August 8, 2025 • 34 mins
Get 10% off SymptoGuard to manage GLP‑1 side effects and stay consistent with your eating and training.
—
Are GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic secretly stalling your progress? Why are so many users quitting despite major weight loss?
I talk with Justin Silver, founder of SymptoGuard, who watched his father battle severe Ozempic side effects that nearly took his life. Justin shares the real reasons users struggle on GLP-1s and how these can derail your fitness and muscle goals even while losing weight. If you're taking or considering GLP-1s, this episode will help you manage side effects, protect your protein intake, and make the drugs actually work for you.
Today, you’ll learn all about:
0:00 – Intro
2:13 – Age, side effects, and body stress
4:49 – Justin’s father's Ozempic story
6:16 – What’s really causing the distress
8:23 – Lifestyle habits reduce symptoms
11:43 – Top 2 side effects that derail progress
14:15 – The problem with food noise
19:02 – What’s in SymptoGuard and why
21:57 – Clinical results: 50% less nausea
25:24 – GLP-1 trends: fewer injections, more side effects
28:44 – What doctors need to understand
33:32 – Where to learn more and get support
Episode resources:
- Visit witsandweights.com/symptoguard to learn more, view the ingredient label, etc.
- Instagram: @symptoguard and @thejustinsilver
- Facebook: @Symptoguard
- Youtube: @SymptoGuard
🎓 Join Physique University for just $27/mo + get a FREE custom nutrition plan with this special link: bit.ly/wwpu-free-plan
👥 Join our Facebook community for Q&As & support
👋 Ask a question or find me on Instagram
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:01):
One in seven Americans are now on GLP-1 drugs
like Ozempic and Wagovi, buthere's what doctors aren't
telling you Over half of usersquit within a year, and a third
of those quit because ofdifficult side effects that
disrupt their training, theirprotein intake and thus their
ability to maintain muscle masswhen trying to make the
necessary lifestyle changes.
(00:22):
In parallel, my guest todaywatched his father get
prescribed 19 different pillsjust to manage his ozempic side
effects, and that nightmaresparked him to identify ways to
manage them proactively.
You'll discover why nausea andfatigue from GLP-1s aren't just
uncomfortable but actively workagainst your health and fitness
goals, the clinical data behindsupplementation to help with
(00:44):
these side effects, and tips tostay consistent with your
routine and progress whiledealing with these medications.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday I'm very excited to be
(01:06):
discussing a topic that affectsmillions but gets very little
attention in the space, andthat's the impact of side
effects when taking GLP-1s andwhat you can do about it.
My guest is Justin Silver.
He's a serial entrepreneur,founder and CEO of SymptoGuard,
which he created after watchinghis father suffer through months
(01:27):
of debilitating side effectshospital trips from Ozempic Now.
Justin's background obviouslygives him a unique perspective
on both the business andpersonal sides of this huge
health trend, and he's here toshare what he's learned about
the real world impact of thesedrugs and what we can actually
do about it.
So today you're going to learnthe latest clinical research
(01:48):
about managing these effects,specific strategies to protect
your consistency, your training,your nutrition and thus, of
course, your muscle mass ifyou're taking or planning to
take these.
And, justin, I just want tothank you so much for coming on
the show.
Justin Silver (02:02):
Yeah, it's an honor to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm really excited to discussthis with you.
I think we have the opportunityto help millions of Americans
and I'm excited to do it.
Philip Pape (02:13):
So let's start right off with talking about
side effects and how big of anissue that is.
Like if you had to create a piechart of all the reasons people
maybe quit the drugs or haveissues with these, where would
side effects fit into that?
Justin Silver (02:25):
So side effect?
Someone already created the piechart.
Thankfully I don't need to bethat guy.
Side effects are the number tworeason that people stop taking
a GLP-1.
Number one is actually havingto do with injection frequency
both the fear, the frustrationand just having to deal with
needles, even the ones thatautomatically go in.
Injection frequency and fear isthe number one reason people
(02:49):
stop taking the GLP-1.
And side effects are a closenumber two.
They can have deep impact forpeople, especially the older you
get, the more the side effectstend to impact people.
So when you're talking aboutpeople in their 50s, 60s and 70s
for them is a truly pressingissue.
Philip Pape (03:08):
So let's talk about what they are, why it affects
people when they're older,because I do like those
demographic segments, because itkind of gives us sometimes an
insight into other things,because we do that all the time
when we talk about health,longevity, training and so on.
So tell us more about the sideeffects.
Which ones are the most common,perhaps?
Justin Silver (03:29):
and then why the age difference?
When it comes to people who areolder, they've often been in
the same way of doing things fordecades.
So if you suddenly are 25 or 30or 35, your ability and your
body's ability to change anddeal with eating less, you know
dealing with a different speedof your, you know the food
moving through digestive tract.
You're able to just deal withthat a little bit better.
(03:51):
Your body is more able to copewith those differences.
I liken it to pregnancy.
You know if a person in theirearly 20s gets pregnant, you
know they have that kid.
They walk out of the hospitalthe next day, assuming all goes
well.
But if you're 40 years old andyou're having a baby, regardless
of how successful or healthyyou are and how healthy the baby
(04:11):
is, it's still a big impact onyour body.
It's the same with GLP-1s, andso if you're losing 100 pounds
at 65 years old and you've spentthe past 35 years living a
relatively sedentary life andovereating constantly, the
impact is going to be much, muchbigger.
Philip Pape (04:30):
Yeah, so that makes sense, and I know you have a
personal story we alluded to inthe intro here with your father
that led to him taking a bunchof different medications to try
to deal with the side effectsand go to the hospital.
I'm wondering if that would bea good story to segue into.
What I'm curious about is theside effects, how they cascade
(04:52):
and what you learn from withyour father's experience?
Justin Silver (04:53):
essentially, yeah , of course.
So my dad got notification fromhis doctor when he was 62 years
old and he said unless you canlose 100 pounds, you're not
going to see your next birthday.
Type 2 diabetic, morbidly obese.
And he was having thisexperience where either he
changed his lifestylesignificantly or he wasn't going
to make it.
And so we took a step back as afamily, heard about Ozempic.
(05:16):
He started taking Ozempic andwithin nine months he lost 100
pounds For him, truly alife-changing drug, something
that's allowed him to surviveand, you know, to become a
healthier person.
But losing 100 pounds, you know,in your early 60s, is not a
very simple or very easy thingon the body.
And so, you know, he faceddebilitating side effects nausea
(05:40):
, dizziness, fatigue.
He would go to the restroom youknow, use that and then, when
getting up, he would face thatsame nausea, that dizziness.
He would end up passing out andmy mom would find him on the
floor passed out, and have tocall an ambulance to come get
him because she thought he wasdead.
He would, of course, go to thehospital and the hospital would
recommend different supplementseach time that he could take to
(06:01):
help combat this nausea, thisdizziness, this fatigue.
And so he was taking everythingfrom chromium to CoQ10,
prebiotics to probiotics andmore, and in the end he was
taking 19 pills every singlemorning, and I knew there had to
be a better way.
Philip Pape (06:18):
Okay, and physiologically, why is there so
much distress?
Is it the rapid change thatleads to this cascade and the
body just can't quite handle itthrough the liver, the thyroid,
all of the systems that aresupposed to handle load and
stress, or what's going on there?
Justin Silver (06:33):
Yeah, so it's across the board.
So some of it is from theactual drugs themselves.
Slowing down your GI tractallows your body to absorb more
nutrients from that food.
That's great, you know.
You're not, you know wasting asmuch, essentially.
But when you slow that down, itnot only pulls out the
nutrients but it can also pullout the water and that could
lead to constipation.
(06:54):
You also are, you know, gettingthe actual side effects of your
body changing.
So suddenly you have gaps inyour nutrition because you used
to eat a you know 3,800 caloriediet that, while you know
overeating and unhealthy, itgenerally filled your
nutritional needs.
