Boost Your Metabolism After Age 30 Podcast

Episode 79: Protect Your Metabolism on Ozempic

• Couture Fitness & Lifestyle Coaching • Episode 78

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Have you considered using Ozempic or one of the other new weight-loss drugs on the market? 

In this episode, Jo and Coach Janine discuss essential strategies to protect and boost metabolism for those taking Ozempic, Semaglutide, or other GLP-1 medications for weight loss. 

They share insights on maintaining a reasonable calorie intake, prioritizing protein, and the importance of strength training. The conversation delves into the potential long-term effects of these drugs, metabolic adaptation, and the significance of developing sustainable healthy habits. Tune in to learn how to manage weight effectively while preserving your metabolism and overall health.


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Hey everyone. Today you have Joe and our very own coach Janine on the podcast . And today we're going to be talking to you about three things you can do to protect your metabolism while you're taking Ozempic or another formulation of a semi glutide or GLP 1 medication.

Sort of full disclosure, this is not a choice our clients typically make for weight loss. So we don't have a lot of clients that are on these medications, but much of how we coach women to protect and boost their metabolisms can definitely be applied to people taking Ozempic or GLP And we'll use those terms interchangeably today.

So as  either like Ozempic or GLP 1 or something like that, but we're talking about the same kind of medication, the weight loss drug that's very popular right now. So Joe, what are some of your latest thoughts on Ozempic  and GLP and some of those other medications?  So I think a lot of people in the health and wellness space have accepted that for the time being, these drugs are here to stay.

I've had a few acquaintances who have taken the drugs and had honestly a really good experience taking the drug for a short period of time. And then the success of getting some weight off motivated them to start exercising more and eating better. And so really taking these drugs were sort of a gateway to better.

Habits, and we all know that results are, are a huge motivator. So I think I'm agnostic  as to whether or not people should take these drugs. It's not really my place to judge or say whether anyone should or should not, or not doctors and where people like us, you know, health and fitness coaches can spend most of our time and energy is helping people who use these develop some healthy nutrition and exercise habits.

While they are taking these drugs to preserve their health and make their health better while on the drugs. Janine, any thoughts that you've had on this topic lately?  Yeah, I agree with you. I also have a few acquaintances that have taken it and I've seen  kind of a wide variety of just results from it.

So some maybe lost a few pounds and then nothing more from there while others have had really good success as well as you mentioned. And so I have to agree with you. I don't know if I really have a good stance on, or really should have a good stance on whether you should or shouldn't take these. I do appreciate your approach of, you know, as coaches, let's help focus on other things aside from the medication that the client may or may not choose to be taking.

And so I think that there's still some really good habits. And as you kind of alluded to where maybe this kind of kickstarts somebody's journey onto creating. A better lifestyle for themselves. And so that's where we really come in, where we can help Then continue to form those healthy habits that last for a lifetime. 

Yeah, totally. Okay. So let's just get into this discussion about what people can do to preserve their metabolism while taking these drugs. So I think it's 1st important to talk about how these drugs work mechanistically to cause weight loss. The main way that these drugs work is that they kill or severely dampen a person's appetite and also slow gastric emptying.

And when that happens, a person can get into a pretty steep calorie deficit. So, mechanistically, it's, it's like, you're cutting calories, and it's really no different from going on a very low calorie diet. There's no other special property of these, like, fat burning properties or anything like that, that makes these drugs effective.

make you magically lose weight. It's just  the drug just makes eating low calorie much more sustainable and an easier to adhere to because you have no appetite and aren't hungry. It affects it's thought to affect our hunger hormones.  And like I said, slow that gastric emptying. So You're not feeling hungry very often.

And so if you've listened to our podcast for any period of time, you know, that eating low calorie for a long period of time is going to cause your metabolism to downregulate. And Janine, you've coached a lot of ladies who've done this to themselves.  So you have you know what this looks like. So what this means is that when you go off ozempic, your body will be burning. 

Calories at a much lower rate, or you will be burning many fewer calories just in your day to day life than you were before you went on the drug.  And if your appetite comes back  and you start eating more than what you were eating while taking Ozimbic, you are going to start gaining body fat at a very rapid pace. 

Yeah. So Joe, can you explain again how our metabolism works and is there anything about these drugs that prevents that from, from helping? Okay.  Yeah, so your metabolism is adaptable. And that's a good thing. It's what keeps us alive. It's what kept us alive during caveman days. And really from like our bodies haven't evolved much or our metabolisms haven't evolved much from cave time days.

