Strength and nutrition coaching on GLP-1 medication, in BC and online
GLP-1 Support is a coaching program for people taking Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro or Zepbound: 12 weeks in person in Port Coquitlam, BC, or 14 weeks online. JD Botezelli PhD sets your protein, your strength training and your monthly lean-mass check-ins around your treatment, with the aim of losing fat while keeping the muscle you have. It costs $849.99 CAD + tax, with a payment plan at checkout. It works alongside your prescribing clinician's care and never replaces it.
Why muscle is the risk on a GLP-1
These medications quiet appetite very well. That is how they work, and it is also how they cut protein: someone who ate 110 g of protein a day before starting can drift to 50 or 60 g without noticing.
Put a large, fast calorie deficit together with low protein and no resistance training, and anyone loses muscle, medicated or not. In the body-composition substudy of STEP 1, the trial behind semaglutide for weight loss, lean tissue made up roughly 35 to 40% of the weight lost, depending on the analysis.
Muscle also sets much of your resting calorie burn. Losing it while the weight comes off is the costliest mistake in a diet, on medication or off it.
How the program protects muscle
I write the plan around your treatment, your appetite and your strength, and I change it as they change.
Protein comes first
Week one sets a protein floor before anything else: usually 1.6 g per kg of body weight a day, split into three or four meals of 30 to 40 g, starting with a 30 g breakfast, because breakfast is the meal appetite suppression removes first. Hunger will not remind you on a GLP-1, so the schedule does. On a rough day a whey shake counts.
Protein fills you up even more on top of the medication, so the plan keeps carbohydrate in too. Otherwise it is easy to under-eat.
Strength training, two to three times a week
Progressive loading across a squat, a hinge, a push, a pull and a carry. Walking is good for you, but it does not give muscle the signal to stay. Your training block changes every four weeks.
We measure what is coming off
The scale cannot tell fat from muscle. In person, monthly lean-mass check-ins with bioimpedance show whether the weight coming off is fat, and if muscle is going with it, we usually slow the loss and raise protein before changing anything else. Your lifts are a second check: if your strength holds while the scale drops, the loss is mostly coming from the right place.
Online, photographs and measurements take the place of the scans, and you get up to two meal-plan adjustments as your weight changes.
Working alongside your prescribing clinician
Your prescriber manages the medication: the dose, the titration and the side effects. I manage what you eat and how you train around it, and I adjust the plan as your appetite and energy change.
I hold a PhD in Physiology, Endocrinology and Metabolism. I am not a physician, and I do not diagnose, treat or prescribe. Questions about the medication or its side effects go to your prescribing clinician, and when one comes up in coaching I will send you back to them.
One example: if the scale is falling faster than about 1% of your body weight a week and you cannot eat more, that is a conversation for your prescriber, never a reason to change the dose yourself.
If you plan to come off the medication, start early. In coaching, the exit work begins about 12 weeks before, and the taper itself is decided with your prescriber.
What GLP-1 Support includes
A separate program on the same base as Weight Well, with more adjustment because your weight is changing faster.
- Twelve weeks in person in Port Coquitlam, or fourteen weeks online
- In person: four bioimpedance assessments (initial, one month, two months, final) and indirect calorimetry
- Monthly lean-mass check-ins, so we can see whether the weight coming off is fat, and adjust if muscle is going with it
- Online: up to two meal-plan adjustments as your weight changes, instead of one
- A strength protocol to protect muscle during the cut
- Adjustments around changes in appetite and energy; medication and side-effect questions stay with your prescribing clinician
- Weekly reports reviewed by me, direct WhatsApp, replies within 24 business hours
Program price
$849.99 CAD + tax
Start GLP-1 Support Or book a free 20-minute callFull refund within seven days of purchase, if your program has not started.
Questions about coaching on a GLP-1
From the journal:
Will I lose muscle on Ozempic, Wegovy or Mounjaro?
You can. Weight tends to come off quickly on these medications, and muscle can go with it, especially with a large calorie deficit, low protein and no resistance training. In the body-composition substudy of the STEP 1 trial, lean tissue made up roughly 35 to 40% of the weight lost. Enough protein, progressive strength training and regular lean-mass checks are what protect it.
How much protein do I need on a GLP-1?
The usual starting floor is 1.6 g of protein per kg of body weight a day, split into three or four meals of 30 to 40 g. For someone who weighs 90 kg, that is about 145 g a day. Your own target is set from your assessment and adjusted as your weight changes.
Will you tell me what dose to take, or help with side effects?
No. The dose, the titration and the side effects belong with your prescribing clinician. I adjust your food and training around changes in appetite and energy, and I work alongside their plan, never instead of it.
How is GLP-1 Support different from Weight Well?
It is built on the same base, with more adjustment, because your weight is changing faster. In person it includes four bioimpedance assessments (initial, one month, two months, final), indirect calorimetry and monthly lean-mass check-ins. Online it gives you up to two meal-plan adjustments as your weight changes, instead of one.
Can I do the program online, or outside BC?
Yes. The online program runs 14 weeks and uses photographs and measurements in place of the in-person scans. Online clients work with me from across Canada, the US, Brazil and Europe.
What does GLP-1 Support cost?
$849.99 CAD + tax, with a payment plan at checkout. You get a full refund within seven days of purchase if your program has not started.
Want to talk it through first?
Book a free 20-minute call. Tell me which medication you are on, how long you have been on it and what has changed, and we can work out whether the program fits.