And now suddenly your hunger isevaporated, your food cravings
(07:18):
are minimized and your seekingof nutritional food might not be
all there.
So your body is changing.
You're losing weight, you'renot consuming enough food and
oftentimes there are gaps inthat nutrition.
So, across the board, you'regetting just a massive change in
your body and your mind and theside effects are a result of
(07:40):
all of that.
Philip Pape (07:41):
So that makes a lot of sense.
Constipation you know the gutissues that are happening.
I imagine your microbiome.
We don't even begin tounderstand that yet and what's
happening, even the bodychanging, I mean even when
you're doing it with justlifestyle.
We know that you have to beaware of, okay, if you're in a
big calorie deficit, not to havemalnutrition, to eat enough
fiber and nutrients andeverything.
(08:01):
So I'm curious are therecertain patients?
Okay, you mentioned age whatabout the lifestyle differences?
And what I mean by that is I'msure there are a lot of people
on Ozempic that are trying tolift weights and eat more
protein and there are a lot thataren't.
Do we see segmentation in thatregard, where the side effects
are minimized a bit from naturallifestyle changes before we go
(08:25):
to then supplementation?
Justin Silver (08:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think you know, especially ifyou're younger and so your
body's able to change a littlebit easier.
If you're eating a nutritionfilled diet that's got protein
and it has, you know, a good mixof vegetables, if you're doing
all of that, you might stillface some side effects, but you
lower the likelihood drastically.
So when I talk to peers and Isay, hey, if you're taking a
(08:49):
GLP-1 and you're 25 to 35 yearsold and you're doing everything
right, the likelihood thatyou're going to have side
effects is actually quite low.
And you're not really somebodywho is a SymptoGuard prime
customer or someone who thatshould be top of mind where
we're targeting as someone whois, you know, in their forties,
fifties, sixties, seventies.
(09:10):
These people have spent alifetime of a sedentary
lifestyle.
Generally, you know, nutritionis not where it could or should
be, and we are helping to fillthose gaps for those people
because you start losing alittle bit of weight.
Taking a GLP-1 does not meanyou are a healthier person.
(09:30):
It's a whole bundle of stuffthat can make you healthy and
SymptoGuard plugs in to be partof that equation.
Philip Pape (09:38):
for millions of Americans, hey guys, I want to
give a quick shout out toSymptoGuard for sponsoring
today's episode and, honestly,it's a perfect fit given
everything Justin and I havebeen digging into.
If you're taking a GLP-1 medlike Ozempic or Manjaro, you
probably know that these sideeffects can hit really hard
Nausea, low energy, digestiveissues, nutrient absorption and
(10:01):
that can make it tough to stayon track with your training,
with your protein, the lifestylechanges that you're trying to
make, and just feel likeyourself when going through this
process.
What I love about SymptoGuardis it was built for these with
ingredients that you wouldrecognize, that I would vouch
for, like B12 and probiotics andginger.
It's a solid evidence backedoption for some of the side
(10:22):
effects, like nausea.
In fact, in a 2025 study, 92%of users reported reduced nausea
compared to just 24% on placebo, and that's a big deal when
you're just trying to beconsistent and when the side
effects are the number onereason most people stop taking
these meds.
So if you are on this journeyand you want to feel better
(10:43):
while preserving muscle andstaying consistent, give
SymptoGuard a try.
Check it out, just click thelink in the show notes or go to
witsandweightscom slashSymptoGuard for 10% off your
order.
That's witsandweightscom.
Slash SymptoGuard or click thelink in the show notes.
Now back to our conversationwith Justin.
Okay, and that makes sense.
(11:04):
I appreciate the nuance becauseI definitely have spoken to
people who are.
You know, there's conflicts ofinterest.
We people have to have theirskepticism up, and that's I
wanted to bring you on, becauseI know that you do your best to
support all of this with whatthe evidence says, and you're
trying to help people who have alegitimate concern with a tool
that they're trying to use incombination with lifestyle and
it's not for everyone, so wewant to be honest about that.
(11:25):
But also, I appreciate yousaying like look, a lot of
people face these side effectsand it's the number two reason
people quit and this is the toolwe want to use, so let's try to
make it all work together.
Having said that, when we talkabout the quitting from the side
effects, what does thesegmentation data show in terms
of which side effect, or two, ismost prevalent and causes
people to quit?
Justin Silver (11:46):
Yeah.
So the two that stick out arenausea and what is defined as
general GI tract discomfort, gi,gastrointestinal.
You know this is anything to dowith your stomach, your bowels,
it, you know, ranges,constipation and diarrhea.
It's all that discomfort all inone.
So nausea and GI tractdiscomfort are the two biggest
(12:07):
issues.
They impact you when you wakeup, when you go to bed.
They have that kind ofconsistent feeling, things like
dizziness, that often comes at acertain moment when you might
be dehydrated because again,your craving for even water is
minimized and so you might bedehydrated.
So it hits you when you get upor when you sit down.
Certain movements might triggerthat, but you're not seeing
(12:29):
dizziness, just if you'resitting down on the couch.
And you know, I think for allof these side effects they have
their moments where they wouldflare up the most.
But generally that kind ofconsistent nausea, especially
nausea post-injection or nauseain the morning, as well as
constant GI tract discomfort,those are the hardest hitting
(12:49):
side effects.
Philip Pape (12:50):
Yeah, I could imagine that being an unpleasant
feeling just from having oneday of GI distress from like a
bad protein bar.
I can't imagine you know monthsand months when you're trying
to use this.
So then that raises thequestion for people who don't
quit the drug and just deal withthe side effects.
What does it then lead to whileyou're on the drug?
Does it reduce the efficacy?
Does it change your eating andlifestyle patterns as a result?
Justin Silver (13:13):
Yeah, I mean you think about it like let's
imagine you've had nausea allthe time, right, I think?
you know, you wouldn't want toeat.
Yeah, I mean, that would bejust a bad way to live.
You know, a big part of thereason people are taking these
drugs in the first place is theywant to live a healthier life.
Right, weight loss is theprecursor to living a healthy
life.
Just seeing a number on a scaleis meaningless If you can't
(13:36):
walk and function.
People are losing weight inorder to spend time with their
grandchildren, their children,in order to move around the
world, to get in and out oftheir car easier, to feel good,
and so that's what this allcomes down to.
And so these side effects whichare, you know, on your pathway
to feeling good, if they'remaking it really hard to do that
, you can imagine.
(13:57):
You know you stop taking thedrugs.
It doesn't make it a pleasantexperience and it could, just,
you know, derail that progress.
So it's really about how do welive this healthy life?
Philip Pape (14:08):
And does it impact specific macro or micronutrients
?
And what I mean by that is doyou get less of an appetite for
certain things, like less of anappetite for protein, or you
know anything, in particularfruit, I don't know.
Justin Silver (14:19):
Yeah.
So there's a concept in theGLP-1 world called food noise.
It's basically that voice inyour head that's saying you need
to be eating food and then whenyou walk past our world, our
environment and big food thathas kind of trained us to seek
food, you see McDonald's asyou're driving through your town
and then you suddenly arecraving physically craving
(14:40):
McDonald's.
You think about the Frenchfries, the burgers, the soda,
all of those things.
This minimizes that across theboard.
What it does not do is make youa healthy eater, and so that's
still on you.
But I believe in the Americanpeople and I think that most
people want to eat healthy.
(15:00):
The reason we're not eatinghealthy, we're not living a
healthy life, is because we'rebeing chemically trained to not
do that right.
There's billion dollar you knowa hundred billion dollar
corporations whose goal is tomake you buy more food and not
be satiated by it.
So we're all living in thatworld.
We're chemically trained andaddicted to this food.
(15:21):
But now, suddenly, if youdidn't crave it, if you weren't
addicted and you could giveyourself that choice, I think
that many Americans are makingthe right choice and they're
having a good protein filledmeal but a diversity of food in
there.
If you're given the chance toescape that chemically addicted
(15:43):
side of this, you have thepotential to make those good
choices.
