Whether it's your doctor, an online company, or your neighbor, it seems like anyone and everyone reccommends GLP-1 meds these days.
Here are 3 things no one may have told you, as well as how to come off of these meds.
- Most people gain back the weight within one year of coming off of them. But worse than that…
The cardio-metabolic health benefits you might experience while on them, reverse to the negative state you were in before.
That means, you only experience the desired outcomes while on the medications. (1.) - Yes they cause muscle loss, but they also cause the heart to shrink. (2.)
The heart is a muscle.
For reasons associated with muscle loss, and in my opinion also due to the less amount of calories consumed it causes low energy, which leads to not using the heart. To grow a muscle we must use it, and that requires energy to do things like cardio.
- Eating enough protein and lifting weights is not enough to counterbalance the negative impacts of muscle and bone loss.
Cortisol elevation leads to weak bones and muscle loss. (3.)
Carbohydrate restriction leads to elevated cortisol.
You could eat only protein all day and lift weights, but your health could still be compromised.
Learning how to eat enough nutrient dense carbohydrates is required to help you build muscle, have a healthy thyroid function, decrease stress, incorporate enough cardio, and promote longevity. (This is one reason high fat diets lead to insulin resistance - read more here.)
Many individuals have compromised digestion as a result of these medications, too. Focusing on nutrient absorption and healing any imbalances is imperative, as well.
But here’s the real issue:
Like all medications, even if they’re necessary, they do not show you how to change what truly dictates your health and long-term success: your habits.
Your habits, not sugar alone, will dictate if you have insulin resistance or not. (That’s why I created the Insulin Resistance Fix to help you learn more about that.)
You must have a firm understanding of what insulin resistance is and how to reverse it.
There is a reason individuals gain back weight after quitting these meds - they don’t know what to do! And that’s not fair!
Here are some helpful tools:
Reverse diets. These medications cause people to eat in a severe calorie deficit. Not only does this cause nutrient deficiencies, but it forces the body to adapt to living off of less calories. (Here's a video on it.)
We must have a healthy vibrant metabolism if we want to age well.
And individuals on these meds, when they try to come off, go from eating 900-1200 calories, then don’t know how to adequately incorporate a healthy number of calories. And this leads to weight gain.
Rather, a reverse diet is necessary. For my clients, that includes slowly increasing calories while also boosting our energy needs with movement and healthy habits.
What should you do?
Learn to decrease insulin resistance through your habits and nutrition.
You likely need a reverse diet.
Address nutrient deficiencies likely caused by the extreme low calorie/food restriction these meds can cause (and which likely lead to the apathy, hair loss, or facial/skin changes you might have noticed).
Focus on proper stomach acid and healing the gut.
Increase daily movement and follow a plan for building muscle.
You can avoid, or come off of, these medications in a healthy manner. If you need a personalized plan with nutrition, movement, and lifestyle to help you do so, click here to apply to join Wellness in Bloom today.
