You've lost weight with semaglutide... now what?
The majority of people (over 80%) who try a semaglutide medication for weight loss get results.
(Semaglutide is simply the generic name for the active pharmaceutical ingredient in weight loss drugs like Ozempic® and Wegovy®.) So, if you’re one of the millions of people who have used, or are using semaglutide to lose weight, chances are you have had positive results. However, you may be wondering if you want to, or need to stay on a continuous schedule of injections. Many people reach a goal of losing weight, only to find that the real challenge is in maintaining that result. When you stop using semaglutide, the body’s reaction is often the return of cravings to eat more than necessary. Research has shown that many people regain weight when they stop treatment.
Or maybe you have never tried semaglutide treatments for weight loss. This could be due to being unable to physically or mentally tolerate injections. Whether you need to stop injection treatments, or have never been able to use them for personal and medical reasons, there is now a way you can safely and effectively incorporate semaglutide into a weight-loss program and lifestyle without the use of needles.
What semaglutide does
Insulin is basically the key to delivering food energy to your cells. When you take in food, a hormone called GLP-1 causes insulin to be released, signaling that you have eaten something. Simply put, semaglutide was founded as a drug treatment for diabetics, because it mimics GLP-1, helping with insulin release and regulation. It was soon found that the food-signaling, appetite-suppression aspects of the drug were also beneficial for weight loss. It reduces the desire for food as well as slows down the speed at which the stomach processes food.
In addition to the desired weight loss effects, semaglutide can also create metabolic changes over time. When the number of calories taken in is reduced, the body adapts by lowering its resting metabolic rate. This natural slowing down of the metabolism is one of the things that can make it difficult to maintain weight loss when semaglutide treatment is stopped. According to research by the American Diabetes Association, 50-70% of people receiving semaglutide treatments gain back all or part of the weight they lost within a year of stopping the medication.
Additional benefits and potential for semaglutide
For those who use semaglutide, some of the benefits, besides losing weight, are the changes in behavior and lifestyle that often occur organically. Seeing progress in losing weight can help improve overall mindset and motivation. This can lead to making healthier diet choices and trying for a more active lifestyle. Diet and exercise are key factors in not only losing weight, but also in keeping it off.
While semaglutide has been proven to be a safe, effective treatment for weight loss, there is still very large number of people that don’t want to use it, even though it could be a significant benefit to their health. A very recent survey of 2,200 U.S. adults, conducted by the Physicians Committee for Responsible medicine, found that 62% of those who wanted to, or knew they should lose weight, would not want to use an injectable drug to do it. An aversion to injections is a major factor in preventing some people from realizing the positive potential that semaglutide treatment can offer.
Semaglutide provides a pharmaceutical advantage for losing weight, and it can be very useful in jump starting the process. While it was not meant to be a solution all by itself, it can provide lasting results when it is part of overall weight management, which includes lifestyle factors as well. Stopping semaglutide use can lead to the “weight rebound” effect – regaining the lost weight and reversing the health benefits achieved. For many of those who have realized the positive benefits of semaglutide, they would like to keep using it. With research showing that long-term semaglutide use is safe, there is now an option to continue use without injections.
Semaglutide provides a pharmaceutical advantage for losing weight, and it can be very useful in jump starting the process. While it was not meant to be a solution all by itself, it can provide lasting results when it is part of overall weight management, which includes lifestyle factors as well. Stopping semaglutide use can lead to the “weight rebound” effect – regaining the lost weight and reversing the health benefits achieved. For many of those who have realized the positive benefits of semaglutide, they would like to keep using it. With research showing that long-term semaglutide use is safe, there is now an option to continue use without injections.
How is weight loss maintained?
Whether you have already lost some weight, or you’re considering starting the process, it’s helpful to consider ahead of time what you will need to do to keep the weight off in the long-term. In addition to incorporating semaglutide into weight management, healthy lifestyle habits also need to be included. Every source on this topic agrees on the basics of what that includes.
