Why Habits Matter When You’re Taking a GLP-1
I think we can all agree that GLP-1 medications are genius. A small injection once a week and suddenly the constant background noise about food, cravings and hunger turns down to a level you didn’t think was possible. For many people, it feels like someone has finally handed them the volume control on their appetite.
But here’s what I learnt quickly: the medication doesn’t cook dinner for you, it doesn’t remind you to drink water, and it certainly doesn’t pull you up from the sofa when you’d rather stay horizontal. All it does is give you a window of opportunity where the appetite battles are quieter. What you do with that window still depends entirely on your daily routines.
When I first started taking the medication in September 2024, the weight came off steadily and almost without much effort. My eating patterns shifted on their own, and I remember thinking, well, this is easy. But as I increased the dosage, my digestion ground to a halt and the side effects became unmanageable. I decided to stop taking Wegovy. By then I’d lost a significant amount of weight and thought I could handle the last few pounds myself.
How wrong I was.
My appetite didn’t return straight away - it crept back about four weeks after my last injection. But when it did, it was loud. The food noise was relentless, and interestingly, so was the diet noise. And the truth was, there was no way I could manage either without medication.
While I scrambled to come up with a plan, I gained five pounds in just three weeks. What struck me most wasn’t the weight gain itself, but the realisation that none of my habits had changed when left to my own devices.
That’s when I asked for a prescription for Mounjaro and I’ve been happily married to it ever since. But with the recent price increases, I’m not sure if our relationship can last forever. I know I need to lock down the habits that are going to give me the best possible chance of maintaining my weight should I come off the medication. I’ve lost 40 pounds so far, and with only about 15 left to go, now is the time to really lock these habits in.
Between working full time, caring for my disabled parents, and being with my husband and furchildren, I don’t have the energy to battle diet culture, stick to impossibly rigid workout plans, or count calories every day. What’s kept me moving forward isn’t motivation or discipline - because if I’m honest, I have very little of either left. It will be the boring little habits I’ve been putting in place quietly: eating protein at meals, walking the dogs and switching off the lights at a reasonable time instead of scrolling into the early hours. None of it looks impressive, but these routines are the best possible chance I have to stop me sliding backwards.
The GLP-1 Medication Alone Won’t Do the Job
The clinical results are impressive. In the STEP-1 trial, people taking semaglutide lost nearly 15% of their body weight in just over a year - more than almost any other treatment has ever achieved. But when the medication stopped, the weight started creeping back and within twelve months two-thirds of it had returned.
That’s not because people were lazy or careless. It’s not a personal failure. It’s biology. Appetite returns, life gets busy, and unless you’ve already built the routines to hold things steady, the body drifts back towards its old settings.
The medication takes hunger out of the spotlight, but habits tell you what to do next. And in non-GLP-1 studies, it’s those who locked in daily habits, including structured meals, regular activity and self-monitoring - who were able to keep weight off (National Weight Control Registry, Wing & Phelan, 2005).
Right now we don’t have long-term evidence that GLP-1 users can maintain results medication free. But based on what we know so far, building strong, realistic routines is the best possible chance we’ve got.
GLP-1 Medication Might not be Forever
It’s tempting to think, ‘Well, I’ll just stay on it forever then’. But not everyone does and not everyone can. Some people stop because the side effects make daily life uncomfortable. Others stop because prescriptions aren’t covered, or the cost just isn’t realistic long term. We’ve all seen the supply shortages that make it impossible to even get hold of the medication for weeks at a time. And then there are people who simply decide that injecting themselves every week isn’t something they want to keep doing indefinitely.
That possibility hit me early on - what if one day I couldn’t have it anymore? Would everything unravel? Would I just drift straight back into old habits because I hadn’t built anything else in their place? And the honest answer was, yes. That’s where habits come in. If nothing else, they can release me from the claws of diet culture.
Muscle: More Than Vanity
When I first started losing weight, I thought being lighter would automatically mean I felt stronger and more capable. But the reality surprised me: I actually felt weaker. Carrying the shopping up the stairs left me out of breath, and even small movements like getting out of the car felt harder than they should.
That’s because weight loss isn’t just fat loss. Without protection, it often means losing muscle too. And muscle isn’t just about looking toned in the gym - it’s what keeps you climbing stairs without breathlessness, helps you bend down and get back up without those involuntary groans, and ultimately supports independence as you age.
For me, the turning point was building small but consistent habits: adding protein to meals, picking up resistance bands, and weaving in simple bodyweight moves. Not a punishing gym schedule - just graded steps I could actually sustain.
The difference? I stopped seeing strength training as ‘extra’ and realised it was the foundation. The number on the scale still matters, but it’s no longer the only measure. Feeling stronger in daily life - that’s the kind of progress worth protecting.
Plateaus: The Scale’s Favourite Party Trick
There’s nothing quite as frustrating as a plateau. For weeks the weight comes off steadily, and then out of nowhere the scale stops moving. I’ve plataued two or three times and each time immediately assumed that the medication had stopped working.
