By Erika Chen, FNP-BC, DipACLM
Founder, Yunara Life
A few years ago, conversations around weight loss almost always centered on nutrition and exercise. Today, they nearly always involve GLP-1 medications.
Not just with my patients, but it also comes up at family dinners, while catching up with friends, and even with strangers once they know I’m a prescriber. Almost everyone seems to have the same questions. Are they safe? Should I be taking one?
Over the past few years, GLP-1 medications have changed the way we think about obesity treatment, and the amount of new research has been remarkable. As a lifestyle medicine clinician, I believe they’re one of the most exciting advances we’ve seen in decades. That isn’t simply because they help people lose weight. It’s because they often help people do something that had previously felt out of reach: consistently live the healthy lifestyle they’ve wanted to live.
GLP-1 medications mimic a hormone our bodies naturally release after eating. They increase feelings of fullness, slow gastric emptying, improve blood sugar regulation, and reduce appetite. One of the most common things I hear from patients is that food occupies much less of their attention. They feel satisfied after meals, they’re no longer constantly thinking about what they’re going to eat next, and the mental energy they once devoted to managing hunger becomes available for the rest of their lives.
As almost everyone knows now, the weight loss achieved with these medications has been extraordinary. In clinical trials, patients receiving semaglutide and tirzepatide alongside lifestyle intervention lost approximately 15 to 20 percent of their body weight on average, results that would have been difficult to imagine just a decade ago. As impressive as those numbers are, my favorite part of prescribing GLP-1s is watching my patients’ confidence return. Almost all of them walk into follow-up appointments with a different energy than they had just a few months earlier. They tell me they joined a gym because exercise finally feels approachable. They started taking evening walks with their spouse. They’re planning trips they had been putting off because walking through an airport no longer feels overwhelming. They’re sleeping better, feeling more focused, and just seem *happier* than they were when they came to me asking for weight loss help.
And guess what? Confidence has an incredible way of changing behavior. When patients begin believing in themselves again, they become more willing to invest in their health. Preparing nutritious meals feels worth the effort because they’re seeing results. Going to the gym feels less intimidating. Better sleep creates more energy during the day, and that energy carries into so many other areas of their life. Before long, one healthy habit begins reinforcing the next, and the momentum builds. Watching how my patients’ lives can transform with the help of one medication is truly so gratifying.
Healthy habits remain the foundation of long-term health, but now we have another tool that can help many patients build those habits more consistently by reducing some of the biological barriers that have made change so difficult.
Aside from weight loss and lifestyle changes,we’re also learning that the benefits of GLP-1 medications extend well beyond weight loss. Large clinical trials have demonstrated reductions in heart attack, stroke, and cardiovascular death among people living with overweight or obesity and established cardiovascular disease. Additional research has shown benefits for chronic kidney disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), obesity-related heart failure, and obstructive sleep apnea. Researchers continue to study their effects on inflammation and other chronic diseases, and nearly every major medical meeting seems to include new findings about where these medications may have a role.
Taken together, this research reinforces something lifestyle medicine has emphasized for years: improving metabolic health has positive effects throughout the body. Weight is only one measure of health. Better cardiovascular health, healthier kidneys, improved liver function, better sleep, increased mobility, preserved muscle mass, and the ability to stay active as we age all matter just as much.
Like every medication, GLP-1s have potential side effects and are not appropriate for everyone. Deciding whether they’re the right choice should always involve a thoughtful conversation with a qualified healthcare professional that takes into account your medical history, goals, and preferences. And GLP-1 medications should never be the entire treatment plan. Every patient on GLP-1s should receive guidance on nutrition, protein intake, resistance training, cardiovascular exercise, sleep, stress management, and preserving muscle during weight loss. Their prescriber should be monitoring body composition, metabolic health, laboratory markers, and long-term progress.
This is how we approach our GLP-1 weight loss program at Yunara Life, because our goal isn’t just about weight loss, the goal is to help our patients have the energy to chase their kids around the playground, go hiking on vacation, travel the world, celebrate birthdays with the people who matter most…and bask in the happiness those experiences bring for as many years as possible.