So there isn't necessarily a oh.
Suddenly you're not cravingfats, you're not craving
carbohydrates and you're goingto crave protein.
It just limits that completelyprotein.
It just limits that completely.
So your cravings go down intotality.
(16:04):
But then it becomes an easierchoice to eat right, if you're
suddenly not chemically forcedto eat incorrectly.
Philip Pape (16:11):
Yeah, yeah, and I would agree with that
characterization.
I think that you hit on one ofwhat I see as three major prongs
with this, the first being whatyou just said, which is the
food environment and the foodnoise, and I think that's
coupled with what makes it verydifficult for some individually,
which is the brain-relatedgenetics that we are well aware
of now with appetite we had DrStephan Guionet on the show
(16:32):
talking about this great guy inthe field, right, researching
this.
And then the other prong wouldbe the yo-yo dieting and the
kind of dieting history we knowthat there's an exacerbated
impact of a dysfunctionalappetite and hunger signals from
a repeated history of dieting.
So I'm just kind of agreeingwith you that when you combine
all those, for some people it'ssuch a huge hill to climb to get
(16:53):
over that that they just need atool to say, okay, let's take
away that the noise, focus onthe signal, and then we can
build our lifestyle.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Having said that, even whenthey're doing that and then they
have side effects, do the sideeffects then cause them to make
any different choices with theireating, for example?
(17:14):
I'm thinking like nutrientmalabsorption you mentioned.
So does it affect anythingspecial that is worth mentioning
what I'm getting at.
Justin Silver (17:22):
Yeah, I mean, think about it like this If
you're nauseous, you're probablygoing to not eat enough, and so
it might not necessarily be thechoices.
But the situation is prettysimple.
If your stomach is reallyhurting and you're having issues
going to the bathroom, you'regoing to eat less.
It's just like when you're sickin any way.
And when you're sick or whenyou're eating less, it becomes
(17:43):
harder to have that right mix ofnutrients and to fill that all
out.
And that's where you get intothis cycle of side effects and
then malnutrition, and then sideeffects and malnutrition.
And so you know we're here tohelp break that.
But you know people are goingthrough these journeys because
it's a lot worse to be obese.
You know, and that's the fact,you know you have this whole.
(18:06):
We're talking about sideeffects like nausea and, you
know, dizziness, gi tract.
But having type two diabetes,having neuropathy in your
fingers, being unable to movearound the world, you know this
is worse than all of that, yes,and so we want to solve that and
we're part of the system that'shelping us solve that.
Philip Pape (18:27):
Part of the system.
I love that.
That's the trigger word for mein a good way.
System, because we talk aboutbuilding your system, which is a
combination of components right, it could be different tools,
tools to support those tools,lifestyle.
And there's a funny storySomebody in our group coaching
program.
He is concerned that he's noteating enough, he's on these
drugs and he's trying to fix hislifestyle.
(18:48):
Let's just say, and his concernnot even having side effects is
I'm actually eating too littlefor what I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to split thedifference.
So it's even more importantthat if the side effects make
that worse, that we deal withthem.
So let's talk about I want totalk about the ingredients in
SymptoGuard because I wantpeople to know that I advocate
for evidence-based solutions.
We don't fear monger.
(19:09):
I don't want to deal with anyweird, non-supported herbs from
some country that we've neverheard of.
Maybe there is something likethat.
Yeah, there's no foreign herbshere.
Justin Silver (19:21):
You know, really, this is as simple as you can
imagine.
We are the all in one.
So my dad went to the hospitaland he was.
They told him take zinc, takechromium, take CoQ10, take
prebiotics, take probiotics.
We put that all in one, so youget two things when you take an
all in one.
Number one it's easier.
(19:43):
I don't know if you've evertried to swallow 19 pills in one
morning.
I can tell you from my dad'sexperience it sucks and it's not
the way you want to live life.
And even though you're takingthese injections and you're
trying to live a better life,taking 19 pills a day does not
help you lead that life.
The second thing is we're savingpeople some money.
(20:03):
You know GNC and some of thesebig you know pharmaceutical guys
.
They're going to or not,pharmaceutical big supplement
guys.
They make money when you buy 12different bottles.
You buy a bottle of CoQ10 for$20, a bottle of vitamin D for
$20, a bottle of vitamin B12 for$20.
Yeah, they make more money.
We're putting that all into oneand we're charging less than
(20:27):
$50.
If you're on the subscription,it's less than a dollar a day.
We're really trying to makethis affordable for people,
because it should be.
You're already paying a bunchof money for these drugs.
Very few people are covered byinsurance for GLP-1.
So you're self-paying for thesedrugs oftentimes between $179
(20:47):
and $500 for a brand namemedication.
Let's not add on $200 a monthworth of supplements.
Let's try and do that for $1 aday.
Philip Pape (20:56):
Yeah, exactly, and, listeners, by the way, you're
going to see, I'm going toinclude a link in the show notes
, for because we were able toarrange a deal to get you a
discount, a nice discount, sowe'll throw a link in there.
But you can check out the label, you can look at all the
ingredients.
You'll see B12, you'll seeginger, CoQ10, very normal stuff
that we've talked about amillion times.
It's funny.
You mentioned the 19 pills.
I actually take a lot of pills,but only because for
(21:19):
performance stuff.
But years ago I used to make myown pre-workout because it was
hard to find a pre-workout withwhat we now know to be like kind
of the bread and butter rightCaffeine, L-citrulline, beta
alanine and like one other I'mforgetting, and now you can get
that in every pre-workoutpractically on the market.
But I actually had like asegmented tub with all the
powders with special scoops foreach to get the right amounts
(21:42):
mixed every day.
So I know what you mean.
You got to be like superdedicated if you got to do that,
but it's a pain.
So having said that, then Iknow you guys have clinical
trial results showing outcomesfrom these and I'm curious what
those showed how significantimprovements were in different
measures, different side effectscompared to placebo.
Justin Silver (22:04):
Yeah.
So we did a double-blindedtrial 126 participants so the
results are statisticallysignificant.
On average, people saw a 50%reduction in side effects.
That's beyond what they had forthe placebo, and so this is,
you know, truly significant.
(22:25):
You know we are positivelyimpacting people's lives and
that was generally across theboard for nausea, dizziness,
fatigue and GI tract discomfort.
So those are the things that weare focused on and where we
really made an impact that wasall paid for out of our budget.
You know this has beenbootstrapped up until now
because for me, you know, I knowthere's a lot in the market.
(22:47):
I know a lot of people arespending a lot of money and
they're self-paying for GLP-1s.
We're going to only sell themsomething that works, and so you
know it's not for everybody,but for those people who are
experiencing the side effectsand we are filling those
nutrition gaps.
We are really making an impactand we have 100% satisfaction
(23:08):
guarantee because, again, weknow it's not going to work for
everybody.
So if you're taking SymptoGuard, you're not happy on it, all
you have to do is reach out tous and we're happy to refund you
, because we know we're going tobe helping millions of
Americans.
If you don't fit that becauseit's just not the right
supplement for you.
That's completely okay.
Philip Pape (23:29):
Awesome, yeah, no, it's good to hear that.
It's good that you've testedthese for listeners who want to
try these out and do.
We're going to hold Justin tohis promise, of course.
Let me know if it works and letme know if it doesn't, and
we'll keep him honest, and I'msure the proof is in the pudding
.
So when people are taking thesethen do you see any sort of?
(23:50):
I guess what I'm asking here ishave you measured any lifestyle
modifications or long-termeffects once you've mitigated
the side effects from your drugspecifically, or is it just
assumed that, okay, the symptomsare gone, so ergo it's going to
be successful?
Justin Silver (24:05):
Yes, we don't have any kind of longitudinal
over multiple years type ofclinical trials or customer
trials yet, but what we do haveis evidence that we have this
day on their GLP-1 while takingSymptoGuard.
