Physicians writing on KevinMD about obesity: whether it is a disease, what the GLP-1 drugs from Ozempic to oral Wegovy have changed, what happens when patients stop them, who should take them and who pays, teenagers, compounded versions, bariatric surgery, and the stigma patients describe in the exam room. One maintained record draws on this archive: GLP-1 drugs: what physicians say about Ozempic and its successors, in their own words.

5 nutrition questions for every weight-loss drug follow-up

Conditions and Diseases
September 15, 2026

Picture a common follow-up visit: Six weeks into glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) treatment, a patient has lost weight and their glucose measures have improved. They describe the nausea as “manageable.” Then you ask what they ate yesterday: coffee until noon, a few bites at lunch, half a dinner, and less water than usual because everything feels too filling. They’ve also stopped walking because they feel weak.

The medication may be working as …

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5 nutrition questions for every weight-loss drug follow-up

Semaglutide and cravings: what the 2026 trial changed

Medications
July 31, 2026

Patients start glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs expecting to think less about food. They did not expect to think less about alcohol. The nightly drink became easier to skip. Cigarettes felt less urgent. Cannabis, gambling, or compulsive shopping sometimes lost their pull. As “food noise” quieted, another possibility emerged: Perhaps these drugs were turning down craving itself.

At first, these reports might have seemed like coincidences. Instead, they sparked new research. Scientists …

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Semaglutide and cravings: what the 2026 trial changed

Weight stigma in health care is a health threat

Conditions and Diseases
June 17, 2026

Words matter.

The words we use shape how we see one another, how we treat people, and how individuals see themselves. In health care, language determines whether someone feels respected or judged, supported or dismissed, empowered or ashamed. It directly influences quality of care, health outcomes, and whether a person ever returns to a health care setting. That is why the conversation surrounding obesity must change.

For decades, public discussion of obesity …

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Weight stigma in health care is a health threat

The hidden cost of GLP-1 insurance coverage mandates

Medications
May 26, 2026

I have spent years caring for patients with obesity, and one of the most meaningful parts of this work is seeing what happens when people finally receive comprehensive, evidence-based treatment. I have watched sleep apnea disappear, blood pressure normalize, joint pain ease, and liver disease reverse. I have watched people who spent years feeling dismissed by the health care system finally start to feel healthy and hopeful again. Those outcomes …

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The hidden cost of GLP-1 insurance coverage mandates

How GLP-1 medications compare to bariatric surgery

Medications
May 24, 2026

For most of my career as a bariatric surgeon, I told patients that surgery was the most reliable tool we had for significant, sustained weight loss. That conversation has fundamentally changed.

In the past three years, GLP-1 receptor agonists, a class of medications originally developed for type 2 diabetes, have redefined what is medically achievable for patients with obesity. As someone who has performed hundreds of bariatric procedures and now helps …

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How GLP-1 medications compare to bariatric surgery

When GLP-1 doesn’t work, look at chronic stress

Conditions and Diseases
May 15, 2026

A 59-year-old woman sat tearfully in my office today. She had spent seven weeks on tirzepatide with virtually no weight loss. “How is this possible?” she asked. “I’m eating like a saint.”

She had struggled with obesity and weight-related frustration for years. Recently divorced, grieving a death in the family, caring for a mentally ill adult daughter, working full time, sleeping poorly, and living with severe anxiety, she described her stress …

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When GLP-1 doesn’t work, look at chronic stress

How GLP-1 medications shift modern weight-loss trends

Conditions and Diseases
May 5, 2026

Weight loss culture is shifting again. In recent years, the dominant aesthetic ideal emphasized curves and the “Kardashian-curve” look popularized across social media. Today, the pendulum is swinging back toward a thinner body ideal that resembles trends from the early 2000s. At the same time, the use of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) medications has surged, particularly among young adults. These two developments are unfolding simultaneously. As medications that support weight loss …

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How GLP-1 medications shift modern weight-loss trends

GLP-1 agonists and the hidden power of outdoor exercise

Medications
May 4, 2026

A recent report documented something remarkable: Americans on glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonists are falling in love with exercise for the first time. A man who struggled to walk to his mailbox now hikes seven miles a day. A woman who needed a cane ran her first five-kilometer (5K) race. A rock climber went from three workouts a week to five.

