, strength, everything is lost when we lose weight. So if you're not actively protecting your muscle, you're losing part of your metabolic engine in this. Just like any weight loss program, muscle loss is a big problem. Recent research has shown at a major endocrine meeting, also suggests many people become less physically active on GLP1s, making muscle prevention preservation even more important. And it's because they're losing the weight and don't feel like they need to be active because the weight's coming off. And it trains us into thinking, oh, this is easy when it's not. We know it's not. It's never been easy to lose weight. You've been on weight loss journeys before. Diet and exercise, diet and exercise, diet and exercise. You know, GLP ones are changing the game. Why muscle matters? We talked about this last week on the podcast. It burns calories, it improves insulin sensitivity, it protects the joints, it prevents falls, it supports healthy aging. If you lose 40 pounds, but 12 of those pounds are muscle, do you actually become healthier? This is where I want to go with this podcast. Get you thinking a little bit. If we sacrifice 12 pounds of muscle at the end of this journey, whether it's six months, 12 months, whatever, are we healthier? People are gonna debate me and say, well, yeah, we lost 50 pounds of body weight, 40 pounds of body weight. We're better off. I'm like, oh, I don't know. Now the metabolic engine's down. How are we gonna build 12 pounds of muscle? Do you know how long that takes to build 12 pounds of muscle five days a week at the gym, working out? It takes over a year to build that type of muscle. So here are four things every GLP1 patient should be doing if they're on them. So if you know someone, if you love somebody that's on it, great, support them. Support them with this information. You got to aim for roughly 0.7 to one gram of protein per pound of the goal body weight. So if they're on a weight loss journey, let's say they want

Four Habits That Protect Muscle

SPEAKER_00 8:48

to get from 200 to 160. 160 grams is the base minimum for protein. They need to be eating that even if they're still at 190, and their goal is to get down to that. They minimum. I'd be eating the body weight if I could. But as we're losing weight, we and we're on GLP1s, we don't want to eat much. So that kind of it kind of helps them when they're not 190 pounds to eat less 30 grams of protein at their goal weight to the 160, because 160 is easier to consume. And we want to adjust this for age, kidney function, and activity level. We got to make sure, you know, doctor supervise is always the best way to do this. Why? Because our appetite's low. So we need to focus on that protein first. Protein is usually the first thing patients stop eating because it makes you feel full quicker. Number two, you got to lift some weights when you do this. You got to do some resistance training. You may not have the energy to do, you know, full-out cardio sessions, but you need to lift weight. Resistance training. Muscle is your metabolism. You got to keep telling your metabolism to keep working. Muscle is longevity. As you shut those two things down with muscle, you're just training your metabolism to be weak. And then once you get off the GLP, because you have to, first off, they're expensive. You're gonna budget this for the rest of your life. Come on. Number two is once you get to your goal weight, any good provider that's providing your GLP one should tell you, okay, you're done. This is how you get off. They should low dose you off. So you're gonna be off at some point. You need to understand that. So maintain your metabolism. Number three, stay active, walking, golf, swimming, hiking, pickleball, whatever keeps you moving, keep doing it. One concern is that some people unintentionally move less because they feel fatigued or assume the medication is doing all the work. Don't fall, don't fall for that. Have an exit strategy. This is huge. Are you planning to be on the medication forever? And everybody I ask says no, because that's the logical answer. We want to talk about lifestyle afterwards. We want to talk about nutrition. What's that look like afterwards? And juring. Why cheat and create bad habits during the journey? Create good habits while you're losing the weight. Exercise, stress, sleep, long-term habits. What do those all look like once you're off? Start now. Start creating those habits now. Medication should support healthy habits, not replace them. Full stop. I support that. That's why I do what I do in my career as a chiropractor. We, the one thing in our scope of practice is we cannot prescribe drugs. And I love it. I love my job. I love everything because you figure out how to live healthy without them. And that's the whole point of this. Medication should support healthy habits, not replace them. Here's the biggest mistake I'm seeing and have been seeing. I'll just eat less. Well, it's going to force you to eat less, and that's wrong. Instead, we should think I'm eating less. So every bite matters more. Every meal prep matters more in what I eat. And I love it because the GLP1 people that are doing this are setting themselves up for such great success afterwards. Because now their meal prepping, their grocery lists are changing, their shopping habits are changing. They're going to create lifelong habits. They're not going to be able to deviate back to old habits as easily because they've created new habits. People who are just sticking with their old habits and using GLP1s and getting results are going to fall back and gain all the weight back. I've already seen it. So we want to be talking about micronutrients, still doing our supplements, still doing a multivitamin, still doing vitamin D, still taking supplements during this. Fiber, eating our fruits and vegetables, hydration, still got to do that. Strength training and prioritizing sleep. So if we do those, we're going to create great future habits. But what does the future of weight loss look like? Oral GLP ones are coming out now. You can get some of them orally. Ozempic has an oral one that's got to be prescribed and you got to be diabetic for that one. So they're oral now, easier. So now it's even easier to consume, right? Some people don't like injecting. We have triple agonist drugs in development,

