Medical Weight Loss Treatment
Are you wondering if this medicine is right for you? At Elevate Wellness Group, we have been helping patients in NJ and NC manage their weight with this medicine and we're excited to help you find the answers!
Should Semaglutide Be Taken On its Own?
While this medicine might seem like a miracle drug, semaglutide should be used in combination with lifestyle changes, including a healthy diet and exercise, according to professionals.
How Does this medicine Work for Weight Loss?
GLP-1 is an incretin hormone that plays a role in your appetite and digestion. Incretins — hormones released by your digestive tract — are sent out by your body after you’ve eaten a meal. They help lower your blood sugar by triggering insulin release and blocking sugar production. They also slow down how quickly food leaves your stomach, a process called "gastric emptying." The result of these actions causes you to feel full — lowering your appetite and causing you to lose weight. Medications like GLP-1 agonists are referred to as incretin mimetics since they “mimic” these effects.
What Does a Medication for Diabetes Have to Do with Weight Loss?
As mentioned above, GLP-1 agonists, like semaglutide, were originally used to treat Type 2 diabetes. This was due to their blood sugar-lowering effects. However, the weight loss side effect has been shown to benefit people without Type 2 diabetes as well.
The Bottom Line
This FDA-approved injectable medication designated specifically for medical weight loss purposes. Due to its increased dosage of 2.4 mg, it may be the most effective injectable weight loss drug on the market. It takes a few months to reach the target dose, and you may experience side effects like nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea, but this is typically managed by slowly increasing your dose over time.
Talk to your healthcare provider to learn more about how this medicine can help you on your weight loss journey. They can recommend the best chronic weight management option for you.
Interested in Learning More?
At Elevate Wellness Group, we are constantly on the cutting edge of medical weight loss and other issues related to men's health with offices in the New Jersey and North Carolina areas. For more information, be sure to check out our page of video resources!
What Is Semaglutide?
Semaglutide is an injectable glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist that’s administered once weekly via injection under the skin. It was originally approved in 2017 — to help control blood sugar in Type 2 diabetes. People taking this medicine for blood sugar control also tend to lose weight as an additional benefit. Because of this, Novo Nordisk studied the medication in people without Type 2 diabetes, but at a higher dose. Now, semaglutide, is FDA-approved for assisting with weight loss. It can be used by adults with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 30 mg/kg² alone or 27 mg/kg² with at least one weight-related condition (e.g., high blood pressure, high cholesterol, Type 2 diabetes).
In June 2021, the FDA approved this medicine a once-weekly injection, for chronic weight management when used in combination with a healthy diet and exercise. The medication had made headlines before its approval when the manufacturer reported 15% to 18% weight loss findings during clinical trials. This is higher than we tend to see with other weight loss medications, which makes this medicine an exciting new option for helping patients in NJ and NC with medical weightloss.
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Reference:
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