NEW YORK (AP) — Since he was a college student, Brad Jobling struggled with his weight: when he was about 30 years old he weighed about 70 kilos (155 pounds), but he reached 100 (220 pounds). He spent a decade counting calories with the WeightWatchers program, but all the weight his 5-foot-5-inch (1.65-meter) body lost, he gained back in a short time.
A little over a year ago, the 58-year-old Manhattan resident started taking a new weight-loss drug called wegovy. He has lost 30 pounds, and has begun eating healthy and exercising, habits promoted by many commercial diet plans and decades of medical advice on ways to lose weight sustainably.
However, Jobling’s experience has also changed his attitude towards diets. Today he considers obesity as a disease that requires medical attention and not just behavioral changes. In fact, he believes that he will have to continue taking Wegovy for the rest of his life, even though eating is no longer so attractive.
“I don’t know how you could maintain it (weight loss) without medication,” Jobling says. “Obviously, it’s about having self-control. But I think it would be less difficult to maintain good eating habits if you have that assistance.”
New weight-loss drugs, such as Wegovy and its predecessor, the anti-diabetes remedy Ozempic, are revolutionizing the American health and fitness industries. They have proven to be effective in shedding extra pounds faster and easier than just exercising and dieting. Its transformative power is such that it has forced diet companies like WeightWatchers and Lean Cuisine to change their image.
Although celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey have promoted the drugs, some experts fear that inexperienced companies will begin selling them with the wrong instructions or unproven therapies.
Increased demand for new weight loss drugs
At least 3 million prescriptions for drugs known as GLP-1 agonists were issued monthly in the United States in the 12 months ending in March, according to the biomedical company IQVIA. They include semaglutide, the drug in Ozempic and Wegovy, and tirzepatide, the drug in Mounjaro and Zepbound. Morgan Stanley researchers estimate that about 24 million people, 7% of the US population, will be using GLPT-1-type substances by 2035.
The world’s leading diet programs have taken note of these statistics and have incorporated the new remedies into their subscription plans.
WeightWatchers, founded in 1963, last year acquired telehealth provider Sequence, allowing users to obtain prescriptions for weight-loss medications. WeightWatchers maintains its focus on behavioral changes for weight loss, but has launched virtual clinics that offer personalized exercise and diet plans, as well as prescription medications for those who want to lose 20% of their weight.
“The weight loss field will be dominated by the recognition that weight loss is a medical issue,” WeightWatchers CEO Sima Sistani told analysts recently. “This is a paradigm shift, because weight loss has been — and unfortunately often continues to be — seen as a matter of personal vanity.”
The Mayo Clinic, which first published a weight-loss plan in a book in 1949, has published an updated version of its bestseller, “The Mayo Clinic Diet: Weight-Loss Medications Edition.” Weight Loss Medication Edition.
The Mayo Clinic program has also expanded to include access to dietary medications and tips to avoid side effects, according to Digital Wellness CEO Scott Penn, whose company developed an online platform based on the original program.
New medications have made being overweight “perceived more as a medical condition,” he said.
GYMS AND DIET FOOD COMPANIES ENTER THE MARKET
Luxury athletic club operator Life Time last year launched a membership program that offers comprehensive medical testing, personalized training and a wide range of therapies, including cryotherapy. Miora program members can also get Ozempic and other diet medications through medical staff at a clinic that opened in Minneapolis last year.
Jeff Zwiefel, CEO of Life Time Miora, called the new drugs “revolutionary” for the fitness industry.
“We have the opportunity and the obligation and the responsibility to help people get results together with medical providers and to make sure that that is the right path,” he insisted.
Gyms are hopeful that the drugs will help people lose enough weight that they will also lose their shyness to exercise. The Equinox gym chain launched a new program in January for those who use medications and want to preserve or increase muscle while losing unwanted kilos.
The world of weight loss drugs is also upending the ambitions of food companies. Sales of SlimFast, which are diet shakes or snacks to replace regular meals and sold in supermarkets, have declined as more people turn to prescription drugs and stores cut space for diet products, the company said. parent company of that brand, Glanbia, to investors in February.
Because the drugs suppress the appetite of those who take them, Glanbia and other companies are promoting their products as a source of adequate nutrients for those taking GLP-1s. Swiss multinational Nestle SA believes it can benefit from the popularity of remedies and is expanding its Lean Cuisine frozen meals and OPTIFAST protein shakes.
“Diets are back in fashion,” Nestle SA CEO Ulf Mark Schneider told analysts in February. “It’s something that people used to do discreetly, to the side, without knowing what the result would be.”
PROMISING RESULTS, BUT MANY UNKNOWNS
Research has shown that one-third of people lose 5% or more of their weight through diet and exercise alone, according to Dr. Louis Aronne, director of the Weight Loss Center at Weill Cornell Medical School. As a comparison, the substance in the antidiabetes drug Mounjaro helped obese or overweight people lose at least a quarter of their weight when combined with fewer calories and more exercise, a new study says.
But some experts fear that companies will begin promoting the drugs or trying to pass themselves off as personal fitness trainers. Dr. Cian Wade, a consultant for the global strategy and management company Kearney, said he is concerned about the proliferation of clinics that do not have as much experience with obesity and related medical disorders.
“There is potential concern that for some patients, (clinics) will not have the expertise to be able to appropriately manage side effects or nutrition-related issues,” he said.
Because GLP-1 drugs are new, there remains uncertainty about how many patients will continue to take them since some people find the side effects intolerable. Plus, many people might stop taking them because of the cost: Wegovy costs $1,300 a month and Zepbound costs $1,000 a month.
“A NEW VERSION OF ME”
Lisa Donahey, 54, an actress and singer in Los Angeles, started taking Mounjaro under medical instruction a year ago for her type 2 diabetes. At the time, Donahey, who is 5 feet 7 inches (1.7 meters) tall, I weighed 117 kilos (260 pounds) and had already tried plans like Jenny Craig, WeightWatchers and Nutrisystem.
He has since dropped to just under 86 kilos (190 pounds). He goes to the gym. After many years of being assigned to stereotypical roles as an actress, she is now looking for other types of roles. She says she used Mounjaro to “get a jump start,” but that she plans to stop once she loses another 18 kilos (40 pounds).
“I felt hopeless, like I was going to stay like this and alone I wasn’t going to be able to change,” she commented. “Now that I’m managing my weight better, and there’s a new version of me, I feel more empowered, more excited, more hopeful.”
