We need to talk about weight loss drugs. This conversation involves almost everyone.

Today’s conversation is an important one. On a few levels. 

When I sat down to do this podcast I was thinking about the medications for obesity (we’re focusing on Semaglutide/Ozempic today) I was going to focus on the “clinical” discussion. Does it work? Who benefits? What do we expect?

Then, that very week, there was a social media explosion about weight loss drugs for adolescents. 

And I realized that our conversation had to be much more emotional than that. 

Should we treat obesity with medication? Should people be able to manage their medical condition of obesity without help? Shouldn’t people be able to handle this in a drug-free way?

Just because some of the challenges related to obesity require changes in policy, access to nutrition, physical activity and mental health support doesn’t mean we don’t also need treatment options today to support the youth and adults that are at risk from their obesity today. 

I also asked hard questions like, “why do we care what medications other people are using?” or “what are your personal triggers when you hear of someone using medication for their obesity?”. 

We also dive in on some of the research in the STEP trials for Semaglutide, the longer-term data on weight regain and who benefits the most from these anti-obesity medications. 

It’s a bit of a spicy episode that I think we’d all benefit from thinking about. We know someone who qualifies for these medications or who is at risk from their obesity. How we approach this conversation touches us all.