These drugs proved what physicians should have said more clearly long …

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GLP-1 agonists and the hidden power of outdoor exercise

Bariatric surgery vs. semaglutides vs. endoscopic visceral lipectomy

Conditions and Diseases
April 27, 2026

Despite the emergence of new pharmacologic alternatives to traditional bariatric surgery, the global obesity epidemic continues to escalate. Semaglutides, while effective for some, are costly, require weekly injections, and often cause side effects that lead many patients to discontinue treatment and subsequently regain much or all the weight they lost. Both bypass and restrictive bariatric procedures carry significant risks, side effects, and long-term lifestyle adjustments, and most patients ultimately reach …

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Bariatric surgery vs. semaglutides vs. endoscopic visceral lipectomy

Why GLP-1 medications require expert nutrition guidance

Medications
April 18, 2026

GLP-1 medications are an effective tool for many people’s weight loss journey, and they have changed the conversation around obesity, diabetes, and chronic disease. For many Americans, these treatment options may offer something that once felt out of reach: real, measurable weight loss and improved metabolic health. But as prescriptions surge and headlines celebrate dramatic transformations, an uncomfortable truth is often overlooked. Medication alone is not enough, and in some …

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Why GLP-1 medications require expert nutrition guidance

The evolving standard of medical weight loss and obesity treatment

Conditions and Diseases
April 12, 2026

Obesity is an epidemic. Obesity, the predispositions for obesity, and the medical consequences of obesity are a major, if not the major, contributing factors to most medical conditions that plague American society. This is true for everything, including cancers. For instance, how many people smoke in the mistaken belief that smoking controls appetite, and how many cancers have obesity as a risk factor? There are genetic …

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The evolving standard of medical weight loss and obesity treatment

How weight-loss injections are changing obesity treatment

Conditions and Diseases
April 11, 2026

Is science shaping the future of obesity care, or is pharmaceutical marketing now in the driver’s seat? After 15 years in bariatric surgery, I am witnessing a shift that should make us all pause. From the gold standard of laparoscopic results to the “liberal” use of new injections for runway aesthetics, we are at a crossroads. Are we truly treating a disease, or are we building a model of lifelong …

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How weight-loss injections are changing obesity treatment

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Why bariatric patients struggle with protein and how to fix it

Conditions and Diseases
April 4, 2026

I have treated over 10,000 bariatric patients across my career, and if there is one issue that comes up more than almost anything else, it is protein. Specifically, patients not getting enough of it. The research confirms what I see every day in practice. Only a minority of bariatric patients reach the recommended minimum of 60 grams per day, resulting in the loss of fat-free mass rather than the …

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Why bariatric patients struggle with protein and how to fix it

Night shift weight loss: a practical fasting guide for physicians

Physician
March 27, 2026

Working the night shift is brutal. Circadian rhythms are disrupted, backup help in true emergencies is limited, and even simple things like labs or imaging can take far longer than they should. But one of the biggest challenges is late-night snacking.

There is something about the combination of darkness, fatigue, and intermittent slow periods that makes it ridiculously easy to inhale a two-pound bag of potato chips without thinking twice. Research …

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Night shift weight loss: a practical fasting guide for physicians

Why hormonal shifts make traditional dieting ineffective for midlife women [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 26, 2026
YouTube video

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Metabolic health educator Marsha Shepherd Whitt discusses the article “Why ‘eat less, move more’ fails for midlife weight loss.” Marsha explains that weight loss struggles in midlife are often driven by physiology …

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Why hormonal shifts make traditional dieting ineffective for midlife women [PODCAST]

Why measuring muscle mass matters more than tracking your weight [PODCAST]

Podcast
March 24, 2026
YouTube video

Subscribe to The Podcast by KevinMD. Watch on YouTube. Catch up on old episodes!

Physical therapist and certified lymphedema specialist Maureen McBeth discusses her article “Beyond BMI: Why weight management must look inside the body.” Maureen explains why common tools like the bathroom scale and body …

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Why measuring muscle mass matters more than tracking your weight [PODCAST]

Communicating health to children: a pediatrician’s guide for parents

Conditions and Diseases
March 24, 2026

An excerpt from Your Child Is Not Their Weight: Parenting in a Size-Obsessed World, with permission from the American Academy of Pediatrics, 2026.

A friend and colleague who is a doctor in adult medicine made this comment to me several years ago: “My patients with kids have a harder time with their health than those who do not have kids!”

I pointed out to her that the “patients with kids” she …

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Communicating health to children: a pediatrician’s guide for parents

I lost 218 pounds and my ability to walk: a bariatric surgery regret

Conditions and Diseases
March 12, 2026

I worry about whether I can access a building much more at my current weight of 160 pounds than I did when I weighed 378 pounds.

My adult weight, until recently, averaged 300 pounds. But in early 2022 I weighed 350, and in 2013 I weighed 378.

At those weights, I worried about distances, the number of stairs, the width of doorways, and the strength of the furniture. Today, I still worry …

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I lost 218 pounds and my ability to walk: a bariatric surgery regret

GLP-1 weight regain: Why stopping medication leads to weight return

Medications
March 4, 2026

Stopping a GLP-1 abruptly and expecting maintenance of weight loss is not realistic. Even replacing it with a standard “eat less, move more” plan is not sufficient as it ignores what we know about hunger regulation and metabolic adaptation. A reduced-calorie diet and 30 minutes of daily walking, while helpful, are rarely sufficient to overcome the physiological forces defending prior weight.

Weight maintenance after significant loss requires managing cravings, psychological hunger …

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GLP-1 weight regain: Why stopping medication leads to weight return

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