How to Coach GLP-1 Clients: 7 Types to Know

Reviewed by Brian St. Pierre, MS, RD

“Is that this drug going to steal my job?”

That’s the thought many well being and health coaches had when GLP-1 drugs first hit the mass market.

Although semaglutide (Ozempic) grew to become obtainable in 2017, it initially felt like a theoretical risk. Prescription charges have been nonetheless very low; it appeared like nobody truly knew anybody who was taking it.

Now, in 2026, over 1 in 10 US adults are taking a GLP-1 remedy. Most of us know somebody on it (or we’re on it ourselves).

With wider use, opinions in direction of the remedy have softened too. Most coaches now not see it as a risk, and slightly respect it as a useful device for sure purchasers, with teaching as an additive complement.

Many nonetheless have issues although, primarily about their purchasers’ long run well being on the remedy. (Among the many worries: Lack of muscle mass! Utilizing a “band-aid” answer! Bypassing foundational well being habits! And extra!)

Nonetheless, whether or not you depend your self as a GLP-1 supporter or a GLP-1 skeptic, there’s a framing that may change the way in which you consider your work on this subject:

“As a coach, you’re not within the GLP-1 world; you’re within the GLP-1 help world.”

That quote comes from Kate Solovieva, Tremendous Coach and PN’s Director of Neighborhood. She says that coaches want to acknowledge that their market isn’t “individuals on GLP-1s,” however slightly “individuals on GLP-1s who need help.”

Making an attempt to teach everybody taking a GLP-1 simply isn’t doable. And spending time fascinated with all of the individuals utilizing GLP-1s “the mistaken approach” is, bluntly, wasted vitality. A few of these individuals simply don’t need, want, or aren’t prepared in your assist.

In the meantime, there is a subgroup of individuals on GLP-1s who’re prepared, prepared, and ready to obtain your help. Honing in on this group is the place you’ll be able to truly make a distinction (and the place your enterprise can thrive).

Within the following article, we’ll cowl seven completely different GLP-1 consumer “sorts,” every with their very own degree of teaching readiness. Primarily based on our expertise teaching over 175,000 purchasers (of which an rising quantity are on GLP-1s), we’ll provide methods to cope with every.

Let’s get into it.

The 7 forms of GLP-1 purchasers

Earlier than we start, a reminder: Folks change, and readiness isn’t fastened.

An individual who begins off saying “I’m doing tremendous alone” might ultimately morph into “I’m flailing and actually need another person in my nook”—and vice versa.

If the individual in entrance of you suits right into a sure sort, that’s their sort proper now. So hear fastidiously to how your consumer speaks at each session, and reply dynamically.

Usually, Coach Kate says somebody is normally prepared for teaching once they show two issues:

• Their situation feels vital, pressing, or distressing: Taking higher care of their well being feels particularly useful proper now. (“This actually issues to me.”)
• They really feel they’ve the capability to commit some assets to the difficulty: Be it time, cash, or each, they’re prepared to simply accept some sort of value. (“I’ve house to cope with this.”)

Preserve that at the back of your thoughts as you work together with consumer prospects, and as you learn concerning the consumer sorts, which we’ve summarized within the under desk.

Now, on to our GLP-1 consumer sorts.

Shopper Kind #1: The Honeymooner

That is the one who’s began a GLP-1 remedy—they usually adore it.

They’ve skilled minimal unintended effects, and have gotten nice outcomes on a comparatively low dose.

They haven’t modified a lot about their train habits or their eating regimen (besides the consuming much less half, which the remedy has taken care of), however they’re seeing what they wish to see on the size, so that they don’t really feel motivated to alter something.

Teaching transfer:

It is likely to be tempting to “lure” this sort of consumer in by warning them of the risks of utilizing a GLP-1 remedy with out including in long-term well being behaviors (like resistance coaching and strategic diet), however any such method can backfire.

At finest, you could sound like a downer. At worst, you could sound like an energetic antagonist.

