My Take on Weight-Loss Drugs
I’ve been getting a lot of questions over the past few years about GLP-1 medications such as Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro to name a few. As someone who has always promoted lifestyle medicine, natural healing, and addressing the root causes of imbalance, I thought, especially given it’s the holiday where the temptation to overeat is even greater, it was time to share my perspective.
Those who know me already know my life philosophy aligns closely with what Buddhism refers to as “the Middle Way”, the path between extremes. It’s not about rejecting something because it isn’t “natural,” and not blindly embracing something just because it’s popular. Instead, it’s about balance and using the right tools at the right time.
We can’t deny the reality that these medications have exploded in popularity. At this point, everyone knows someone on a weight-loss drug. The conversation is everywhere.
For some, they’ve been nothing short of miraculous. These medications can be life-changing, especially for those with metabolic dysfunction, insulin resistance, or chronic disease. But here’s the part most people don’t want to hear and the part I feel deeply compelled to share:
If you don’t learn healthier habits while you’re on them, they eventually become nothing more than a very expensive placebo.
Yes, these medications can suppress appetite, reduce cravings, and help you lose weight. But they cannot teach you how to eat in a way that nourishes your body for long-term, sustainable weight loss. They cannot regulate your stress, build emotional resilience, improve your sleep, support life-sustaining movement, or help you understand your own physiology. That part is still up to you.
The Missing Conversation: What Happens After the Medication?
Weight loss medications can lower the volume of hunger, but they don’t erase the reasons you overeat in the first place.
They don’t teach you:
How to stabilize blood sugar
How to support your gut
How to choose foods that actually nourish your body
How your hormones shift throughout the day
How to regulate your nervous system
How to cope with stress without turning to food
How to build sustainable routines that last
In functional and lifestyle medicine, we know that weight is not the root problem; it’s a symptom of deeper patterns within the metabolic, hormonal, gut, and nervous systems. The GLP-1s help address one piece of the equation. But real healing requires going further.
The Truth About Long-Term Success
If you use GLP-1 medications without addressing lifestyle factors, one of two things will happen:
1. You regain the weight once you stop
This is what most studies show, and it’s not a personal failure. It’s physiology.
2. You stay on the medication indefinitely
That’s a choice between you and your doctor.
I believe there is a third choice, which I think is the best option:
You use the medication as a catalyst, and you transform your habits, and this is where the magic happens!
GLP-1s can open the door, but it’s your daily habits, nutrition, support, movement, rest, mindset, and calming the nervous system that help your success long after the medication ends.
I’m Not Anti-Medication, I’m Pro-Lifestyle
I’m a firm believer in using every evidence-based tool we have. But I also believe in root-cause healing. GLP-1s can open the door, but lifestyle medicine does the rebuilding. Transformation happens, not in the injection, but in the integration.
The Work Still Matters
Think of GLP-1s like scaffolding. They can support you while you rebuild your relationship with food, your body, and your health. But scaffolding is temporary, it’s the structure underneath that determines whether your results last. If you don’t rebuild, then the moment the scaffolding comes down, everything wobbles.
My Invitation
If you’re considering these medications, or already on them, use this moment as an opportunity, not a shortcut. Let them help you find the space to breathe, think clearly, and make healthier choices with less internal battle and then build the skills that truly move the needle. This is what turns a temporary tool into a lifelong transformation.
You deserve a relationship with food and health that doesn’t disappear when the medication wears off.
With healing and gratitude,
Maria