And if you're taking the GLP-1in order to lead a healthier
(24:26):
lifestyle, minimize food noiseand be able to eat a healthier
diet without being impacted bybig food and chemical addiction
to food, we are allowing you todo that for a longer period of
time.
So my hope is I can come backto you in a year or two and say
here are all these case studiesand all this experience, but
right now, the main thing thatwe can say is we're making it
easier for you to stay on aGLP-1.
(24:48):
And that's what you want to doin the first place.
Philip Pape (24:51):
Makes total sense, pretty easy to understand the
cause and effect there.
So, looking ahead in the futureof these drugs, right, we'd say
GLP-1s, which admittedly is asimplification because there are
now dual agonists, there's nowtriple agonist drugs.
There's so many things thatoperate on different pathways
and different hormones.
Are we looking at worse sideeffects profiles for those Like
(25:11):
what's going on there?
Justin Silver (25:12):
You know it's all kind of happening in real time,
but here's what I'll say.
In the beginning of the pod wetalked about the number one
reason why people stop taking aGLP-1, and that's injection fear
, fatigue or frustration.
That's the first time I've usedthose three Fs, but that sounds
great.
We're going to use that in thefuture Injection fear, fatigue
and frustration.
(25:41):
And so that, if any of yourlisteners are very familiar with
the industry Novo Nordisk isthe maker of Ozempic they have
set their targets and theirresearch targets on actually
minimizing the number ofinjections.
The frequency Right now it'sweekly.
Their goal is within the nextyear to have that at monthly and
within three years to actuallyhave that at quarterly Kind of.
I mean a wildly impactful thing.
At that point you could just goto a doctor and they would be
able to do it.
I mean a wildly impactful thing.
At that point you could just goto a doctor and they would be
(26:02):
able to do it.
I mean it's only quarterly.
The impact to your life wouldbe, I mean, so minimal compared
to weekly.
But that does, as of now,temporarily worsen side effects.
And so for us, you know, thegoal is to plug right into that
system.
We want to be able to helppeople stay on these drugs
longer in a healthier way, andto be able to feel those effects
(26:25):
without feeling terrible.
That's our goal.
Philip Pape (26:28):
Yeah, no, that's good.
That's a good point aboutfrequency injection too and how
that would affect side effectsbecause of the kind of the curve
of that.
So you know.
Another question related tothis then, in the future of the
space is like what are yourcompetitors?
Are there competitors in thisspace?
Are there more targetedinterventions coming?
Are you guys looking tocontinue to improve the formula
or change the formula?
I should say Maybe it doesn'tneed to be improved world, like
(27:01):
you said.
Justin Silver (27:01):
You know, at some point you had a bottle and you
were trying to create your ownformulations.
You know I love to think of youknow Brian Johnson I'm sure
many of your listeners know him,the good and the bad, but he
does say some things I love.
He says every calorie in hisdiet fights to be there, and
that's how I think aboutsupplements to support the GLP-1
, where every piece of thatsupplement needs to fight to be
(27:22):
there.
It needs to be proven, it needsto have an impact and if not,
why are we taking it?
And so that's really what we'redoing Right now.
We're focused on these sideeffects.
There is absolutely a worldwhere we can expand that,
offering protein being a bigthing that is often lacking in
the diets of people who get onGLP-1s.
(27:42):
There's something there and,long-term, we think there are
lots of different drugs withlots of different side effects
GLP-1s and others and to be ableto support along the range of
side effects in general, there'sa big potential impact.
Philip Pape (27:57):
No, that's great.
Yeah, you know those listeningwho are thinking about taking
them or currently taking them orcan empathize with what you're
talking about.
Yeah, supplements I alwaysthink of a hierarchy right, kind
of what you just mentionedfighting for the space.
I think of it as a pyramidwhere you know you've got your
training and your protein andadherence and like the big
(28:18):
basics at the bottom and thensupplements are kind of near the
top.
But for some people thesupplements might rise further
up, depending on their needs.
So I love that message.
And then maybe I'm going to getyou in trouble here, but what
would you say to doctors andprescribing physicians when it
comes to these drugs and theside effects?
Because I feel like there's biggaps in prescriber education on
(28:40):
these, as well as gaps in theadvice and support that comes
along with these drugs.
Sometimes it's just prescribedand other times there's okay,
you need to maybe lift weightsor exercise or move and eat your
protein and things like that.
What is your message for thehealthcare industry?
Justin Silver (28:55):
Yeah, I mean I think the message for the
healthcare industry is, firstand foremost, kind of to double
down on your point.
You can't just start taking aGLP-1 and continue to live a
sedentary life, eat less andthink that equals a healthy
outcome.
Simply losing weight doesn'tmean you're getting healthier.
It's a step in the rightdirection, but there's a
(29:16):
lifestyle change, there'sleading a more active lifestyle,
and that's simply walking.
For a lot of people, that'ssimply walking.
For a lot of people, that'sjust walking around, and so it
doesn't need to be.
You're in the gym, you know,pumping iron for, you know, for
five days a week.
It's small changes that can havea big impact.
Walking is a huge one of them,and also the natural movement
helps to minimize GI tractdiscomfort because you're
(29:38):
actually getting up and walkingaround.
There's a physical element tothat as well.
So I think just pushing peopleto say it's not just that you
eat less, it's that you need tochange your whole lifestyle
that's, I think, the number onething.
The second thing is that a lotof telehealth providers and
general healthcare providers,their first thought when they
(30:00):
hear nausea is actually toprescribe Zofran, and Zofran is
like dropping an atomic bombwhen you need a small punch.
I mean, the nausea drug givento patients on chemotherapy is a
very, very powerful anti-nauseamedication, very powerful
anti-nausea medication.
(30:20):
Most people on a GLP-1 arefacing mild nausea, slight
nausea that they want tominimize, and so I'd say it's a
really good idea to look in themiddle before we go straight
Zofran to say are theresupplements like SymptoGuard or
others who are able to fill thatgap for us?
(30:40):
Those are the two big things agreat lifestyle, and let's focus
on having the right kind ofprescribed drug or supplement
that's going to meet them wheretheir needs are.
Philip Pape (30:53):
Yeah, what came to me was minimum effective dose
and also the opportunity cost,like when you have an
alternative now that helps youavoid taking something overly
powerful.
That's great because thatdidn't exist in the market
before and that is a netpositive from just that
perspective alone.
And look my wife when she hadmorning sickness and chewed the
ginger gum.
I know how powerful simpleherbs like ginger you know.
(31:15):
Is it an herb?
What do you call ginger?
Justin Silver (31:17):
I guess it's a root right, a root exactly.
Philip Pape (31:22):
But how powerful something like that can be, and
you've done the research to say,okay, here let's pick the right
things, put them together intoa supplement, all right, so,
listeners, a few things comingout of this.
Here is you know, justin'sobviously an expert in the area
and seems to care about this, ispassionate about it.
He's going to be in ourPhysique University doing a
private live Q&A for anybodywho's in there, and if you're
not in there, another reason tojoin, because he's going to be
in there answering yourquestions pretty soon.
(31:43):
But is there anything else thatyou wish I'd asked Justin about
this space that people need toknow?
Justin Silver (31:50):
Man, you asked a lot of great questions For me.
I'm on a GLP-1 myself.
I think this is going to havefar-reaching impact.
One in seven Americans aretaking a GLP-1 right now.
That's expected to go to one infour.
We've already seen results onweight loss, but we're seeing
(32:10):
results in anti-addiction andleading a healthier lifestyle,
and this feels like we're in noteven the first inning, but
we're kind of in battingpractice for the baseball game
that is the GLP-1 industry, andI'm just really excited to be
able to be in that world, to beable to help people in my
smallest way and to be making animpact.
Philip Pape (32:30):
Yeah, I agree, and I can tell you do it with a
smile and the positivity and theenergy is obviously there.
So I appreciate it.
And last thing, last thing, man, where can people learn about
you and your work?