In Motivational Interviewing, a communication method generally utilized in teaching, that is known as the “righting reflex.” It’s the urge that coaches, counselors, and therapists typically have to assist or “right course” for his or her consumer. You see them doing one thing “mistaken,” and also you wish to assist them “repair” it.

Nonetheless, following this intuition may very well strengthen a consumer’s defenses, and stop change.

If an individual is flying excessive on their present method, their readiness for teaching is extraordinarily low.

As Coach Kate says, “they’re simply not my individual but.”

Your finest transfer with this sort is to genuinely rejoice their present outcomes, then plant the seed for help ought to they want it sooner or later.

For instance, you may say: “It should really feel so good to see all these optimistic outcomes! In the event you ever really feel such as you wish to work on one other layer, like resistance coaching or optimizing your diet, I’d like to work collectively.”

Then, simply keep obtainable. (“My door is all the time open!”)

Shopper Kind #2: The Ambivalent Candidate

That is the one who hasn’t began a GLP-1 remedy—and would possibly by no means, regardless of being an ideal candidate for one.

Perhaps their physician has already instructed the remedy to them and they’ve learn all the pieces they’ll on the subject.

And but, they’re frozen with worry on the beginning line. They’re afraid of unintended effects, of being on remedy for all times, of not holding up their finish of the discount. (“I’ve been attempting to start out energy coaching for years. If I take this remedy it issues much more… What if I nonetheless can’t do it?”)

Toni Bauer, Tremendous Coach and PN’s Director of Teaching and Training Operations additionally says that, in some circumstances, a consumer’s hesitation isn’t about unintended effects. “A few of our purchasers marvel, ‘Am I a superb individual or a nasty individual if I begin taking a GLP-1 remedy? Am I weak? Am I giving up?’” Coach Toni says these issues aren’t distinctive to GLP-1 drugs, however they appear to be particularly widespread.

She causes, “You probably have excessive ldl cholesterol, are you weak for taking ldl cholesterol remedy? No. However typically individuals don’t view weight problems as a illness at a societal degree, so the dialog is completely different right here.”

Whatever the root reason behind this individual’s hesitation, the recommendation under can assist them discover readability.

Teaching transfer:

First, let’s be clear: Deciding whether or not or to not take a medicine isn’t a training resolution, and falls out of your scope of observe. That alternative is finally as much as your consumer and a medical supplier who can assess whether or not a GLP-1 is acceptable given their medical historical past.

That mentioned, purchasers should still come to you wanting to debate their choices.

So the query turns into: How do you help somebody by way of a call you’ll be able to’t make for them?

Coach Toni advises: “You possibly can share information and information. For instance, research outcomes and what you’ve seen with different purchasers. However you’ll be able to’t say, ‘For you, that is the best alternative.’”

As an alternative, the largest teaching alternative right here is to assist purchasers articulate what’s truly driving their hesitation.

This hesitation about whether or not to do one thing completely different or keep the identical is known as ambivalence, and it’s a traditional (albeit uncomfortable) stage of change.

Downside is, with out the best instruments, an individual can keep caught in ambivalence for months and even years. And, very like being caught at an airport in between two locations, it sucks.

However at PN, we’ve a cool train to cope with consumer ambivalence. It’s known as the 4 Loopy Questions. Primarily, you discover:

• What’s GOOD about altering?
• What’s BAD about altering?
• What’s GOOD about NOT altering?
• What’s BAD about NOT altering?

On this context, the questions can assist a consumer discover the danger of beginning a GLP-1 (which they’ve most likely already voiced), but additionally the danger of not beginning, which they might not have thought of but.

Our 4 Crazy Questions worksheet can encourage purchasers to discover the professionals and cons of each selections. With these concerns laid out explicitly, most individuals really feel much more clear about their subsequent steps—or a minimum of what questions they should ask their medical supplier earlier than they’ll transfer ahead.

