What Employee Behavior Reveals About GLP-1s and Sustainable Weight Management
Key Takeaways from Our April 2026 Webinar
GLP-1 medications have reshaped the conversation around obesity care and for good reason. Clinical trials show patients achieving average body weight reductions of 16-25% after roughly 18 months, results that were once only associated with bariatric surgery. But effective obesity care has never been just about the number on the scale. It's about making people healthier — and sometimes, that means addressing sleep, stress, or life circumstances before weight loss can even meaningfully begin.
How individuals are actually using GLP-1s today tells a complicated story that every HR and benefits leader should understand before making coverage and strategy decisions. These medications can be a powerful, effective tool. However, without the right support built around them, they're too often being used as a short-term fix rather than part of a sustainable, long-term approach to health.
On April 21st, we hosted a webinar with Dr. John Myers (Primary Care Physician, American Board of Obesity Medicine - certified, Baylor Scott & White Health), Dr. Casey Hughes (Behavioral Scientist, Baylor Scott & White Health) and Kevin Kumler (President and General Manager, Levanto) to dig into that story. Here's what we covered.
Obesity Is a Chronic Disease and Benefit Strategies are Evolving to Treat It That Way
For the first time since 2013, national obesity rates saw a slight decline in 2024 — a meaningful milestone, but not necessarily a turning point. Projections still point to continued increases through 2035, and even that recent dip masks significant geographic disparity. While rates fell nationally, rural obesity rates rose over the same period, a reminder that headline numbers don't tell the whole story for every population an employer may be serving.
The most important thing to understand is that obesity is not a willpower problem. It is a chronic, relapsing, multifactorial disease driven by biology, environment, and psychology. When people try to lose weight, the body actively works against them — metabolism slows, hunger signals intensify, and weight is regained even when the plan stays the same.
1 in 5 people with obesity has tried to lose weight 20 or more times unsuccessfully. That's approximately 22 million Americans who have experienced feelings of failure, shame, and guilt. Every one of those attempts leaves a psychological trace, reshaping how a person sees themselves, what they believe is possible, and how much hope they're willing to invest the next time they try. Benefit strategies that recognize this lived reality and build support around it are the ones positioned to drive real, lasting outcomes.
GLP-1s Create a Real Window, But Not a Permanent One
GLP-1 medications are genuinely effective. They act on appetite centers in the brain and gut, reduce "food noise," which are those constant cravings and hunger that make behavior change so hard and produce an average of approximately 16% - 25% (at maximum dose) total body weight loss.
GLP-1s also create a window of reduced behavioral friction. They make lifestyle change easier. They don't make it permanent. And when stopped, weight regain is rapid.
That matters a lot given what our survey data shows about how employees are really using these medications.
What Our Survey Data Reveals
We surveyed individuals currently using GLP-1s to understand their behaviors and plans. A few findings stood out:
Most are getting prescriptions from their primary care provider. 54% received their GLP-1 through their PCP, which is more than any other source. This means programs that aren't integrated with primary care are missing the primary point of clinical contact for most employees.
Most plan to stop when they hit a goal weight. 52% plan to discontinue once they reach their target, treating GLP-1s as a finite intervention rather than an ongoing management tool. This is consistent with a 2025 JAMA study finding 50–70% stop taking within a year. Weight regain after stopping is well-documented, and reinitiation cycles create high spend without durable health outcomes.
67% have or are currently taking a compounded GLP-1. Cost and supply issues are driving employees toward compounded options outside of employer-sponsored programs. These can be clinically effective but require oversight and employers often have no visibility into them.
Employees are open to digital support. Many respondents had previously tried WeightWatchers and Noom, and identified accountability, educational content, and personalized tracking as the areas where digital tools add the most value. Demand for support is there. The question is whether the support being offered meets people where they are.
What a Better Strategy Looks Like
Based on the clinical evidence and our own program outcomes, we see four strategies that separate effective obesity care from high-spend, low-outcome approaches:
Personalize at every step. Assess beyond the scale — goals, body composition, metabolic markers, and motivation. Some people need medication plus behavioral support. Others do well with coaching alone. Nothing should be cookie-cutter.
Integrate care teams. Clinical oversight, primary care connection, health coaching, and dietitian support should work together, not in silos. Fragmented records and PCPs who are unaware of prescriptions are a real and growing problem.
Embed behavioral science. It takes an average of 66 days to form a simple habit, and real behavioral support goes far beyond health education modules or generic nudges. True behavioral science means diagnosing each person's unique barriers and designing the experience around them. When we did that in our Healthy Weight program, attendance of 4+ coaching sessions increased by 86%.
Choose a partner who can navigate a changing landscape. Brand-name GLP-1 costs are coming down. Compounding rules continue to evolve. New medications are entering the market. A strategy that made sense 18 months ago may already be outdated. Personalization and clinical flexibility are the north star.
The Bottom Line
Obesity is a chronic condition. GLP-1s are a powerful tool — but a tool, not a solution on their own. The data from our survey makes clear that without behavioral support, care integration, and a long-term plan, even well-intentioned benefits strategies risk producing high spend without durable outcomes.
The good news is that employees are open to support. They are already seeking it out. The opportunity for benefits leaders is to meet them with something that actually works.
Want to learn more about Levanto's Healthy Weight program? Get a demo to discover how Healthy Weight helps people lose weight safely and sustainably with expert-guided care built around them.
