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GLP-1s do far more than slow your stomach. In Part 3, Dr Federica Amati of ZOE explains what these drugs ask of your liver, gallbladder and pancreas, why a short preparation phase before you start can help, and why dehydration is easy to miss. Then the question at the centre of this series: women tend to lose more weight on GLP-1s than men, and seem to get more side effects, and the reasons are not yet settled. We finish on muscle and bone, why resistance training is the biggest lever you have, and why muscle loss in perimenopause is not a given.

KEY TOPICS

The liver's central role, and why fatty liver disease so often goes undiagnosed

Why preparing for a few weeks before you start can help

Gallstones, the pancreas, kidney stones and hydration

Why women tend to lose more weight than men, and the open question of why

Whether the trials were designed around men

Why gut side effects appear more common in women

Muscle, lean mass and what happens in the first months

Resistance training as the biggest protective lever, and why bone matters more for women

Perimenopause: why muscle loss is not inevitable

The one thing to know before your first injection

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Introduction

2:05 The liver: the organ doing the heavy lifting

6:05 Why you prepare before you start

7:05 Gallbladder and pancreas

8:45 Kidney stones, thirst and dehydration

10:25 Why women lose more weight than men

11:35 Were the trials designed around men?

13:35 Side effects in women

15:05 Muscle, lean mass and the first three months

19:05 Bone density, and why it matters more for women

20:45 Perimenopause: muscle loss isn't a given

23:45 The one thing your GP may not tell you

24:50 Coming up in Part 4

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED

The Appetite Reset, Dr Federica Amati (Penguin Michael Joseph, 2026)

Fatty liver disease (now called MASLD, previously NAFLD)

GUEST LINKS

Website: https://federicaamati.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.fede.amati/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-fede-amati/

ZOE: https://zoe.com/en-gb?utm_medium=press&utm_source=website&utm_campaign=UK_app

ZOE Daily30: https://zoe.com/en-gb/daily30?utm_medium=press&utm_source=daily30&utm_campaign=UK_daily30

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. GLP-1 medications should only be used under qualified medical supervision. If you are considering starting, stopping or changing one, speak to a doctor who knows your full medical history.

Insta/TikTok: @BiohackingEve
Website: www.BiohackingEve.com

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Hunger is not one feeling. In Part 2, Dr Federica Amati of ZOE maps appetite as a four-stage system, from the moment you smell food to the fibre still feeding your gut microbes hours later, and shows where GLP-1 drugs act on it. She explains what food noise is and is not, why psychological support belongs alongside these medicines, and how leptin resistance can leave someone feeling starved in a body with plenty of stored energy. We also cover why eating very little can stall weight loss, what a plateau is, and how the next generation of drugs differs from the first.

KEY TOPICS

Full versus satiated: the four stages of appetite (head, stomach, small intestine, colon)

Why the fibre-fed colon stage is the one most of us miss

Why diet culture works against these drugs

Food noise: what it is, and how it differs from loving food

Why psychological support is an essential part of treatment

Leptin resistance and the body's drive to return to its set point

Very low calorie intake, metabolic adaptation and plateaus

Switching between drugs, and why slow increases and decreases in dose matter

Why cycle syncing the dose does not hold up for this group

What makes second and third-generation drugs different

TIMESTAMPS

0:00 Introduction

2:05 Full versus satiated: the four stages of appetite

9:30 Why diet culture works against these drugs

11:40 Food noise, and what it is not

15:00 Why psychological support matters

17:00 Leptin resistance: starving in a body full of energy

21:40 Eating very little, and weight-loss plateaus

24:20 Breaking a plateau, and the lowest effective dose

26:40 Switching between drugs

27:40 Cycle syncing: does it apply here?

30:40 What makes the next generation of drugs different

32:35 Coming up in Part 3

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED

The Appetite Reset, Dr Federica Amati (Penguin Michael Joseph, 2026)

Gut hormones discussed: GLP-1, PYY and GIP

Drugs discussed: Ozempic and Wegovy (semaglutide), Mounjaro (tirzepatide)

GUEST LINKS

Website: https://federicaamati.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.fede.amati/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-fede-amati/

ZOE: https://zoe.com/en-gb?utm_medium=press&utm_source=website&utm_campaign=UK_app

ZOE Daily30: https://zoe.com/en-gb/daily30?utm_medium=press&utm_source=daily30&utm_campaign=UK_daily30

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. GLP-1 medications should only be used under qualified medical supervision. If you are considering starting, stopping or changing one, speak to a doctor who knows your full medical history.

Insta/TikTok: @BiohackingEve
Website: www.BiohackingEve.com

Send us Fan Mail

What do GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro actually do? In Part 1 of this four-part series, Dr Federica Amati, Head Nutritionist at ZOE and author of The Appetite Reset, explains why 'appetite suppressant' is the wrong way to think about them. They amplify a fullness signal your own gut already makes, holding it for about a week rather than a couple of minutes. From there she takes apart the willpower story: how the brain's hunger centre is wired differently from person to person, how genetics and influences before birth shape it, and why that matters for anyone deciding whether to start, or stay on, one of these drugs.

KEY TOPICS
- Why these are effective medicines, and why so many people are set up to waste them
- Why so many people stop taking them, and what usually goes wrong
- Sarcopenic obesity: losing fat without keeping strength
- How GLP-1 drugs amplify the body's own satiety signal
- Why 'natural Ozempic' supplements cannot copy the drug
- The hypothalamus, genetics and why obesity is not a question of willpower
- Whether GLP-1s may be lifelong for some people
- Pregnancy, and why these drugs are not for women trying to conceive
- Transgenerational influences: the Dutch Hunger Winter and endocrine-disrupting chemicals

TIMESTAMPS
These are estimates and may shift in final editing.
0:00 Introduction
1:45 The opportunity being squandered
4:05 Why so many people stop
6:45 Sarcopenic obesity and who is most at risk
7:45 Not an appetite suppressant: the system these drugs amplify
10:05 Why 'natural Ozempic' supplements can't copy the drug
11:45 Brain wiring, and why obesity is not about willpower
14:35 Are GLP-1s lifelong for some people?
17:05 Pregnancy and the 'Ozempic babies'
19:45 Over a hundred genes: why siblings can differ
22:35 The Dutch Hunger Winter and endocrine disruptors
24:10 Coming up in Part 2

REFERENCES AND RESOURCES MENTIONED
- The Appetite Reset, Dr Federica Amati (Penguin Michael Joseph, 2026)
- Professor Giles Yeo, research on the genetics of obesity
- Professor Lucilla Poston, research on GLP-1 exposure in pregnancy
- Dutch Hunger Winter cohort studies

GUEST LINKS
- Website: https://federicaamati.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dr.fede.amati/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dr-fede-amati/
- ZOE:
https://zoe.com/en-gb?utm_medium=press&utm_source=website&utm_campaign=UK_app
- ZOE Daily30:
https://zoe.com/en-gb/daily30?utm_medium=press&utm_source=daily30&utm_campaign=UK_daily30

This episode is for educational purposes only and is not medical advice. GLP-1 medications should only be used under qualified medical supervision. If you are considering starting, stopping or changing one, speak to a doctor who knows your full medical history.

Insta/TikTok: @BiohackingEve
Website: www.BiohackingEve.com