Importantly, this train doesn’t have a “proper” consequence. Some individuals work by way of it and fill the prescription. Others determine the remedy isn’t for them, and that’s tremendous. (It’s additionally value reminding purchasers that beginning isn’t essentially everlasting: With their supplier’s enter, a trial run on the remedy is a superbly legitimate approach in.)

Both approach, there are alternatives to help your consumer. As Coach Toni places it: “Whether or not you go ‘pure’ or whether or not you go GLP-1, the foundational habits are basically the identical.”

Shopper Kind #3: The Prepared-to-Quitter

That is the one who began a GLP-1 with a lot of optimism—and now appears like they’ve a plague that received’t finish.

In a merciless twist, this individual would possibly truly be seeing nice fats loss outcomes. And but, they’re nauseated, exhausted, dreading their subsequent dose, and questioning whether or not it’s value persevering with this remedy.

Including to their sense of defeat, they might even be evaluating themselves to a “Honeymooner” of their life, so they could even be questioning if there’s one thing mistaken with them. (“It labored so properly for my buddy! I have to be damaged indirectly.”)

Teaching transfer:

First, provide some impartial schooling to depersonalize their expertise.

Particularly, they need to know that unintended effects are extraordinarily widespread: About half of customers report nausea, a 3rd report diarrhea, and a fifth report vomiting.¹ So, what this individual thinks is outstanding would possibly truly simply be a traditional adjustment. (This doesn’t make the expertise suck much less, nevertheless it may give them some hope.)

Additionally, getting GLP-1s proper is a strategy of trial and error: the best remedy, the best dose, and the best dietary methods to cut back signs.

If their signs are extreme, get them to loop of their physician. Remedy sort and dosing is beneath the purview of a medical skilled, so involving them is important.

After that, your finest teaching transfer is to counsel an experiment.

▶ Ask about dose. To be clear, you’re asking about it, not adjusting it. Says Coach Toni: “Usually, when persons are experiencing excessive unintended effects, they’ve ratcheted up their dose too rapidly. Generally the best technique to preserve any individual on a GLP-1 who’s experiencing excessive unintended effects is to decrease their dosage.” Coach Toni makes clear that whereas dosage isn’t a coach’s area, you can assist draw a consumer’s consideration to it.

▶ Begin a meals journal. It doesn’t have to be daily—simply across the meals that precede the worst signs. You’re on the lookout for three issues:

• Fats content material: GLP-1 drugs decelerate digestion. That is what contributes to its satiety results, but additionally its unintended effects at first. Fat additionally decelerate digestion, so high-fat meals and meals (oils, nuts and seeds, and fried meals) can compound signs.
• Quantity: Once more, as a result of slowing of digestion, a big meal can really feel extraordinarily uncomfortable to digest. A portion that felt regular a month in the past might now be far an excessive amount of without delay.
• Random triggers: Spicy meals, tomatoes, chocolate, caffeine. Every kind of meals might set off signs like nausea, acid reflux disease, or diarrhea in a consumer who used to tolerate them. These meals received’t all the time be apparent GLP-1 symptom triggers, so the easiest way to hunt them down is through a meals log.

▶ Attempt smaller parts, eaten extra typically. Coach Toni says in case you solely strive one factor, this one is essentially the most dependable technique. GLP-1 purchasers could also be tempted to chop meals when signs are excessive, however this will increase the probability of undereating and nutrient deficiencies. The aim, in her phrases: “Can we get sufficiently small, frequent sufficient meals that we get vitamins in, however they by no means really feel overwhelmed or tremendous full?”

To remain inside your scope of observe, language issues.

Don’t say: “You’re nauseous, so you must eat smaller meals.”

As an alternative, say: “People who’re nauseous generally do higher with smaller, extra frequent meals. Wish to strive it this week and see what you discover?”

Within the first instance, you’ve provided a “prescription” (which coaches can’t legally do). Within the second instance, you’ve provided an experiment to contemplate.

Shopper Kind #4: The Muscle-Loss Danger

That is the individual whose outcomes look nice, however much less seen modifications are creating long run dangers.

