5 ways to increase weight loss on Wegovy
Wegovy is a weight loss medication available via NHS prescription if you’re eligible for referral to an approved weight management service like Oviva.
The medication helps to suppress your appetite and increase feelings of fullness, so you eat less. It’s most effective when taken alongside broader changes to your lifestyle, including diet and activity levels, to promote weight loss. Here, we’ll take a closer look at 5 ways to increase weight loss on Wegovy.
Key Takeaways
- Wegovy is an effective weight loss medication when combined with lifestyle changes.
- Examples of these lifestyle changes include improving your diet, increasing the amount of exercise you get, reducing alcohol intake and taking steps to lower stress levels.
- Wegovy is available via NHS prescription if you’re eligible for referral to an approved weight management service, like Oviva.
- Oviva can help you to implement healthy lifestyle changes and optimise results.
How to increase weight loss on Wegovy (and improve your health) in five steps
Wegovy has been found to be an effective medication for weight loss when paired with sensible and healthy lifestyle changes. The following sections will explore 5 of the best ways to boost Wegovy weight loss results and achieve your weight loss goals.
1. Adjust your lifestyle
To get the best results with Wegovy, you need to make changes to your lifestyle. The following four areas are especially important for optimising weight loss outcomes:
- Diet: Focus on nutrient-rich foods and get plenty of lean protein, fibre, and healthy fats. Eat more whole or minimally processed foods instead of ultra-processed foods.
- Exercise: Increase the amount of physical activity you do each week, including strength training, to minimise muscle loss as you lose weight.
- Hydration: Drink plenty of water to stay hydrated. This is especially important if you experience diarrhoea as a side effect of Wegovy.
- Stress: Try to keep stress to a minimum and consider steps that could help you alleviate stress, such as exercise, meditation, and good sleep quality.
The basis for how to lose weight while taking Wegovy involves making adjustments in these areas, but the specific adjustments should be tailored to your circumstances.
2. Consider your sleep quality
Establishing a regular sleep pattern and getting sufficient sleep every night can aid your weight loss efforts. The NHS recommends adults get between 7 and 9 hours of sleep per night. You should try to get good-quality sleep without interruptions.
It’s also best to go to bed at roughly the same time every night and wake up at around the same time every morning, so getting good-quality sleep becomes a long-term habit.
Sleep deprivation can lead to increased stress and poor decision-making regarding food. Various studies have found that a lack of sleep can make it harder to adhere to a weight loss programme and will increase the likelihood of selecting unhealthy snacks.
3. Drink less alcohol
Be mindful about your alcohol intake and try to reduce the amount of alcohol you consume. While alcohol does not directly interact with semaglutide, which is the active ingredient in Wegovy, alcoholic drinks can be counterproductive to your weight loss efforts for several reasons.
First, many alcoholic drinks contain high amounts of sugar and calories, which can make weight loss more difficult to achieve. Secondly, alcohol impairs your judgement. This can make it more challenging to adhere to a weight loss plan. Alcohol can also worsen Wegovy side effects.
Oviva provides coaching and psychological support on your weight loss journey, meaning you can talk to someone if you need help reducing your alcohol consumption.
4. Introduce positive behaviour changes
Like diet and exercise, you can make some positive behaviour changes to your everyday life. For instance, writing down your thoughts about food can be a good idea. This can make it easier to identify potential triggers and allow you to become more mindful about your relationship with food.
Try to eat mindfully, taking the time to understand where your food comes from, how it was prepared, what it tastes like, how it smells, and how it feels in your mouth. Take small bites, chew your food thoroughly, and stop eating when you feel full.
Pay attention to when you’re eating out of hunger and when you’re eating out of habit. You may then be able to avoid some situations that trigger habitual eating.
It is essential to view weight loss and weight management as a long-term lifestyle goal rather than a quick fix. With Oviva, you’ll have access to personal coaching, which can help you develop a sustainable weight loss plan and access support in areas like mental health.
5. Track your progress
Finally, tracking your progress is crucial so you can understand your weight loss journey and make more minor adjustments as you go. The best way to do this is to use a weight loss app, which allows you to track your meals, activity levels, weight, and mood.
The Oviva app provides all of this functionality and more. You can also benefit from instant feedback powered by AI, communication with coaches and input from health professionals. The app is designed to help you adjust your habits in the long term and learn how much to eat to lose weight.
Tracking also makes it easier to plan your diet and develop a structured weight loss programme.
Support from Oviva on your weight loss journey
Oviva is an NHS-funded weight management service that can prescribe Wegovy and other weight loss medication to those who meet the eligibility criteria. For most people, this is a BMI over 30 and at least one weight-related comorbidity, such as diabetes, asthma or heart disease.
The Oviva service focuses on personalised care tailored to your specific needs. Our team of experts will help you make behavioural changes supporting weight loss and management, including adopting a healthier diet and exercising more.
Monitor your goals
Receive personalised recommendations to help you to work towards your goal. Log your food, mood, water intake, exercise and other health metrics using the Oviva app.
Keep a food journal
Snap photos of your daily meals effortlessly within the Oviva app.
Get meal analysis
Get an in-depth meal analysis instantly with a daily summary of your diet.
Stay connected
Connect with your Oviva coach anytime through the app.
Browse learning resources
Written by Oviva’s team of experts, explore advice on nutrition, exercise, and motivation to guide you through the programme and maximise long term weight maintenance.
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