Living With GLP-1

I wear a beard, nothing fancy. Minimal length, thick-ish, but it covers my chin and the area below it. I made the mistake of going clean shaven a few months back, only to hear my wife remark, “ohhhhh, that's where all the loose skin is.” Ozempic face, droopy dog sheriff — all things I heard at this past Thanksgiving. The truth is, large weight loss leads to loose skin. It's going to happen.

I haven't started any creams or collagen for it yet — when I do, I'll update this with what actually works.

Two ways to get protein in your coffee. First, an actual protein coffee — there aren't tons on the market, but they do exist. Second, you can engineer your own with a plain protein powder that gets about 8-12g in one scoop. The hardest part of the protein powder and coffee route is getting it blended together. You can also use protein milk as your creamer or froth it for a latte.

I switch between the two. Sometimes I want to enjoy a really good roast, so I just add a protein milk. Other times I want to lead with protein and go with the protein coffee or add powder.

When you only have a small appetite window, every gram of protein matters. A product that looks great on the front of the package but has 8g of protein and 15g of sugar? That's a bad investment.

This entire process is about building new habits and routines, so that if you decide to no longer use a GLP-1, your mind and body are so entrenched in their new ways that they don't want to go back. Reading labels became one of those habits for me. Protein per serving, sugar content, ingredient list — it takes 10 seconds and saves you from buying something that doesn't move the needle.

If you struggle to read labels or don't know what to look for, there are a billion and one apps and websites that can help. Or feel free to use our Day Planner and comparison section with 190+ brands — we already did the homework for you.

I shave my head, so hair loss wasn't something I dealt with — or would even notice if I did. But something I did deal with was the question everyone eventually asks: “Are you on the medication?”

I was upfront about it. My logic was simple — I'm hoping to lose over 100 lbs. I should expect some level of curiosity when I make that happen. And something I noticed as the results began to show was how many people were genuinely interested in learning more about peptides and GLP-1s. I probably referred 10 people to the doctor I worked with.

If you're worried about judgment from someone, or they've heard it isn't safe, or whatever their opinion is — I find that passionately telling them about my protein goals and what I eat every day to hit them quickly bores them and they move on to a different topic. In fact, recommend this site to them. They'll either use it and be thankful, or be ready to talk about anything else.