This individual is prone to be fairly sedentary, and while you ask what they do for train, they could inform you “I stroll.” However they’re not the outlier sort who constantly will get 20,000 steps a day. They only… stroll a bit of.

Ladies usually tend to fall into this class, particularly if they arrive from a era or tradition the place energy coaching merely wasn’t a factor ladies did (or have been welcomed to do).

Moreover, this individual is likely to be operating on a decades-long plain-toast-and-coffee breakfast behavior, with decrease protein consumption already ingrained earlier than remedy additional lowered urge for food.

The dimensions is dropping although, so that they’re thrilled. It’s simply that no one’s measuring what variety of weight is dropping.

Teaching transfer:

Your job is to deliver consciousness to the invisible. As a result of as soon as this individual sees what’s at stake, they’ll be extra prone to see the worth in altering their habits, and in teaching.

Nonetheless, theoretical warnings about muscle loss are straightforward to dismiss.

This is without doubt one of the the explanation why Coach Kate says, “I don’t care if I coach you or not—please simply get a DEXA as a baseline.”

When an individual has a quantifiable, goal measure of their muscle composition, it’s typically extra motivating than any quantity of summary concern.

Ideally, each one who begins a GLP-1 remedy ought to get a DEXA scan earlier than they begin, then once more at six or twelve months to see how they’re progressing.

If a consumer can’t or received’t do a DEXA, assess energy and performance in different methods. Ask: “How do the steps really feel in contrast to a couple months in the past? What about carrying groceries?” Collect goal information too, recording baselines for squat, deadlift, and bench press (or different accessible workout routines) to match to over time. Declines in any of those areas can reveal potential muscle loss, and might inspire a consumer to take motion.

With out protecting methods, as much as 40 % of weight misplaced from GLP-1 drugs can come from lean mass, with a majority of that being muscle.²

In an effort to stop that from taking place, there are two behaviors to prioritize:

▶ Protein at each meal. When urge for food is suppressed, each chew has to earn its place. Goal for 25-40 grams of protein at each meal and 15-20 grams for snacks. (On days when urge for food is severely suppressed, protein powders could be a extra palatable technique to attain that focus on.)

▶ Energy coaching, scaled to what they’d truly do. The time period “weight lifting” would possibly overwhelm an individual who’s by no means set foot in a health club, so don’t begin there. Begin the place PN all the time begins: Ask what they might do twice this week that they’re 9-out-of-10 assured they’d truly do. Sit-to-stands off the sofa. A number of strikes with a resistance band. Body weight something. Scale up from there, one week at a time.

Shopper Kind #5: The Beneath-Fueler

That is the individual for whom the remedy has labored a bit of too properly.

Their urge for food hasn’t simply decreased—it’s gone.

They’re not consuming sufficient, and sometimes don’t discover till you ask. “When did you final eat?” you say, they usually say, “Ummm… Yesterday afternoon? I believe?”

Their protein and total calorie consumption is plummeting, and shortly their vitality ranges will too.

Plus, one thing extra refined may additionally be taking place: Meals stops being a pleasure and turns into a chore, or perhaps a supply of dread.

For some, this would possibly look like an the other way up world. They might have spent their entire life preventing to eat much less. The thought of preventing to eat extra feels utterly absurd—and fully off their radar.

Teaching transfer:

Earlier than the rest: If there’s an energetic consuming dysfunction within the image, this remedy probably shouldn’t have been prescribed. A vulnerability to disordered consuming can each contribute to or be triggered by the above state of affairs.

So, scope of observe first. Ask this individual in the event that they’ve ever struggled with disordered consuming. If the reply is sure, refer out to a health care provider or a dietitian. You possibly can completely keep concerned as a information, however not as the one skilled within the room. Have your referral network ready before you need it.

However generally, you received’t know. Your consumer might have been screened and cleared. Or, they might not have disclosed. So your job is to determine what you’re truly —and that begins with what Coach Toni calls the “present me” method.

Quite than performing on a hunch, acquire one thing concrete, resembling a number of days of meals logging (in writing or through photographs).

