Hey Cleanish Squad! GLP-1s are everywhere right now. From Oprah to Chrissy Teigen, it can feel like the success stories are piling up. But even close to home, many of us also have friends or family members who have tried GLP-1s. This week, we're focusing on what life is like after GLP-1s. What should you eat now so the progress lasts after the shots stop?

We also look at the "GLP-1 Friendly" badge in the freezer aisle, and who's mostly buying those meals. And there's a high protein chicken bowl waiting for you at the end. Let's get into it!

— Lacey Baier, Dustin Baier

I've worked with several women who've come off GLP-1s. I didn't know them while they were on, but I got to know them after.

Here’s what stopping actually looks like.

It's not a cliff, but a fade. Semaglutide takes about five weeks to clear your system. Tirzepatide, takes three or four. There's no morning where you wake up and it's obviously different. It fades.

What comes back first isn't hunger exactly: it's the noise. The running commentary about what's in the pantry, what's for dinner, what somebody brought into the office. For a lot of women, this starts before the scale moves at all.

Then, the portions stop working. A meal that was plenty six weeks ago isn't.

Then, the weight.

The hard part isn't that the noise is louder than it used to be. It probably isn't. It's that you forgot it was ever there, and ordinary hunger feels enormous after a year of quiet.

I'm not going to talk you out of it.

I'm not your doctor, and I'm not going to be one more person with an opinion about your body. You've got enough of those.

For many women, this is the thing that finally gives them room to breathe.

So, what to eat?

Start with protein at every meal, and more of it than feels necessary. I’d aim for 80 to 120 grams a day while you’re losing weight, which is going to sound like an enormous amount when you’re not hungry, but it’s worth doing anyway.

It matters more for you than it would for someone white-knuckling a diet, because when you’re eating a lot less, your body still takes what it needs from somewhere, and you want that coming off your fat rather than your muscle. Protein is how you point it in the right direction.

What actually holds it

Weightlifting is the other half of this, and it’s the half most people skip.

In a Danish trial, people spent a year maintaining their weight loss with supervised exercise, with a GLP-1, with both together, or with neither, and were weighed again a year after all of it stopped. The ones who had exercised alongside the medication were about four times more likely to still be down at least 10% of their body weight than the ones who had taken the drug by itself.

The difference wasn’t only in the numbers, either. Stopping the medication was followed by regain, while stopping the exercise wasn’t.

Why this matters now instead of later

The year you’re on the medication isn’t only about losing weight. It’s also the easiest window you’ll ever get for building the part that comes after, because everything is simpler while your appetite is quiet. Cooking is easier when you’re not ravenous, training is easier when you’re carrying less, and a normal week is easier to put together when nothing is pulling against you.

What you don’t want is to be figuring all of that out later, with the noise back and nothing already in place.

Want to know what I’d tell someone starting from zero? Read this issue.

None of this is special advice for people on a GLP-1. It’s what I’d tell anyone who asked me how to eat, and it’ll still be true for you a year from now when the prescription is finished.

Want the rest of what I learned losing 50 pounds five times? Read this issue.

Sources: Jensen et al., eClinicalMedicine, 2024, on exercise and weight maintenance after treatment ends. Nutritional priorities to support GLP-1 therapy for obesity, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, 2025, a joint advisory from the American College of Lifestyle Medicine, the American Society for Nutrition, the Obesity Medicine Association and The Obesity Society.

There’s a new badge showing up in the freezer aisle. In early 2025, Conagra put “GLP-1 Friendly” on 26 of its Healthy Choice frozen meals, and Nestlé had already launched Vital Pursuit the fall before, a whole line aimed at people on the drugs.

The badge looks like something a product had to qualify for, but nothing has to. The USDA approved the badge because it sits next to real statements about protein and fiber, which the agency didn’t consider misleading. But it also confirmed there’s no regulatory standard for the term “GLP-1 Friendly” at all. More on misleading labels here.

The badge also isn’t really selling to people using GLP-1s. Nestlé’s own vice president of brand marketing for frozen meals says 77% of Vital Pursuit sales come from households where nobody is using a GLP-1, which means it’s mostly reaching everyone else. The same thing that happened when protein started showing up on chips and popcorn.

Just like before, what’s worth paying attention to is what’s on the nutrition label. The protein and fiber numbers on the back aren’t marketing tactics. To understand how to read a nutrition label in twenty seconds, read this issue.

Want the whole story? Read the full report.

Source: Associated Press report by Dee-Ann Durbin, as published by News4JAX, January 14, 2026

64.8%

of adults without type 2 diabetes stopped their GLP-1 within a year of starting it.

Source: Truveta Research, on Rodriguez et al., JAMA Network Open, January 2025

Losing fat while building muscle is the ideal scenario for transforming your body. These are the seven foods I eat every day to help get there, and to feel great doing it. Watch on YouTube →

💊 A popular joint supplement is linked to faster memory decline

University of Florida researchers studied 2,750 people with mild memory and thinking problems. Glucosamine users were 25% more likely to go on to dementia. The authors say this doesn't yet mean anyone should stop.

🧪 Mammograms rarely find cancers that would never have caused harm

A team at the University of Southern Denmark pooled all eight major mammogram trials. Fewer than 5% of the cancers found would never have caused harm. Some earlier estimates put it at 30% to 50%.

🩸 Hidden artery plaque showed up in more than half of adults scanned

Spain's national heart research center scanned 16,808 adults aged 18 to 70. 57% had plaque, and standard risk scores caught only a small share of them. In women, it rose most sharply between 40 and 60.

🧠 Women who reach menopause early report more anxiety and depression

University of Oulu researchers studied more than 2,600 Finnish women at 46. Those already in menopause were 44% more likely to report significant anxiety. It's a link, not a cause, however.

Maya Angelou, as recounted by Oprah Winfrey

This bowl has all the things: creamy with crunchy, hot with cold, almost 22 grams of protein and 8 grams of fiber in every bowl, all topped with a cashew lime crema. Get the recipe →

P.S. Our 6-Day Budget Meal Prep & Grocery List is yours when you refer one friend to the Cleanish Newsletter. You’ll get six full days of budget-friendly, family-approved meals, plus the grocery list and prep guide. They’ll get every newsletter we send. One friend. That’s it. Send them your link and the moment they subscribe, the guide is yours.

Email it to a friend →

Or share your unique link: {{rp_refer_url}}

Real talk on food, health, and feeling good in your body, no perfection required. Cut through the noise and support Cleanish.