Diet. The first consideration is always what you eat, how much and when. It’s a priority to limit, or eliminate most high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. This includes things like soda, snack foods, fast foods, foods high in sugar, and a lot of processed and pre-packaged foods. As far as how much and when to eat, the advice differs, depending on the source. Some recommend more frequent, smaller amounts of food 5 to 6 times a day, and others say 2 to 3 times a day of balanced meals will work as well. The best thing to do is to see what works for you, your body type, your metabolism. The main thing is to make sure you have a diet that includes a lot of fresh fruits, vegetables and lean protein; don’t eat right before going to bed; and drink plenty of water. Most people are under-hydrated, whether they know it or not.
Increased activity. As part of weight loss and management, what you do for physical activity will vary with each person. The important thing is to do something. Start at a level that’s appropriate for what you’re used to and your current physical condition. Walking, light calisthenics, and stretching are good places to start, and try to increase the intensity or difficulty over time. Regardless of what you do for physical exercise, two very important things to strive for are to maintain mobility and build strength. More and more evidence is pointing to the fact that strength resistance training, including weights, is critical to keeping bone density, joint strength and muscle. Muscle helps to maintain a metabolism that can burn calories efficiently, and is especially important as you get older.
Sleep. Along with diet and exercise, make sleep a priority. Numerous research studies have shown that weight gain, increased appetite and poor blood sugar control can be directly correlated to a lack of sleep.
Water and Stress. You need to try and maximize one and minimize the other. It’s worth repeating that you need to drink plenty of water on a daily basis. And you also need to try to avoid or eliminate things that create stress. The reality is, whether it’s from work, relationships or self-inflicted, everybody experiences stress. What’s important is to be able control the causes of it when you can, and learn to manage it when you can’t. Stress is a common trigger for reactions such as overeating.
Making lifestyle changes accordingly will contribute a lot to being able to successfully lose weight. Adding regular, ongoing semaglutide treatments can enhance those changes even more, and be part of a healthy weight loss and maintenance regimen.
A new way to use semaglutide
If you are currently using semaglutide for weight loss, there is a way you can now continue with it without injections. If you used semaglutide in the past, stopped, and have experienced weight regain, you can now use it again without injections. And if you have never tried semaglutide for weight loss because you do not want to, or cannot tolerate injections, you can now try it without injections.
Riize Health is a proven leader in one of the fastest growing drug delivery systems available. Riize Weight Maintenance Strips provide micro-dosing of semaglutide in an oral dissolving film strip.
The superior effectiveness of oral dissolving strips in delivering active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) comes from bypassing the body’s first-pass metabolism, and going straight to the bloodstream via the capillary system in oral tissue. Riize Weight Maintenance strips use state-of-the-art thin film technology, domestically manufactured under strict guidelines, and prescribed through a secure, licensed telemedicine platform. Used daily, the strips offer an innovative new, non-injectable way to sustain the effectiveness of semaglutide by blocking food-craving signals and rendering signals of fullness.
So, regardless of whether you are using semaglutide, have used semaglutide and stopped, or have never tried semaglutide for weight loss and maintenance, Riize Weight Maintenance strips offer an easy-to-use, effective way to deliver semaglutide treatment without injections, and a sustainable approach to ongoing weight management.
SOURCES
- https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/how-many-meals-per-day
- https://www.healthshots.com/healthy-eating/nutrition/is-eating-2-meals-a-day-healthy/
- https://www.eatingwell.com/article/7826585/best-times-to-eat-for-weight-loss/
- https://www.news-medical.net/news/20240205/Over-8025-of-semaglutide-users-achieve-significant-weight-loss-after-12-months-study-finds.aspx
- https://drmazaheri.com/how-to-stop-rebound-weight-gain-after-taking-semaglutide/
- https://www.epicresearch.org/articles/many-patients-maintain-weight-loss-a-year-after-stopping-semaglutide-and-liraglutide
- https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11043580/
- https://www.webmd.com/obesity/news/20240124/many-patients-who-stop-weight-loss-drugs-keep-pounds-off-study
- https://northtexasclinicandrehab.com/how-to-keep-weight-off-after-semaglutide/
- https://bostondirecthealth.com/top-5-tips-for-maintaining-weight-loss-after-ozempic/