Justin Silver (32:40):
Oh man, check out SymptoGuardcom.
It's the best place to learnabout SymptoGuard and what we do
, how we do it, why we do it.
There's so much great stuff onthere.
A lot of hard people have madethat site look amazing.
And then, you know, also checkout at SymptoGuard across
different channels.
We have a SymptoGuard Facebookgroup where we have people who
(33:02):
are taking GLP-1s, symptoguard,all of that.
They're able to get in thereand have discussions about the
experience.
You can follow me on Instagramat TheJustinSilver if you want
to check me out.
I think I'm like the second orthird most famous Justin Silver,
so you can find me at theJustin Silver and, either way, I
(33:23):
just hope that you get a chanceto learn a little bit more.
And a fun fact, I'll let you inon something.
If you see any pictures of ourbottle and there's a hand model
holding that bottle, it is, infact, my hand, so I am a famous
hand model in the world ofSimtoe art.
Philip Pape (33:41):
That's pretty cool.
All right guys, check that out.
I'm a big fan of education, soI definitely want you guys
listening to get as educated aspossible.
Check out their Instagram atSymptoGuard.
Check out the Justin Silver onInstagram and then, instead of
going straight to SymptoGuardcom, click the link in the show
notes and you'll get 10% offSymptoGuard and it is going to
teach you about um.
(34:01):
It's going to take you to thesite anyway and you could
actually go to witsandweightscomslash SymptoGuard.
So it's easy on you guyswitsandweightscom slash
SymptoGuard, or hit them up forthe education on Instagram.
Justin, it's been a pleasure.
Hopefully people can learn moreabout you and the product as
they check things out.
Everybody be skeptical, asalways, but I think this is good
stuff.
That's why I'm vouching for itand I appreciate you coming on,
(34:21):
justin.
Justin Silver (34:22):
Thanks so much for having me, man, this was
great.
One in seven Americans are now on GLP-1 drugs
like Ozempic and Wagovi, buthere's what doctors aren't
telling you Over half of usersquit within a year, and a third
of those quit because ofdifficult side effects that
disrupt their training, theirprotein intake and thus their
ability to maintain muscle masswhen trying to make the
necessary lifestyle changes.
(00:22):
In parallel, my guest todaywatched his father get
prescribed 19 different pillsjust to manage his ozempic side
effects, and that nightmaresparked him to identify ways to
manage them proactively.
You'll discover why nausea andfatigue from GLP-1s aren't just
uncomfortable but actively workagainst your health and fitness
goals, the clinical data behindsupplementation to help with
(00:44):
these side effects, and tips tostay consistent with your
routine and progress whiledealing with these medications.
Welcome to Wits and Weights,the show that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and
efficiency.
I'm your host, philip Pape, andtoday I'm very excited to be
(01:06):
discussing a topic that affectsmillions but gets very little
attention in the space, andthat's the impact of side
effects when taking GLP-1s andwhat you can do about it.
My guest is Justin Silver.
He's a serial entrepreneur,founder and CEO of SymptoGuard,
which he created after watchinghis father suffer through months
(01:27):
of debilitating side effectshospital trips from Ozempic Now.
Justin's background obviouslygives him a unique perspective
on both the business andpersonal sides of this huge
health trend, and he's here toshare what he's learned about
the real world impact of thesedrugs and what we can actually
do about it.
So today you're going to learnthe latest clinical research
(01:48):
about managing these effects,specific strategies to protect
your consistency, your training,your nutrition and thus, of
course, your muscle mass ifyou're taking or planning to
take these.
And, justin, I just want tothank you so much for coming on
the show.
Justin Silver (02:02):
Yeah, it's an honor to be here.
Thank you so much for having me.
I'm really excited to discussthis with you.
I think we have the opportunityto help millions of Americans
and I'm excited to do it.
Philip Pape (02:13):
So let's start right off with talking about
side effects and how big of anissue that is.
Like if you had to create a piechart of all the reasons people
maybe quit the drugs or haveissues with these, where would
side effects fit into that?
Justin Silver (02:25):
So side effect?
Someone already created the piechart.
Thankfully I don't need to bethat guy.
Side effects are the number tworeason that people stop taking
a GLP-1.
Number one is actually havingto do with injection frequency
both the fear, the frustrationand just having to deal with
needles, even the ones thatautomatically go in.
Injection frequency and fear isthe number one reason people
(02:49):
stop taking the GLP-1.
And side effects are a closenumber two.
They can have deep impact forpeople, especially the older you
get, the more the side effectstend to impact people.
So when you're talking aboutpeople in their 50s, 60s and 70s
for them is a truly pressingissue.
Philip Pape (03:08):
So let's talk about what they are, why it affects
people when they're older,because I do like those
demographic segments, because itkind of gives us sometimes an
insight into other things,because we do that all the time
when we talk about health,longevity, training and so on.
So tell us more about the sideeffects.
Which ones are the most common,perhaps?
Justin Silver (03:29):
and then why the age difference?
When it comes to people who areolder, they've often been in
the same way of doing things fordecades.
So if you suddenly are 25 or 30or 35, your ability and your
body's ability to change anddeal with eating less, you know
dealing with a different speedof your, you know the food
moving through digestive tract.
You're able to just deal withthat a little bit better.
(03:51):
Your body is more able to copewith those differences.
I liken it to pregnancy.
You know if a person in theirearly 20s gets pregnant, you
know they have that kid.
They walk out of the hospitalthe next day, assuming all goes
well.
But if you're 40 years old andyou're having a baby, regardless
of how successful or healthyyou are and how healthy the baby
(04:11):
is, it's still a big impact onyour body.
It's the same with GLP-1s, andso if you're losing 100 pounds
at 65 years old and you've spentthe past 35 years living a
relatively sedentary life andovereating constantly, the
impact is going to be much, muchbigger.
Philip Pape (04:30):
Yeah, so that makes sense, and I know you have a
personal story we alluded to inthe intro here with your father
that led to him taking a bunchof different medications to try
to deal with the side effectsand go to the hospital.
I'm wondering if that would bea good story to segue into.
What I'm curious about is theside effects, how they cascade
(04:52):
and what you learn from withyour father's experience?
Justin Silver (04:53):
essentially, yeah , of course.
So my dad got notification fromhis doctor when he was 62 years
old and he said unless you canlose 100 pounds, you're not
going to see your next birthday.
Type 2 diabetic, morbidly obese.
And he was having thisexperience where either he
changed his lifestylesignificantly or he wasn't going
to make it.
And so we took a step back as afamily, heard about Ozempic.
(05:16):
He started taking Ozempic andwithin nine months he lost 100
pounds For him, truly alife-changing drug, something
that's allowed him to surviveand, you know, to become a
healthier person.
But losing 100 pounds, you know,in your early 60s, is not a
very simple or very easy thingon the body.
And so, you know, he faceddebilitating side effects nausea
(05:40):
, dizziness, fatigue.
He would go to the restroom youknow, use that and then, when
getting up, he would face thatsame nausea, that dizziness.
He would end up passing out andmy mom would find him on the
floor passed out, and have tocall an ambulance to come get
him because she thought he wasdead.
He would, of course, go to thehospital and the hospital would
recommend different supplementseach time that he could take to
(06:01):
help combat this nausea, thisdizziness, this fatigue.
And so he was taking everythingfrom chromium to CoQ10,
prebiotics to probiotics andmore, and in the end he was
taking 19 pills every singlemorning, and I knew there had to
be a better way.
Philip Pape (06:18):
Okay, and physiologically, why is there so
much distress?
Is it the rapid change thatleads to this cascade and the
body just can't quite handle itthrough the liver, the thyroid,
all of the systems that aresupposed to handle load and
stress, or what's going on there?
Justin Silver (06:33):
Yeah, so it's across the board.
So some of it is from theactual drugs themselves.
Slowing down your GI tractallows your body to absorb more
nutrients from that food.
That's great, you know.
You're not, you know wasting asmuch, essentially.
