12 Things GLP-1 Users Don’t Understand (Yet)

James Hill:
Welcome to Weight Loss And, where we delve into the world of weight loss. I'm Jim Hill.

Holly Wyatt:
And I'm Holly Wyatt. We're both dedicated to helping you lose weight, keep it off, and live your best life while you're doing it.

James Hill:
Indeed, we now realize successful weight loss combines the science and art of medicine, knowing what to do and why you will do it.

Holly Wyatt:
Yes, the “And” allows us to talk about all the other stuff that makes your journey so much bigger, better, and exciting.

James Hill:
Ready for the “And” factor?

Holly Wyatt:
Let's dive in.

James Hill:
Here we go.

Holly Wyatt:
If you're on a GLP-1 medication, if you're thinking about starting one, if you're wondering what happens if you ever decide to stop one, this episode could save you some time. It could save you some frustration, and it might even save you from making some predictable mistakes.

James Hill:
Holly, there's so much out there in the media and the newspaper and social media about GLP-1 medications. But you know what? There are things that most of the JLP1 users don't really understand yet. It's not because they're not smart. It's not because they're not trying. It's simply that no one has explained the complete full game to them.

Holly Wyatt:
Yes, Jim. I like the word you use, don't understand yet. Yet really being that key word. Because today we're giving you the 12 things you need to understand if you want this to work long term.

James Hill:
Wow, 12. We usually do 10, Holly. We must have had some good ones here.

Holly Wyatt:
Mixing it up, Jim. You know, you don't want to be predictable. You want variety. So 12. It's 12 today so let's get started. Number one.

James Hill:
Number one, Holly. The game lasts forever. Why is weight management a forever game and people still, what they get wrong is going into it with a short-term plan, focusing on getting the weight off, not focusing on what comes next. You know, oftentimes I tell people who are considering going on the medications, just assume they're going to work. Assume you lose the weight, you reach your goal weight. Now what? And part of the problem is people don't think of the “now what” until it's too late.

Holly Wyatt:
Yes, Jim. I think this is getting out there. People are starting to hear this is a forever game, but they don't really understand what that means.

James Hill:
Right.

Holly Wyatt:
And that's the key part. This isn't just a jumpstart. This isn't something you can do for a few months and then forget about it. We're learning and we understand that that's not how obesity treatment works. And I think this is something that people really need to understand. And the reason why is you don't want them to lose weight and regain it. That's not the goal. And if you don't think of this as a game that you need to deal with on a long-term basis, basically forever, then you're going to, you know, be likely that you're not going to win the game, meaning you're going to regain the weight.

James Hill:
I do think it's getting out there more, Holly, but the data that's coming in, and again, we need more data, suggests that at least half the people or more aren't going on them long term. They're going on them to lose weight. They then go off them. And unfortunately, we know what happens when that occurs. And how sad, and I know you and I have seen this so many times. Someone loses 15, 20, 25% of their body weight and it changes their life and they're just so excited about life and then they regain it and they're right back where they started from. That doesn't have to happen if you consider the full game.

Holly Wyatt:
I agree. I'm worried somewhat that we're just, you know, we've had this cycle of yo-yoing. We've talked about that our whole career. That's what our whole career has been about is how do we, you know, stop the yo-yo, which means losing weight and regaining it. Now we have some great tools that can really help half the game or the weight loss part of the game. But if you don't think of it as a long-term game, you don't think about the second half, which is a forever half, then you're setting yourself up to just yo-yo again, but even yo-yo in a bigger way because you're losing more then you regain more.

James Hill:
I'm glad this is number one because I think it's the biggest problem. If your intent is to go on the weight loss medications for a certain period of time, unless you have a long-term plan, you're likely gonna end up right where you start from.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, and Jim, let's talk about, even if you're not on the medications, this is something you need to understand.

James Hill:
It happens. We know that with lifestyle. If you took people who lose weight, it's frequent. People are succeeding right and left at losing weight. You know because we've studied some of these people, if you look at people that keep it off long-term, it's a very, very small percentage of the population.

Holly Wyatt:
But it's possible. And I think they've got to think of it this way, though, a long-term game. I have so many people come to me, when will this be over? And I'm like.

James Hill:
It's never over.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, it's not going to be over.

James Hill:
But I do want to emphasize what you said. I don't want to depress people here because it is totally possible to win with or without the medications.

