They lost weight but got fatter (GLP-1 warning)
2-Tips
By Jennifer Broxterman, RD
Kind Nerd Note: GLP-1s reduce appetite, not the need for good habits. Your job as a nutrition coach gets more important, not less.
Tip #1:
What I've Learned Working with 100+ GLP-1 Clients
I was recently interviewed by Empower by Dottir (CrossFit Games champs Annie Thorisdottir, Katrin Davidsdottir, and Dr. Stacy Sims's women's health company) on GLP-1 weight loss medications. Here's what I shared.
These conversations are coming up constantly now between clients and their family doctors. As nutrition coaches, we need to know where we fit.
My three big tips for clients on GLP-1s:
- Prioritize strength training. Weight loss is not the same as healthy body composition change. GLP-1s can accelerate muscle loss alongside fat loss. Regular strength training helps protect lean mass, supports metabolic health, and improves long-term outcomes.
- Eat enough protein. Protein becomes even more critical on a GLP-1. It preserves lean muscle, supports satiety, and improves overall body composition during weight loss. I encourage clients to include a quality protein source at every single meal.
- Use it as a tool, not the entire solution. The most successful clients use the medication as an opportunity to build better habits. We work on meal planning, cooking skills, increasing vegetables and protein, improving food quality, and addressing the underlying behaviors that contributed to weight gain in the first place, like stress and emotional eating patterns.
I compare GLP-1s to an e-bike. The motor helps you go farther and faster, but you still have to pedal. The medication can amplify healthy habits. It cannot replace them.
One unexpected upside worth knowing about: Many clients describe a dramatic reduction in "food noise." For people who have spent years constantly thinking about food, cravings, or binge eating, this can be life-changing. It makes behavior change significantly easier, and it's one of the most meaningful things I've seen these medications do.
Tip #2:
Real-World GLP-1 Results (Two Very Different Stories)
The outcome depends almost entirely on what the client does alongside the medication.
The win: One client of mine (a family doctor actually) lost 72 pounds over the past six months while preserving most of his lean muscle mass through consistent strength training and a high-protein, whole food, balanced diet. He reversed his fatty liver disease and brought his A1C blood sugar marker down from the prediabetes range back into the normal range. The medication gave him a running start. His healthy nutrition habits I coached him on did the rest.
The cautionary tale: Two of my clients relied heavily on their GLP-1 injections but skipped the strength training and didn't prioritize protein or vegetables (or really follow much of my nutrition advice). They were steadily losing weight, and were happy that the medication was doing most of the work. Each of them basically told me they could “eat whatever they wanted… just in smaller amounts”, since the weight loss meds were blunting their appetite, but they still both ate a diet of highly processed foods.
When we repeated their body composition testing months later in my Bod Pod machine, most of the weight they had lost came from lean muscle, not body fat. Despite weighing less on the scale, their body fat percentage had actually gone up!
They weighed less, but had worse body composition than before they started their GLP-1. Not the goal.
The medication works. But it works best when a coach is in the picture helping with the stuff the prescription doesn't cover.
Stay kind + nerdy,
❤️🐻🌈
Jen Broxterman
Registered Dietitian
Prosper Nutrition Coaching
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Jennifer Broxterman, MSc, RD
REGISTERED DIETITIAN & SPORTS NUTRITIONIST
• Award-winning Foods & Nutrition University Professor
• Successful entrepreneur of owner of NutritionRx
• 16 year CrossFit affiliate owner with my husband
• Founder of Prosper Nutrition Coaching & lead nutrition coach
