1. Put Protein First to Protect Muscle

When you start Ozempic or Wegovy, your appetite changes fast. That's the point of the medication. What nobody tells you is how hard it is to get full nutrition out of much less food. Most people just eat smaller portions of what they ate before, and that leaves real gaps.

Ordinary diet advice assumes you're eating a normal amount, just a bit less of it. On a GLP-1 medication, you need a different plan. Below are seven strategies we built The GLP-1 Protocol around, aimed at keeping you strong and well fed while you're on the medication.

The biggest risk is losing muscle along with fat. The medication makes all food less appealing, protein included, so protein is the thing to protect.

Protein does three jobs when you're eating less: it helps preserve muscle, it keeps you full longer, and your body spends more energy digesting it than it does fat or carbs.

We aim for about 90 grams of protein a day, even when calories are low. On a small appetite, that takes planning.

  • Get some protein into every meal, even when the meal is small.
  • Choose dense sources: eggs, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, salmon, chicken breast, lean beef, or tempeh if you eat plant-based.
  • If whole food fills you up too fast, a shake can help. Our GLP-1 Vanilla Protein Shake has 17 grams of protein and 3 grams of fiber per serving, which makes the daily number easier to reach without feeling overfull.

On a GLP-1 medication, protein is the base that keeps weight loss from turning into muscle loss.

2. Build Each Meal Around Protein, Fiber and Fat

Beyond protein, what's on the rest of the plate matters when your fullness signals are already turned up.

The medication makes you feel full sooner. That helps you stop overeating, but it also means a poorly built meal can leave you short on nutrition before you notice. A simple order works well:

  • Protein first, so it gets eaten before you're full.
  • Fiber next, from vegetables, legumes or seeds.
  • Some healthy fat, which slows digestion and makes a small meal more satisfying.
  • Slower carbohydrates last, such as sweet potato, legumes or oats.

That balance helps keep blood sugar steady and fullness lasting. A meal that's nearly all protein with almost no fiber can fill you up fast but leave digestion unhappy.

A typical plate: grilled salmon, roasted Brussels sprouts and a small scoop of quinoa. For dinner, we aim for 30 to 40 grams of protein from lean protein and non-starchy vegetables.

Pick three meal templates that fit this pattern and rotate them. It saves you a decision every day.

3. Pre-Portion Your Meals

When you're eating much less, every portion needs to be chosen. Eating whatever's convenient rarely gives you the nutrition you need.

Fewer calories leave less room for vitamins, minerals and protein. A gap that lasts a couple of weeks, in iron or B12 for example, can show up as fatigue.

Pre-portioning helps in two ways. It takes the decision away at mealtime, when you may not feel like eating at all. And it means each portion was planned to carry the protein you need.

  • Cook a few protein sources and roast a few vegetables once a week, then portion them into containers.
  • Use a food scale for the first couple of weeks to learn what a portion looks like, then estimate.
  • Jot down protein, fiber and calories per meal for a while. Gaps show up quickly.

If you'd rather skip the prep, our weekly bundle covers breakfast, a snack and lunch every day, ready to eat. Dinner is the one meal you make.

4. Choose Fiber-Rich Foods for Fullness and Digestion

Fiber helps you feel full without feeling stuffed. Soluble fiber slows digestion, and fermentable fiber feeds the gut bacteria that produce short-chain fatty acids, which prompt your gut to release GLP-1.

Our daily target is about 30 grams of fermentable fiber. Fiber does more than keep you regular:

  • Fermentable fiber feeds beneficial gut bacteria.
  • Insoluble fiber keeps things moving, which matters when you're eating less.
  • Both help keep blood sugar steady, which cuts down on energy dips that send you looking for food.

Add fiber gradually over the first week. Jumping up overnight brings bloating that makes eating feel worse. Mild gas or bloating early on is normal and fades, and plenty of water helps.

Good fiber sources:

  • Vegetables: broccoli, spinach, Brussels sprouts
  • Legumes: lentils, chickpeas, black beans
  • Whole grains: oats, farro, brown rice
  • Seeds: ground flaxseed, chia seeds
  • Fruit: pears, avocado, raspberries

Count your fiber for three days. If you're well short, add one high-fiber food to each meal and build from there.

5. Eat the Foods That Prompt Your Own GLP-1

A lot of advice treats the medication as the whole plan and willpower as the rest. Food can do more than that.

Certain nutrients prompt your gut to release its own GLP-1. That doesn't replace the medication. It means your meals are working with your body instead of just filling space.

  • Protein prompts GLP-1 release directly.
  • Fermentable fiber feeds gut bacteria that make short-chain fatty acids, which also prompt GLP-1 release.
  • Fat slows digestion and prompts the same response.

That's why our food is built around protein, fermentable fiber and smart fats rather than around a list of supplements.

On your own, it can be as simple as ground flaxseed in yogurt, beans or lentils at lunch, and a protein-first dinner with vegetables and a little olive oil.

6. Track Body Composition Weekly

On a GLP-1 medication, the scale only tells part of the story. It can't tell you whether you're losing fat, muscle or water, and that's the question that matters.

A body-composition scale weighs you and estimates fat and lean mass. Checking weekly shows the trend without the noise of daily swings. If your weight is dropping fast but body fat isn't changing much, you may be losing muscle, and protein is the first thing to look at.

Worth tracking:

  • Body weight (weekly)
  • Body fat percentage (weekly or monthly)
  • Lean mass (monthly)
  • Progress photos (monthly)
  • How your clothes fit
  • Energy levels

The Hume Body Pod is a body-composition scale, and it's HSA/FSA eligible. It's included in our One Month Health Reset, which pairs it with weekly body-composition check-ins.

If you don't have a way to track body composition, set one up and check in on the same morning each week.

7. Use a Food System Built for This

Everything above works. Doing it all yourself, every day, is a lot: tracking protein, prepping meals, pacing your fiber. Most people don't fail because they don't understand the plan. They fail because the work wears them down.

That's why we built The GLP-1 Protocol. Here's what it is:

  • A weekly bundle of 7 Blueberry Muffins, 7 Chocolate Chip Cookies, 7 Meal Replacement Bars and 7 servings of Vanilla Protein Shake, covering breakfast, a snack and lunch.
  • About 70 grams of protein and about 30 grams of fiber a day from the bundle alone. Dinner, which you make, brings protein to about 90 grams.
  • Made in our own certified, dedicated gluten-free kitchen in Georgetown, Texas. Dairy-free, with no artificial ingredients, colors or preservatives.
  • Ready to eat, in portions that work on a small appetite.
  • The One Month Health Reset adds the Hume Body Pod and weekly body-composition check-ins.

The food works alongside your medication. Decisions about the medication itself belong with your doctor.

You can use these seven strategies on your own. If you'd rather have the daily structure handled, start with a weekly bundle. Subscriptions can be paused, skipped, swapped or cancelled.