A 2023 Australian study reported in JAMA shows that Australians experience significant weight gain during Christmas, New Year, and Easter. As more Australians turn to Wegovy® (or its semaglutide counterpart, Ozempic, for diabetes) to assist with weight loss, it’s essential for GPs to support their patients in navigating Christmas eating on semaglutide. With the holiday season bringing unique challenges, GPs can play a key role in helping their patients manage their diet, maintain correct dosing, and stay on track with their health goals. Below, Mr Winnett offers tips about correct dosing, reinforcing healthy eating habits, and ensuring patients are well-prepared before the Christmas shutdown. 

Beware of dosage issues with Semaglutide

Pharmaceutical Defence Limited (PDL), Australia’s national pharmacy body, recently reported that several patients were accidentally supplied with the incorrect dosage during the new rollout of Wegovy®. This resulted in some patients receiving four times the intended dose. 

GPs can read about Wegovy® injection and dosages by reading NPS information about Wegovy® here. 

They can also encourage new Wegovy® patients: 

• To use the medicine once a week and if possible, on the same day each week. 
• Those injections can be administered any time of day – regardless of meals. 
• The specific day of the weekly injection can be changed as long as it is three days since the last injection. 

GPs should also always ask about: 

• The patient’s allergy history, including any reactions to medicines, food preservatives, or dyes.
• Whether the patient is pregnant, breastfeeding, or planning a pregnancy.
• The injection sites for the medication – patients should inject in the fatty areas of the upper legs, arms, or stomach, and avoid veins or muscles.
• Ensuring the patient has a sufficient supply of medication, particularly during the Christmas shutdown.

“Whilst sudden stopping of the drug may not have severe side effects, it can increase the likelihood of rebound eating, and titrating down is recommended. Ensuring patients are up to date on scripts during Christmas closures is important too,” says Mr Winnett.

The Impact of Alcohol on Semaglutide

“Heavy drinking combined with semaglutide can significantly increase the likelihood of pancreatitis and reduce the effectiveness of the medication,” says Mr Winnett. “Patients on Wegovy® should limit alcohol consumption to one standard alcoholic drink (for women) or two (for men) in one sitting. Three or four alcohol-free days a week is advised, and staying hydrated is extremely important.” Mr Winnett says many patients go to events with the alcohol-free drinks now available in most supermarkets, which they have after their first alcoholic drink. 

Mr Winnett’s additional helpful tips for drinking include:

• Sipping soda from a wine glass.
• Emptying the glass before topping it up.
• Encouraging patients to cover their wine glass or shake their heads when a zealous host attempts to refill it.
• Downsizing to smaller (125 ml) wine glasses instead of large (250 ml) ones.
• Consuming food while drinking alcohol to help reduce gastrointestinal side effects.

Navigating the buffet wisely

“Encourage patients to use small plates at the buffet, not regular-sized plates,” says Ashleigh Gale, Winnett Specialist Group Dietitian. She adds a few more tips to help with festive eating –

• Opt for a green leafy “Greek salad” with a small amount of feta, baked sweet potato, and quinoa, instead of filling up on white bread, pasta, or potato salads.
• Choose lemon or vinaigrette dressings with a small amount of extra virgin olive oil, rather than creamy mayonnaise-based dressings for your salads.
• Select low-GI fresh fruits like apples, berries, and oranges, instead of cakes, biscuits, or high-GI fruits like rockmelon, pineapple, or watermelon.
• Prefer fresh peeled prawns and grilled seafood over sausages, fatty cuts of meat, or cured meats.

Healthier snacks alternatives for Christmas 

Another great way for people to keep their diet consistently healthy this holiday, is by preparing a good few options before the desire kicks in. This way, they’ll have a few options to choose from, and all of them will be healthy ones. 

Good festive season snack options include –

• Veggies and hummus 
• Carrot sticks, cucumber slices and capsicum 
• A cup of zucchini noodles tossed with 4 cut cherry tomatoes, a handful of chopped basil and 2 tablespoons of parmesan 
• 6 apple slices with a tablespoon of peanut butter 
• 2 hard-boiled eggs 
• 2 whole grain crackers topped with ½ avocado

Treat Christmas as one DAY, not one month. 

“The ‘holiday’ season isn’t just Christmas to New Year week, it’s endless work parties, school end-of-year events, with eating opportunities almost everywhere we go from the beginning of December,” says Georgie Beames, Psychologist with the Winnett Specialist Group. 

“But because there is constantly food in front of us, and because there’s social pressure to join the party, this creates a perfect storm for consuming unwanted kilojoules in the form of both food and drink. That’s why it’s so important for your patients not to give themselves a blanket excuse to eat from the first of December to the first of January because ‘it’s the holidays’. This is an all-or-nothing mindset that we want to address”. 

Georgie says that maintaining structure and routine at this time is critical. “Encourage patients to consciously diarise one or two days a week when they can have a little indulgence and enjoy themselves, but otherwise try to maintain their regular goals for the rest of the period.” 

Happy, healthy holidays 

At Winnett Specialist Group, we take a collaborative, holistic approach to weight loss support, offering expert advice from surgeons, psychologists, and dietitians to help patients achieve lasting results. We’re also here to engage with health professionals and provide resources to further improve patient care. If you’d like to discuss how we can support you and your patients, please don’t hesitate to reach out.  For more information please visit our website or call (03) 9417 1555.

 

Mr Jason Winnett 

Laparoscopic and Bariatric Surgeon 

P (03) 9417 1555 admin@winnettspecialistgroup.com.au 

www.winnettspecialistgroup.com.au 

Queens Terrace, 382 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne 3002 

Georgie Beames

Psychologist

P (03) 9417 1555 admin@winnettspecialistgroup.com.au 

www.winnettspecialistgroup.com.au 

Queens Terrace, 382 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne 3002 

Ashleigh Gale 

Dietitian

P (03) 9417 1555 admin@winnettspecialistgroup.com.au 

www.winnettspecialistgroup.com.au 

Queens Terrace, 382 Victoria Parade, East Melbourne 3002 

 

Sources: 

• Weekly, Seasonal, and Festive Period Weight Gain Among Australian Adults | Nutrition, Obesity, Exercise | JAMA Network Open 2023 | JAMA Network 
• You Quit Ozempic or Wegovy. What Happens Next? | Scientific American 
• NEJM 2000, A prospective study of holiday weight gain, NEJM 
• BMJ 2018: Effectiveness of a brief behavioural intervention to prevent weight gain over the Christmas holiday period: randomised controlled trial