To lose weight has been a lifelong struggle for me, from being last in gym class to being referred to as “Pillsbury” throughout my teenage years. You are not by yourself if you can relate to these experiences. However, I started using Saxenda a few months ago, and I dropped 47 pounds. To progress my weight-loss journey, I thought writing about my Saxenda experience and my diet plan would be helpful.
Before discussing the foods to eat and avoid while taking Saxenda, it would be essential to go over what Saxenda is.
Saxenda (Liraglutide) is a diabetes medication that has been on the market as a weight loss medication since 2012. Originally, Saxenda has prescribed an oral diabetes medicine that helps patients control blood sugar levels by increasing their insulin sensitivity. It’s probably the most widely used diabetes drug globally, but it’s still not a cure for diabetes. People with type 2 diabetes have reasonable control of their blood sugar levels, but they also have some risk factors for developing the disease — including obesity or high cholesterol. In addition to its use as a treatment for Type 1 and Type 2 Diabetes, Saxenda is also being used with proper meals and exercise to help improve weight loss by increasing insulin sensitivity and decreasing appetite and body fat storage.
The most common side-effect of the drug Saxenda is nausea and vomiting, which can lead to drug-induced nausea and vomiting (DINV).
Saxenda is a non-selective 5-alpha reductase inhibitor that prevents testosterone breakdown into dihydrotestosterone. It works by increasing levels of messenger hormones. Saxenda also increases insulin and glucagon concentrations in the blood, which helps to minimize blood sugar levels (specifically in individuals who have type 2 diabetes).
Saxenda works by affecting how you sleep to improve weight loss. It stimulates tryptophan hydroxylase and cathepsin G enzymes that help break down tryptophan (the amino acid made during sleep) for energy production. Taking Saxenda with meals or supplements such as protein balls or whey protein powder increases your body’s ability to digest tryptophan for energy production. You don’t need as much tryptophan at night if you eat or take more food than usual after waking up from sleep.
I reside in Tennessee, and I could not get Saxenda covered with my healthcare plan. In the US, Saxenda costs over $800, and I had trouble affording the medication. I highly suggest buying your Saxenda online from Canada through Insulin Outlet, as I was able to save a fortune on my prescription. For the best prices of Saxenda online, click here: https://insulinoutlet.com/product/buy-saxenda-from-canada/
Now let’s get into what foods you should avoid and eat while taking Saxenda!
Foods to Avoid with Saxenda
There is a long laundry list of foods you should avoid while taking Saxenda. Please note that these foods should not be over-consumed in any diet whatsoever.
- Cereals with added sugar or white flour products such as plain bread or pasta;
- cakes, cookies, or other baked goods; cornflakes;
- flour; buckwheat; oatmeal flakes;
- pancakes; cereal bars;
- pasta such as noodles and macaroni;
- doughnuts or other baked goods made with wheat flour; cookies or biscuits made with wheat flour crackers made from wheat flour such as Pumpernickel or Ezekiel bread that have not been basted before baking.
Now I know what you are thinking. The list above has all the good foods, and I am supposed to avoid eating them? It’s hard, very hard. And trust me, I struggled at the beginning as well. However, once you start to see a few results, I assure you, you will be more motivated than ever to keep working on your weight loss journey.
If someone else had taken a form of this medication within two weeks before you started taking it, they might be allergic to it too, so watch out for their reactions too! If you believe this drug may be causing problems for you, then speak to your GP immediately because they may need to adjust how they prescribe it to avoid side effects like these! Note that even though they might ask your GP if there are things you should avoid eating while taking Saxenda – we would never suggest doing this without talking to your healthcare advisor first.
For a more in-depth look at the foods to avoid with Saxenda, check out Insulin Outlet’s lengthy breakdown here: https://insulinoutlet.com/information/foods-to-avoid-while-on-saxenda/.