James Hill:
The good news is you have more options than you've ever had for weight management. But if you only pay attention to the first half of the game, losing weight, you're setting yourself up to fail.

Holly Wyatt:
I agree. Keeping that in mind, let's move to number two because it kind of fits with that. So the next thing I think people need to understand, they don't understand, but they can. So it's understand yet. There are three phases to the game. And Jim, I changed this on us. Sometimes we talk about two phases.

James Hill:
For a long time we talked about two, but I think we realized that we missed one.

Holly Wyatt:
I agree. So this is a little bit new. We now talk about three phases where for many, many years, we talked about two. So phase number one is weight loss.

James Hill:
Everybody knows that.

Holly Wyatt:
Yep.

James Hill:
Pretty clear. And Holly, there are more options than ever before for weight loss. People can reach or nearly reach their goal with weight loss with lots of available tools.

Holly Wyatt:
And more coming. More powerful. So there's going to be just options, just like we have so many options for blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. We have different types of medications we can use in different combinations for different people. That's where we're going for weight loss.

James Hill:
That's exciting. So phase one, exciting, exciting new developments for phase one. What's the second phase?

Holly Wyatt:
So the second phase is the one we've added, and we're calling that the transition phase.

James Hill:
We always said you've got weight loss and weight loss maintenance. Now you're saying, wait a minute, you got to look at transitioning.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, so that's the third phase. Weight loss, transition.

James Hill:
I like it.

Holly Wyatt:
Weight loss maintenance is the third phase. And so why did we add this transition phase, Jim?

James Hill:
Yeah, because I think it's too abrupt to say lose weight and maintain it. But you and I have for many years said weight loss maintenance requires different information, different skills than weight loss. So to abruptly change that is maybe too much of a change. And what we realized is you can actually gradually go from weight loss to weight loss maintenance. and that's why we added the transition phase.

Holly Wyatt:
Right. I think we were, without the transition phase, it's like we're saying flip a switch because it's very different. I mean, we were still, it's very different.

James Hill:
It's almost like you have a different program for weight loss and weight loss maintenance and you can't just switch. You've actually got to gradually go from weight loss to weight loss maintenance. And so the transition phase, I think it turns out to be pretty critical.

Holly Wyatt:
I do too. I like this because one of the things I always say one reason why people stumble, Is they still think of it, they don't understand as different phases and they still think of it as one long phase. So maybe they understand it's a long game, Jim. They may say it's forever game but they don't understand that you change your strategies the different phases. I say it's one long thing. This is my one of my pet peeves. People say whatever you do to lose the weight, you better be ready to do that for the rest of your life.

James Hill:
Holly, We have our esteemed colleagues, some of them are saying that, that, you know, when you start to lose weight, whatever you do, do it forever. And I just disagree with that so much. You cannot do the things you need to do to lose weight forever. You have to think about switching and going through that transition.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, so that's a nice build. It's a long game. It's a forever game. And there's three phases in the game. You need to understand that. All right, number three.

James Hill:
Number three. Oh, this one's a good one. If you stop the medications without a plan, you know what's going to happen, Holly? You're going to regain the weight. The medications work, but only if you take them. And you can keep the weight off without the medications, but you need a plan to do it. And unfortunately, it's so sad to see people stopping the meds without a plan and they regain the weight. We have clinical trials that show that happens. But as we're getting more and more real world data, I think it happens even more and more quickly in real life when people stop the medications.

Holly Wyatt:
Yes, this is critical to understand. You have to understand this for you to be successful long-term. That you stop the meds, you don't replace them with something, you don't have a plan that can replace some of what they're doing in a different way but replace the impact they're having. We know you're going to regain the weight. And we now have data to show that. I'm always saying, we're not going to, I'm not betting on you in Vegas today if you don't have a strategic plan.

James Hill:
But you can do it with the right kind of plan.

Holly Wyatt:
Oh, sure.

James Hill:
If you decide to stop the medications, and that's where this whole transition phase comes into play. If you are planning or know you're going to stop the medications, if you can actually begin transitioning, it's going to be much easier to keep it off. And we talk about the three pillars. You use food as medicine, physical activity as medicine, and your mind as medicine, and it takes all three.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, which moves us really nicely into number four. What you need to understand is willpower alone will not work.

James Hill:
You can't just power through it, Holly, and suck it up.