But plateaus aren’t sabotage. They’re the body recalibrating, slowing down, and adjusting to a new normal. And what makes the difference isn’t how you feel about the plateau, but what you do during it.
Whenever mine hit, the thing that keeps me steady isn’t motivation, because by that point my enthusiasm has worn thin. It’s the habits that I’m building. Walking daily. Eating protein. Actually going to bed at a sensible time. Those routines stop me from undoing all the progress I’ve made. They turned the plateau into a pause, not a collapse.
Willpower: The Flakiest Employee You’ll Ever Hire
For years I told myself that the reason I couldn’t stick to weight loss was because I didn’t have enough willpower. If I could just have more ‘discipline’, I’d be fine. But willpower can’t help us here. It shows up in the morning, clocks off by mid-afternoon, and definitely isn’t staying late to help you when you’re tired after work.
By the time I finish work for the day, feeling absolutely exhausted, willpower is nowhere to be found. And that’s when I realised something: willpower isn’t (and can’t be) a plan.
What works instead is having a routine. Drinking a bottle of water in the morning. Leaving my shoes by the door, ready for a walk straight after work. Protein in the fridge, quick to cook. None of it looks glamorous, but it means the decision is already made for me before I have time to negotiate myself out of it. Habits do the heavy lifting, long after willpower has left the building.
Relapse: The Sequel Nobody Wants
Here’s the uncomfortable truth: most people who lose weight end up regaining it. Not because they’re weak or lazy, but because losing weight and keeping it off require two very different skill sets.
The National Weight Control Registry has tracked thousands of people who’ve successfully maintained weight loss for years. And what unites them isn’t magic or motivation - it’s habits. They weigh in regularly. They move their bodies consistently. They eat in steady, structured ways. None of it looks dramatic, but it’s exactly that steadiness that makes it sustainable.
When I look back at my own history of dieting, every regain had the same thing in common: biology pushed back, and without strong routines in place, I slipped into old patterns. Appetite came roaring back, life got busy, and without new habits to steady me, the old ones took over.
Beyond the Scale
At first I was focused only on the number. But once I started building small habits, I realised the benefits went far beyond weight loss. Sleeping properly for the first time in years gave me more energy during the day. Walking regularly lifted my mood. Adding protein to meals stopped the mid-afternoon crashes that used to leave me feeling like I could sleep for a week.
None of these changes showed up on the scale, but they showed up in how I lived. That’s when I realised this wasn’t just about the weight - it was about quality of life.
Why ‘All or Nothing’ Doesn’t Work
Most diet advice reads like it was written for robots: drink two litres of water every day, exercise five times a week, sleep eight hours every night. It’s tidy on paper and completely overwhelming in reality.
I tried to do it that way hundreds of times, throwing myself in headfirst, and within three days I was burnt out and miserable. The truth is, real change doesn’t come from ‘all or nothing’. It comes from ‘a little bit, often’.
One glass of water in the morning. One short walk after work. Going to bed on time a couple of nights a week. And slowly, those small things build into something substantial. They don’t make for dramatic social media posts, but they’re the ones that stick.
Habits to Start With
If you’re wondering where to start while on a GLP-1 medication, here’s what worked for me to get me started:
A glass of water with breakfast, no matter what.
One protein-rich meal every day.
A short walk after work, even if I didn’t feel like it.
Turning off my phone half an hour before bed.
None of these things felt earth-shattering at the time. But once they became automatic, they gave me a foundation I didn’t even realise I needed.
The Point Isn’t Perfection
Nobody nails every habit every day, despite what social media tells you. I certainly don’t. But what I’ve learnt is that the point isn’t perfection - it’s progress.
If I drank more water today than yesterday, that’s progress. If I managed one walk this week when last week I didn’t, that’s progress. The power of habits isn’t in perfection. It’s in repetition. They take the need for constant decision-making away. They make life easier, not harder.
And that’s why they matter so much on a GLP-1 medication.
The Takeaway (No Pun Intended)
GLP-1 medications are powerful. They reduce hunger, help with cravings, and give you a fighting chance against a problem that can feel impossible. But they don’t build routines. They don’t organise your kitchen, your sleep, or your daily structure.
That’s the job of habits: they’re the bridge between treatment and a future that supports energy and health. They don’t erase biology, but they give you the best chance of turning ‘it worked for a while’ into ‘this is my new normal’.
GLP-1 medications may open the door, but it’s habits that carry you through it.
References
Wilding JPH et al. Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity. NEJM, 2021 (STEP 1 trial).
Rubino DM et al. Effect of Continued Weekly Subcutaneous Semaglutide vs Placebo on Weight Loss Maintenance. JAMA, 2021 (STEP 4 trial).
Jastreboff AM et al. Tirzepatide Once Weekly for the Treatment of Obesity. NEJM, 2022 (SURMOUNT-1 trial).
National Weight Control Registry. nwcr.ws
Lally P et al. How are habits formed: Modelling habit formation in the real world. Eur J Soc Psychol, 2010.
