Tirzepatide Weight Loss Program for Patients

As a healthcare professional, you’ve likely already been prescribing your patients tirzepatide or other incretin medications for weight loss. 2023 has truly been the year of weight loss injectables sweeping the nation. That’s why BodySite is excited to announce today the addition of the medical weight loss plan, “Tirzepatide Weight Loss” to its library of over 80 care plans. Today’s article will discuss what tirzepatide is, the benefits, and how BodySite’s Tirzepatide Weight Loss program helps providers guide patients toward long-term sustainable weight loss during and after use of tirzepatide medication.

What is Tirzepatide?

Tirzepatide is a medication that is FDA-approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. Tirzepatide has recently been a game-changer for weight loss and obesity treatment. It works as a Glucagon-like peptide (GLP)-1 receptor agonist and Gastric Inhibitory Peptide (GIP) agonist to maximize similar benefits seen with other GLP-1 medications, such as semaglutide.

Tirzepatide activates GLP-1 receptors in the brain, which reduces the activity in the brain that controls appetite and increases the neuronal functions that control feelings of fullness. Tirzepatide increases insulin secretion, suppresses glucagon secretion, and slows gastric emptying. As a GIP, it activates the glucagon receptors, leading to weight loss and improved glucose control. [1]

With both hormones in play, tirzepatide results in decreased appetite, increased satiety, and increased weight loss.

Tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Mounjaro, is a once-weekly single-dose pen injection. Patients may administer tirzepatide, with or without meals, any time of day, into the abdomen, upper thigh, or buttock.

Benefits of Tirzepatide

Increased Weight Loss
Improved Glycemic Control
Reduction in HbA1c Levels-Lowering these levels decreases the risk of complications associated with diabetes.
Controlled appetite and cravings
Increase resting energy expenditure
Improved sleep
Lower Risk of Hypoglycemia- tirzepatide has a lower risk of causing hypoglycemia (dangerously low blood sugar), a common side effect of many diabetes treatments.
Once-Weekly Dosing: This medication is usually administered once per week, making it more convenient than treatments that require daily dosing
Cardiovascular Benefits: Early research suggests that tirzepatide may have cardiovascular benefits, potentially reducing the risk of heart disease, a common complication of diabetes

Side Effects of Tirzepatide

Tirzepatide side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and stomach pain [2]. Common side effects are more likely to occur if patients continue to eat the harmful (SAD) Standard American inflammatory Diet while taking tirzepatide.

According to Dr. William Clearfield, D.O., F.A.F.R.M, F.A.A.M.A, D.A.B.M.A. a great tip is to encourage patients to always have fresh ginger on-hand to ease nausea and GI distress.

BodySite’s Tirzepatide Weight Loss Plan

Incorporating a healthy diet and movement/exercise while using tirzepatide is essential. In a conversation with Dr. William Clearfield, he stated, “tirzepatide is a tool, not the ‘holy grail.’” Due to the high demand for comprehensive support and guidance for patients using tirzepatide and other incretin medications, BodySite created the Tirzepatide Weight Loss program.

This 10-week patient support program complements the medication and aims to improve patient outcomes and help maintain weight loss for patients beyond the use of tirzepatide.

The Tirzepatide Weight Loss Program provides patients with a well-rounded plan, addressing all aspects of their weight management journey, including:

Education about tirzepatide
Daily breakfast, lunch and dinner healthy recipes ideas
General health and wellness tips, with videos, that promote overall well-being
Motivation
To-do items, including weekly tasks for taking the injection and tracking weight
Food tracking, activity and biometrics tracking
Messaging, groups and telemedicine

The daily breakfast, lunch and dinner recipes are lower in fat, with lean proteins (including plant-based proteins) that incorporate whole grains, fruits and vegetables, somewhat reflective of a Paleo/Anti-Inflammatory diet approach. The recipes are mostly gluten-free as there are only 3 recipes in the plan that use gluten, of which all three include a disclaimer that if doing gluten-free, to use a gluten free alternative.

Mild to moderate aerobic activities such as walking, stretching/yoga, or high-intensity interval training (HIIT) is recommended. The plan can optionally be paired with an exercise or movement program such as BodySite’s At-Home Fitness, HIIT, 12 Days of Stretching or Basic Walking plan if you want to encourage patients to do exercise while using tirzepatide.

Like all BodySite plans, this plan is fully customizable, allowing you to tailor the plan to your practice needs and edit as you see fit. You can change anything about the program including the daily content, tasks, videos, resource tabs, title, etc. If you have questions about customizing the plan, please email content@bodysite.com.

The plan also includes a provider-facing “Implementation Toolkit” that you can use to market and implement this plan in your practice. The toolkit includes a marketing flyer, an injection instruction video and other graphics that you can print out, send to your patients or use on social media or your website as needed!

Getting Started

If you’re not already subscribing to BodySite, take advantage of BodySite’s 30-day free trial and see everything that the platform has to offer with no obligation! All pricing tiers include access to the Tirzepatide Weight Loss plan. There’s no additional cost for this new plan. Start using BodySite as a way to practice better and makes your patients healthier. 😉

Already a BodySite subscriber? You can find the Tirzepatide Weight Loss plan inside your account under Plans > Available Plans & Templates. You can tell your colleagues who are also using tirzepatide about BodySite so they can also take advantage of this new support program and you’ll earn 25% per month on their subscription. Just click the blue heart icon on the dashboard of your account to start referring other doctors to us!

Sources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK585056/
https://www.drugs.com/tirzepatide.html
108 Juan P. Frias, M.D., Melanie J. Davies, M.D., Julio Rosenstock, M.D., Tirzepatide versus Semaglutide Once Weekly in Patients with Type 2 Diabetes, August 5, 2021, Engl J Med 2021; 385:503-515 DOI: 10.1056/NEJMoa2107519

Disclaimer: At the publication date of this article Tirzepatide brand Mounjaro has not been FDA approved for weight loss.