Holly Wyatt:
No, and I understand why people think it will, especially when they're on the medicine. They're on the medication, they're making healthy choices. They're stopping with smaller portions of food. They can resist some of the temptations that has been very hard for them to resist. And they've done it for a while, and it feels normal because the physiology has changed. So I understand why they think I can do this even without the medication, because they almost don't remember what it felt like without the medication.

James Hill:
Yeah, the medication changes your biology. And while you're on the medication, it seems like resisting temptation is not hard at all, because that's what the medications do to your biology. So if you're taking the medications and everything's going great, you're saying, “Oh, I got this. I don't need the medication. I'm not. I know how to manage my appetite.” You're going to be surprised when you stop the medications. some of those biological drives to overeat, not adequately manage your appetite. Food noise, they're going to return.

Holly Wyatt:
It's like you forget a little bit how it was. And because it feels so normal to you now, and I've been doing this for a while, I know I can just continue on this path. I think Oprah has helped because she's come out and said she thought that. She was going to try to do it with just willpower, and she was not successful. So this is something to understand. It's willpower alone will not work. Now, I think you can use a little bit of willpower combined with other stuff? Yeah, it's not all or nothing. But if you think you're just gonna white knuckle it, you're just gonna use willpower, you're not gonna have any other plan other than willpower. Maybe that's the way to put it. It won't work.

James Hill:
The medications show how powerful biology is.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah.

James Hill:
And it's a combination of biology. You have to use some willpower. You have to look at your environment. It's complicated. And unfortunately, people wanna just focus on one thing.

James Hill:
And that brings us, Holly, to number five. Number five, and I love this one, there is no magic bullet. How many people have told you and I, okay, the meds are here. What are you going to go and do now that there's no need for what you do in weight management? We've got this problem solved. We have the magic bullet. All we have to do is put everybody on meds and we've solved the problem. It's not that simple. The medications are a tool. They're a tool. They're not the magic bullet. And the other thing that we find lots of times, people want to focus on one thing. For example, we know diet is critically important, right? But if you only focus on diet, you don't focus on physical activity, you don't focus on mind state, you're not likely going to be successful. You can't focus on one thing. It requires doing multiple things, looking at a holistic approach to your life.

Holly Wyatt:
So this is kind of one of my soapbox things. I know, because we've been doing a lot of podcasts, Jim, and because for the book, we've been doing a lot of interviews and podcasts. And over and over, a theme is coming out. And I'm trying to control myself, but I'm getting a little testy on the podcast because everybody wants the 10-second, the one thing everybody can do that solves the problem, the quick and easy one thing. And I understand why they want that. And I understand that that helps with, you know, get the influencers. And I understand why, because everybody wants that. But are we doing a disservice by playing into that?

James Hill:
Absolutely. The one thing we should do is to stop thinking about one thing, because you totally set people up for failure if they're focused on one thing.

Holly Wyatt:
Oh, Jim, I'm so going to use that next time when they say what's the one thing. No, I'm not giving you credit.

James Hill:
Attribute it to me.

Holly Wyatt:
No, I'm not giving you credit, but I'm going to say the one thing we can do. You really want the one thing? Stop saying what's the one thing? I love it.

James Hill:
I love it.

Holly Wyatt:
I’m gonna totally use it. What it also means is, yes, you have to roll up your sleeves and kind of figure out what's going to work for you. There isn't one solution and there isn't just one solution for you know for multiple people. You've got to figure out what you need and it doesn't have to be hard. I know when I say roll up your sleeves, you're thinking it's hard. No, it doesn't have to be hard but you gotta put some some time into it to figure that out and not to just say what's the easy thing that I don't have to think about just the checkbox. We know body weight regulation, weight loss, weight loss maintenance doesn't work that way.

James Hill:
Yeah, and you can do more than one thing at a time. You can focus on diet and physical activity and your mental health.

Holly Wyatt:
And you have to. And it doesn't have to be that hard, but you need to get away from there's just one thing I'm missing, one super easy thing that everybody will be successful if they do this one thing.

James Hill:
And the medications are not the end-all be-all. A wonderful tool, a welcome tool. They're not a magic bullet.

Holly Wyatt:
Agree, agree. All right, are we on to number six?

James Hill:
Let's do number six. We're rolling right along here.

Holly Wyatt:
Do like this one. What works for you will change over time.

James Hill:
Well, that's when a lot of people get wrong. Don't go into it saying, what I do to lose weight, I'm going to do the rest of my life. That doesn't work.

