One of the biggest concerns patients have about losing weight is knowing how to keep weight off after semaglutide and other weight loss treatments. It’s a valid concern; multiple studies have shown that, on average, people will regain half of the weight they lost from diet and exercise programs within two years. Many will return to their original weight or more within five.
Fortunately, these numbers aren’t as scary with medication-based weight loss.
In a study of almost 40,000 people taking either semaglutide or liraglutide, the majority of people either maintained or continued to lose weight after a year of stopping their medication.
Weight loss maintenance is within your reach. It might not be easy, but you can learn how to keep weight off after Semaglutide and other medical weight loss plans.
Keeping the Weight Off Through Nutrition
Because of the way semaglutide injections work, most people naturally change their eating habits. When your body doesn’t crave more food after it should be satisfied, you’ll begin to eat less and consume fewer calories, resulting in weight loss.
Most people also reduce calories by limiting or removing calorie-rich, low-nutrient products from their diet to increase weight loss. These include sodas, most fast food items, sugary treats, and many packaged meals.
Unfortunately, once you stop taking semaglutide, your body’s natural evolutionary need to satisfy cravings and eat more than necessary often returns. Without maintaining the healthy eating habits you developed while on the medication, you’ll eventually regain some or all of the weight you lost.
However, you can stop the cycle! It just takes some knowledge, planning, and, if needed, a little help.
Maintaining Healthy Eating Habits
There are several ways to build and maintain healthy eating habits. What works for you can depend on a number of factors, including your schedule, budget, family considerations, cooking abilities, and personal preferences.
It may take some trial and error to figure it out, but it’s worth the effort. A more nutritious diet helps you keep the weight off after semaglutide and supports a longer and healthier life.
First and foremost, follow a balanced diet centered around vegetables, fruits, lean proteins, and whole grains. Carbs, heart-healthy fats, and dairy products (including plant-based alternatives) are beneficial in moderation unless you have dietary restrictions that forbid or limit them.
Second, simply drinking water may help stave off food cravings. Hunger and thirst can be easily confused. So when you feel a bit snacky, especially when you’ve eaten in the last 3-4 hours, have a glass of water and wait a bit before reaching for a snack. Plus, water fills up room in your stomach, which can send signals to your brain to turn off your internal “Eat Now” sign.
Third, although calorie counting is controversial to some, it is still considered one of the most effective ways of losing and maintaining weight. Not only does it help you with the ‘calories in – calories out’ relationship between diet and exercise, but it also encourages you to make better food choices by seeing the amount of calories you consume.
Finally, give yourself grace and flexibility. Losing weight and adopting healthy habits is difficult; expecting perfection only sets you up for failure. Instead, start with small changes and add to them over time. And let yourself have occasional treats and special meals. The hardest diet to follow is the one that makes you miserable.
Meal Planning and Prepping
Another highly successful method of weight loss and healthy eating is meal planning. Whether you use a meal delivery service or prepare your meals, pre-planning will help you make healthier choices.
Meal delivery services do most of the work for you. They make it easy to browse, choose, and plan your meals, and then they send everything you need right to your front door. The downside of this convenience is that it is often more expensive than grocery shopping and preparing meals yourself.
But if time or lack of cooking skills is your biggest barrier, they are worth the investment.
If you intend to prepare most of your meals yourself, start by listing all the meals you enjoy or want to try. Then, fill in your calendar, meal planning template or app, or even a spreadsheet with the daily meals you intend to cook. Some people plan every meal; others only account for dinner.
Finally, create a grocery list from your meal plan and go shopping!
Some people find success with “prepping” many meals in one day and portioning out what they’ll eat throughout the week. Others simply find ease in knowing what they’ll cook each night.
Either way, meal planning or prepping helps you maintain healthy eating habits after discontinuing weight loss medication.
Exercise and Movement
Exercising, stretching, and moving your body more aren’t just key ingredients in weight loss; they also prolong life and improve overall health.
If you didn’t develop exercise habits while on weight loss medication, adding them to your weekly routine will help you keep the weight off after semaglutide.