And so over time, your body adapts to its energy It adapts. I'm sorry. It's energy output to the amount of energy that you are taking in. So if before Ozempic, you were eating 2000 calories a day, and then while you're taking Ozempic, your caloric intake drops to a thousand calories a day for an extended period of time, your body is going to slow down its processes to burn fewer and fewer calories to adapt to that lower calorie intake to keep you alive. 

And so this adaptation usually happens after six months or so. So that, you know, it's not going to happen in a week or something, but it usually takes, you know, some months for it to happen. But you will be burning calories at a lower rate just because your body has adapted to a lower calorie input.

Second this drastic sort of calorie reduction is going to likely cause your body to lose muscle along with body fat. And losing muscle is also going to slow down your metabolism because the left, less spot muscle you have on your body The fewer calories your body is going to burn.  The 3rd thing that's going to cause your metabolism to downregulate is that  your body mass may considerably decrease as you lose weight.

And that's also going to require your body to Need fewer calories to maintain itself.  So, generally speaking, in terms of your metabolism, which again is just kind of your energy, your body's energy output. You are never going to boost your metabolism or do it any favors while in a calorie deficit and the best case scenario  when you're doing any sort of dieting is that you preserve your metabolism or down regulate it minimally.

So, what we know about or what a lot of researchers believe about. This drug some of glutide is that you tend to burn or waste muscle at a higher rate than you do with regular dieting while on these drugs. They're not really sure why it could just because be because people are. In such a steep calorie decline, that's where their bodies go.

That's the first kind of tissue their bodies burn off. So I would say that not only do these drugs do not protect your metabolism, they probably  put your metabolism in a worse place than just doing a regular low calorie diet.  So no protective mechanism in these drugs to protect your metabolism.  And I mean, to your point, if, if it's.

Going after if your body is going after muscle for energy because you're in such a low calorie. Diet Your, your body composition is going to change quite a bit as well, and maybe not the way that you would prefer for it to change  as you were kind of alluding to there. Yeah. So, Joe, what can someone do to preserve their metabolism?

Well, on, on some of these drugs,  so I think there are 3, 3, I'm sorry, 3 things that I think a person who is thinking about taking these drugs or is going to start taking a semi glutide medicine should prioritize and I'll discuss them in turn. So, number 1 is, I think, try to maintain a reasonable calorie intake and within those calories prioritize your protein. 

So my understanding is that the issue when taking ozempic or semi glutide medicine is that having  that you have enough of an appetite that you actually eat. I think it's pretty severely dampens appetite and can also cause some digestive issues. So it really is actually hard to get people to eat. I mean, they're eating something, but you know, not a lot. 

So if at all possible, I would suggest trying to main some sort of minimum caloric threshold while you're taking these drugs versus only eating when you feel like it.  So this is relative based on what you were eating before.  One thing that research has shown is that when you reduce calorie intake by more than 20%, your body starts cutting into its muscle building And muscle preserving mechanisms.

So you start interfering that with that when you cut your calories by about 20%. And I think that's related to the concept that muscle is very calorically expensive to maintain. So, if you do a drastic calorie deficit, your body may start prioritizing burning that. Muscle over body fat, because the, the muscle is much more calorically expensive.

So you're just like, your body's going to get rid of that 1st, because it requires so many calories and it it's perceiving a huge calorie deficit. If you like dropped your calories by 30 or 40%.  Again, this isn't going to happen in a matter of days, but I I've heard it can happen over a matter of weeks that your body starts getting rid of that muscle.

When you are in that secret calorie deficit, even. Over just a few weeks. The other thing that will happen over a period of time, as I mentioned, is that your body will adjust to these lower calories when we are working with a client. Our, our advice is to always try to lose weight on as high of calories as possible.

That's what we, how we calibrate our client's nutrition. And at a moderate, you know, cutting the calories at a moderate rate. So you don't lower your caloric thresholds. Threshold so much and cause this metabolic adaptation.  So applying this, I guess, in practice that person that's eating 2000 calories a day, a 20 percent reduction in calories is 400 calories.

So I would recommend not Dropping your calories below 1600 calories a day. And so, if, you know, if that's your calorie threshold, you're going to want to at least eat 400 of those 1600 calories from protein. The rule of thumb is that you want to eat a gram of protein per body weight. That might Be difficult.

