Achieving your ideal weight is a massive accomplishment. If you’ve hit this milestone recently, or if you’re approaching success, you deserve to revel in the achievement. But after the celebration subsides, you may find yourself asking, now what?
If this sounds familiar, you’re not alone. After reaching your goal weight, you’ll likely feel an initial jolt of excitement. First, enjoy it! Then, prepare for a new challenge: maintaining your hard-earned weight loss.
According to research, maintaining your target weight in the long term may be even more challenging than the weight loss itself. A review in Medical Clinics of North America found that, across 29 long-term weight loss studies, participants regained more than half of their weight within two years. And within four years, they regained more than 80%.
These statistics might feel worrisome. But rather than panicking, try to focus on what you can do to protect your progress. Maintaining your goal weight is possible. And with the right treatment program in place, it may even be easier than you think. Keep reading for expert insight on weight maintenance—and learn about how low-dose GLP-1 medication can help you stay on track.
Maintaining Your Goal Weight: Tips and Strategies
Just as there’s no one-size-fits-all approach to weight loss, weight maintenance strategies vary by individual. However, there are a few tried-and-true practices recommended by experts for successful long-term weight loss.
Stay active
To achieve your weight loss goals, you likely increased your physical activity quite a bit—and this level of activity is just as important after you’ve reached your ideal weight. The good news: Many who have reached their ideal weight find that they have much more energy than before, making physical activity an easy habit to uphold.
During your weight loss journey, you likely found one or two types of exercise that you prefer or even enjoy. To stay active, find ways to mix up your favorite workouts, like a new playlist, walking route, or strength training routine. Or channel your newfound confidence to try out new forms of exercise. To keep the weight off, it’s important to make these activities part of your lifestyle, rather than just a part of your weight loss plan.
Maintain a healthy diet
If you were on a reduced-calorie diet during your weight loss journey, consider talking to your doctor. They may recommend adjusting your daily calorie intake now that you’re in maintenance mode. Whether or not they recommend a change in daily calorie intake, the healthy eating habits you’ve adopted should remain intact.
In addition to filling your plate with nutrient-dense foods, experts recommend these healthy habits for weight loss maintenance: eat smaller and more frequent meals throughout the day, prioritize a nutritious breakfast every morning, and eat home-cooked dishes more frequently than restaurant meals or fast food. These are all habits that you likely formed while losing weight—now, you just need to keep them up!
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Consider low-dose medication
If you’re concerned that diet and exercise alone won’t be enough to help you maintain your weight loss, you may be interested in seeking out a medical solution. You’ve likely heard of GLP-1 agonists, a class of medication used to treat type 2 diabetes and aid in weight loss for obese or overweight individuals.
Now, this same class of medication can be prescribed in much smaller doses to help maintain weight loss results in the long term. Keep reading to learn more about low-dose semaglutide programs, and discover whether small doses of GLP-1 medication could be right for you.
What to Know About Low-Dose Semaglutide
By now, you’ve likely heard of semaglutide—a GLP-1 agonist medication, known also as the active ingredient in popular prescription weight loss drugs like Ozempic® and Wegovy®.
GLP-1 agonists work by mimicking the GLP-1 hormone, which helps to manage blood sugar levels and appetite. In recent years, these weight loss medications have skyrocketed in popularity—and now, their uses are quickly expanding to help patients maintain their weight as well.
As these weight maintenance programs gain popularity, some users have adopted the term “GLP-1 microdosing” to describe the low-dose treatment plan. Regardless of what terminology you prefer, low-dose treatment could be key in helping you maintain your target weight.
Dr. Shirley Jiang, MD, Chief Medical Officer at ReflexMD advises that “microdosing can be an effective solution for patients who have already reached their weight loss goal. For some patients, continuing on standard doses of semaglutide results in undesired further weight loss, while stopping semaglutide altogether results in undesired weight gain. Microdosing helps these patients maintain their ideal weight. “
Let’s take a look at the benefits:
Weight maintenance
In normal doses, GLP-1 agonists are used to treat type 2 diabetes and aid in weight loss for overweight and obese patients. In low doses, they can function on a much smaller scale to help patients maintain their weight loss over time, while minimizing the side effects that come with a full dose.
This type of treatment can be especially helpful to those who struggle to manage their appetite and cravings on their own, or those who used semaglutide (or other GLP-1 medication) to achieve their weight loss goals in the first place.
Appetite management
A core function of the GLP-1 hormone is the slowing of the body’s gastric emptying. Put simply, gastric emptying refers to the time it takes for food to leave the stomach. By slowing this process, GLP-1 agonists can help patients feel satiated for longer periods of time, resulting in fewer cravings and the ability to maintain a healthy diet.
Blood sugar regulation
The GLP-1 hormone also stimulates insulin release, which helps to balance the body’s blood sugar levels. For those with type 2 diabetes, this is a key function of GLP-1 agonist medications, and a low-dose program can be beneficial in preventing diabetes-related complications and supporting long-term health. If you’re interested in a low-dose semaglutide program to manage type 2 diabetes, be sure to consult with your doctor.
Cardiovascular health benefits:
It’s no secret that maintaining a healthy weight helps to improve heart health by maintaining healthy cholesterol and blood pressure levels. In addition, studies show that GLP-1 agonist medications like semaglutide can reduce the risk of cardiovascular events, like heart attack and stroke.
The takeaway
If you’ve achieved your weight loss goals and are focused on maintaining your hard-earned progress, a low-dose semaglutide treatment program may be right for you. This low-dose—or microdosing—approach can help you maintain a healthy weight in the long term, control appetite and cravings, and aid in improved cardiovascular health.
Although research is ongoing, experts agree that it’s key to consult with a provider while undergoing treatment. When you enroll in a low-dose semaglutide program through ReflexMD, we’ll connect you with a board-certified physician to evaluate your BMI and design a personalized treatment plan. To get started, take our quick quiz to see if you qualify
Disclaimer: This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute medical or prescriptive advice. Please consult your doctor before starting any new medication, diet, or exercise plan. The information provided relates to medically supervised weight management programs and is not an endorsement of any specific drug.
