Nicky Cayan: PROTEIN AND PEPTIDES

Nicholas Cayan, better known on TikTok as @nicky_glp1wellness, joined me for this episode to talk about how GLP-1 medications helped him lose weight and gain muscle.

Yes, gain it.

When I first stepped into this space, there were a lot of questions with few answers. One of the loudest was, Is muscle loss inevitable? And when singer Avery shared that she developed osteoporosis and osteopenia after 1 year on Ozempic, it dialed the drama to max.

Spoiler alert: that story had layers far beyond the medication itself. Let me know your thoughts in the comments.

People like Nicky give the rest of us a reason to exhale. His TikToks aren’t just progress updates, they’re proof that some muscle loss is expected with any weight loss, but it’s not inevitable in a harmful way.

Pair GLP-1 therapy with enough protein, consistent resistance training, and patience, and you can preserve muscle strength, and often even improve it, though individual results vary and the research is still evolving.

Protein, Peptides, and Purpose

Nicky’s journey started with his doctor literally telling him, that he couldn’t believe he was alive.

“…and he’s like, oh my God, I can’t believe you’re alive. And I’m like, why? He’s like, your A1C is ridiculous. And I was like, oh, like I knew it was gonna be high, but I was like, like how high?

And so he’s like, your A1C is like, I think he said it was a 12.3, 12.5. And I was like, oh, that’s not too high. He’s like, you’re supposed to be under six. And I’m like, oh, well then yeah, that’s kind of high.”

In the beginning, when Nicky went looking for guidance, he found a gap big enough to drive a truck through. Most of the creators he saw online were already deep into maintenance or women whose experiences, like lady cycles, side effects, even appetite patterns, didn’t line up with his own.

So he made a decision that changed everything: he’d start documenting his own journey.

At first he could barely stand the idea of taking selfies. He eased in with bathroom-and-gym mirror shots, half-torso only, because full-body pics felt like too much.

Months later, scrolling back, he realized his camera roll had quietly shifted: “When did I start taking full-body selfies?” Confidence had crept in, one rep and one snapshot at a time.

Nicky’s feed is a time capsule of consistency. You can literally scroll back through his videos and watch the change happen in real time.

His hope is to inspire, educate, and motivate:

“Prior to my journey, I was eating fast food every single meal… two, three, sometimes four times a day because I was just hungry. Now I spend it on protein powder and peptides.”

This line landed and I knew what I had to do next.

The Studio Shop is officially open! You can grab your GLP-1 apparel and help support my independent advocacy, this podcast, and Nickaaayyy himself. The Protein & Peptides T-shirt and hat, inspired by this episode, are available below or on TikTok Shop, where you can even get a refundable sample!

The Protein and Peptides tank and hat are a nod to that exact moment. But my favorite part? The inner tag reads GLP-1 Studio Season 2 | Episode 7, marking where this quote was first said.

On Stigma and Strength

Nicky didn’t just share his strengths, he also shared his experience with the mental aspect “that people don’t really talk about.”

“Nobody talks about the mental part,” he said. “Everyone talks about the weight, the snacks, the numbers… but the emotions are a whole different thing. You could make a whole podcast just about that.”

He talked about how hard it can be to accept compliments now, how he never got them before, and he doesn’t know how to feel.

“I feel a little awkward,” he said. “I’m not used to compliments. It brings back childhood stuff. I just say thank you, but I don’t really know what to do with it.”

That moment reminded me of something Dr. Angela Tran sh