Congratulations! You’ve achieved your goal weight or are on your way. Now you might be wondering what’s next? It’s time to consider what this powerful new body of yours can do that it couldn’t do before. Also, what the next personal or professional goal you want to set for yourself?. Let’s dive into how to measure and prioritize your whole-body health beyond the scale.
#1 Create a health and weight management plan
Creating a health maintenance plan isn’t just for weight loss, it’s for your whole-body health. Yes, you’ll need to identify what’s required to keep the weight off. For those taking GLP-1, think beyond continuing with your weekly injection and monitoring the scale.
Rethink your nutrition
It’s possible to lose weight with GLP-1 without fully addressing your eating habits. If you’re eating less, but eating foods that aren’t nutritious, it may be why you feel low on energy—when you should feel energized!
If you’re eating a primarily whole foods diet and are low on energy, you may be experiencing muscle wasting. When you lose weight rapidly, 1/3 of the weight you lose is muscle mass. So, you’ll need to adjust your diet to ensure you’re eating enough protein, and a diverse range of protein sources to maintain your muscle mass.
Strength train
Another essential element of minimizing muscle wasting is strength training 3 days a week. The goal doesn’t have to be creating defined abs, arms, and leg muscles—but it can be. Muscles aren’t just for strength and beauty, as lean muscle mass contributes to posture, range of motion, mobility, circulation, and organ function.
Physical activity and strength training also circulate oxygen and nutrients. This boosts your immunity, creating an anti-aging effect throughout your body. This includes stimulating collagen and elastin production to accelerate skin tightening during and after rapid weight loss.
#2 Schedule a physical
If you haven’t had a full physical since hitting your goal weight, schedule one now. Beyond the number on the scale, a positive side effect of weight loss is often improved biomarkers. With improved biomarkers, your physician may adjust some medications. At the very least, it’s time to revisit your health and wellness plan.
Key biomarkers include:
- Blood pressure
- Blood sugar
- Cholesterol levels
- Thyroid
- Triglycerides
Don’t forget pap smears, mammograms, prostate checks, vision checks, hearing checks, vitamin deficiency testing, hormone testing, and scheduled appointments with any other physician you require.
Why have your hormones tested?
You may only be familiar with 5 or 6, but there are over 50 hormones in the body. Hormones are chemical messengers that work synergistically to regulate every function in the body. Obesity is one of many causes of hormonal imbalance, but it’s not the only cause. If you aren’t feeling quite like yourself after losing weight, hormones could be the cause.
The advances in hormone replacement therapy have never been more effective. So, have your hormones tested to see if there are any areas of opportunity. This includes testing estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone levels.
#3 Address the lows of weight loss
You aren’t alone if you always imagined that losing weight would make you instantly feel more confident, but you don’t. Or you feel more confident but have a new range of challenges or insecurities beyond the scale. This may include anxiety, depression, and other mental health conditions.
Don’t go addressing the lows of weight loss alone. Addressing the challenges below is faster and easier with the right support. You may also be struggling with body dysmorphia, which can occur at any weight or size. Join an online or in-person weight loss support group and consider talk therapy to prioritize your mental health and well-being.
Common challenges of significant weight loss include:
- The backhanded “compliments” and unsolicited advice regarding your body.
- Compliments that make you feel like your value is reduced to your weight and size.
- Once compliments fade, you may miss the positive attention.
- Envy from friends or family who have yet to achieve their desired weight.
- The discomfort of how strangers respond to your body, positively or negatively.
- You didn’t lose weight where you had hoped, and must confront your natural body shape.
- You’re dealing with significant face and body laxity and you look older than before.
- Between skin laxity and agin,g you didn’t return to your pre-weight gain body.
- Skin folds and extreme skin sagging create new health and hygiene problems.
- You’re low on energy, which may be due to muscle mass loss as mentioned in #1.
- The challenge of maintaining weight lost via deprivation diets or extreme fitness.
Why does skin become lax after losing weight?