While you're on Ozempic, I think of all the macronutrients protein is probably the least appetizing to some people, but it's going to do you a huge favor. So even though we always suggest try to get at least 100 grams of protein in and that is definitely true. When you're taking these drugs, so  you might not feel like eating protein, but the protein is going to help you maintain your muscle mass.

So within your, when you are eating and you are feeling like eating prioritize protein and try to get in at least 100 grams of protein, no matter what your overall calorie intake is.  So you will still lose weight at a 20 percent deficit of calories. But it's just going to make coming off that drug.

And it's going to protect your metabolism a little bit, and you're still going to lose weight. So just like I said, you're going to lose weight at a 20 percent calorie deficit, especially if you make sure a lot of your calories are coming from protein, but it's not going to take your metabolism quite as much as going down from like 2000 calories a day to a 3000 calories a day.

Janine, any thoughts on this?  Yeah, I think that you make some really good points here, Joe, and I want to go back a little bit to what I was saying earlier, you know,  when, if our body is eating away at our muscle and then, and, and I say this because I have clients who have experienced, you know, or had similar experiences.

This is also why we focus so much on protein intake and true weight lifting and lifting,  lifting heavy is because. body composition. It's interesting how our clients may come through a cut and they may lose some pounds on the scale. But then they're still unhappy with how their body looks. And it's really because In even a normal calorie deficit, you tend to lose a little bit of muscle because, like you said, your body takes quite a bit.

Muscle takes a lot of calories to maintain. And so I think that's a really good point for somebody who's on some of these drugs to prioritize protein as much as they can,  not only for their metabolism, but even for their physique and how they want their physique to look. When they get to, you know, that desired weight or a place where they're maybe more happy with.

With how they're feeling and, and, you know, what their goal is. So I think that's, that's kind of my thoughts on that. But Joe, what's, what's maybe the second way that someone else can do to preserve their metabolism while taking these drugs?  So just what you mentioned this relates more to the exercise component of this, and that is lift weights 2 to 3 times a week.

So I think broadly speaking that managing energy can be a real issue while taking Ozempic or some of these drugs probably because you are following a low calorie protocol. And so again, if you, no matter how you do it, If you drastically reduce your calories, you're going to have much lower energy.

You have lower energy coming in. So you're going to  feel hired probably. So how you prioritize exercise is going to be very important. You probably aren't going to have loads and loads of energy for living in the gym or working out hours and hours every day. So I would definitely prioritize lifting weights over cardio or any other form of exercise while taking these drugs.

The lifting weights and eating the protein is what's going to help you maintain some of your muscle while you're on these drugs. You're probably also going to like how you look after losing the weight. If you are strength training along the way it's really how you avoid the dreaded skinny fat physique.

So reach her research is so important. I'm still out about like I said, whether these drugs cause more muscle wasting than just general low calorie dieting. A lot of doctors and researchers say that the muscle wasting on these drugs is more profound. And so much so that people who take this drug can end up with a higher body fat percentage after taking the drug.

When they started. So what I mean by that is they might weigh less after they take this drug, but the ratio of fat to muscle on their body is higher than when they started the drugs. You are not going to like that result. Even if the scale goes down, you are going to look  You're not going to like that.

Look. And so lifting weights is how you can hope to combat that and spare the muscle wasting that is going to occur when you drop calories on this drug. Janine thoughts, you know, from coaching clients  about who just want to lose weight versus sort of building muscle or preserving muscle along the way. 

Yeah, no, I mean, I kind of mentioned it before, but truly this is where sometimes our clients, we, we have to spend a little bit more time coaching them because we get so fixated on maybe a number on the scale and then they reach that number and they're maybe still not satisfied with their body composition and how their body looks.

And that's where, you know, the number on the scale really doesn't have as much meaning as how we look and how we feel in our body. And so I just think that some of these drugs. While they may get you a result, it may not be the result that you're actually looking for. And so it's just something for, for you to consider if you're, you know, considering being on one of these drugs or not, that's that you may get some kind of result, but may not ultimately be the result that you're looking for. 

So Joe, what I  was going to say is that, I mean,  the, these 1st, 2 things that we've talked about are really going to help you. If you decide that you want to go off the drug you know, some people are saying, like, well, you, you don't go off the drug if you want to maintain the weight loss, you, you don't go off the drug.

So you might be thinking, well, no big deal. I'll just stay on this forever. But I don't think we know, like, the long term effects of being on this drug for, like, 10 or 15 years. There's some stuff coming out that it very negatively impacts like the biome in your gut. It's expensive. So that, that could become an issue and you may not feel very good while you're taking it.

