Realistic Expectations:

You’ve likely heard people bragging about triple-digit weight loss with GLP-1 agonists. Although there are a few hyper-responders out there, they are the outliers. As much as we all want to be like them, the reality is that most of us are going to fall in the “average” range when taking these medications.

Although “average” weight loss in these studies is excellent, keep in mind that every last one of them also provided a comprehensive lifestyle intervention – with frequent visits, a prescriptive nutritional intervention, and a dedicated health coach. Real-world data (data collected from people simply taking the medication without the corresponding lifestyle intervention) is much less.

What follows is a worksheet that we use with our patients to set realistic expectations. Some patients don’t want to undergo comprehensive care. That’s OK – but they need to be aware that they will likely quite a bit LESS weight when approaching treatment that way.