What to Know About a Weight Loss Plateau on Wegovy?

When you take Wegovy, work out and eat more healthfully, you may notice that you are losing weight. Then, all of a sudden, it appears like you’re not quite losing the pounds as fast as you had been. Your weight loss may seem to be stagnant. Why is that? It is because of a weight loss plateau that is known as the Wegovy plateau. Many people experience this problem while trying to lose weight, even if they adhere to diet and exercise plans or use medications like Wegovy pens.

Here in this blog we will discuss what you need to know about a weight loss plateau and why you’ll hit the plateau. We are also going to discuss how you can overcome the plateau and if a higher dose can help.

What Is a Wegovy Plateau?

When your weight loss rate slows down significantly while taking Wegovy, it is termed a Wegovy plateau. It appears that nothing has changed externally – you are still exercising and dieting – but the pounds are still not melting away the way they used to. During a plateau, you may even gain a little weight. These plateaus are similar to weight loss plateaus, with the key difference being that they occur while a person is taking the drug to lose weight. Dr. Beverly Tchang, an endocrinologist board-certified in Internal Medicine, Obesity Medicine, and Endocrinology, Diabetes & Metabolism, said our hormones prevent us from losing too much weight. They cause a weight loss plateau, no matter whether you are following a diet, exercising, or taking medications.

What Causes A Weight Loss Plateau?

The first thing that happens when you lose weight is that your body releases its glycogen reserves, which are partially made of water. Your weight loss is partly caused by fluid loss. As your glycogen reserves are depleted, you will have less fluid to lose so you will lose weight through fat loss. Consequently, you may see a slowdown in your weight loss when, in reality, it’s just the release of water that initially makes you appear to be losing weight rapidly.

You shouldn’t be surprised if your weight loss slows down after a few weeks or months. This is a sign that a healthy lifestyle change has been successful. Now that you’ve been working so hard, your body has reached a point where it has to adjust to a new, lower weight – and that’s all thanks to you! As you lose weight, your body needs fewer calories to maintain itself and carry out all of its functions. Even if nothing has changed, you may hit a plateau.

The body is simply readjusting to its new energy requirements, so you should think about changing things up to push past the plateau. It could mean reducing your calorie intake or increasing your physical activity. Once you start seeing results on the scales, you’ll know your changes are working. There is also the possibility that weight loss will plateau if you have reverted to old habits or have become lenient when it comes to portion control.

For example, if you’ve quit weighing food, it becomes more difficult to tell whether or not you’re consuming the correct amount of food. You can reduce the risk of gaining weight over time by weighing your food into parts as a healthful lifestyle choice. Weight loss plateaus occur because the body consumes more energy than it needs. In order to push past it, you will need to either increase the amount of energy you burn during workouts or decrease the amount of energy you consume during meals. In most cases, a successful weight loss journey combines both of these strategies.

How to Overcome a Plateau While on Wegovy?

It is possible for a Wegovy plateau to be accompanied by other changes in addition to a slowdown in weight loss, such as:

An increase in hunger
An increase in fatigue
Some weight gain

These effects are likely caused by changing hormone levels. As part of your body’s survival response, ghrelin (the “hunger” hormone”) levels typically increase, while leptin (the “satiety” hormone”) levels decrease. As well as making you feel starving, these changes in your hormones can make you tired, making it more difficult to stay active.

While the aim is to lose fat, some people may lose more lean muscle mass when they lose weight – especially if they don’t also maintain muscle by eating protein and exercising. You can counteract these effects by losing weight gradually while maintaining and building muscle mass.

What to Do If You’re Not Losing Weight on Wegovy?

Despite your best efforts, you may not be losing as much weight as you expected on Wegovy. It is possible to break through a weight loss plateau. These three tips may help:

1. Start a Food Journal

It can be tedious to keep a record of meals and snacks, but it can provide valuable information. According to a study published in Biorxiv Journal in 2018, people tend to underestimate their energy intake by a significant amount. A person can make changes once they understand where unnecessary calories come from and what they are eating and drinking.

In the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, more than 50% of the participants reported eating less than they actually were. They had the following characteristics:

BMI higher than normal
An increase in fat mass
An increase in visceral fat
Perceived stress levels are higher
An increase in protein-based energy
Low levels of calcium, fiber, iron, vitamin B-1, and vitamin B-6
Fewer fruit and vegetable servings

By keeping a food diary, you can calculate your calorie intake. It may even show whether you are getting enough or too much of a particular macronutrient. By limiting or avoiding alcohol and sugary treats, empty calories that have no nutritional value can be eliminated.