Oral GLP-1s And What Comes Next

SPEAKER_00 13:01

which means the stacked GLP1 triple effect that they can do, and not just the one hormone. They can triple this to three hormones. So you get all the benefits of a GLP1. You get increased fat loss as the second tier and improved muscle retention as a third tier. It sounds superhuman, but they're on there, they're being developed right now. They're being developed. Retra-tutide is one that's out right now. It looks like the superior GLP1 that you can get right now. And that's because it's doing some pretty cool stuff. And they're only going to get better, which is crazy. Uh they can do personalized obesity medicine for people. So they're going to have an array of peptides that they can use, specific for certain people, which I like because now it becomes more targeted rather than broad-based. And better body composition monitoring will only help this move forward better. So I like where it's going. It's pretty cool, but it's too techie and we're still the unknown. We don't have any research to show human trial. You are the human trial right now. We're getting data on you to see what your results are. And that's how we're learning. If you drop dead, then your statistic does not happen. Uh, we will become healthier or will we just become lighter? That's my question. And I think it's the later. I think we're just going to become lighter, and I don't think we're really creating healthier habits. So, my perspective as a clinician is I don't think GLP1 medications are bad at all. We in our office, we are divided into uh a functional med side and our chiropractic side. I control the chiropractic side, our functional med doctor team with an MD controls the other side. They are they do peptides, they do all the peptides, anything you want. You can get it there. And I get to talk to him, and he's a level-headed doctor, he's wonderful. Uh, I don't think they're bad at all. I think they're an incredible tool. Scientifically, they're an incredible tool, but tools don't build houses by themselves. A hammer doesn't build the entire home. The person using it does with all the tools. And these medications should be helping you build a healthier life, not replacing the habits that you that keep you healthy. So we do tons of weight loss management, no GLP ones, no processed foods. We've done this for years. I see that side of it and I see how it works. It works fantastic because what we're doing is permanent habit changes for the patient for the rest of their life. They just now know, yes, I'm almost 50, or I am 50, or I'm 60, whatever it is, or I'm 38. I got to change the way it is. I got to eat like this. This is what I'm gonna do for the rest of my life. And I'm like, there you go. You're gonna maintain a healthy weight for the rest of your life and you're gonna be healthy for doing it. And that's what I'm trying to support with this. GLP ones can be the hammer. They can be the hammer. You need the hammer to build the house. But you also need a bunch of other tools and habits to maintain the house and complete the house. So I'm gonna ask you a couple questions for your weight loss journey or the person, people you love and you're listening to this for. Am I eating enough protein? That is the most important question on this whole thing. Am I lifting weights at least three times a week, doing some resistance? Am I walking every day? Am I sleeping seven to eight hours a night? If I stopped my medication tomorrow, my GLP

The Checklist That Predicts Success

SPEAKER_00 16:16

one, would my habits keep me healthy? That should be the end question of this journey. Is like, what did I learn on this journey? I lost 50 pounds. I feel great. I'm doing great. I'm so proud of myself. I'm gonna stop this medication next week or in the next four weeks. Would the habits I'm doing now keep me healthy onward? If the answer is no to any of these questions or some of these questions, the medication is carrying more of the load than your lifestyle is. And that's a huge red flag from your doctor's perspective. GLP1 medications may change your weight, but only your habits change your future. The healthiest people aren't the ones with the smallest waistlines. Trust me on this. They're the ones with the strongest bodies, the healthiest hearts, the best relationships, the best uh moods, and the habits that they can sustain for decades. If you're taking GOP1, don't just lose weight, build a healthier human. If you enjoy this episode, share, like, comment. Thanks for joining uh Living a Full Life. And if you have any questions, you can always reach out to us. Info at fulllifetampa.com. We'll help you no matter where you're at. Our programs run virtually and in-house, and we can help you in any way, shape, or form when it comes to your health, except for drugs. If you want medications, talk to your medical providers for that. But for everything else on longevity, vitality, living a healthy life, I feel like we have a good foundation to help each and every one of you and your loved ones. Stay well, stay healthy, take care.