Nutrition

Protein is the whole ballgame.

On a GLP-1 you will eat less whether you plan to or not. What you eat inside that smaller amount decides whether you lose fat or lose muscle. Almost everything else on this page is downstream of that one sentence.

Build a meal

Four steps, in this order, every time.

Not a diet. An assembly order. It works in a kitchen, a canteen and a restaurant.

01
Protein first
A palm-sized portion, put on the plate before anything else. Eggs, fish, chicken, beef, yogurt, cottage cheese, tofu, lentils. If appetite runs out, this is the part that already happened.
02
Vegetables second
Volume and fibre for very few calories, and the main defence against the constipation that comes with these medications.
03
A reasonable carb third
Rice, potato, bread, pasta — a fist-sized portion. This is explicitly not a no-carb plan. Carbs fuel the strength work that protects your muscle.
04
Fat for flavour last
Olive oil, butter, cheese, avocado. Enough to make the food worth eating. Food you dislike is a plan with an expiry date.

When appetite disappears

Eating when you genuinely do not want to

Some weeks food is unappealing. Skipping meals is the fastest route to muscle loss, so we make the minimum easy.

Drink your protein — a shake in water goes down when a plate will not
Cold food is easier than hot food when you feel nauseous
Small and often beats three full meals on the bad weeks
Greek yogurt, cottage cheese and tinned fish need no cooking at all
Eat the protein portion first and stop when you are done — that is a success
If you cannot manage 60% of your target for a week, message the care team

An overhead view of a plate with grilled chicken, roasted vegetables and rice — Protein, vegetables, a reasonable carb. In that order.

Real life

The situations that actually derail people

Cheap, reliable protein

Eggs, tinned tuna, frozen chicken thighs, cottage cheese, lentils, own-brand whey. Protein does not have to be expensive, and the expensive versions are not better.

Cooking for a family

Cook one meal, not two. Make the protein the centre, put the carb on the side, and let everyone else take a bigger share of it.

Eating out

Find the protein on the menu first and build around it. Grilled anything with a side of vegetables is on nearly every menu in the country.

Work lunches

Decide the night before, not at 12:45 when you are hungry and near a vending machine. A boring repeated lunch is a feature.

The 9pm problem

Usually not hunger. Usually the first quiet moment of the day. Have a high-protein answer ready — yogurt, a shake — and stop pretending willpower is the variable.

Alcohol

It hits harder when you are eating less, and it lowers the bar for everything else that evening. We are not going to tell you to quit. Eat protein first, and know what you are trading.

Hydration is not a side note

Most nausea and nearly all the constipation we see is dehydration wearing a costume. Aim for roughly half your body weight in ounces of water a day, more in heat or with strength training. It is the cheapest intervention on this page.

Food questions

What people ask us most

No, and we would rather you did not. Carbs fuel the strength work that protects your muscle. Portion them; do not delete them.

No, but they are useful. When appetite is low, a shake is often the difference between hitting your protein target and missing it by 40g.

Yes. It takes more planning because plant proteins are less concentrated. Lentils, tofu, tempeh, seitan, soy yogurt and a plant protein powder will get you there.

On a GLP-1 it usually makes protein targets unreachable, and that costs muscle. If it is important to you, raise it with your clinician rather than layering it on quietly.

Protein target first. Everything else after.

Get your personal range in about thirty seconds.

Calculate my protein target→Movement & muscle→