First, be clear about what you want to achieve. In addition to giving context, sharing goals helps your doctor decide if medication is appropriate for you or if other approaches might be a better fit.
“Meaningful weight loss, better blood sugar control, and reduced cardiovascular risk are common goals for people who seek GLP-1 therapy,” says Fatima Cody Stanford, MD, MPH, an obesity medicine specialist at Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard Medical School, both in Boston.
Other common goals include wanting to feel better physically and mentally as well as improving stamina, mobility, or longevity, says Allison Rhodes, MD, a physician at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus who is certified in internal medicine and obesity medicine.
Your doctor may help you set realistic expectations. People on GLP-1s who are overweight may lose 5 to 15 percent of their body weight, for example, in addition to seeing potential cholesterol improvements and reducing heart disease risk, especially when paired with healthy lifestyle changes.
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But don’t expect it all to happen at once, Dr. Stanford says.
“Unrealistic goals include rapid or extreme weight loss, cure of obesity, or permanent results without ongoing therapy,” she says.
Keep in mind that you don’t have to achieve a “normal” body mass index (BMI) of 18.4 to 24.9 to be healthy, says Jessica Bartfield, MD, associate professor of bariatric and weight management surgery at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
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Losing 10 percent of your body weight over time can improve weight-related complications even if your BMI remains higher than 25, she says.
Based on what you share, your doctor may help you manage expectations and set realistic goals, even if GLP-1s are not a fit for you.