But when you slow that down, itnot only pulls out the
nutrients but it can also pullout the water and that could
lead to constipation.
(06:54):
You also are, you know, gettingthe actual side effects of your
body changing.
So suddenly you have gaps inyour nutrition because you used
to eat a you know 3,800 caloriediet that, while you know
overeating and unhealthy, itgenerally filled your
nutritional needs.
And now suddenly your hunger isevaporated, your food cravings
(07:18):
are minimized and your seekingof nutritional food might not be
all there.
So your body is changing.
You're losing weight, you'renot consuming enough food and
oftentimes there are gaps inthat nutrition.
So, across the board, you'regetting just a massive change in
your body and your mind and theside effects are a result of
(07:40):
all of that.
Philip Pape (07:41):
So that makes a lot of sense.
Constipation you know the gutissues that are happening.
I imagine your microbiome.
We don't even begin tounderstand that yet and what's
happening, even the bodychanging, I mean even when
you're doing it with justlifestyle.
We know that you have to beaware of, okay, if you're in a
big calorie deficit, not to havemalnutrition, to eat enough
fiber and nutrients andeverything.
(08:01):
So I'm curious are therecertain patients?
Okay, you mentioned age whatabout the lifestyle differences?
And what I mean by that is I'msure there are a lot of people
on Ozempic that are trying tolift weights and eat more
protein and there are a lot thataren't.
Do we see segmentation in thatregard, where the side effects
are minimized a bit from naturallifestyle changes before we go
(08:25):
to then supplementation?
Justin Silver (08:26):
Yeah, absolutely.
I think you know, especially ifyou're younger and so your
body's able to change a littlebit easier.
If you're eating a nutritionfilled diet that's got protein
and it has, you know, a good mixof vegetables, if you're doing
all of that, you might stillface some side effects, but you
lower the likelihood drastically.
So when I talk to peers and Isay, hey, if you're taking a
(08:49):
GLP-1 and you're 25 to 35 yearsold and you're doing everything
right, the likelihood thatyou're going to have side
effects is actually quite low.
And you're not really somebodywho is a SymptoGuard prime
customer or someone who thatshould be top of mind where
we're targeting as someone whois, you know, in their forties,
fifties, sixties, seventies.
(09:10):
These people have spent alifetime of a sedentary
lifestyle.
Generally, you know, nutritionis not where it could or should
be, and we are helping to fillthose gaps for those people
because you start losing alittle bit of weight.
Taking a GLP-1 does not meanyou are a healthier person.
(09:30):
It's a whole bundle of stuffthat can make you healthy and
SymptoGuard plugs in to be partof that equation.
Philip Pape (09:38):
for millions of Americans, hey guys, I want to
give a quick shout out toSymptoGuard for sponsoring
today's episode and, honestly,it's a perfect fit given
everything Justin and I havebeen digging into.
If you're taking a GLP-1 medlike Ozempic or Manjaro, you
probably know that these sideeffects can hit really hard
Nausea, low energy, digestiveissues, nutrient absorption and
(10:01):
that can make it tough to stayon track with your training,
with your protein, the lifestylechanges that you're trying to
make, and just feel likeyourself when going through this
process.
What I love about SymptoGuardis it was built for these with
ingredients that you wouldrecognize, that I would vouch
for, like B12 and probiotics andginger.
It's a solid evidence backedoption for some of the side
(10:22):
effects, like nausea.
In fact, in a 2025 study, 92%of users reported reduced nausea
compared to just 24% on placebo, and that's a big deal when
you're just trying to beconsistent and when the side
effects are the number onereason most people stop taking
these meds.
So if you are on this journeyand you want to feel better
(10:43):
while preserving muscle andstaying consistent, give
SymptoGuard a try.
Check it out, just click thelink in the show notes or go to
witsandweightscom slashSymptoGuard for 10% off your
order.
That's witsandweightscom.
Slash SymptoGuard or click thelink in the show notes.
Now back to our conversationwith Justin.
Okay, and that makes sense.
(11:04):
I appreciate the nuance becauseI definitely have spoken to
people who are.
You know, there's conflicts ofinterest.
We people have to have theirskepticism up, and that's I
wanted to bring you on, becauseI know that you do your best to
support all of this with whatthe evidence says, and you're
trying to help people who have alegitimate concern with a tool
that they're trying to use incombination with lifestyle and
it's not for everyone, so wewant to be honest about that.
(11:25):
But also, I appreciate yousaying like look, a lot of
people face these side effectsand it's the number two reason
people quit and this is the toolwe want to use, so let's try to
make it all work together.
Having said that, when we talkabout the quitting from the side
effects, what does thesegmentation data show in terms
of which side effect, or two, ismost prevalent and causes
people to quit?
Justin Silver (11:46):
Yeah.
So the two that stick out arenausea and what is defined as
general GI tract discomfort, gi,gastrointestinal.
You know this is anything to dowith your stomach, your bowels,
it, you know, ranges,constipation and diarrhea.
It's all that discomfort all inone.
So nausea and GI tractdiscomfort are the two biggest
(12:07):
issues.
They impact you when you wakeup, when you go to bed.
They have that kind ofconsistent feeling, things like
dizziness, that often comes at acertain moment when you might
be dehydrated because again,your craving for even water is
minimized and so you might bedehydrated.
So it hits you when you get upor when you sit down.
Certain movements might triggerthat, but you're not seeing
(12:29):
dizziness, just if you'resitting down on the couch.
And you know, I think for allof these side effects they have
their moments where they wouldflare up the most.
But generally that kind ofconsistent nausea, especially
nausea post-injection or nauseain the morning, as well as
constant GI tract discomfort,those are the hardest hitting
(12:49):
side effects.
Philip Pape (12:50):
Yeah, I could imagine that being an unpleasant
feeling just from having oneday of GI distress from like a
bad protein bar.
I can't imagine you know monthsand months when you're trying
to use this.
So then that raises thequestion for people who don't
quit the drug and just deal withthe side effects.
What does it then lead to whileyou're on the drug?
Does it reduce the efficacy?
Does it change your eating andlifestyle patterns as a result?
Justin Silver (13:13):
Yeah, I mean you think about it like let's
imagine you've had nausea allthe time, right, I think?
you know, you wouldn't want toeat.
Yeah, I mean, that would bejust a bad way to live.
You know, a big part of thereason people are taking these
drugs in the first place is theywant to live a healthier life.
Right, weight loss is theprecursor to living a healthy
life.
Just seeing a number on a scaleis meaningless If you can't
(13:36):
walk and function.
People are losing weight inorder to spend time with their
grandchildren, their children,in order to move around the
world, to get in and out oftheir car easier, to feel good,
and so that's what this allcomes down to.
And so these side effects whichare, you know, on your pathway
to feeling good, if they'remaking it really hard to do that
, you can imagine.
(13:57):
You know you stop taking thedrugs.
It doesn't make it a pleasantexperience and it could, just,
you know, derail that progress.
So it's really about how do welive this healthy life?
Philip Pape (14:08):
And does it impact specific macro or micronutrients
?
And what I mean by that is doyou get less of an appetite for
certain things, like less of anappetite for protein, or you
know anything, in particularfruit, I don't know.
Justin Silver (14:19):
Yeah.
So there's a concept in theGLP-1 world called food noise.
It's basically that voice inyour head that's saying you need
to be eating food and then whenyou walk past our world, our
environment and big food thathas kind of trained us to seek
food, you see McDonald's asyou're driving through your town
and then you suddenly arecraving physically craving
(14:40):
McDonald's.
You think about the Frenchfries, the burgers, the soda,
all of those things.
This minimizes that across theboard.
What it does not do is make youa healthy eater, and so that's
still on you.
But I believe in the Americanpeople and I think that most
people want to eat healthy.
(15:00):
The reason we're not eatinghealthy, we're not living a
healthy life, is because we'rebeing chemically trained to not
do that right.
There's billion dollar you knowa hundred billion dollar
corporations whose goal is tomake you buy more food and not
be satiated by it.
