Weight management

If you've been using weight loss medication to help you on your journey, we can help you tailor your dose to a level that encourages consistency and helps you maintain your weight loss. Our clinically-trained pharmacists offer thorough consultations where they'll listen to your fears, concerns and preferences. While an extremely low dose is enough for some patients to maintain their weight loss, for others a slightly higher dose might work more effectively. This will be tailored to a plan that's right for you.

Once you've reached your goal weight, we recommend a gradual reduction in your doses rather than suddenly jumping down to the lowest possible dose or stopping the medication altogether - unless this is specifically advised by your pharmacist. When reducing your dose, you'll likely notice feelings of hunger starting to creep back in. Don't worry, this is a normal feeling to have, but the important thing is to try and maintain the healthy eating habits that you adopted on your journey.

Any dosage adjustments will always be followed up with a pharmacist consultation to check how you're responding to the changes, how you feel, and what next steps you're comfortable with. If you are feeling particularly overwhelmed by hunger signals, then a pharmacist might recommend to increase your dose slightly - but again, this is patient-specific.

Even if you're using medication to assist with your weight loss journey, diet is still important - and even more important when trying to maintain your weight loss so that it doesn't undo all of your hard work! Our pharmacists have compiled the below top tips:

• Use a TDEE (Total Daily Energy Expenditure) calculator to monitor your daily calory defecit. Your pharmacist can use this to help give you maintenance calories and tracking calories, to help you plan your meals.
• Design a menu - know what you're planning to have for breakfast, lunch and dinner and record your calories to help keep track. This avoids being caught in a pinch and reverting to unhealthy habits. It also helps you understand what 'spare' calories you have left for snacks.
• Prioritise protein and fibre - protein helps suppress the hunger hormone 'ghrelin', while fibre slows digestion and stabilises sugar spikes to encourage a feeling of fullness.
• Drink plenty of water - this is often the first habit that tends to drop off after a goal weight is reached, when it's just as important for maintaining weight loss.
• Have 'go-to' meals - make your life easier by having a handful of go-to healthy meals that you know you enjoy eating, and that are easy to make, so you've always got something in your back pocket.
• Continue to eat regular meals - avoid adopting unhealthy habits like leaving big gaps between meals or only eating one or two meals a day.
• Don't waste calories - if you're struggling to stay within your calorie limit, try avoiding full sugar drinks or coffees with syrups, as this can add additional calories that you might not need.

Often when losing weight, you're also losing muscle, so introducing some weight or resistance training can help keep your body lean but strong. A lot of people worry about becoming 'bulky' or gaining weight from this kind of exercise, but don't worry - it takes a lot to get to that level. A few simple routines will simply help strengthen your existing muscles and keep your body toned.

If you're new to exercise, then it's better to gradually build up to exercise to avoid burn-out or injury. Instead you can increase the weight, resistance or intensity of your workouts over time, as you get stronger.

YouTube is an excellent source for free exercise routines, allowing you to find a workout that suits you (both in terms of time, and intensity) and you can easily follow along at home. This is especially useful if you aren't comfortable working out in a public space such as a gym.

We recommend chatting to your pharmacist about any existing exercise routines you have and what you'd like to progress to, as they can help guide you based on your medical history. For example, patients who've had a hip or knee replacement would be advised to avoid squats, so alternative forms of exercise can be recommended instead.

The best way to monitor your progress is with regular weigh-ins at home. This allows you to keep an eye on any fluctuations so you can adapt and make any necessary changes early on.