weight loss drug

Beyond GLP 1: How Body By Hannah Supports Your Journey

Being prescribed a GLP-1 medication can be an important step in caring for your health. But medication is only one part of the experience.

As your appetite, eating patterns, energy, and body begin to change, you may find yourself asking new questions:

Am I eating enough?
Am I losing muscle along with body fat?
Why does my energy feel different?
How should I exercise now?
What does healthy progress actually look like for me?

At Body By Hannah, we provide the coaching and support that happens beyond the medication.

Our role is to help you navigate the physical and practical changes that can accompany GLP-1 treatment so you can feel nourished, capable, strong, and supported throughout the process.

Your progress is more than a number on the scale

Weight loss may include a combination of body fat and lean tissue. Although research generally indicates that GLP-1 supported weight loss comes primarily from fat, some loss of lean mass may also occur.

That is why our goal is not simply to help you become lighter on the scale. We want to help you maintain the muscle, strength, energy, and physical capacity that allow you to live well.

We often refer to muscle as your “metabolic currency.” It helps your body manage glucose, supports your joints and bones, contributes to mobility, and gives you the strength to handle the demands of everyday life. It is also an important reserve for healthy aging and long-term independence.

Preserving muscle is not about appearance alone. It is about protecting the function and resilience of your body.

We use body-composition data to look beneath the surface

At Body By Hannah, we use the InBody body-composition system as part of our ongoing client check-ins.

Unlike a standard scale, an InBody assessment helps us look at estimated changes in areas such as:

  • Skeletal muscle mass

  • Body fat mass and body fat percentage

  • Fat-free or lean mass

  • The distribution of lean tissue across your arms, legs, and trunk

  • Total body water and fluid balance

  • Body composition trends over time

This information helps us have a much more meaningful conversation about your progress.

If your weight is decreasing while your skeletal muscle remains stable, that may indicate that your training, nutrition, and recovery plan is supporting a positive outcome. If your muscle estimate begins to trend downward or you are also experiencing fatigue, weakness, poor recovery, or declining performance, we can respond early and thoughtfully.

We pay attention to how you feel, not only how you measure

The scan gives us useful data, but you are never reduced to a data point.

During coaching, we also check in on:

  • Your mood

  • Your energy 

  • Your strength and workout performance

  • Your appetite and ability to eat consistently

  • Your sleep + recovery

  • Your hydration

  • Your confidence and relationship with movement

  • Your ability to manage work, family, and everyday responsibilities

These details help us see the fuller picture.

For example, the scale may be moving in the direction you hoped for, but you may be feeling unusually tired or struggling to complete workouts that once felt manageable. You may be getting full so quickly that it is difficult to consume enough protein or other essential nutrients. You may feel unsure about what to eat now that your hunger cues have changed.

These are simply signals that your support plan may need to evolve.

We help you build a fitness plan for the body you have today

Strength training is one of the most valuable tools available during intentional weight loss. It gives your body a reason to retain muscle while helping you build confidence, stability, and physical capacity.

At Body By Hannah, your program is built around your current experience, including your energy, training history, recovery, and any guidance provided by your healthcare team.

Your plan may begin with simple movements and light resistance, or it may involve a more structured progressive program. Either way, the goal is to create an appropriate challenge that helps you maintain or improve strength without overwhelming your body.

We adjust as your needs change. On days or during phases when your energy is lower, we can modify volume, intensity, or exercise selection. When you are ready to progress, we help you do so with intention.

We help you stay nourished when hunger becomes quieter

A reduced appetite can be helpful, but it can also make eating enough more difficult.

When meals become smaller or less frequent, each choice carries more nutritional weight. Protein, carbohydrates, fats, fiber, fluids, vitamins, and minerals all continue to matter, even when you do not feel as hungry as you once did.

Our coaching helps you develop practical strategies for:

  • Prioritizing protein and other nutrient dense foods

  • Building balanced meals from smaller portions

  • Timing food around exercise and daily responsibilities

  • Supporting hydration

  • Identifying foods that feel manageable when appetite is low

  • Recognizing when your intake may not be supporting your energy or recovery

Your doctor manages the medication. We help you build the habits, strength, awareness, and day to day structure that surround it.

The medication may open the door. We help you build what comes next.

If you have been prescribed a GLP-1 medication, you deserve support that goes beyond watching the number on the scale.

You deserve to know whether you are maintaining muscle. You deserve an exercise plan designed around your current capacity. You deserve help navigating quieter hunger signals, changing energy levels, and new nutritional challenges. Most importantly, you deserve coaching that respects your decision and sees you as a whole person.