2. Make Sure You Are Eating Right

The Wegovy semaglutide injection works best when combined with a low-calorie diet and increased physical activity. Typically, this means reducing your caloric intake by 500 calories a day, but your healthcare provider may recommend something else. If you haven’t lowered your food intake yet, now may be a good time to do so. Take into account whether you can do more of the following:

Don’t eat sugary or processed foods
Avoid sweetened beverages and alcohol
Reduce the size of your portions and eat more slowly
Avoid late-night snacking
Consume more fruits, vegetables, nuts, and whole grains
To build muscle, increase your protein intake

3. Refresh Your Exercise Routine

Adults are recommended 150–300 minutes of moderate or 75–150 minutes of strenuous exercise each week, as per the physical activity guidelines for Americans. Start with an activity you enjoy, such as walking for 20–30 minutes daily, if you don’t get much physical activity currently. If you’re already exercising, consider increasing it to 200 minutes a week, which is shown to both increase weight loss and prevent weight regain.

It might also be a good idea to consider whether the workout mix you are using is optimal for weight loss. Almost any kind of exercise is beneficial, but the National Center for Biotechnology Information suggests that resistance training combined with aerobic activity produces the best results for losing weight and maintaining muscle mass.

4. Reduce Your Stress

It is common for stress to stall weight loss. Your body’s production of cortisol is also increased, which promotes comfort eating and triggers food cravings. The stress hormone cortisol helps your body react to stress, but it can also expand belly fat storage. It seems that women are more likely to experience this effect than men. As a result, too much cortisol can make weight loss extremely difficult.

Even though it may seem impossible to control stress in your life, learning to manage stress can promote weight loss. In 2013, PubMed Central published an eight-week study with 34 overweight and obese women. As a result of a stress-management program that included muscle relaxation and deep breathing, they lost an average of 9.7 pounds (4.4 kilograms).

5. Get Enough Sleep

You may have difficulty losing weight if you sleep less than seven hours a night because chronic sleep deprivation disrupts your hormone levels, affects your mood, and slows your metabolism. Sleep deprivation also increases your stress levels, which encourages your body to store fat. You may also feel more tired and less motivated when you’re stressed or sleepy, which makes following your diet and exercising even harder. You can improve your sleep by incorporating some of the following into your daily routine:

Sleeping more by adjusting your schedule
Exercises that promote muscle relaxation, such as deep breathing
Spending more time outdoors
Practicing guided imagery, visualization, or another type of meditation
Using aromatherapy

Last but not least, keep going! No matter how much we wish it were, weight loss is not a linear process. Along the way, there are ups, downs, and plateaus. Make sure you stick with your new healthy habits, and speak with your healthcare provider if you need more help.

Can a Higher Dose of Wegovy Help with a Plateau?

Wegovy’s highest maintenance dosage is 2.4 mg, administered once per week. Since higher doses of semaglutide have not been studied, it is unknown whether they are safe or effective. You may need to adjust your treatment plan if you are already taking the dosage of 2.4 mg. Ultimately, however, it “depends on the individual and his or her goals,” says Dr. Tchang. Many people can achieve multiple health benefits by losing just 5% of their body weight, and Wegovy helps 9 out of 10 people do this.

It can improve blood pressure, quality of life, and even sexual function (by improving symptoms of conditions like erectile dysfunction for men). In fact, weight loss can reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke, as well as improve depression symptoms. Obstructive sleep apnea and prediabetes can also be relieved with more weight loss. It can improve blood pressure, quality of life, and even sexual function (by improving symptoms of conditions like erectile dysfunction for men). Weight loss can even reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke and improve symptoms of depression.

The loss of more weight may have additional benefits, including the reduction of obstructive sleep apnea and prediabetes. It’s common to lose more weight at the beginning of a weight loss journey. According to Dr. Tchang, most people continued to lose weight throughout the first year of taking the drug, though more slowly in the second half of the year than in the first. As an example, a 2021 study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that people took Wegovy semaglutide injections for a year and a half and lost nearly 15% of their body weight.

Another study published in the National Library of Medicine in 2022 showed people continued losing weight two years after starting treatment despite their weight loss rate slowing down. Once you reach your goal weight, Dr. Tchang said, “the hope is that the plateau will last forever.” After the plateau, you move on to weight maintenance. Consult your healthcare provider before changing your dosage of the medicine. Additionally, If you want to buy Wegovy online, Polar Bear Meds is the best Canadian online pharmacy offering discounted prices for quality medicines.

In Closing

It is expected to hit a weight loss plateau during the journey to a healthier lifestyle on Wegovy. A plateau can occur when the body adjusts to its new energy needs and hormonal changes. It is crucial to reevaluate your diet, exercise, and lifestyle habits in order to break through the plateau. A food journal, a balanced diet, regular exercise, managing stress, and getting adequate sleep are essential strategies. A higher dose of the drug has not been studied, but many people achieve significant health benefits even with a 5% weight loss. To overcome plateaus and maintain long-term success, healthcare providers should be consulted. If you want to lose weight and keep it, you must persist with healthy habits.