What to do if you don’t lose weight on a GLP-1 medication?
Importantly, patience is essential when taking a GLP-1 medication like semaglutide.
Ideally, it takes at least 12 weeks to see results.
However, if you don’t see weight loss by then or have concerns, here are some options to consider.
Talk to your doctor
Experts stress the importance of having a conversation with your doctor, whether or not you are losing weight.
It’s critical to seek guidance from your doctor, who can assess individual factors that affect effectiveness and recommend necessary adjustments, such as changing the dose or exploring alternative treatments.
Experts say you should meet with your doctor at least once a month, more often when your patient’s dose is increased and if they experience significant side effects.
Lifestyle adjustments
Dietary habits: Advise patients to stop eating when full, eat mostly whole, unprocessed foods, and cook their own meals rather than relying on takeout or delivery services.
Hydration: Encourage patients to make sure they drink enough water every day.
Sleep quality: It is recommended to get 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night to support the body’s recovery and weight management.
Exercise habits: Emphasize the importance of consistent exercise to maintain good health and promote weight management.
Emotional and psychological factors: Point out that stress and emotional issues can affect eating habits and sleep quality, so addressing these issues is important for overall health and weight management progress.
Manage side effects
Side effects will disappear over time. Experts say people can take steps to ease and manage them, including:
Eat smaller and more frequent meals.
Avoid greasy foods, which stay in the stomach longer and may make gastrointestinal problems such as nausea and reflux worse.
Talk to your doctor about over-the-counter and prescription medications that can help you make side effects manageable, but they may only be short-term.
Switch to a different medication
Semaglutide is not the only option people have. Telport was approved in 2023 to treat obesity and overweight and certain underlying medical conditions.
The 2023 trial showed that people with obesity or overweight but without diabetes lost an average of 21% of their body weight over 36 weeks.
Semaglutide, as a GLP-1 receptor agonist, mimics the GLP-1 hormone, reducing appetite by increasing insulin secretion and signaling satiety to the brain. In contrast, tepoxetine acts as a dual agonist of the glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and GLP-1 receptors, promoting insulin secretion and satiety. (Both GIP and GLP-1 agonists are hormones produced naturally in our gastrointestinal system.)
Experts say some people may have better weight loss results with tepoxetine, including those who don’t respond to semaglutide.
Post time: Apr-18-2025