From there, it branches two methods.

▶ In the event that they’ll monitor, do some meals math, and the numbers might do the be just right for you. When some purchasers see that their calorie consumption is hovering round 800 to 1,000 Energy per day, it’s the one get up name they want. They weren’t deliberately proscribing; they genuinely simply had no concept.

For this consumer, establishing an consuming routine is one of the best subsequent motion.

Your consumer could also be used to following urge for food as a cue to eat, however now that remedy has eliminated it, they want a distinct cue. Which means consuming on a schedule, probably each 3–4 hours, together with protein at each a type of events. Parts will be small if urge for food could be very low, however they need to be nutrient-dense.

▶ In the event that they received’t monitor—and particularly in the event that they resist in a approach that feels purposely avoidant—that resistance itself is info.

Coach Toni means that in case you suspect that disordered consuming is within the image and a consumer is admittedly resistant about monitoring, it is likely to be time for a essential dialog—an typically uncomfortable, however sincere and important dialog between a consumer and a coach.

She suggests main with non-judgement and security. For instance:

“I would like you to know it is a secure house to speak. My aim as a coach is all the time to prioritize your total well being. Nonetheless, there have been a few belongings you’ve shared lately which have me questioning whether or not we’re defending your physique’s fundamental wants.”

Then title the particular belongings you observed, sticking to information. (“You’ve talked about you’ve been dropping hair and struggling extra throughout exercises. These can each be indicators of undereating. Would you be open to revisiting meals journaling for a brief stretch so we will see extra clearly what’s taking place, or telling your physician about your signs?”)

If this dialog is sufficient to assist a consumer see the worth in monitoring, comply with the recommendation after “In the event that they’ll monitor” above.

If what surfaces is a genuinely troubled relationship with meals, refer out, whereas providing to remain concerned for help as wanted.

Shopper Kind #6: The Graduate

That is the one who acquired the outcomes they needed with the remedy, and is now selecting to wean off.

They’re not quitting due to crappy outcomes or insupportable unintended effects, they’ve merely determined they don’t wish to be on a GLP-1 ceaselessly.

The teaching alternative right here is, partly, about tempering expectations.

Most individuals think about coming off because the end line. As an alternative although, it’s extra like beginning a completely different endurance course: The remedy has been managing their urge for food, and now they must.

Teaching transfer:

Ideally, you begin working with this consumer whereas the remedy continues to be doing among the heavy lifting with urge for food regulation. In the event you can have six months to construct the best habits in addition to put together mentally for the really fizzling out interval, your consumer will probably be in a significantly better place.

Be certain that the beforehand talked about habits—like resistance coaching and optimizing protein—are already firmly established. In case your consumer is managing these habits constantly (not completely, however constantly), even on their busiest, most traumatic, most side-effect-disrupted days, then they’re extra probably to have the ability to keep them once they’re off their remedy and meals distractions re-enter the image.

After that, work on the way you’ll proceed to outline success. This consumer has been accustomed to measuring it on the size, however the scale will transfer—some regain is regular. So, ask them early: What does success seem like if the size ticks up eight kilos however your habits maintain?

Be sincere concerning the odds, too. Individuals who modified nothing whereas on the remedy virtually universally regain many of the weight—normally throughout the first 12 months and a half or so³—as a result of the urge for food that went down comes proper again up.

Nonetheless, individuals who combine and maintain more healthy diet and train behaviors whereas they’re on remedy are 4 instances higher at sustaining a ten % or larger weight reduction once they come off the remedy.⁴

Shopper Kind #7: The Priced-Out

That is the one who was additionally getting nice outcomes on the remedy—besides as an alternative of selecting to go off it on their very own time, they’re compelled to stop on account of exterior circumstances.

Perhaps their insurance coverage stopped protecting it, or they misplaced the job that got here with the advantages, or the one drug they tolerated turned out to value 4 instances as a lot because the one they couldn’t tolerate.