So I don't think you should go into this with the thought that like, I'll just start taking it and I'll never stop taking it. I would, if I were advising someone who's going to start taking these drugs. You know, assume that you're going to go off of them when you start to approach your weight loss goal, but you're set yourself up for success  to go off of them and not have a horrible boomerang weight gain afterwards.

And I think the other thing I want to say is that  you will, as you're taking them and the weight is coming off, you'll probably be thinking like, I don't know what those two ladies are talking about. This is amazing. You know, I'm not thinking about food. The weight's just falling off  the rebound. It may be six months.

It may be a year. It may be two years down the road where you're just like, I don't know what's going on. I'm not eating nearly as much as I was before I started these drugs and I'm gaining weight and I can't lose it. That, that is how metabolic adaptation presents itself. The rebound is often much  happens years, you know, a year, two years. 

2 years after you've done this to your body. So this is really something you've got to have the long term in mind here. If you start taking these drugs, I think that you really  do what you can to preserve your, your metabolism as you're taking them. I know, Janine, you've had clients who have, it's, you know, they'll come to us and just, I have no idea what happened. 

But I'm eating very low calorie and they'll show us and we believe them. I mean, they're not lying and I, you know, they're  overweight or they're continuing to gain weight. And I think the rebound is sneakier than you think it will be. Any experience with that and your clients, Janine?  Yeah, no, I think that  our clients don't really realize that until they maybe get on the other side of our program, right?

And they see how by actually fueling their body properly for what they're asking it to do and adding in weightlifting and things like that. And then they see that.  You know, basically your input equals your output and doing that consistently and fueling your body properly gives you a sustainable result and I've had so, so many, almost all of my clients, I would say.

Come to us with the story of, well, I did weight watchers or I did beach body or I did some of these other, you know, like big diets that are out there and it worked for a period of time and then now just plateaued or it's no longer or I did it. I had success. Kind of fell off the wagon, had some more weight gain, and then tried to do it again, and it's just not working this time.

And so it's just one of those things where it's almost like you just, they're stuck in a yo yo going back and forth, back and forth. I do  think that  people taking some of these drugs may experience that exact thing where they see, you know, weight loss, they're happy with it. It may stay for a year, maybe a year and a half, maybe only six months, and then they start to see, you know, Themselves going back the other way and then they get back on the drug.

And so just this constant yo yo back and forth, we're really here at couture, we really focus on let's build healthy, lasting habits that can sustain you throughout the rest of your life. Right. And yeah, you have to make some adjustments to maybe the lifestyle, but overall that's what we really focus on coaching our clients for.

It's for sustainability. And not to break that yo yo pattern of going back and forth, back and forth.  Yeah, and I don't think it's been around long enough that we know if it's, you know, if you have someone who goes on it, loses a lot of weight, goes off, it kind of has the rebound, you know, weight gain, that's probably caused by metabolic adaptation, and then goes back on the drug, if it will work, or if it is like other low calorie diets, like once you kind of go down that road, it gets harder and harder and harder to lose the weight every time you go back on it.

To the dieting cycle. So I don't think we necessarily know. And you don't want to get yourself and I mean, I, I just,  again, if you're taking them now, or you're like, you think that there's this.  This panacea, where you can take this drug, you don't have to worry about exercise or nutrition. You do not want to get yourself in a situation where the only way you can manage your weight or lose weight is to eat like 800 calories a day.

It is a horrible place to be in. That is not a healthy body. So just. Heat or warning is the best thing I can say. It's not a good place to be. So I think this can lead into the 3rd suggestion I have for how someone can preserve their metabolism while taking a Zympic.  And so my, my 3rd,  the 3rd thing I would tell people to focus on. 

Isn't necessarily going to help you preserve your metabolism like that energy burning engine, but I still think it's important and what I would say is try to keep moving while you're on your drugs. I told you about the importance of prioritizing lifting over other forms of exercise. And you probably don't need to get in something like 10, 000 steps a day, but I would say you want to at least get in 5, 000 steps a day or so, and maybe one, you know, weekly cardio session in while on these drugs, just to maintain some sort of fitness level.

I always think, you know,  maybe a little cardio is going to be good for your heart and just to maintain kind of an overall. Level of fitness. Again, my understanding is that low energy is a very common side effect of taking these drugs, but trust us when we say there is nothing worse for your body composition, your health.

