Current:Home > InvestJillian Michaels 'would love to leave weight loss drugs behind' in 2024. Here's why.-LoTradeCoin
Jillian Michaels 'would love to leave weight loss drugs behind' in 2024. Here's why.
View Date:2024-12-23 23:28:27
Weight less drugs like Ozempic popped up everywhere in 2023. But health and wellness expert Jillian Michaels would like them (mostly) gone for good in 2024.
"I would love to leave weight loss drugs behind except for life-or-death interventions," the former "The Biggest Loser" trainer told USA TODAY in an interview ahead of the new year. It comes as big-shot celebrities like Oprah have embraced the practice despite its controversies.
Michaels is encouraging people get back to basics in 2024 and avoid falling prey to potentially problematic trends. "The problem with trends is that they never pan out," she says. "And they take people so far off the path to a real solution with confusion and backsliding."
Jillian Michaels has 'zero judgment' for those who use weight loss drugs
Drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro can help someone lose 15% to 20% of their body weight – as much as 60 pounds for someone who started at 300.
Weight loss medications work by sending signals to the appetite center of the brain to reduce hunger and increase fullness, according to Dr. Deborah Horn, an assistant professor of surgery at the McGovern Medical School at UTHealth Houston. Once a person stops taking the drug, that effect is gone, paving the way for some people to regain what they lost if they don't adjust their diet and exercise patterns.
It's not clear whether the newer generation of weight loss drugs, which suppress appetite, will provide different long-term results than other weight loss approaches.
In the longest study, lasting 68 weeks – about 16 months – weight loss plateaued and started to climb again by the end, suggesting people's bodies had acclimated to the drugs. Side effects from Ozempic run the gamut – from losing too much weight, to gaining it all back, to plateauing. Not to mention the nausea, diarrhea and other gastrointestinal issues.
Before taking a weight loss drug, Michaels suggests looking into supplements like berberine and yerba mate tea as alternatives. She also recommends checking in with a doctor before supplementing one's diet. "I have no problem with people taking these formulas," she says. "But somebody just needs to make sure that they're doing your bloodwork regularly, and that your hormones are actually balanced in an optimal way."
Still, Michaels holds "zero judgment" for those who use these drugs as part of their weight loss arsenal. She "just would like people to try every other way forward first."
'There's no secret' to weight loss
Some of those ways forward: eating less (what weight loss drugs can help with), avoiding added sugars and moving more. Of course, it's easier said than done, and will not yield the same results for everyone.
"We don't want people eating so little that they're not getting enough nutrients," Michaels says. "But what these drugs have shown is that it doesn't matter your age, menopause, no menopause, this that the other, if you are eating a bit less food, and moving a bit more often, you can absolutely manage your weight."
Moving more "doesn't mean go crazy at 50 in a way you never have," she adds. "It means obviously work to your current fitness level. But there are no types of fitness that are out of bounds as you age – quite the opposite." Think high intensity interval training and strength training. Intermittent fasting can also help with weight loss.
Losing weight grows harder as one ages. A 30-year-old might burn 2,000 calories a day, for example, compared to a 50-year-old burning 1,300 calories. If that's the case, you need to exercise more and avoid eating everything you did in your 30s. Her 13-year-old can eat her entire refrigerator, she jokes, but she can only eat the rail on the right door.
"That is the science of it," she says. "There's no secret to it." This diligence will come in handy once women hit menopause and undergo hormone changes: "There is no like, 'Oh, I hit menopause and now it's a slow descent into decrepitude,'" Michaels says "It's just not true. Jane Fonda looked amazing – she still does!"
She knows that curbing one's diet of added sugars isn't ideal. But in her opinion, it might be the alternative: "Does it suck? Yes, but it's a lot better than taking a drug that's going to have crazy side effects that you can never get off of, and you'll eventually plateau on."
Contributing: Karen Weintraub and Katie Camero
veryGood! (2719)
Related
- Watch out, Temu: Amazon Haul, Amazon's new discount store, is coming for the holidays
- Stewart has 33 points and 14 rebounds, Angel Reese ejected as the Liberty beat the Sky 88-75
- Alec and Hilaria Baldwin to Star in Reality Show With Their 7 Kids
- Three boys discovered teenage T. rex fossil in northern US: 'Incredible dinosaur discovery'
- New Yorkers vent their feelings over the election and the Knicks via subway tunnel sticky notes
- Invasive fish with the head of a snake that can slither across land discovered in Missouri – again
- The Daily Money: Is your Ticketmaster data on the dark web?
- Life as a teen without social media isn’t easy. These families are navigating adolescence offline
- One person is dead after a shooting at Tuskegee University
- Caitlin Clark, WNBA rookies have chance to 'set this league on fire,' Billie Jean King says
Ranking
- Kentucky officer reprimanded for firing non-lethal rounds in 2020 protests under investigation again
- Hunter Biden’s ex-wife, other family members expected to take the stand in his federal gun trial
- Will Biden’s new border measures be enough to change voters’ minds?
- Baltimore Sun managing editor to retire months after the paper was sold
- Ranked voting will decide a pivotal congressional race. How does that work?
- Ohio and Pennsylvania Residents Affected by the East Palestine Train Derailment Say Their ‘Basic Needs’ Are Still Not Being Met
- Tribeca Festival to debut 5 movies using AI after 2023 actors and writers strikes
- Video and images show intercontinental ballistic missile test launched from California
Recommendation
-
Tony Todd, star of 'Candyman,' 'Final Destination,' dies at 69
-
Why did Nelson Mandela's ANC lose its majority in South Africa's elections, and what comes next?
-
Can you hear me now? Verizon network outage in Midwest, West is now resolved, company says
-
Survey finds fifth of Germans would prefer more White players on their national soccer team
-
13 Skincare Gifts Under $50 That Are Actually Worth It
-
Carjacker charged with murder in DC after crashing stolen car with woman inside: Police
-
What is the dividend payout for Nvidia stock?
-
Invasive fish with the head of a snake that can slither across land discovered in Missouri – again