We assess. We listen. We coach. We adjust.

At Body By Hannah, we help you pursue more than weight loss. We help you build strength, maintain function, support your energy, and create habits that can serve you for the long term.

Because the end goal is not simply a smaller body.

It is a stronger, healthier, more capable life.

If you are using a doctor-prescribed GLP-1 and want expert coaching beyond the medication, Body By Hannah is here to support you. Contact us to schedule a consultation and learn more about strength training, body composition tracking, and whole person coaching.


Tread with Caution: The world of compounded weight loss drugs

Promising Weight Loss Drugs

As the new year unfolds, many of us are embracing resolutions, especially those related to health and weight loss. We totally understand the battle around sustained weight loss and want to recognize the huge potential around trending weight loss drugs approved by the FDA for helping pre-diabetic and diabetic patients. In my opinion, this is a very exciting time to hopefully see the obesity epidemic curbed in a big way. We’re seeing at risk individuals achieve substantial weight loss and improve their overall health. This could create a huge dent in our overall medical care costs across the globe. It’s also exciting to see that in many cases, the results patients are having from taking the drug inspire and motivate them to eat healthier and move more as a way to safeguard this better health.

Wagovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro, oh my!

Semaglutide medications like popular Wagovy and Ozempic are typically prescribed for individuals with type 2 diabetes to help manage blood sugar levels and signaling to the brain “fulllness”.

Before considering any medication, including semaglutide, it's wise to consult with your doctor. While these drugs are promising, the collected data around them only extend about 20 years, making what we know about long term effects, quite limited. It is best to have your doctor assess your health status, consider your medical history, and determine the most appropriate treatment plan based on your specific needs.

Enter Compounded Semaglutide

I started getting one email after another from boutique fitness clubs in Chattanooga and Atlanta and NYC and from med spas all over advertising their new “medical weight loss fitness program”. And what I discovered from digging a bit more is that many of these programs were packaging compounded semaglutide drugs into their program, making it easier for the general public to get the weight loss drug. And this is where I throw up my red flag and say, if this intrigues you, tread with caution.

So what is compounded semaglutide?

Compounded semaglutide refers to the practice of combining or altering the commercially available medication, semaglutide. Compounding drugs can be very helpful in shortage situations or in situations where it can address a patients allergy to a specific ingredient in the commercially available drug. But, compounding medications also introduces potential risks.

  1. Effectiveness Concerns: Compounded medications may lack the precise formulation and quality control of commercially available drugs. This raises concerns about the effectiveness of compounded semaglutide in managing blood sugar levels as intended.

  2. Dosage Accuracy: Achieving accurate dosage in compounded medications can be challenging. Variability in dosage may lead to inadequate blood sugar control or, conversely, increase the risk of side effects.

  3. Safety Profile: Commercially available medications undergo rigorous testing to establish their safety profiles. Compounded semaglutide may lack such comprehensive safety data, making it difficult to assess potential risks and side effects accurately.

  4. Contamination and Stability: Compounding introduces the risk of contamination and instability. Improper handling or storage of compounded semaglutide could compromise its effectiveness and safety.

  5. Lack of Regulatory Oversight: Unlike commercially available medications, compounded drugs may not be subject to the same level of regulatory scrutiny. This absence of oversight can pose challenges in ensuring product quality and patient safety.

Patients considering compounded semaglutide should consult their healthcare providers to thoroughly discuss the potential risks and benefits.

…more on this from the FDA

The Bottom Line

I’m excited about the potential these weight loss drugs have to create a huge impact on the obesity epidemic and the ripple effect we will likely see it have on choosing to move more and eat healthier to sustain the results from taking the drug. The wellness expert in me says “BRING IT ON!”

But, I’m cautious and concerned for anybody that chooses to take semaglutide or its’ compounded versions without consulting their doctor and doing the research needed to make sure that the product they are getting is safe and legitimate. We still don’t know what happens with long term drug use on the population it was intended for, and we absolutely don’t know what long term effects it will have on a population for whom the drug was not intended for. It’s so tempting to want to use semaglutide to lose those last 5 or final 10 lbs, but will the side effects and potential long term effects be worth it? We just don’t know yet.

What are your thoughts on this? Please add your comments below. I know this topic can absolutely stir up a lot of emotions and opinions. I’m curious what your experiences have been with any of these drugs, what other questions you have around it, and what feedback you can share with us all.