Holly Wyatt:
Or even what I do to maintain exactly what I'm doing, I am going to do that exactly for the rest of my life. It evolves over time. And this is one thing I've learned with the energizers, because we'll like work on, we'll say, okay, let's modify our environment to re-engineer our environment to help with this. And six months later, I'm like, okay, let's re-engineer our environment. And we'll go, wait a minute, we already did that. I'm like, oh, no, no, no, no. Things have changed.

James Hill:
Life changes in many other aspects of your life. You don't assume everything's going to be the same. So you shouldn't assume it for your weight management.

Holly Wyatt:
So re-engineering your environment is an example of a strategy you use, and you use it multiple times when you're struggling at different times in your life, when different things have happened. You use that same strategy, but it means it's different what you actually may do, like how you may change your environment. I'm constantly using my environment, re-engineering my environment at different times in my life when I'm struggling with different things as a solution or as a tool.

James Hill:
Well, this is where a Voyager mind state comes into play. We talk about a Voyager mind state as being what you aspire to. And I think a Voyager mind state, you're constantly uncovering different things about your life and your weight and almost learning to enjoy things more. So you realize it's not just your weight, it's your life. And you see challenges as growth opportunities. It's like the layers of an onion. You go deeper and deeper and deeper and each level gives you more satisfaction. And you've said this all along is maintaining weight isn't about hanging on with your fingernails and hating it. It's finding a lifestyle that you love and you enjoy and it brings you joy in your life.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, I love that you talked about the mind state because that can really is important for this one. If you're like, oh my gosh, I've got to do this again, you know, I've got to re-engineer my environment again, oh, you know, poor me, I have a bad environment, you know, and so forth, versus, no, you get to do this, your life is constantly changing. You know, I'll just say this. When I come up with something new, like for my environment, we're using that as an example, I kind of do a happy dance because it's like, oh my gosh, this is a new idea. I get to try this out. I get to experiment with this. I get to see if it's going to work. If it doesn't work, I get to change it. I mean, isn't that cool that I get to do that? I understand it and I have that ability?

James Hill:
Well, I think you and I are both coming to believe mind state is just maybe the most important thing in all this. I know everything's important, but mind state is just so critical. And one I love is when we talk about, you know, physical activity, Holly, and we say, “Okay, you need to do an hour a day of physical activity.” And people say, “Oh my God, an hour a day, I can't do an hour a day.” People with a voyager mindset say, “Wow, you mean only an hour a day and I can maintain this weight loss and it makes me feel better and have social connections.” So it's totally as seeing it as a problem or seeing it as an opportunity for growth.

Holly Wyatt:
Right. I now understand this and I get to use it as Voyager versus I understand this and, oh man, you know.

James Hill:
From the National Weight Control Registry, they all tell us that, you know, being physically active has enriched their lives. It's made them happier overall. And I guarantee you going into it, they thought, oh my God, an hour a day, who's going to do that? And they do it and they find that it enriches their lives.

Holly Wyatt:
So it's like they now have, so people may have the same knowledge, I need to do an hour a day, but that's the mind state that is how you think about that knowledge and how you use that knowledge.

James Hill:
It's that, “Oh my God, an hour a day?” or “Only one hour out of 24 is all it takes?”

Holly Wyatt:
And look at all this I get to do because of it. Yeah.

James Hill:
I love it. All right. You ready for number seven?

Holly Wyatt:
Yes.

James Hill:
What works for someone else may not work for you. And Holly, we have hammered this over and over and over. There's not one size that fits all. And in the book we just wrote, what we're trying to do is give you different ways to develop strategies that work for you. You have to do the three pillars: diet, physical activity, and mind state. But within that, not everybody is the same. The diet that's going to be most satisfying and most appetite-managing for you may be different than someone else. And this means that you have options and you get to try out some different things. But yes, people are different and we need to personalize these approaches. And we've tried to do that in the strategies that we've developed.

Holly Wyatt:
Right. This is a hard one because you have a lot of the influencers out there having maybe had their own experience and they sharing it, which is good. You want to share and people learn from each other. And I think that's a very much of a positive thing. But you also have to realize that what worked for them or the side effects they had or the experience they had isn't the only experience. And when you start kind of saying this is the way it has to be because it worked for me, then that sends you down the wrong path. That's not the way we want to go. So understanding we can learn from each other, but we all have our own experience. And therefore, the strategies that will work are different for different people.

