#71: Weight Loss Drugs

Weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro are becoming mainstream in the USA. The shots are being offered not only to those who need to lose weight for health reasons but also to normal-weight people who are looking for an easy way to get skinny. Women especially are hopping on board the weight loss bus. 

But as with any drug, there are downsides too. 

In this episode of the podcast, I share my thoughts on using weight loss drugs. 

Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction
• 0:23 Cultural Pressures and Personal Experiences
• 3:13 The Reality of Weight Loss Drugs
• 5:39 Risks and Dangers of Weight Loss Drugs
• 9:35 Maintaining Muscle While Losing Weight
• 9:54 Eat a Ton of Protein to Maintain Muscles and Lose Fat
• 10:46 Why Lift Weights Before You Start on Your Diet
• 14:05 Final Thoughts and Recommendations

Transcript

POD71 - Weight Loss Drugs

Welcome to 40+ fitness for women. I'm Lynn , your host, a certified menopause fitness coach. And today we're going to talk about my thoughts on Ozempic and these other weight loss drugs and kind of. What you should be thinking about if you are taking them or thinking about taking them. 

And let me say that before we get into that, that I completely get that it feels great to be thin. If you are born anywhere around the same time as me, which was 1971, then you have been raised in a culture where thin was the ideal.

I remember in high school, my one friend who like never ate, she said, I can eat. When I'm dead, you know, or I'd rather be thin and in a coffin than fat and alive. I mean, these were the kinds of messages that I was hearing all the time. And luckily I was fairly slender and also an athlete so I was burning a heck of a lot of calories back then.

And my parents were totally into healthy eating. So, and we didn't have really candy around the house very much. So, so I didn't have weight problems, but I completely acknowledged that it felt really good for people to say, Oh Lynn, you're so thin. You know, that was like highest praise you could get from somebody when you were in high school, right?

And those things stick with you. Our brains are actually hardwired to take those kinds of ideas that we are given or fed when we're young and just incorporate them as that was probably a good thing for us back in, you know, cavemen times, because when you're little and your parents are saying things like, don't touch snakes or don't go down that path, then you're just like, okay, it's very good that we're filling my hard drive with this information that is the truth, but the danger is when you are fed information, which is not necessary for your survival and which is not the truth. And you're so young that you don't yet know how to question those things. Anyway, I'm off on a little bit of a tangent, but what I'm trying to say is I totally get it.

 Yes, I weight train because I want to be strong because I want to be, you know, capable, have my body working for me when I'm older. But the number one reason I started was because I didn't like the way I looked, right?

So obviously these kinds of things in our culture, you just can't help it. It affects you. And I'm going to just admit that right here. Okay. So now let's get into the discussion about the weight loss drugs.

So yes, we have this ideal of being thin. And fortunately our daughters are seeing a little bit of a different ideal, at least a few, if Instagram is anything to go by of being strong, of having, you know, big muscles and big thighs and big butt and all these kinds of things, but we're stuck with this idealization of being thin. 

And though I don't live in the States, uh, I have understood that these weight loss drugs are being pretty much offered to everybody. I had one of my clients who Definitely is in no risk group whatsoever with her weight. She's being offered that. And she says that it's obvious that women in her town are taking them because all of a sudden they're super thin.

And. Dieting sucks. I, I did it last year for the 12 weeks and it, it sucked. It was a lot of work. It's very stressful to have to monitor everything that you eat. Think about it all. Be hungry, you know? All these things, but what has been really useful about going through that 10 weeks that I went through while it ended up being more like 12 weeks, but in any case was that I became very aware of what kinds of things I needed to eat in order to get in my protein goals and also keep my weight at a good level.

And so I learned a lifestyle that I've now been able to follow and maintain my weight going forward. All right. So there's a little bit of a background. So what's happening with these weight loss drugs?

So obviously there is a big population that really needs these weight loss drugs.

People whose health is at risk because they're overweight. And there are people who are finding it extremely difficult to lose weight. It is difficult to lose weight. It honestly is. I, I know people who have had gastric bypass surgeries, these kinds of things, which are extreme procedures for losing weight.

So obviously if you can do something where you don't have to get so invasive, it is a much, much better option for getting to that level. 

But losing weight is still losing weight. And so some of the things that I talk about, uh, in this podcast are things that if you're thinking about using these drugs, or if you are using these drugs, you need to keep in mind the same way as anybody who is dieting needs to keep in mind.

So the first one is that when you lose weight. What you're doing, or when you're on a diet, be it from taking the injections or from, not allowing yourself to eat, what happens is your body is not getting enough fuel. to do the things you want it to do. I've mentioned before this comparison of it's like having a distance to go in your car, but you don't put enough gas in it.

Now a car will stop before you get to where you're going because it just runs out of gas, it pulls over to the side of the road and there you are stuck, but your body doesn't work like that. So if you're not giving your body enough fuel to do what it needs to do, then what it does is it takes from the fuel sources on your body.

