GLP-1 receptor agonists — the class of appetite-suppressant injections behind the current weight loss conversation — were originally designed for people with real metabolic disease. People with type 2 diabetes. People with a BMI over 40 who genuinely needed medical intervention. That was the original intention, and the research backs that up.
In the UK, these medications are prescription-only. On the NHS they are tightly controlled — available only through specialist weight management services or, more recently, certain GPs for those who meet strict clinical criteria. Privately, they can be obtained through registered pharmacists and online prescribing services, following a clinical consultation. The days of unregulated administration through beauty salons and cosmetic clinics have largely been addressed by tighter MHRA oversight — but the barrier to private access remains relatively low, and online prescribing has made them more available than ever.
And what’s happening is women — women who don’t have metabolic disease, women who may not clinically need these medications — are taking them because they’ve been sold a narrative about the quick fix and the easy result.
Here’s the problem. These medications are appetite suppressants. They work by making you not hungry. So you eat less food. Much less. And if you’re eating less food, and the food you’re choosing isn’t nutrient dense, then you’re getting fewer calories, fewer vitamins, fewer minerals, less hydration. Your body is in a deficit. And when your body is in a deficit without the right stimulus, it doesn’t just lose fat.
It loses muscle. That’s the piece nobody’s talking about.
What Gets Lost
When a woman loses weight through appetite suppression alone, she’s losing muscle tissue alongside the fat. The research is clear on this. Muscle mass and muscle density are directly linked to longevity, quality of life, and metabolic health — particularly for women navigating hormonal changes through perimenopause and beyond.
What looks like a health win in the short term — the number on the scale going down — is actually a long-term health problem. Because muscle is the tissue that keeps you independent.
It’s what lets you play with your kids, carry shopping, get up off the floor, stay strong as you age. Lose that, and you’ve solved nothing. You’ve just made yourself weaker.
The women I work with at Crazy Strength understand this intuitively. I’ve watched sixty-year-olds who started with a five-kilo bar deadlift seventy kilos because they committed to the process. I’ve had women who were too scared to even walk through the door, too anxious to send a message, who are now six, twelve months in and asking themselves why they ever hesitated.
They’ve experienced what real strength does to your life. Not vanity. Not a number on a scale. Actual capability. That’s what strength training gives you that a medication never will.
The Psychological Piece
I want to be careful here because this matters. The generations growing up right now have been sold a specific narrative about what women should look like. Supermodels. Instagram filters. Sex as a selling mechanism. The ability to look in the mirror and see yourself realistically — to appreciate your body for what it does rather than what it looks like — that’s become genuinely difficult.
Add a medication that suppresses appetite and accelerates weight loss without addressing any of the underlying relationship with food, body image, or self-worth, and what you get is a shortcut that doesn’t solve any of that. You get women chasing a physical ideal without ever building the strength, the confidence, or the foundation that actually protects mental health long term.
The women in our Ladies That Lift programme aren’t chasing a number. They’re chasing the feeling of being strong. Of being capable. Of knowing that their body can do hard things. That’s a completely different conversation.
What Actually Needs to Happen
If you’re a woman currently taking GLP-1 weight loss injections, I’m not here to judge. But I am here to tell you that the responsibility for your long-term health falls on you, not on the person who sold you the injection.
You need to strength train. Structured, deliberate, whole-body resistance training. Not casual gym time. Not Instagram workouts. Real programming designed to maintain and build muscle while you’re in a caloric deficit.
Progressive overload. Whole-body resistance training. A stimulus that tells your body to hold on to muscle while everything else is changing. That’s what your body needs to stay strong, stay independent, and preserve the tissue that keeps you healthy as you age.
At Crazy Strength, we run Ladies That Lift once or twice a week. Whole body. Structured. It works whether you’ve never lifted before or you’re already training regularly. And we’re about to launch Ladies That Lift Light for people who are newer to strength training or want something less demanding. The point is the same: stimulus. Progressive overload. Building and preserving strength while everything else is changing.
Coach-led. Whole body. Welcoming to all levels. If you’re on GLP-1s and not strength training, this is where to start.
Find Out More →The Message
We are delivering this because it’s something that my Ladies That Lift lead and I are passionate about. Because we both know this matters. Because the women in our community deserve better than a quick fix and a hope that everything works out.
Strength isn’t about looking a certain way. It’s about being capable. It’s about playing with your kids without thinking twice. It’s about carrying your shopping. Getting up off the floor. Staying independent. Living a life where your body does what you ask it to do.
That’s what strength actually means.
If you’re considering GLP-1 weight loss injections, get real about what you’re choosing and what comes after. If you’re already on them, get in contact. Get a true reflection of how you can improve your habits and your long-term quality of life. It’s not about judgement. It’s about making an investment in yourself that actually lasts.
Come and find strength. Real strength. The kind that changes your life. Head over to Ladies That Lift or find me at @craig.spicer.