James Hill:
So what worked for your friend may not work for you. And that's okay. And we encourage people to try out different things, try out different strategies for diet and physical activity and mind state, and find ones that work for you and find ones that give you the joy in life that you're after.

Holly Wyatt:
I think we're seeing this with some of the people who are super responders to the medications. Some people who don't respond at all. Well, what's that about? We're different. And you have to understand that. And the different strategies that we pull in, some might be very key for you and important for you and not that important or helpful for someone sitting right next to you or even your sister, spouse, et cetera.

James Hill:
Cool. All right, Holly. what's number eight? We're getting there.

Holly Wyatt:
Number eight is weight loss is not the same as a desirable body state.

James Hill:
Oh.

Holly Wyatt:
I need to unpack this one a little bit. What do we mean by desirable body state?

James Hill:
Oh, you're going to bring in metabolism. Aren't you?

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, a little bit. So we think about we want to lose weight, and a lot of times that's all we focus on. And yes, we're wanting to target losing body fat, not losing the lean muscle or losing lean tissue. We want it to be fat. So that's one thing. But also, there's more to it than just weight. And I think we're starting to unpack this a little more. It's not just about a number on a scale. How does your body function? How does your body feel? Can you go out and move your body in ways that losing the weight may be helpful, but is not the only part of the equation?

James Hill:
Yeah, one of the things that I see out there a lot people are beginning to realize is you want to lose fat and not lose muscle. The difference between just losing a pound of weight, well, if that's a lot muscle, that's not good. But if it's mostly fat, that's good. So it's not just weight, it's other aspects and a healthy metabolism. And this is where physical activity comes into play. You cannot have a healthy metabolism without being physically active. You've got to move your muscles and consequently you have to move your mind too and try to achieve a voyager your mind state.

Holly Wyatt:
So if you've lost weight, and let's say your body weight is a healthy weight or maybe it's your happy weight, the weight you say you've always wanted, we've talked about that on this show before, and you can't go and hike or you can't go and play with your grandkids or your kids. It's not exactly there, right? So it's bigger than just about the weight or fat loss.

James Hill:
And that's why even if you're on the drugs chronically long term, the physical activity is important because the medications aren't going to make you able to go and hike and do these things with your grandkids. They'll get the weight off, but you can do some other things that enrich your life more than just weight loss.

Holly Wyatt:
A lot of people talk, they want independence. They want to lose weight because they want to be able to go out and do things. And this sounds, for some people, get up off the floor. Be able to stand up and not feel scared that if I flip or fall, I'm not going to be able to get up and continue on, or I'm going to go somewhere and not be able to fully enjoy what I'm experiencing and not be able to get back home and all those things. So I think making it bigger than just about the weight loss, what do I want my body state to look like?

James Hill:
We talk about that a lot in the book. Success really isn't a number on the scale. Success is a happy life, joy in your life, fulfillment, energy, being able to do the things you want to do. Medications don't do all that. They can do part of it, but you need to do some work for the other aspects.

Holly Wyatt:
All right, Jim, we're up to number nine, and this is a new one.

James Hill:
Number nine. This is a Holly Wyatt one, I can tell.

Holly Wyatt:
It is.

James Hill:
The four E's, Holly.

Holly Wyatt:
You know I like pattern.

James Hill:
If it's forever, it must be efficient, easy, enjoyable, and embodied. Okay?

Holly Wyatt:
Yes. Yes.

James Hill:
Hard doesn't work. If it's hard, we say that about exercise. If you go out and do something you don't enjoy, forget it. There is no way you're going to do it. If maintaining your weight loss is too hard, you're not going to do it. It has to be the four E's. Easy, enjoyable, efficient, and embodied. What do you mean by embodied, Holly?

Holly Wyatt:
Embodied is another word for identity, but I wanted an E word because I wanted them all to be E's. So when you think about embodiment, think about who you are. I think this is something we can talk to the healthcare profession about and the researchers out there. To me, there's a translational gap. And we focus on effectiveness and efficacy, which means, does it work? If you're on the medications, for instance, does it produce weight loss?

James Hill:
Do you get the number on the scale? And that's not what we should be focused on primarily.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, you can focus on that. We need that. That's the evidence base to say this works.

James Hill:
Yeah, but it's not enough. It's part of the solution, but not all of it.