Carbohydrates and Saxenda
I had the most trouble with giving up carbs, but Saxenda helped with me putting the ride and pasta to the side (hard to do with an Italian like myself). Carbohydrates are one group of complex sugars naturally found in fruits, vegetables, and grains. Carbs make up about 20% of a person’s total daily caloric intake, so they could be an essential source of nutrition for many people. You have probably have heard of carb-cutting, carb-cycling, or the most popular diet these days, the keto diet. They all involve eliminating (to a degree) carbs. When using this weight-loss philosophy with Saxenda, you may be able to see the results you want.
But this isn’t just a personal choice or preference. Carbohydrates have many adverse side effects on health and may be addictive or dangerous for some people. The primary side effects are increased hunger and feelings of fullness after eating large amounts of carbohydrates, which may lead to overeating, binge eating, or other unhealthy behaviors and habits such as excessive exercise or watching television after eating a meal (which can result in excess calories burned). Saxenda helps with the feeling of feeling full and may minimize your carb consumption through its medication.
People often make bad choices regarding food that cause health problems such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease. Dieting is not always easy, but if you take the time to think about what you eat while trying to lose weight, your body will thank you because it will start to act healthier than before!
I’ve seen this most commonly raised in comments on Reddit and social media. Many people ask how they’re supposed to avoid eating foods high in carbohydrates while taking Saxenda. The answer seems simple: eat enough carbohydrates! The worst thing about taking Saxenda is that it does not cause weight loss via fat-mediated mechanisms, so all of those “carb bombs” are going straight into your bloodstream, where they can do more damage than just being there.
Be smart about the number of carbohydrates you eat while taking Saxenda. The medication will make you less hungry, but it will be up to you when it comes to consuming good and bad carbs.
Protein Shakes with Saxenda
What type of protein is healthy? The answer is a much more complicated question than most people would realize. There are many different types of protein, and each class can be good or bad for you, depending on its source. For example, whey protein is excellent for losing weight because it can be easily digested and assimilated by the body in hours (while leaving your metabolism very quick and therefore producing minimal cravings). But it’s not so good if you’re trying to lose weight because it’s tough to digest and metabolize.
On the other hand, soy protein isn’t great for losing weight either because it makes your metabolism slow and sluggish. Soy contains phytates (which bind with calcium), which then puts pressure on your bones, leading to low bone mass and osteoporosis in later life (and insulin resistance). But if you want to build muscle and gain mass without putting too much stress on your bones at all times, whey protein may be better than soy protein.
I used whey protein shakes for a quick snack while taking my Saxenda. Honestly, the Saxenda works so well that sometimes it’s even hard to take down my whey protein shake. Getting those much-needed nutrients ensures your body is receiving proper macronutrients.
Calorie Counting with Saxenda
At the end of it all (and I know it’s a pain in the behind), calorie counting works for weight loss. And if you want to expedite your use of Saxenda, I highly suggest you start counting those calories.
Once you can determine how many calories you burn per hour, it’s easy to predict your calorie consumption. You may think you will lose weight by cutting calories, but how do you know?
I use a “calorie counter,” which counts calories burned in different activities. For example, another company has developed an app called “Fitbit Flex,” which measures daily steps and calculates calories burned when running and walking. The data collected by the device is then compared to those recorded by the user in their Fitbit account.
Another approach is where someone else tracks your activity for you and then compares it against said data. AJournal of Experimental Biology study, found that using accelerometers (worn by mice) rather than wristbands can significantly reduce movement activity when compared to an accelerometer worn on someone’s body (which works like a pedometer but measures movement rather than steps taken). This method works because both devices always record motion, every moment of which gets compared against one another. And because both devices measure movement (and not step counting), they can differentiate between different kinds of activity, including walking and running (where step counting would be flat-out wrong) and rest periods and other types of non-movement.
If you are taking weight-loss seriously, you need to eat less than you burn. This is a relatively simple but essential fact about dieting. However, many other things can increase your metabolic rate, whether through exercise or simply stress (hello, exoskeletons).
This works because the more calories you consume, the higher your metabolism gets and the less likely you are to burn them off.