Overview

Weight loss medicines help you to start healthier eating habits so that you can manage your weight. They do not make you lose weight on their own.

Your weight loss results will depend on long-term changes you make to your diet.

Benefits of weight loss medicines

Eating healthily can be difficult for people living with obesity. Reducing your calorie intake can make you:

• feel hungry
• crave high-calorie foods
• get tired easily

Weight loss medicines help to reduce these difficulties so you can focus on eating healthily.

Glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) and glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) agonists are types of weight loss medicines.

GIP and GLP-1 agonists include medicines such as semaglutide (Wegovy^®) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro^®).

They work by:

• making you feel fuller for longer
• making food pass through your stomach more slowly
• regulating your insulin levels
• increasing your sensitivity to insulin
• keeping your blood sugar levels steady

This makes it easier to change your diet, leading to weight loss.

Helping you with healthy eating

To help you on your journey, you will have appointments with a nutrition healthcare professional who will help you to stay consistent with your healthy eating.

Success rate

When combined with healthy lifestyle choices, weight loss medicines can help people lose between 10% and 20% of their total body weight over 2 years.

Like all treatment, weight loss medicines might not work for everyone. If you have not lost weight after 6 months, we will stop your treatment and explore other options instead.

Treatment timeline

0 to 6 months

Weight loss is usually fastest during the first 6 months of taking the medicine.

This is an important time to start healthy habits so you can maximise your results.

You might have a significantly smaller appetite but you might feel stronger side effects, like feeling sick (nausea).

6 to 12 months

During this time, your weight loss might slow down.

Your appetite might increase slightly but your side effects get better.

12 to 24 months

After 1 year of taking the medicine, your weight loss might be slow or you might stop losing weight completely.

It's important you focus on continuing the healthy habits you have started so you can maintain your weight loss long term.

Your appetite might come back but it’s likely to be smaller than before you started taking the medicine.

Side effects are usually minimal at this stage as your body will have adjusted to the medicine.