So we're all living in thatworld.
We're chemically trained andaddicted to this food.
(15:21):
But now, suddenly, if youdidn't crave it, if you weren't
addicted and you could giveyourself that choice, I think
that many Americans are makingthe right choice and they're
having a good protein filledmeal but a diversity of food in
there.
If you're given the chance toescape that chemically addicted
(15:43):
side of this, you have thepotential to make those good
choices.
So there isn't necessarily a oh.
Suddenly you're not cravingfats, you're not craving
carbohydrates and you're goingto crave protein.
It just limits that completelyprotein.
It just limits that completely.
So your cravings go down intotality.
(16:04):
But then it becomes an easierchoice to eat right, if you're
suddenly not chemically forcedto eat incorrectly.
Philip Pape (16:11):
Yeah, yeah, and I would agree with that
characterization.
I think that you hit on one ofwhat I see as three major prongs
with this, the first being whatyou just said, which is the
food environment and the foodnoise, and I think that's
coupled with what makes it verydifficult for some individually,
which is the brain-relatedgenetics that we are well aware
of now with appetite we had DrStephan Guionet on the show
(16:32):
talking about this great guy inthe field, right, researching
this.
And then the other prong wouldbe the yo-yo dieting and the
kind of dieting history we knowthat there's an exacerbated
impact of a dysfunctionalappetite and hunger signals from
a repeated history of dieting.
So I'm just kind of agreeingwith you that when you combine
all those, for some people it'ssuch a huge hill to climb to get
(16:53):
over that that they just need atool to say, okay, let's take
away that the noise, focus onthe signal, and then we can
build our lifestyle.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Having said that, even whenthey're doing that and then they
have side effects, do the sideeffects then cause them to make
any different choices with theireating, for example?
(17:14):
I'm thinking like nutrientmalabsorption you mentioned.
So does it affect anythingspecial that is worth mentioning
what I'm getting at.
Justin Silver (17:22):
Yeah, I mean, think about it like this If
you're nauseous, you're probablygoing to not eat enough, and so
it might not necessarily be thechoices.
But the situation is prettysimple.
If your stomach is reallyhurting and you're having issues
going to the bathroom, you'regoing to eat less.
It's just like when you're sickin any way.
And when you're sick or whenyou're eating less, it becomes
(17:43):
harder to have that right mix ofnutrients and to fill that all
out.
And that's where you get intothis cycle of side effects and
then malnutrition, and then sideeffects and malnutrition.
And so you know we're here tohelp break that.
But you know people are goingthrough these journeys because
it's a lot worse to be obese.
You know, and that's the fact,you know you have this whole.
(18:06):
We're talking about sideeffects like nausea and, you
know, dizziness, gi tract.
But having type two diabetes,having neuropathy in your
fingers, being unable to movearound the world, you know this
is worse than all of that, yes,and so we want to solve that and
we're part of the system that'shelping us solve that.
Philip Pape (18:27):
Part of the system.
I love that.
That's the trigger word for mein a good way.
System, because we talk aboutbuilding your system, which is a
combination of components right, it could be different tools,
tools to support those tools,lifestyle.
And there's a funny storySomebody in our group coaching
program.
He is concerned that he's noteating enough, he's on these
drugs and he's trying to fix hislifestyle.
(18:48):
Let's just say, and his concernnot even having side effects is
I'm actually eating too littlefor what I'm trying to do.
I'm trying to split thedifference.
So it's even more importantthat if the side effects make
that worse, that we deal withthem.
So let's talk about I want totalk about the ingredients in
SymptoGuard because I wantpeople to know that I advocate
for evidence-based solutions.
We don't fear monger.
(19:09):
I don't want to deal with anyweird, non-supported herbs from
some country that we've neverheard of.
Maybe there is something likethat.
Yeah, there's no foreign herbshere.
Justin Silver (19:21):
You know, really, this is as simple as you can
imagine.
We are the all in one.
So my dad went to the hospitaland he was.
They told him take zinc, takechromium, take CoQ10, take
prebiotics, take probiotics.
We put that all in one, so youget two things when you take an
all in one.
Number one it's easier.
(19:43):
I don't know if you've evertried to swallow 19 pills in one
morning.
I can tell you from my dad'sexperience it sucks and it's not
the way you want to live life.
And even though you're takingthese injections and you're
trying to live a better life,taking 19 pills a day does not
help you lead that life.
The second thing is we're savingpeople some money.
(20:03):
You know GNC and some of thesebig you know pharmaceutical guys
.
They're going to or not,pharmaceutical big supplement
guys.
They make money when you buy 12different bottles.
You buy a bottle of CoQ10 for$20, a bottle of vitamin D for
$20, a bottle of vitamin B12 for$20.
Yeah, they make more money.
We're putting that all into oneand we're charging less than
(20:27):
$50.
If you're on the subscription,it's less than a dollar a day.
We're really trying to makethis affordable for people,
because it should be.
You're already paying a bunchof money for these drugs.
Very few people are covered byinsurance for GLP-1.
So you're self-paying for thesedrugs oftentimes between $179
(20:47):
and $500 for a brand namemedication.
Let's not add on $200 a monthworth of supplements.
Let's try and do that for $1 aday.
Philip Pape (20:56):
Yeah, exactly, and, listeners, by the way, you're
going to see, I'm going toinclude a link in the show notes
, for because we were able toarrange a deal to get you a
discount, a nice discount, sowe'll throw a link in there.
But you can check out the label, you can look at all the
ingredients.
You'll see B12, you'll seeginger, CoQ10, very normal stuff
that we've talked about amillion times.
It's funny.
You mentioned the 19 pills.
I actually take a lot of pills,but only because for
(21:19):
performance stuff.
But years ago I used to make myown pre-workout because it was
hard to find a pre-workout withwhat we now know to be like kind
of the bread and butter rightCaffeine, L-citrulline, beta
alanine and like one other I'mforgetting, and now you can get
that in every pre-workoutpractically on the market.
But I actually had like asegmented tub with all the
powders with special scoops foreach to get the right amounts
(21:42):
mixed every day.
So I know what you mean.
You got to be like superdedicated if you got to do that,
but it's a pain.
So having said that, then Iknow you guys have clinical
trial results showing outcomesfrom these and I'm curious what
those showed how significantimprovements were in different
measures, different side effectscompared to placebo.
Justin Silver (22:04):
Yeah.
So we did a double-blindedtrial 126 participants so the
results are statisticallysignificant.
On average, people saw a 50%reduction in side effects.
That's beyond what they had forthe placebo, and so this is,
you know, truly significant.
(22:25):
You know we are positivelyimpacting people's lives and
that was generally across theboard for nausea, dizziness,
fatigue and GI tract discomfort.
So those are the things that weare focused on and where we
really made an impact that wasall paid for out of our budget.
You know this has beenbootstrapped up until now
because for me, you know, I knowthere's a lot in the market.
(22:47):
I know a lot of people arespending a lot of money and
they're self-paying for GLP-1s.
We're going to only sell themsomething that works, and so you
know it's not for everybody,but for those people who are
experiencing the side effectsand we are filling those
nutrition gaps.
We are really making an impactand we have 100% satisfaction
(23:08):
guarantee because, again, weknow it's not going to work for
everybody.
So if you're taking SymptoGuard, you're not happy on it, all
you have to do is reach out tous and we're happy to refund you
, because we know we're going tobe helping millions of
Americans.
If you don't fit that becauseit's just not the right
supplement for you.
That's completely okay.
Philip Pape (23:29):
Awesome, yeah, no, it's good to hear that.
It's good that you've testedthese for listeners who want to
try these out and do.
We're going to hold Justin tohis promise, of course.
Let me know if it works and letme know if it doesn't, and
we'll keep him honest, and I'msure the proof is in the pudding
.
So when people are taking thesethen do you see any sort of?
