The 5 Mistakes I See People Make on GLP-1s
I have been working with clients on GLP-1 therapies for five years now, since before they became a headline. In that time I have watched these medications change lives, and I have watched them quietly go wrong for people who deserved better.
Here is what five years has taught me: the medication is almost never the problem. The method is.
The same drug, at the same dose, can strip one person down to a weaker, under-fueled version of themselves and rebuild another into the strongest, healthiest athlete they have been in a decade. The difference comes down to five mistakes, and I see the same ones over and over.
Here is the first one, free, because everyone needs to hear it.
Mistake #1: Letting the dose run on autopilot.
The standard playbook is start low, then step the dose up on a fixed schedule until you hit the maximum. That escalation has quietly become the default for everyone, and too often it runs on autopilot: no follow-up, no weigh-ins, no body composition measurements, and no one asking the most basic question in medicine: is this dose still right for this person?
I cannot count the people who have come to me saying they only had 20 pounds to lose, yet found themselves on a near-maximum dose because that is what the calendar said to do next.
Imagine a doctor doubling your blood pressure medication every month without ever taking your blood pressure again. We would call that malpractice. With GLP-1s, escalation without measurement has somehow become routine. More is not better with these compounds. The right dose is the lowest one that achieves your goals while protecting your muscle, your fueling, and your quality of life.
That is Mistake #1. The other four run deeper:
Mistake #2 is the reason so many people end up lighter but weaker, and why the scale is lying to you the entire time.
Mistake #3 is about the risks. The blindness scare, the "paralyzed stomach" rumor, and the one risk that has genuinely changed since last year. The honest numbers look nothing like the headlines, in either direction.
Mistake #4 is asking "how fast can I get off this?" It is the wrong question, and the right one determines everything about what happens after.
Mistake #5 is the mistake underneath all the others, and it is the one I am most passionate about after five years of this work.
I break down all four, plus the plain-English science of what these medications actually do, the evolution from Ozempic to the triple-hormone medications coming next, and why midlife athletes may have the most to gain, in the full article on my Substack.
Read the full breakdown on my Substack
Two more ways I can help:
The guide. If you are already on a GLP-1 or considering one, my ebook Are You GLP'ng Right? walks through exactly how to do this the right way, from fueling and muscle protection to what to watch for along the way.
The partnership. If you want this navigated for you, this is literally what I do every day. I work one-on-one with clients on GLP-1 therapies: tracking body composition so you lose fat and not muscle, building your protein and training plan, managing side effects, and making sure the dose conversation with your physician is informed by what is actually happening in your body. No two people respond the same way to these medications, and your plan should be built for yours. Email me at jenngilesrd@gmail.com and we can see if you are a good fit.
-Jenn
