With so much buzz about weight loss drugs over the past year, it’s easy to get confused about the labels used to describe them. For example, consider:

• Semaglutide
• Liraglutide
• Tirzepatide
• Ozempic®
• Wegovy®
• Saxenda®
• Zepbound™
• Glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1)

The first three names on this list are types of Glucagon-like peptide 1s, the last term on the list. The second three terms are the brand names of FDA-approved drug formulations containing a GLP-1. Thus, if your physician has put you on a weight-loss drug or peptide, you’re likely taking a GLP-1 for weight loss.

Tampa, Florida’s Health + Glow primary care clinic offers patients GLP-1 as part of its medical weight loss program. “GLP-1 plays a key role in regulating appetite, insulin secretion, and blood sugar levels,” says Health + Glow lead physician Dr. Swapna M. Kallikadan. “GLP-1 works its weight-loss magic by mimicking the effects of natural hormones in regulating metabolism. Thus, anyone taking a GLP-1 weight-loss formulation will likely lose weight.”

However, patients who combine their GLP-1 formulation with a medically supervised diet, exercise, and lifestyle program tend to reap the most significant weight loss results. Learn how Health + Glow maximizes GLP-1 weight loss results for Tampa’s medical weight-loss patients.

How GLP-1 for Weight Loss Works

GLP-1 weight loss drugs and formulations are synthetic versions of the natural GLP-1 hormone. When injected or ingested into a patient’s body, the synthetic GLP-1 binds to GLP-1 receptors in the brain, pancreas, and digestive system to amplify the natural hormone’s signaling and metabolic effects. This results in:

• Appetite suppression—GLP-1 influences the hypothalamus to give patients a feeling of fullness, leading to lower food intake and greater satiety with smaller portions.
• Delayed gastric emptying—slower digestion prolongs satiety and decreases spikes in hunger-signalling hormones.
• Enhanced blood sugar regulation—stabilized insulin and glucose levels help reduce cravings for sugary and high-carb foods.
• Metabolic fat storage enhancements—GLP-1 promotes metabolic effects conducive to visceral fat reduction.

While clinical trials concluded that GLP-1 helps patients lose weight as a stand-alone therapy, combining it with lifestyle changes produces far more dramatic results. One of the more recent clinical trials determined that patients who combined GLP-1 with diet and exercise lost an average of 15.2% of their body weight—36.8 pounds—within two years. These results suggest that including lifestyle changes with a GLP-1 program enhances weight loss by more than 50%.

Fuel Your Body: Nutrition Tips to Boost GLP-1

Health + Glow provides its Tampa GLP-1 for patients with nutritional guidance designed to optimize results. Short-form tips that anyone on GLP-1 agonists should follow include:

• Eat smaller, more frequent meals, aligning with the GLP-1’s metabolic effects and maintaining energy levels.
• Stay hydrated to support proper digestion and healthy metabolism.
• Minimize processed carbohydrates and sugars to prevent them from counteracting the GLP-1’s effects.
• Eat plenty of high-fiber, low-glycemic foods to slow digestion further, enhance satiety, prevent blood sugar spikes, and reduce cravings. For example, prioritize vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes.
• Eat lean proteins like chicken, turkey, and fish, which help preserve muscle mass during weight loss, expend more energy to digest, and complement GLP-1’s effects.
• Incorporate healthy fats like olive oil, avocados, nuts, seeds, and fatty fish into your diet. These fats help slow digestion, promote fullness, and help keep hormone levels balanced.
• Support your gut’s microbiome by eating probiotics (yogurt and fermented foods) and prebiotics (garlic, onion, leeks, asparagus, and bananas), which help enhance natural GLP-1 production and improve the efficacy of synthetic GLP-1.
• Limit alcohol consumption to reduce intake of empty calories and its negative impact on nutrient absorption and metabolism.

Move With Intention: Exercise and GLP-1

As with diet, we also provide our Tampa GLP-1 for weight loss patients with exercise guidance suitable for their health and fitness levels. Exercise is movement, and movement enhances GLP’s weight loss effects by boosting metabolism, preserving muscle mass, and improving insulin sensitivity. Walking, cycling, and swimming are excellent aerobic exercises that help burn calories, boost cardiovascular health, and may help increase natural GLP-1 levels.

Resistance strength training helps preserve lean muscle mass, which helps maintain metabolism during weight loss. You can strength train with body movements (push-ups, planks, squats, etc.), free weights, or gym equipment, and should aim for two to three sessions per week.

Low-impact activities like stretching and yoga can also help you during your GLP-1 weight-loss journey. They improve flexibility to help you better manage other exercise moves and reduce stress levels, which might otherwise encourage overeating.

Have Patience and Keep Motivated

Even with exercise and a healthy diet, weight loss with GLP-1 doesn’t decrease the pounds and shred the fat quickly. While you might lose a couple of pounds within two weeks, the most noticeable–and sustainable—results should become apparent after six months. Thus, patience is key to your GLP-1 weight loss program in Tampa.

You can optimize your patience by combining your GLP-1 program with diet and exercise. Not only will noticeable results emerge quicker, but a healthy diet and exercise will help you feel more energetic. Realizing results and having more daily energy should provide you with even more motivation to continue your GLP-1 weight loss journey.

You can also boost your motivation with the help of a dedicated medical weight loss expert, like those at Tampa-based Health + Glow, who can ensure that the GLP-1 is working effectively, adjust dosage as needed, and guide and monitor your diet and exercise plan according to your health profile, fitness level, lifestyle, and desired results.

Contact Health + Glow to Initiate Your GLP-1 for Weight Loss Program in Tampa

To join the millions of other Americans who have started losing weight with GLP-1, contact Health + Glow in Tampa. Our medical weight loss program combines GLP-1 weight loss with a customized diet and exercise program and other weight loss services as needed. We serve as your dedicated partner during your GLP-1 weight loss journey, providing full support, encouragement, and ongoing monitoring of your successes and health. At Health + Glow, GLP-1 isn’t just a therapy to help our patients lose weight but a means of also helping them optimize overall health. To learn more about our weight loss program or other services, including primary care, medical spa, and IV therapy, schedule an appointment today.