Holly Wyatt:
But there's this gap. So you can have something that we know works. We've had other things other than these medications that we had data worked. People wouldn't do them long-term or couldn't do them even short-term. And so there was no translation of them. We've had great programs that had efficacy data and effectiveness data, but the population wouldn't or couldn't do them. And so that gap between the two is where then you've got to take it and you've got to make it efficient. It can't take all day. It's got to be easy, it's got to be enjoyable, and it's got to be embodied, meaning become part of who you are and how you live. And that's when you really get it to stick. That's the important part of weight loss maintenance, the four E's. You can maybe get the weight loss. You can maybe do something short term with efficacy and effectiveness. But these four E's are what, no one likes to concentrate on these. And to me, they're just as important as the other ones, the effectiveness piece.

James Hill:
Okay, listeners, I don't think this is the last you're going to hear of the four E's, so stay tuned.

James Hill:
What's next, Holly?

Holly Wyatt:
All right, number 10. You'll love this one, Jim. It's not just about appetite.

James Hill:
It's not? You mean diet can't solve all of your problems?

Holly Wyatt:
No. So I'll let you take this one because I know you love this one. You know, with the meds, we tend to focus on the appetite because that's how the medication is having the biggest effect. But in weight loss maintenance, we need to focus on the appetite, but not just the appetite.

James Hill:
Appetite is critically important. So do not say that I don't think diet is important. I think diet is critical. But with a sluggish metabolism, I don't think there's any diet on the planet that will allow people to maintain a healthy weight. You have to move your body. And for your metabolism, physical activity does two things. One, and this is important, it burns calories. So if you're physically active, you can eat more without gaining weight. But the other thing it does, it optimizes your metabolism. And your metabolism is all of how your body works - it's your insulin, glucose, your mitochondria, your fat metabolism - physical activity optimizes all of that. So your metabolism is working to maintain weight rather than a sluggish metabolism, which is working to gain weight. And then finally, without the right kind of mind state, you're not going to stick with any of this. You're going to give up when the challenges come along. You are going to achieve weight loss and may not enjoy it. So appetite, diet, critical, but you got to combine it. It really is a three-legged stool and you take away any one leg and it falls over.

Holly Wyatt:
So what you need to understand? You need to think of all three. Don't go down the rabbit hole or don't just think there's only one thing. You definitely need to understand the appetite and nutrition is involved, metabolism and physical activity is involved, and then your mind state. Definitely an important piece.

Holly Wyatt:
Number 11, environment is just as powerful as physiology. This is something I've been saying more and more on the interviews and during the podcast, because the medication has focused on the physiology. And that's good, because we haven't focused on the physiology. It's showing people that, yes, my physiology impacts my behavior.

James Hill:
No question.

Holly Wyatt:
Change my physiology, my behavior changes. It's not about willpower. Physiology and behavior go hand in hand. And I love that spotlight, and we need that spotlight. But that doesn't mean that environment isn't playing a role. And it doesn't mean that environment isn't just as powerful. It really is the combination of a physiology and a certain environment together that's producing the obesity phenotype we're seeing in our country. So if we just focus on physiology, we're missing something that's just as powerful and something that you can control, that you can change without a medication.

James Hill:
What we're trying to do is to get people to maintain healthy behaviors. The medications show that our biology hugely impacts our behavior, but so does the environment. And I think back, Holly, to a lot of studies that are a little older now, but when people come from other countries to the U.S., they gain weight like crazy. Their biology hasn't changed. They're put in an environment where there's plenty of food and not physical activity. And it's a powerful weight gain for many people. So it's not an either or. Biology is critical. The environment is just as critical.

Holly Wyatt:
And the reason I like to really shine a light on this is if you're going to stop the weight loss medications and that physiology is going to return, then focus on the other half. This is something you can do. Now, Jim, what would you say to people? Because this is what they sometimes say. Well, the environment, we don't control the environment. The United States has an environment that's not helpful.

James Hill:
That's true. And there's nothing you can do about that potentially. But what you can do is to create your own mini environment. So you probably have little influence on what's sold in the grocery store, but you have a lot of influence on what you buy in the grocery store and bring home. So you may not be able to take on society here in the societal environment, but you can take on your own personal environment for food, for physical activity, and for mind state.

Holly Wyatt:
And in the book, we talk about how to strategically do that. You don't have to change your whole environment. That's overwhelming. You can be very, almost like a surgeon, go in and be very strategic. And the points that are causing you the most friction or stress or making it the most difficult, let's go after those. So it's not like I have to change everything. You can do it in a way that's easier than that and I think very helpful.

