I get it. Everyone wants to lose weight, yep, me too. And for some weight loss is critically important for long-term health. But weight loss in the absence of talking about body composition means nothing. You need both to be metabolically healthy and that message is getting lost in the GLP-1 peptide conversation. It’s not enough to just buy the medication, take it, and watch the weight melt away. You will watch your muscle melt away too. You need a healthcare team, including a coach, that can help support you to not only achieve your weight loss goals, but also help you to be metabolically healthy.

So let’s talk about it… What does metabolically healthy mean and what does body composition have to do with weight loss?

Before we get into metabolic health, let’s talk body composition….

What is body composition?

I hate getting on the scale at the doctor’s office. I think most people do. It’s always “wrong” and always in the “wrong” direction. In my mind, I think, “if you could just see what I weighed this morning!” That morning weight right after I wake up and go to the bathroom, I mean let’s be honest, that’s the best weight… Okay, let me be serious now…

The number you see on the scale at the doctor’s office is used to calculate your BMI or body mass index. It’s a horribly outdated and biased reference, but it’s what traditional medicine still uses today to determine if you are a healthy weight, overweight, or obese.

The cutoffs for BMI in adults are as follows:

<18.5 kg/m² underweight, 18.5-25 kg/m² normal weight, 25-29.9 kg/m² overweight, >30 kg/m² obese, and obesity gets divided up into categories as the BMI goes higher.

BMI does not account for body composition because it’s based on your weight. So since muscle weighs more than fat, someone could be technically obese, but have a predominant muscular body composition. Focusing on weight alone, minimizes the importance of muscle and it’s contribution to keeping you metabolically healthy.

So what does it mean to be metabolically healthy?

When I talk about metabolic health, I’m talking about blood sugar, cholesterol, weight, muscle mass, metabolism, where your food comes from, like how often you cook at home, and more, so needless to say, that’s way more than just your weight. Your weight signals your risk for disease, but that’s just risk, I don’t yet know the full picture and how weight is actually impacting you until I learn more about all those things I listed above that tell me about your metabolic health. When I started my career in diabetes over 20 years ago, I knew that medication alone wasn’t the answer.

It’s about what you’re eating too and unfortunately, in this country, we aren’t always protected by the government and food industry to ensure that we are getting the right nutrients from food. The Standard American Diet (SAD), yep, pun intended, is highly ultra-processed to the point that our bodies may not even recognize it as food, and somehow we’re supposed to overcome that when in actuality we all don’t have equal access to quality food.

I saw a statistic recently that only about 6% of the population is metabolically healthy, which means that approximately 94% of us are not. Yes, 94%! So in this environment do I think people need help beyond words of encouragement and healthy motivation? Heck yes!

This is why sometimes suggesting a GLP-1 peptide medication to help someone lose weight gets a bad rap. There’s a perception that all you have to do is take the medicine, and sure that’s fine to lose weight, but I just told you health is more than just pounds. Often people take the medication, but aren’t guided on protein intake, appropriate movement that emphasizes building muscle, and adequate hydration. Taking a GLP-1 peptide medication is a therapy alongside other lifestyle changes that can help you to live a long, metabolically healthy life. It’s “yes and”, not just “yes” when it comes to adding in medication.

The bottom line is we can’t go at this alone.

There are too many people struggling, remember 94% are metabolically unhealthy, to be unwilling to ask for help. I want you to find the right wellness team to support you. I am committed to helping people get this right so that we can all break the cycle of chronic disease in our families and our communities.

It was for this exact reason, I personally partnered with a healthcare team that has the same values as I do, and also knows the data and has the right products to help people achieve wellness long-term.

So if you’re wondering if my program can help you, click here to see how it works!

Talk soon,