The Truth About Weight Loss Medications for Healthy Ageing

Chris Deavin
Dec 10, 2025
6 min read

Updated: Jan 8

Understanding the Hype Around Weight Loss Medications

Weight loss injection needles in a bowl with fruit and a measuring tape.

There is a lot of hype surrounding new weight-loss medications. Many people are turning to these options. But what role do they play in helping individuals stay healthy as they age?

As someone who has coached countless individuals on weight loss, fitness, and overall health, I can tell you that this journey is not easy. Simply telling people to eat less and move more doesn’t work. Most people already know that to lose weight, they need to change their eating habits and exercise more.

The struggle lies not in knowing what to do, but in actually doing it. When you add an environment that makes it easier to eat poorly and be lazy, it becomes even harder to eat well and stay active. It’s no wonder many find it difficult to stick to their goals. Even if they manage to lose weight, maintaining that loss is often a challenge.

When society does not place enough value on health, fitness, strength, and wellbeing, it becomes nearly impossible for individuals to change certain habits and behaviours. This is why I believe there has been a significant increase in the use of new medications for weight loss, often referred to as weight loss jabs.

The Appeal of the Shortcut

These medications stimulate the gut hormone GLP-1, which suppresses appetite. As a result, users feel less hungry and full sooner. This can lead to eating less and losing weight. However, the weight loss might not always meet people’s expectations. More on that later.

There is definitely a place for certain medications. If something impacts your health and natural remedies aren’t helping, medications can provide support. If your weight and body fat threaten your health, wellbeing, and life, medication can intervene and assist.

Unfortunately, an increasing number of individuals are using these weight loss medications to take shortcuts. They want to avoid making the changes that require discipline, effort, and consistency.

What You Lose When You Skip the Work

When you achieve better health, fitness, strength, and wellbeing through discipline and effort, you don’t just gain benefits; you become a different person. Working for something you value teaches you much more about life than finding ways to bypass the process.

I’ve seen this countless times with clients who value the process more than the results. You learn more from how you achieve something than from what you finally achieve.

Why People Over 50 Should Think Twice

So, why should people over 50 specifically avoid using these weight loss medications? Should this apply to everyone, regardless of age?

A recent study from Canada found that using these weight loss medications can age someone by a decade. The study revealed that 11% of the weight lost was due to a loss of lean mass (muscle). Other studies have shown that this figure can be as high as 50%.

Why is this significant? Any weight loss is beneficial, especially if your goal is to weigh less. However, not all weight loss is created equal.

Whenever a new client mentioned their goal was to lose weight, I would always ask, “What kind of weight loss are you aiming for?” They would often respond with “What do you mean?”

I would clarify, “Yes, you want to lose a certain amount of weight, but do you care what that weight is?” Most people are unaware that weight loss isn’t just fat loss. I’d joke that if you want to lose weight quickly, then just chop off a limb. The scale reading would definitely drop. That’s why I ask, “What type of weight do you want to lose?” You certainly wouldn’t want to lose a limb. Limbs are important and useful.

Why Food Is More Than Just Calories

When you drastically cut down on the amount of food you eat, the body doesn’t think, “Oh, we are eating less to weigh less and look better in the mirror.” Instead, it responds to the age-old risk of starvation by using all available energy to keep us alive.

The body more readily uses the energy in muscle than the energy stored in our fat cells. This results in a significant loss of lean muscle mass, along with a decrease in body fat. The body doesn’t care where it gets its energy from, as long as it can make up the shortfall from the sudden reduction in food intake.

I won’t even get into the debate about nutrients versus calories. Just so you know, the primary reason for consuming food is to get the nutrients needed for all essential bodily functions necessary for survival and health. If you eat less, you will also consume fewer essential nutrients.

What Actually Works (and Always Has)

But let’s get back to muscle and being over 50.

For every decade we live, it becomes harder to maintain the muscle mass we have. It is not a given that, as you age, you lose muscle; you just have to work harder to maintain it. It gets more difficult with each decade.

Certain factors can accelerate the loss of muscle mass. These include drinking alcohol, using drugs, being less active, experiencing more stress, not getting enough sleep, overeating or undereating, and consuming foods that are not truly food.

For the past 60 years, study after study has shown that the quickest way to age is through loss of muscle mass. Conversely, maintaining or increasing muscle mass can slow down the ageing process. This is widely accepted and not up for debate. The less muscle you have, the worse your metabolic health becomes. You become weaker, more frail, and more likely to struggle with falls or significant health issues.

In simple terms, do everything you can to maintain or even increase your muscle mass as you age. Once you have lost muscle mass, it becomes even more difficult to regain it. It’s best not to lose it in the first place.

Interestingly, that same Canadian study showed that the people who kept their muscle while losing fat did three things:

They strength trained at least three times a week.
They performed 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous exercise each week.
They only created a small calorie deficit.

Sound familiar? That’s the same formula I’ve been giving clients for years, without any medication.

Yes, it takes longer. Yes, it requires effort. But it also teaches you how to manage your habits, mindset, and environment—things the jab will never do.

The Process Is the Point

Many people say that once they have lost the desired weight with medication, they intend to eat less, eat better, and exercise more than before. It was their overweight status that initially prevented these habits.

Ask anyone who has improved their health and become stronger and fitter what it took, and they will say they learned as they went. They experimented with different methods, figuring out what worked and what did not. It involved a lot of trial and error and continuous adjustments. Most importantly, they had to change who they were.

They evolved from someone who didn’t eat well, didn’t exercise regularly, had poor sleep habits, and didn’t value their health enough, into someone who explored new diets, loved how exercise made them feel, went to bed on time, and was no longer reliant on unnatural stimulants for energy and focus.

Losing weight with medication alone is not possible. Medication can give you results, but it doesn’t teach you what you need to do to achieve and maintain those results.

Even after losing weight through medication, you’ll still be the same person internally. You will still have certain desires, needs, and wants. If you haven’t changed your environment, you’ll still be tempted and triggered to act in certain ways. How you eat, exercise, sleep, and live your life is all shaped by who you want to see yourself as.

You can only change your identity gradually. Through failure and success. By trying new things and letting go of what holds you back. It takes hard work, discipline, and consistency.

The Bottom Line

When you lose weight through medication, you might see results, but you won’t gain the resilience, discipline, and identity that make those results last. You’ll still be the same person inside, surrounded by the same habits and triggers.

Change doesn’t happen because you suppress your appetite. It happens because you build the strength and self-belief to change your behaviour, one small step at a time.

So if you’re over 50 and thinking about taking the easy way out… don’t.

Do it the right way. Because the slower, harder path is also the one that truly transforms you.

Medication might change your body, but effort changes your life.