When it comes to GLP-1 medications, the questions people ask most often aren’t about the science — they’re about what it’s actually like. What does it feel like to start? What changes, and when? What happens when you reach your goal? In this conversation, Flow Wellness Medical Director Dr. Kevin Jones sits down with Bend Into Balance host Adriana Marino to answer exactly those questions — openly, and without the clinical distance that often makes these conversations harder than they need to be. From the history of GLP-1 medications to the reality of food noise, muscle preservation, and what long-term maintenance actually looks like, Dr. Jones shares what he’s seen in practice and what he’s experienced personally. If you’re considering GLP-1 treatment — or simply want to understand it better — this is a good place to start. This podcast has been edited to only include GLP-1 information.
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Podcast Summary
Introduction of Bend Into Balance GLP-1 Podcast
Hello, my name is Adriana Marino and I am host and producer of Bend Into Balance, powered by the Source. Today I am very happy to be accompanied by Dr. Kevin Jones. Dr. Jones began in emergency medicine before starting Flow Wellness here in Bend three years ago.
What Are GLP-1 Medications and How Did They Begin?
Can you tell us a little bit About Ozempic and GLP1s in general, how they began, how long they’ve been in the market? Because many of us think Ozempic as a household name, like just in a Couple years ago, but it’s actually been around since 2005 if I’m not taken. Or these type of drugs at least, Correct?
Yeah. They were first developed for diabetics to help manage blood sugar, which is something that Ozempic does do. And it was really an incidental side effect that people were losing weight while taking this medication. And the initial drugs, the one that were around in the early 2000s, you had to take either once or twice a day.
And so for weight loss, that’s not a very appealing thing. But for diabetics who rely on insulin, they’re used to doing daily shots, so it wasn’t a big thing for them to take those medications. And what really changed is when they were able to make the medication last last longer from daily to weekly, and then start looking at it just for the sole purpose of weight loss.
Weekly GLP-1 Medications and Newer Treatments
And the original medicine for that was called semaglutide, or semaglutide, also known as a ozempic. Okay. And then that just, you know, it just hit a tipping point where people realized it was effective and for the most part, safe with, you know, not, there are some side effects, but most people can manage them.
And now there’s newer medications like Tirzepatide, which is also called Mounjaro or Zepbound. There’s pills now available where you don’t even have to do the shots. And then there’s even newer medicines out there that are approaching, like, what the level of bariatric surgery is for weight loss. And so it’s just a real exciting field to be part of and see where it’s going.
Why Obesity Treatment Matters
Wow, it’s really grown fast in such little time. Yeah. I mean, the tragedy with obesity is that it affects so many parts of people’s, lives. You know, it’s linked with higher risk of heart disease, cancer, stroke, longevity. And there just wasn’t. There wasn’t a treatment for it. Yeah, you know, we would.
I mean, not so much in the ER, but primary care doctors would say, well, you know, exercise, more and eat better, but, you know, that, that only gets you to a point. And then with ultra processed food, it’s pretty hard to monitor calorie intake. And so we were, you know, even though people were trying, this is what I hear from a lot of the patients that I’ve treated.
You know, they’re doing their best, but just not getting where they want to go. Yeah. And also just at, middle age and getting older, you know, your body slows down. So for a Lot of people that were at a healthy weight. That changes over time. And now we have this medication that can help people get to where they want to be and feel like themselves again.
It’s really phenomenal.
A Real-World Example of Severe Obesity
Yeah. This reminds me of in my past, I was a filmmaker and I did a, one hour special for National Geographic on obesity. And I went to Monterey, Mexico, and I met at that time the world’s largest man. His name was Uribe, Miguel Uribe.
And he got the Guinness Book of. He got the Guinness record of being the heaviest man. And he was at almost 600 kilos, which is close. I’d have to do the math, but I think that’s over £1,200. And when I met him, he had been living on a mattress for the last 13 years.
And on that mattress he had to do everything, all his bodily functions. He could not get up from that mattress. And he had been literally bedridden for 13 years. And if he wanted to see the sun and get out, they had to transfer that mattress to the back of a pickup truck, and then they would drive him through town and he would just kind of be exposed to the sun and, you know, of course to the city.
He was obviously well known. You know, a lot of people went to go visit him. Anyways, he sadly passed away a couple of years later, but I don’t think he reached. I think he died around close to 40, if I’m not mistaken. He was probably in his late 30s when I met him. But it was a very impactful experience to see him, just really glued to that mattress.