James Hill:
All right, Holly, the last one is important. Weight loss alone will not make you happy. And you know, I say this all the time. People are after happiness more than anything else. Weight loss is part of it. Don't get me wrong. Achieving a weight you want can be a big part of happiness, but success is bigger than the scale.

Holly Wyatt:
Right. This is, I think, important because people are still saying, oh, if I weigh this amount, everything's going to change in my life. And maybe sometimes losing weight will be associated with those changes, the happiness. I'm going to get to do this. I'm going to get to experience this. It's going to allow me to feel this way. But sometimes it doesn't. And just the weight alone, you know, I've said this before on the show. I often say, if you got on the scale one day and it had your happy weight on there, you saw it and nothing else in your life had changed would that be success?

James Hill:
Your boss still yells at you, your spouse still is criticizing you, your friends don't want to do any, you know, on and on and on. Weight loss doesn't change that but you can use weight loss as an opportunity to go out and work on those things and I love it that you often tell people you need to go out and live large.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. And it becomes more of an issue in weight loss maintenance than even in weight loss. In weight loss, you can kind of put some things on the back burner and say, okay, I don't have to be happy while I'm losing the weight because weight loss is short term. It's not forever. Weight loss maintenance is the rest of your life. So you really want that living large, that happiness to come in and be supported, to be part of your weight loss, perhaps, but it's not the only thing. And if you think losing weight is going to solve all those problems, eh, I don't think that necessarily is the case for a lot of people.

James Hill:
Wow, Holly, we got through all 12.

Holly Wyatt:
We did.

James Hill:
Those are good ones. I like all those. They're all important. And I hope they will be helpful for people. You want to take a couple of quick listener questions?

Holly Wyatt:
Let's do. Let's do a couple of listener questions. I like this one. Here's a good one for you, Jim. If I plan to stay on medication long term, does this still apply to me?

James Hill:
Absolutely. Again, the medications will impact your appetite and create weight loss. So what you have to do with your lifestyle is work on other things. Increase your physical activity. It will help maintain your muscle. It will help your mental health. It will help you socially. So many other advantages, even if you're staying on the medications. And mind state, same thing. As you're approaching, you're keeping this weight off long-term. Having a Voyager mind state will allow you to better address problems that come up, and problems will come up, whether or not you're on the medication. They'll help you address those. But the other thing is a Voyager mind state will help you enjoy your success much, much more.

Holly Wyatt:
Well, that's the whole thing about. It's not just weight loss alone to make you happy. That Voyager mind state helps come in there. So I think of all the 12 that we just talked about, I think almost all of them apply or with a slight tweak, apply whether you're on the medication or not.

James Hill:
Absolutely. And what we've said all along, staying on the medications is very much an option. If you decide to do that, it can be a good option for you. But for many people, they cannot or decide not to stay on the medication. And what we want is for people not to regain the weight.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah. There's a second question though, Jim.

James Hill:
All right.

Holly Wyatt:
This is one that I think is important because I know some people may be sitting out there and this could be the situation they're in. What if I've already regained the weight?

James Hill:
All right. If you've already regained the weight, you essentially have to start over and say, okay, I'm going to start over. I'm going to look at the three phases. I'm going to look at long-term. Hopefully, you've learned some things from regaining the weight.

Holly Wyatt:
So I was going to say, you start over. Let's say you're not really starting over.

James Hill:
What was it?

Holly Wyatt:
You're starting over, but you're smarter now.

James Hill:
Right. You've got some experience and some learning.

Holly Wyatt:
[39:42] Yes.

James Hill:
And you should know some things that are particularly problematic for you, which will help you key into solutions that are better for your real problems.

Holly Wyatt:
So you've learned something. You're not starting over from the very same spot. You can do it differently. You can begin with the end in mind. But you're going to have to go through the weight loss phase again, basically.

James Hill:
All right, Holly, here's one last one for you. Is this just too complicated?

Holly Wyatt:
I don't think it's too complicated, but you can tell I don't want people to think there's just one, you know, one thing. And it doesn't have to be hard, but you do have to figure out what's going to work for you. That takes a little bit of time and effort. And I think it can be fun and you can learn a lot, but we've got to get away from this “Oh, there's just one secret out there.” We just spin in a wheel when we do that.

James Hill:
All right, Holly, let's finish up with the vulnerability segment.

Holly Wyatt:
All right, I'm ready.