About 50 % of GLP-1 customers cease the remedy throughout the first 12 months of utilizing it.⁵ Some cease on account of unintended effects, and others cease as a result of they’ve gotten the outcomes they need they usually wish to see if they’ll keep them drug-free. However many are merely priced out. The latter is an particularly irritating state of affairs as a result of, for this individual, a “answer” exists. It’s simply that, for them, the answer is out of attain.

Understandably, this individual could also be offended and even ashamed that they’ll’t afford this remedy. These emotions might or might not present up in your teaching, nevertheless it’s good to arrange for them anyway.

Teaching transfer:

First, reassure this individual that it is a system failure, not a private one.

Whether or not somebody can entry reasonably priced remedy comes all the way down to their insurance coverage plan, the area they stay in, and their socioeconomic standing—also referred to as the social determinants of well being. These forces form well being outcomes way over willpower does, and none of them are a measure of how laborious somebody has tried or how “worthy” they’re.

Acknowledging that actuality isn’t about throwing up your fingers and saying, “Properly, I’m screwed!” Quite, it’s about accepting some depressing truths concerning the world, after which shifting from self-blame to problem-solving.

As soon as they’ve had an opportunity to course of some (very legitimate) anger and disappointment, it’s time to give attention to what they can management.

At PN, we name this the Spheres of Management train. The picture under reveals you the way it works.

Entry, value, and protection aren’t on the checklist of controllables, and preventing these realities might solely compound frustration.

In the meantime, they can management different influential components, like their protein consumption, their coaching, their sleep, their meals surroundings, and perhaps their subsequent insurance coverage enchantment.

Use the picture above to start a dialog along with your consumer about what’s inside their management, and lean in laborious on these components.

What can coaches actually promise on the subject of getting and sustaining GLP-1 outcomes?

The reality is, you’ll be able to’t predict how a consumer will reply to remedy. And, some regain after stopping it is anticipated.

Nonetheless, eating regimen and life-style habits vastly have an effect on what variety of weight is misplaced, plus the speed and quantity of that regain.

Says Coach Toni:

“I can’t promise anybody they’ll lose a certain quantity of weight or that they’ll by no means regain it—and I’d be suspicious of any coach who did. What I can inform you is that the habits we construct whereas the remedy is doing its work are those that’ll nonetheless stand when it isn’t.”

After all, “coming off” isn’t the endpoint for everybody. Many suppliers now deal with weight problems as a continual situation and these drugs as long-term remedy—the identical approach we’d deal with cardiac illness. Once more, whether or not somebody stays on, tapers, or stops is a dialog for them and their supplier.

However for individuals who do come off, Coach Toni says the individuals who maintain their outcomes share one factor: “They keep consistency with their behaviors as in the event that they have been nonetheless on the remedy. Like nothing modifications.”

She shares an analogy for why that works:

“Take into consideration the Oregon Path. The ruts within the path have been made by wagon wheels hitting the identical floor again and again and over. You possibly can nonetheless see these ruts as we speak—they’re nonetheless there. Habits are the identical approach: In the event you lay down these neural pathways and reinforce them sufficient instances whereas your consumer is on the remedy, then they’ll have a greater likelihood of constant on the identical path even once they go off the remedy.”

In order that’s the precise promise.

It’s not: “You’ll preserve it off.”

It’s: “Whereas the remedy is doing its work, we’ll reduce ruts deep sufficient that these pathways will nonetheless be there after the remedy is gone.”

Virtually, meaning common resistance coaching, rock stable diet, urge for food consciousness, and attending to the elements of well being that by no means present up on a scale—sleep, vitality, temper, relationships, and id, which is the place Coach Toni lands:

“Ideally, your consumer could have embraced the id of a ‘new individual.’ As in, ‘I’m the one who wakes up at 6 a.m. and walks two miles. I’m the one who eats protein at each meal. I’m the one who does resistance coaching as a result of it builds the tissue I have to age properly.’ That’s the consumer who maintains.”

References

Click on right here to view the data sources referenced on this article.

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