Fueling the Run: What GLP-1 Users Need to Know

For this week’s Set the Pace, NYRR’s Gordon Bakoulis—Coach Gordon to many–steps in to host the show while Rob and Becs are away. Gordon sits down with Heidi Skolnik, a sports nutritionist and exercise physiologist who is also a member of the NYRR Medical Advisory Council, to discuss her newest book, “Your GLP-1 Game Plan: What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About How to Eat, Move, and Thrive on Weight Loss Medication,” out September 22. Heidi has worked with the New York Giants, Mets, and Knicks, and spent 30 years at the Women's Sports Medicine Center at Hospital for Special Surgery. She explains how these medications can affect appetite, hydration, and fueling—and why runners need to be especially intentional about meeting their nutritional needs. She also addresses common misconceptions and stigma surrounding obesity, body size, and weight-loss medications, emphasizing that health and movement are about much more than weight. Heidi and Gordon discuss how coaches can support runners during workouts, whether the goal is training for a marathon or simply wanting to move more.

You can find Your GLP-1 Game Plan: What Your Doctor Didn't Tell You About How to Eat, Move, and Thrive on Weight Loss Medication, on Amazon

0:00 Cold Open
0:23 Welcome: Becs at CCC, Rob at the Sydney Marathon
1:11 Why We're Talking About GLP-1s and Running
3:28 Meet Heidi Skolnik
4:28 Why She Wrote This Book
6:20 Watching Her Husband Become Malnourished
8:39 What Is a GLP-1 and How Does It Work?
9:41 Food Noise Explained
10:34 Obesity Is Not a Willpower Problem
13:00 "Obesity Is Not About the Size of Your Body"
14:26 Why Dieting Backfires: Hunger Hormones and Starvation Mode
15:40 Beyond Weight Loss: Heart, Kidney, Sleep Apnea, Addiction
17:33 Are Runners on GLP-1s Underfueling?
18:52 The Medication Doesn't Cause the Weight Loss
19:32 What Trainers Are Seeing, and How to Split Your Meals
22:11 Exercise, Appetite, and Why Your Thirst Drops Too
24:10 Can You Train for a Marathon on a GLP-1?
26:12 Do Coaches Ask About Medication?
28:55 You Can't Tell Who's Underfueled by Looking
32:06 Timing Your Runs Around Your Injection
34:58 What the Medication Can't Do for Your VO2 Max
36:30 "Motion Is Lotion, Exercise Is Medicine"
37:45 Exerkines: Your Muscles Are Movers and Talkers
41:28 The Shame Around Body Size and Weight Loss Drugs
46:50 Where Is This All Going?
49:10 Marketing GLP-1s to Cheerleaders?
51:20 Is Muscle Loss on GLP-1s Overstated?
53:14 Closing

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