The GLP-1 Revolution (and the catch)
GLP-1s are doing something wild right now.
Ozempic. Wegovy. Mounjaro. Zepbound.
They’re helping people drop 15–25% of their body weight.
Without crash-dieting.
Without constant hunger.
Without the endless willpower battles.
They improve blood-sugar control, lower blood pressure, reduce cardiovascular risk, and may even protect against dementia.
That’s real. That’s life-changing. That’s good.
If you’re on one of these drugs, you’re using one of the most powerful tools modern medicine has created.
Here’s how they work:
GLP-1 agonists suppress appetite and slow digestion.
You feel full longer, so you eat less.
They create a calorie deficit.
But there’s a catch.
These drugs don’t burn fat specifically.
They don’t preserve muscle.
They don’t tell your body what to lose.
They just make weight come off.
And weight = fat + water + muscle.
Your body doesn’t know you wanted to lose fat.
It just knows: “We’re in a deficit, let’s get lighter.”
And research backs it up.
In the STEP-1 trials with semaglutide, participants lost about 15% of their body weight. But a significant portion of that loss was lean mass, not fat.
Newer systematic reviews across multiple GLP-1 studies show that 25–39% of total weight lost can be lean mass, muscle.
That’s a big chunk.
So if you take Wegovy or Ozempic without lifting, without eating enough protein, and let the drug do 100% of the work…
You’ll come out smaller.
Lighter.
And weaker.