Any time you lose weight rapidly, your skin’s elasticity struggles to keep up. Skin is resilient, and you’ll regain some elasticity in time. Post GLP-1 weight loss, sagging skin can occur from head-to-toe, but is most apparent on the face, stomach, arms, and breasts. On your face, the sagging can intensify fine lines and wrinkles, and hollow areas of your face.
Tip #7 has skin-tightening tips.
#4 Buy new clothing
You worked hard to get the weight off, now it’s time to celebrate your new body beyond the scale!
You’ve likely invested in clothing as the pounds came off, but once you achieve your goal weight, it’s time to really go shopping. Continuing to wear your oversized clothing makes you look larger than you are.
As exciting as the thought of a new wardrobe may be, shopping for your new body can be challenging. If you aren’t certain how to dress your new body or if you’re struggling to disguise areas of skin laxity, working with a personal stylist can help.
Personal styling is no longer just for celebrities, and you can find cost-effective local and online stylists.
#5 Dive into your Bucket List!
There’s no time like the present! There were likely to be at least a few things on your Bucket List that your weight was holding you back from.
- A vacation you wanted to rock a swimsuit, bikini, or summer attire.
- Physical activities you didn’t have the energy or endurance for.
- Hobbies or social activities you didn’t have the confidence for.
- Anything you’ve always wanted to do that you’ve been putting off.
#6 Set a new goal
On a similar note, now is the perfect time to set some goals beyond the scale. Yes, maintaining your health and weight is a lifelong commitment. But now that you’re in the maintenance phase, you have more time to invest in other goals.
With a weight loss “win” under your belt, you may find that you have more confidence when tackling big goals. Also, more resilience if you have a setback along the way.
So, set a personal or professional goal or two. This can include goals related to health, wellness, or mindfulness—but dream big!
#7 Tighten lax skin
We touched on skin laxity in #1, but the more weight you lost and the longer you’ve had the weight—the more likely you are to struggle with skin laxity. Your body will naturally tighten up a bit. Expect the most restoration at about 6 months after you stop losing weight, with gradual improvement ongoing.
Support skin elasticity with:
- Proper nutrition: Infuse your diet with antioxidant-rich whole foods that stimulate collagen and elastin production.
- Strength training: Building muscles helps to fill out lax skin. This doesn’t have to be major bulking, as minor muscle definition is effective.
- Volumizing skincare products: Topical exosomes, stem cells, and PLLA help restore facial volume loss.
- Med spa skin tightening: The fastest and most effective way to restore skin laxity is with skin tightening med spa treatments.
Med spa skin tightening treatments
Valley Medical Weight Loss and Med Spa provides GLP-1 and Weekly Weight Loss Programs. We also provide skin tightening treatments to meet your needs beyond the scale.
The treatments below are non-surgical, minimally invasive, and proven to tighten skin. We may also suggest short-term or long-term Facial Fillers to lift, smooth, and plump sunken areas on the face, jaw, and neck.
Forma
Forma Skin Tightening is a revolutionary treatment that utilizes painless radio frequency to promote the regrowth of collagen.
It can be used to tighten skin on the:
- Nasolabial folds
- Crow’s feet
- Jowls
- Neck
- Forehead
Morpheus 8
Morpheus 8 combines radiofrequency and microneedling to contour, tighten, and resurface skin. This includes minimizing sagging on the face and body.
It can be used to treat the:
- Face
- Jaw
- Neck
- Arms
- Abdomen
- Back
- Labia
- Legs
- Hands, feet, & armpits to treat hyperhidrosis
Thread Lifts
We offer a few types of Thread Lift Treatments for the face and neck. Threads are often referred to as a non-surgical facelift. In addition to a lifting effect, threads stimulate collagen production, improving the texture and tone of skin over the next 6 to 12 weeks.
Threads are effective for:
- Nasolabial folds
- Jowls
- Marionette lines
- Overall face and neck aging
How can we help rejuvenate your body?
Schedule a consultation to learn more about our scientifically proven weight loss programs or how we can help rejuvenate your body from head to toe!
For your convenience, Valley Medical Weight Loss and Med Spa has locations in Phoenix, Tempe, and Glendale.
