Would taking a weight loss medication work for you?

It is not uncommon to see Fatima Cody Stanford with patients who have tried dozens of different diets and workouts over the years, but have found that the needle on the scale won't budge, or if it does, it won't hold.

"Unfortunately, we have the notion that diet and exercise solve obesity," says Stanford, M.D., a physician scientist in obesity medicine at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston and associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School.

But for many people, it's much more complicated than that.

Everything from genetics, stress, co-morbidities and age can make it difficult to get rid of extra pounds. And when diet and exercise don't work, a prescription can help.

A new generation of medications is helping some people who are obese (defined as a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or more) lose more weight and, in turn, reverse other obesity-related health conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and sleep apnea.

Experts say the potential for these drugs could be dramatic and far-reaching, given that more than 40 percent of U.S. adults are obese and the burden on the health care system is $173 billion a year. Obesity is even more common among adults age 60 and older, affecting about 43 percent of the elderly population.

Here's what you need to know about weight loss medications and whether you should talk to your doctor to see if such a medication is right for you.

There is a new generation of drugs

Several prescription drugs have been approved for long-term use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat obesity. But it's the class of injectable drugs that mimic the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) that has "generated a lot of enthusiasm," says Dina Griaudde, MD, associate professor of internal medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and internist at VA Ann Arbor Health System. And that's because they can be about twice as effective as some of the older drugs on the market."

For example, people using hemaglutide (trade name Wegovy), which is one of the newer GLP-1 drugs, lose about 15 percent of their body weight over several months on average -- that's about 30 pounds for a 200-pound person. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, losing just 5 to 10 percent of body weight can improve blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar.

Semaglutide also helps lower blood sugar levels, which is why it and liraglutide (trade name Saxenda), another GLP-1 drug approved by the FDA for weight loss, have been used to treat type 2 diabetes for years.

Another GLP-1 drug, known as tirzepatide, has not yet been approved by the FDA for the treatment of obesity, but like liraglutide and semaglutide, is an FDA-approved drug for the treatment of diabetes. A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine showed that participants lost an average of about 20 percent of their body weight in clinical trials.

However, it is important to note that these new drugs do not help everyone, and that some longer-acting weight-loss medications are still very effective in certain people.

"With all of these drugs, there's a wide variation in results," Griozde says. "We can never find a one-size-fits-all approach to treating obesity."

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