I'm going to include your mental health here and your metabolism than not eating and not moving the locale non mover. It is,  that is the, probably the worst  type of client we see in terms of trying to get their body dislodged from that situation. It's not good. I promise you, you are not going to love how you look even if you do lose weight nor will you be a healthier version of yourself if you give up all movement while taking this drug.

Again, I would prioritize strength training over steps or cardio to preserve that muscle mass. But I would also say, if you can muster the energy, try to get a daily walk in and maybe again, a 20 minute cardio session in each week for general health, just where you're getting that heart rate elevated a little bit, just maintaining a little bit of that cardiovascular Fitness.

There is a lot of research that if you have cardiovascular, cardiovascular fitness, your body is able to burn fat more easily. So I think it's going to probably aid what this drug is doing and responds better to weight training. So big picture, big, big picture. You do not want to turn into a non eating, non moving couch potato on these drugs.

It is not going to end. Well, at all. I promise  Janine any thoughts on this or experience with, like, the clients we get who are like, non eaters and non movers, like, how  hard it is to help them get results.  Yeah, I think you know,  a lot of our clients and myself included have desk jobs and so, you know, getting up and moving, especially Monday through Friday takes a lot of effort.

And then, if you're already eating in such a calorie deficit, and you don't have any additional energy, it's really hard to motivate yourself to get up and move but. You kind of touched on it as well, Joe, not, not only are we talking about just the physical look and appearance of somebody's body but truly the mental health as well.

I've had many clients say that you know, when they start actually eating more and, and feeling their body and lifting even the weight that they feel. Like their sense of brain fog that they, that they have, but they didn't really realize they had it at the time because they had just kind of been stuck in this cycle for so long.

That they just have so much more mental clarity. From the exercise that they're getting and from kind of breaking through that threshold of just not having energy, not  being in the habit of getting up and going for a walk after dinner or on their lunch break, instead of just sitting at their desk, looking at their phone.

So I just think that there's so many added benefits, not only from a physical aspect, but even just from a mental aspect and mental clarity and mental health aspect in general, when it comes to incorporating some movement throughout every single day. Yeah yeah, I mean, for sure kind of and I have actually just thought of this.

I have not done any research. I haven't read anything about like, sort of rates of depression on this drug being in a steep calorie deficit again.  I know whenever I try to do a cut or cut my calories, like the world can look very bleak, get overwhelmed very easily. It will, it could affect your mood really.

And so the best that you can get up and do like two 15 minute walks a day, walk 10 minutes, three times a day, try to get outside, get some sunshine, get some vitamin D. Just keep moving, keep, keep moving. And I think that's just the way to sum up this podcast is,  you know, probably the way to think about taking this drug is like that.

It's going to be a gateway to a healthier lifestyle and that while you're taking it, you know, the results will be motivating. We getting results, like I said, is very, very motivating. And so, you know, use that motivation or that excitement that you get from losing the weight to start thinking about your nutrition and being intentional with your nutrition, prioritizing protein, start some exercise habits, lifting weights a few times a week.

It doesn't, you don't have to go to the gym five times a day or five times a week. Just start those habits now. And then when you go off the drug, you're going to be in a much better place than when you started.  If you're thinking like, Oh, gosh, finally, easy street, a shot where I don't have to think about exercise or what I eat.

And I'll just lose weight. That's not a great, I don't think that's the right way to think about these drugs. And I don't think it's easy street. Like, I think that there can be considerable digestive distress while taking these drugs. Maybe not for everyone. You know, it could affect your energy. So I, I don't even think of it as like people taking the easy way out.

I just think you want to be careful about how you do it. And like I said, use it as a way to, as a gateway into a healthier lifestyle. And you'll be a lot happier when it comes time to cycle off the drugs.  So those are our latest thoughts about Ozempic and the GLP and somaglutide drugs, and some ideas about how to preserve your metabolism and health while you're taking these drugs. 

If you're thinking about taking these drugs, and we had any influence on you today,  I want to develop some good nutrition and except for exercise habits along the way. We can definitely help and you can book a discovery call. And then we'll, we'll, we'll kind of discuss what our strategy would be with you.

So there's a link to that in the show notes. Any final parting thoughts, Janine.  You know, Joe, I think you really summed it up really well, and I think that you know, we're here to help if, if anybody is interested in, in working with us while taking this drug or if they want to try, you know, a different solution before going on a drug you know, that's what we're here for, and, you know, happy to have a consultation call to see how we can help you. 

Okay. Thanks, everyone. Bye. Bye.