Change your body image from anger, disapproval, and disgust to increasing feelings of tolerance, acceptance, appreciation, compassion, and kindness toward yourself, no weight loss required.
Great article. And perfect timing as I'm in this journey right now. My diabetes nurse tries hard to be weight neutral with me but i could sense her excitement when I recently had to start oral semaglutide.
Thank you for sharing your experience. The emphasis on weight loss as the primary benefit of the GLP1 class of medication results from a weight-centric approach to diabetes care.
That said, this is a complicated issue, and kudos to you for trying to separate weight loss from blood glucose management. I would like to support you by sharing the following information.
* GLP1 medication does help with blood glucose control. The reason for the improvement does not appear to be due to weight loss but due to lower insulin resistance and inflammation. In a 2022 article, they found the following conclusions: "A minority of patients initiating GLP-1 RAs achieved ≥5% weight loss, suggesting the real-world benefit of these agents on weight loss may be lower than that observed in clinical trials." This is a nice way of saying weight is regained.
* The decrease in appetite is short-lived. Many people forget that existing research has already shown that stabilized blood glucose impacts appetite, and this is the likely cause of sustained appetite changes (if any). [Low and high blood sugar increases appetite and cravings.]
* I am hearing my clients say, "I am not in pain." or "My chronic pain is lower." Pain from inflammation causes insulin resistance, and there is growing research on reducing inflammation (which GLP1 does) to lower blood sugar and reduce heart disease. Think about it: If you no longer are in pain, what can you do?
Great article. And perfect timing as I'm in this journey right now. My diabetes nurse tries hard to be weight neutral with me but i could sense her excitement when I recently had to start oral semaglutide.
Thank you for sharing your experience. The emphasis on weight loss as the primary benefit of the GLP1 class of medication results from a weight-centric approach to diabetes care.
That said, this is a complicated issue, and kudos to you for trying to separate weight loss from blood glucose management. I would like to support you by sharing the following information.
* GLP1 medication does help with blood glucose control. The reason for the improvement does not appear to be due to weight loss but due to lower insulin resistance and inflammation. In a 2022 article, they found the following conclusions: "A minority of patients initiating GLP-1 RAs achieved ≥5% weight loss, suggesting the real-world benefit of these agents on weight loss may be lower than that observed in clinical trials." This is a nice way of saying weight is regained.
* The decrease in appetite is short-lived. Many people forget that existing research has already shown that stabilized blood glucose impacts appetite, and this is the likely cause of sustained appetite changes (if any). [Low and high blood sugar increases appetite and cravings.]
* I am hearing my clients say, "I am not in pain." or "My chronic pain is lower." Pain from inflammation causes insulin resistance, and there is growing research on reducing inflammation (which GLP1 does) to lower blood sugar and reduce heart disease. Think about it: If you no longer are in pain, what can you do?