As a beginner, consider a simple mobility routine in the morning and short walks in the evening. You can also try swimming and water aerobics. These exercises are easy on joints and great for building muscle and burning fat.
If you are already exercising but are concerned about regaining weight, try adding something new to your routine. You can either increase your number of workouts, add more time or intensity, or completely switch it up.
Don’t get us wrong; any movement is better than no movement. But if you’re doing the same exercise every day, such as a 20-minute medium-paced walk, your body will get used to it. You won’t burn as many calories, and basically, your muscles will get as bored as you might be.
If walking is your thing, increase the pace. Check your heart rate with a fitness tracker if you have one. If not, if you’re breathing harder and can feel your heart beating faster than usual, you’re challenging yourself. Another way to switch it up would be walking in an area with hills or sand.
Adding new exercises builds and maintains different muscles, burns more calories, prevents burnout, and more!
Other Ways to Keep Weight Off After Semaglutide
Diet and exercise are the most obvious solutions to maintaining or continuing weight loss. However, they aren’t the only things to consider.
Maintaining your weight loss by eating well and staying active is more difficult if you don’t maintain other vital aspects of your physical and mental health.
Sleep
Sleep is critical to every aspect of health, and its effects are too numerous to mention here. But while supporting overall functioning and nighttime restoration, sleep is also linked to your ability to maintain your weight.
Most people need 7-8 hours of sleep per night; some need even more. If you frequently feel tired, have low energy throughout the day, and struggle to maintain your weight, you may not be sleeping well or long enough.
Stress Management
While sleep benefits overall wellness, chronic stress negatively impacts each facet of health. It affects heart health, the GI system, immune responses, sleep, and more. It also directly and indirectly leads to weight gain.
The direct link between weight gain and uncontrolled stress is due to the hormone cortisol. This hormone is necessary for several bodily functions, including regulating metabolism and reducing inflammation. However, unmanaged stress increases the level of cortisol in your blood beyond normal or healthy levels, which leads to weight gain and many other symptoms.
Learning how to manage your stress will also help you maintain weight loss and overall health.
Mental Wellness
Protecting and improving your mental health goes much deeper than simply managing stress; it benefits your overall health.
The connections between mental health challenges and weight are complex, but many studies have shown that there are particularly high rates of obesity among those with diagnosed mental illnesses.
Managing your mental health is as vital to your physical health as eating a balanced diet and exercising. If you are struggling with depression, anxiety, disordered eating, or other issues, even if you’ve never been diagnosed, talk to your healthcare provider. They can make recommendations to help you manage both your mental wellness and your weight.
Aging and Health Considerations
As you age, you begin to lose muscle mass. Less muscle leads to less caloric burn, turning more calories into stored fat. Furthermore, your changing hormone levels affect your metabolism and functioning, which can lead to easier weight gain.
Finally, many health conditions and medications can make it even harder to keep the weight off.
Consider strength training to help you maintain your muscle mass (and your bones!) as you get older. Also, talk to your doctor about your caloric needs; you may be consuming more than you need for your age and activity level.
Be sure to manage diagnosed conditions if you have any. Even if you don’t, continue to get regular checkups and blood tests after you stop taking semaglutide, especially if you’re finding it difficult to maintain weight loss. Annual blood tests and checkups can detect issues that can affect your health and weight management before you even show any symptoms.
You Can Keep the Weight Off After Semaglutide Injections
Even though medications have made weight loss more achievable and manageable than ever, they aren’t a magical cure.
Adopting a balanced diet, exercise routine, and healthy lifestyle changes is crucial. Not only will this encourage more weight loss while you’re on semaglutide, but it will also help you keep the weight off afterward.
Weight management is a much more complex and multi-faceted issue than previously thought. Most healthcare providers are sympathetic to the challenges and necessities of helping their patients with it.
If you’ve regained weight after weight loss programs in the past, don’t give up. Talk to your doctor about the options now available. We can help you lose weight and lead a healthier lifestyle. Then, we’ll work with you to make sure you know how to keep weight off after semaglutide or other methods.