And the fuel sources on your body are fat stores and muscle. And the thing is that your body will take 25 to 30 percent of the calorie needs that it has from your muscle. This precious, precious, precious muscle. And that's why there is a big concern growing around using these drugs because you're losing muscle.

Women are jumping on this and they're losing muscle. And then if they go off it. Right. They are not learning the habits that they need to learn, the eating habits that they need to learn in order to maintain the weight loss. So they end up kind of in a yo yo dieting cycle. So you take the weight loss drug, your appetite is decreased.

You eat less. Your body takes the energy from your body and the weight, your weight on the scale goes down, part of that being fat, part of that being muscle, and then if you go off of it at some point, then You haven't actually learned new eating habits. You have been artificially eating less just because you haven't felt hungry or eating feels bad or, or whatever the sensation is.

And so when that goes away and you go back to your old habits, then very quickly you gain back the weight. But this time, instead of being muscle and fat that you're gaining back, it's predominantly fat. So the point you end up at is a worse place than when you were in the beginning. Initially. All right.

So this is just something that please, please, please understand. It's one of the risks and the dangers of using this kind of quick weight loss method. It also is a risk and a danger if you're dieting normally, right? By without any outside assistance from , drugs, 

and what happens apparently with the weight loss drugs is that you don't feel so good. So that may actually make it so that you feel even less like eating protein. Then you used to protein is a little bit harder to digest, may stay in your gut a little bit longer, and so you're eating less of it.

So what you need to actually be doing, if you want to use this method and if your diet in general, like, you know, two things, please, just these two things.

I ask that you do for your own benefit. Okay. So that you can hold onto your muscle and lose that fat, not the muscle. One is eat a ton of protein and by a ton, I mean one gram per pound of body weight at least. If of course this is now I'm talking more to women who don't actually need it right? 

If you're very, uh, overweight and you have the health issues, then it will probably be a little less than the one gram per pound of body weight. You'll do one gram per pound of your ideal body weight. But in any case, if you are dieting in any form, be it assisted or not assisted up your protein, and that will help your body to maintain those muscles a little bit better a little bit better okay. 

It's not going to save you, but it will help. All right. 

And then the second thing that you need to be doing is lifting weights. And there you really need to be training in a way that you are challenging your muscles so that your body is getting the signal that, Hey, you know, Lynn needs to hold on to those muscles.

Otherwise she can't survive in everyday life. All right. So lifting heavy for you and it's best if you have started weight training already before you start on your diet or you start taking the diet medications because actually the ramp up time is time that you're not actually lifting heavy for you yet.

You're learning how to lift. You're getting to the point where you can start pushing your muscles. So, ideally, you've already started weight training, you're used to doing it, you've got a routine, you have a program, you know what weights you're doing, you know, it's like a comfortable thing for you and then you go into the diet.

Because let me tell you what happens when you are weight training and you're in a diet like I was last year. Your training sessions suck, because Your body is food deprived, it is tired because you are not feeding it enough. And so pushing your muscles is harder. It, you will not make much progress in your weight training and it is not going to be fun. So best if you get started before you have that sort of added yuck effect of it not feeling like fun or good at all. 

And if you're already in that diet or you're already taking the drugs, then please just start eating more protein now and also start the weight training now. You know, it's going to be better than not doing it at all. Honestly, honestly, honestly, you really don't want to be losing that muscle. It is. Very challenging to grow back and it is very important for your overall health to have muscle on you.

You do not want to be skinny fat, and that's what ends up happening. If you are just dieting without building muscle, you get rid of the fat on your body and there's nothing under it, right? It's just a few bones. That doesn't look very nice. I don't think that's the aesthetic that we're looking for and it's also not terribly healthy. 

Okay. And shameless plug. If you're looking for a program to get started with, you know, I do have my learn to lift courses. They are very basic, weight training program. You can train two, three, or four times a week at home or at the gym. And, uh, it's, uh, self paced learning course with 10 weeks worth of training programming in there and you get to join my Facebook group.

So if you have questions, then I'm there to answer them. 

But anyway, so those are my thoughts and I don't want to sound like, no, nobody should use this because I think there are definitely people who need the help. Dieting is not easy. And I can, I can only imagine because I've never been there. I can only imagine that if you are extremely overweight and then, you know, that, Oh, I've got to like restrict myself all the time and lift weights.

And this is going to take me years. That can be a really, really daunting prospect. No matter how much you want to get healthy, you know, cause there are other things to do in your life. Also, besides just focus on what am I going to eat and when am I going to train? So hats off to those who managed to do that.

All right. So those are my thoughts on dieting and, using the weight loss drugs. And I hope that was helpful. I am by no means a doctor or an expert on these things, but I do know that this is one of the concerns that has been voiced by doctors and by experts. And I wanted to make sure that I share this also here on the podcast in case you are considering using them or are using them or dieting in general.

All right. And with that, I wish you a lovely week ahead and happy training.