James Hill:
I'll ask you the first one. What do you think is the hardest one on this list of 12 for people to accept?

Holly Wyatt:
Well, you told me I have to pick one.

James Hill:
Yep.

Holly Wyatt:
I think number one, and then there's like, I'm going to do a close second. But number one, there is no magic bullet. But if I could just get people to stop wanting one solution to the problem, and I think that would be helpful because that's what they want. So people keep trying to give it to them, and that's just not going to solve the problem. And then the second would be willpower alone isn't going to work because that just sends you down the wrong path.

James Hill:
I'll give you two.

Holly Wyatt:
All right. Okay. All right. I got a question for you. When you see someone coming off medication without a plan, what goes through your mind?

James Hill:
Oh, man, it breaks my heart, Holly, because I know how hard it is for people to achieve weight loss. And I know how positive that weight loss is for most people. And it doesn't have to happen. With the plan, you can avoid it. So for me, it just really makes me feel so bad for that person when they really give up all the hard effort they've achieved and they don't have to do that. If they had a plan, they could avoid that.

Holly Wyatt:
Yeah, I agree. I have a follow-up question, Jim, because you've been doing this longer than I have. You're older, yes, you're older. So are we moving too fast as a country in terms of these drugs and this much weight loss? And people don't have plans in place. And are we setting ourselves up for this massive regain cycle after this big weight loss cycle?

James Hill:
Well, I think these are some questions that we need to debate. Here's one of the things that bothers me. So many people seem to have gone on the medications, they go off and they regain the weight, and they've sort of said, “Okay, tried that, done that, that's off my list. I'm not going to do that anymore.” So are we losing the opportunity for people to actually be successful with the medications because we're out there using them without a good long-term plan or without people understanding the long-term plan? I do worry about that because there's wonderful tools. And I hope people don't just say, “Well, I tried it, I lost, I regained, I'm not going to do that anymore. It's not for me.”

Holly Wyatt:
I think where maybe the research has kind of fallen behind or what maybe people didn't realize, I don't know, is I think they thought when these drugs would be out there, people would stay on them forever.

James Hill:
Yeah.

Holly Wyatt:
And they're not.

James Hill:
That's not happening.

Holly Wyatt:
And they're not. So what is the plan, guys? That's, you know.

James Hill:
Maybe the plan is to get people to stay on them forever. I don't know. I am a little bit skeptical of that. But I think our plan is to give people different options for keeping the weight off on or off the medications. And I think in the future, we're going to see combinations of lifestyle and medication for maintenance. So I'm optimistic. I hope people don't just get turned off and say, “Try drugs, it doesn't work, not going to consider those anymore.”

Holly Wyatt:
I don't think they'll do that, but I hope we can catch up and people can now realize what you do to lose the weight, what you can do to maintain the weight, see them as separate. Have different plans that we can speed up this forever part of the game instead of just focusing on that first part of the game.

James Hill:
Okay, Holly, put the pie on the plate.

Holly Wyatt:
Oh, Jim, you're so good at doing that.

James Hill:
No, you got to do this.

Holly Wyatt:
All right. So let's see. This is a forever game.

James Hill:
Yeah.

Holly Wyatt:
There are three phases to the game.

James Hill:
I like that one. Don't forget the transition phase.

Holly Wyatt:
Yep. You must replace what the medication was doing. You need to think of it that way. When the medication goes away. It's not going to be willpower. You need to put something else in its place. And then there is no magic bullet. You've got to personalize it for yourself. And then the E’s that I like, they be efficient and easy and enjoyable and embodiment. Consider that. And then it's got to be bigger or larger than just about weight.

James Hill:
Great job. So weight loss is not the finish line. Understanding the game is.

Holly Wyatt:
Oh, nice, Jim.

James Hill:
Yeah. We'll see you next time on Weight Loss And.

Holly Wyatt:
Bye, everybody.

James Hill:
And that's a wrap for today's episode of Weight Loss And. We hope you enjoy diving into the world of weight loss with us.

Holly Wyatt:
If you want to stay connected and continue exploring the “Ands” of weight loss, be sure to follow our podcast on your favorite platform.

James Hill:
We'd also love to hear from you. Share your thoughts, questions, or topic suggestions by reaching out at weightlossand.com. Your feedback helps us tailor future episodes to your needs.

Holly Wyatt:
And remember, the journey doesn't end here. Keep applying the knowledge and strategies you've learned and embrace the power of the “And” in your own weight loss journey.