And knowing that he had been there for 13 years was very hard to conceive.
Who Is Eligible for GLP-1 Medications?
So that brings me, you know, to the need of why these drugs could be useful because he was unable to lose any weight. Can you tell us, you know, when a patient comes to you, like, what are the factors that you’re keeping in consideration is to.
As to why this patient should be eligible or not to take these new medications? Yeah, that’s a great question. There are criteria which we based off the body mass index, which is a calculation based on your height and weight, and then also factoring in, other risk factors, mainly for heart disease, like does that person have diabetes or high blood pressure or bad cholesterol or a family history of heart disease.
And so those are the kind of traditional things that we look at for GLP1 medications.
Non-Traditional Uses of GLP-1 Medications
We are seeing it used a lot more commonly now for other conditions. Mainly in the longevity space. There was a large study that showed semaglutide, which is the original weight loss medication, had a 15% drop in all cause mortality for people who took it over a study period.
And so people are looking at this, say, hey, I can actually use this medication, help live longer. There was a large study looking at it for dementia which didn’t really pan out. So that’s still up in the air. Okay. We’ve also had patients use it for inflammation like pro inflammatory states of the body.
And you know, fat cells are pro inflammatory. And so if you can lose weight, you can decrease that inflammation.
BMI, Weight Loss, and Inflammation
Sure. And so we have, we have the traditional things which is just truly excess weight like a BMI. Over 30, whereas over 25 is considered obese.
Right. Or over 25 is considered overweight, over 30 is obese. And then also folks that are looking at it for kind of what we consider like non traditional, treatments as well.
GLP-1 Medications and Fertility
Okay. And non traditional treatments would be like what, like the inflammation components. Fertility.
Like we’ve had folks become pregnant after losing weight because you know, being overweight is not, that doesn’t put your body in the healthiest state to have children. Yeah.
GLP-1s and Emerging Research
And there’s a recent New York Times article about someone using it for a head injury, which is new to me.
I hadn’t heard of that, but who had a severe concussion and actually found getting on a GLP1 medication helped their concussion symptoms. So in the news right now, there’s just a little bit of everything that you’re hearing about how GLP1 is going to help and maybe not all of that is 100% accurate. It’s going to be backed up by study data.
But we are seeing a lot of benefit for things that we didn’t even know about.
Who Is Seeking GLP-1 Treatment?
Okay. And the patients that come to see you here, in general, what are, in what category do they fall in like the non traditional or more just weight loss Looking for longevity benefits.
What do you. It’s really a mix of both, I would say on average an older population for the most part. We’re mostly seeing people 40s, 50s and even a handful of 60s, 70s, and the middle aged folks are really what I hear over and over again is I was doing fine, I’m eating right, I’m exercising, you know, I live in Bend, I get out that sort of thing.
But I, I just, the pounds just keep on getting adding on. And that’s, it’s so true. I mean it’s statistically shown in middle age, people gain on average, you know, roughly a pound a year. What no matter how hard you’re trying is your body’s just slowing down and, you know, eventually gets. That affects, people either their exercise tolerance goes down, they have a health concern, maybe, you know, that health scare of some sort, and they want to get healthier.
And so what we’re seeing is folks that, you know, are hitting that point where, like, I’ve heard of this treatment, I. I know I’m getting worse. I’ve done everything I can to get better. Like, would this work for me?
When GLP-1 Medications May Not Be Appropriate
Sure. Are there any red flags that you look for where you think that the drug is not compatible for that person?
I mean, the, the biggest thing we’d screen for is something called body dysmorphic disorder, which is, you know, people who are already very thin who want to become more thin. Sure. And that’s pretty obvious when they walk in the door and they don’t or what, you know, their BMI is. And surprisingly that’s very uncommon. Like, I can count on one hand how many people I’ve seen personally that, you know, I’m just like, this isn’t a healthy situation for you.
Yeah. We do have to be careful with folks looking at like, the inflammation benefits, that they don’t lose too much weight because if we’re treating something else, but the main effect is weight loss, and we don’t want them to get unhealthy.
Tracking Body Composition and Visceral Fat
And that’s something we actually track with the body composition scans. We can look at their muscle mass, their fat mass.
You know, big buzzword right now in health is visceral fat, the fat that’s around your organs because that’s considered more dangerous for heart disease. And so we can track that and see if it’s getting better. And so people are looking at that, well, how do I improve my visceral fat? Whether that’s with GLP1 or something else.