(23:50):
I guess what I'm asking here ishave you measured any lifestyle
modifications or long-termeffects once you've mitigated
the side effects from your drugspecifically, or is it just
assumed that, okay, the symptomsare gone, so ergo it's going to
be successful?
Justin Silver (24:05):
Yes, we don't have any kind of longitudinal
over multiple years type ofclinical trials or customer
trials yet, but what we do haveis evidence that we have this
day on their GLP-1 while takingSymptoGuard.
And if you're taking the GLP-1in order to lead a healthier
(24:26):
lifestyle, minimize food noiseand be able to eat a healthier
diet without being impacted bybig food and chemical addiction
to food, we are allowing you todo that for a longer period of
time.
So my hope is I can come backto you in a year or two and say
here are all these case studiesand all this experience, but
right now, the main thing thatwe can say is we're making it
easier for you to stay on aGLP-1.
(24:48):
And that's what you want to doin the first place.
Philip Pape (24:51):
Makes total sense, pretty easy to understand the
cause and effect there.
So, looking ahead in the futureof these drugs, right, we'd say
GLP-1s, which admittedly is asimplification because there are
now dual agonists, there's nowtriple agonist drugs.
There's so many things thatoperate on different pathways
and different hormones.
Are we looking at worse sideeffects profiles for those Like
(25:11):
what's going on there?
Justin Silver (25:12):
You know it's all kind of happening in real time,
but here's what I'll say.
In the beginning of the pod wetalked about the number one
reason why people stop taking aGLP-1, and that's injection fear
, fatigue or frustration.
That's the first time I've usedthose three Fs, but that sounds
great.
We're going to use that in thefuture Injection fear, fatigue
and frustration.
(25:41):
And so that, if any of yourlisteners are very familiar with
the industry Novo Nordisk isthe maker of Ozempic they have
set their targets and theirresearch targets on actually
minimizing the number ofinjections.
The frequency Right now it'sweekly.
Their goal is within the nextyear to have that at monthly and
within three years to actuallyhave that at quarterly Kind of.
I mean a wildly impactful thing.
At that point you could just goto a doctor and they would be
able to do it.
I mean a wildly impactful thing.
At that point you could just goto a doctor and they would be
(26:02):
able to do it.
I mean it's only quarterly.
The impact to your life wouldbe, I mean, so minimal compared
to weekly.
But that does, as of now,temporarily worsen side effects.
And so for us, you know, thegoal is to plug right into that
system.
We want to be able to helppeople stay on these drugs
longer in a healthier way, andto be able to feel those effects
(26:25):
without feeling terrible.
That's our goal.
Philip Pape (26:28):
Yeah, no, that's good.
That's a good point aboutfrequency injection too and how
that would affect side effectsbecause of the kind of the curve
of that.
So you know.
Another question related tothis then, in the future of the
space is like what are yourcompetitors?
Are there competitors in thisspace?
Are there more targetedinterventions coming?
Are you guys looking tocontinue to improve the formula
or change the formula?
I should say Maybe it doesn'tneed to be improved world, like
(27:01):
you said.
Justin Silver (27:01):
You know, at some point you had a bottle and you
were trying to create your ownformulations.
You know I love to think of youknow Brian Johnson I'm sure
many of your listeners know him,the good and the bad, but he
does say some things I love.
He says every calorie in hisdiet fights to be there, and
that's how I think aboutsupplements to support the GLP-1
, where every piece of thatsupplement needs to fight to be
(27:22):
there.
It needs to be proven, it needsto have an impact and if not,
why are we taking it?
And so that's really what we'redoing Right now.
We're focused on these sideeffects.
There is absolutely a worldwhere we can expand that,
offering protein being a bigthing that is often lacking in
the diets of people who get onGLP-1s.
(27:42):
There's something there and,long-term, we think there are
lots of different drugs withlots of different side effects
GLP-1s and others and to be ableto support along the range of
side effects in general, there'sa big potential impact.
Philip Pape (27:57):
No, that's great.
Yeah, you know those listeningwho are thinking about taking
them or currently taking them orcan empathize with what you're
talking about.
Yeah, supplements I alwaysthink of a hierarchy right, kind
of what you just mentionedfighting for the space.
I think of it as a pyramidwhere you know you've got your
training and your protein andadherence and like the big
(28:18):
basics at the bottom and thensupplements are kind of near the
top.
But for some people thesupplements might rise further
up, depending on their needs.
So I love that message.
And then maybe I'm going to getyou in trouble here, but what
would you say to doctors andprescribing physicians when it
comes to these drugs and theside effects?
Because I feel like there's biggaps in prescriber education on
(28:40):
these, as well as gaps in theadvice and support that comes
along with these drugs.
Sometimes it's just prescribedand other times there's okay,
you need to maybe lift weightsor exercise or move and eat your
protein and things like that.
What is your message for thehealthcare industry?
Justin Silver (28:55):
Yeah, I mean I think the message for the
healthcare industry is, firstand foremost, kind of to double
down on your point.
You can't just start taking aGLP-1 and continue to live a
sedentary life, eat less andthink that equals a healthy
outcome.
Simply losing weight doesn'tmean you're getting healthier.
It's a step in the rightdirection, but there's a
(29:16):
lifestyle change, there'sleading a more active lifestyle,
and that's simply walking.
For a lot of people, that'ssimply walking.
For a lot of people, that'sjust walking around, and so it
doesn't need to be.
You're in the gym, you know,pumping iron for, you know, for
five days a week.
It's small changes that can havea big impact.
Walking is a huge one of them,and also the natural movement
helps to minimize GI tractdiscomfort because you're
(29:38):
actually getting up and walkingaround.
There's a physical element tothat as well.
So I think just pushing peopleto say it's not just that you
eat less, it's that you need tochange your whole lifestyle
that's, I think, the number onething.
The second thing is that a lotof telehealth providers and
general healthcare providers,their first thought when they
(30:00):
hear nausea is actually toprescribe Zofran, and Zofran is
like dropping an atomic bombwhen you need a small punch.
I mean, the nausea drug givento patients on chemotherapy is a
very, very powerful anti-nauseamedication, very powerful
anti-nausea medication.
(30:20):
Most people on a GLP-1 arefacing mild nausea, slight
nausea that they want tominimize, and so I'd say it's a
really good idea to look in themiddle before we go straight
Zofran to say are theresupplements like SymptoGuard or
others who are able to fill thatgap for us?
(30:40):
Those are the two big things agreat lifestyle, and let's focus
on having the right kind ofprescribed drug or supplement
that's going to meet them wheretheir needs are.
Philip Pape (30:53):
Yeah, what came to me was minimum effective dose
and also the opportunity cost,like when you have an
alternative now that helps youavoid taking something overly
powerful.
That's great because thatdidn't exist in the market
before and that is a netpositive from just that
perspective alone.
And look my wife when she hadmorning sickness and chewed the
ginger gum.
I know how powerful simpleherbs like ginger you know.
(31:15):
Is it an herb?
What do you call ginger?
Justin Silver (31:17):
I guess it's a root right, a root exactly.
Philip Pape (31:22):
But how powerful something like that can be, and
you've done the research to say,okay, here let's pick the right
things, put them together intoa supplement, all right, so,
listeners, a few things comingout of this.
Here is you know, justin'sobviously an expert in the area
and seems to care about this, ispassionate about it.
He's going to be in ourPhysique University doing a
private live Q&A for anybodywho's in there, and if you're
not in there, another reason tojoin, because he's going to be
in there answering yourquestions pretty soon.
(31:43):
But is there anything else thatyou wish I'd asked Justin about
this space that people need toknow?
Justin Silver (31:50):
Man, you asked a lot of great questions For me.
I'm on a GLP-1 myself.
I think this is going to havefar-reaching impact.
One in seven Americans aretaking a GLP-1 right now.
That's expected to go to one infour.
We've already seen results onweight loss, but we're seeing
(32:10):
results in anti-addiction andleading a healthier lifestyle,
and this feels like we're in noteven the first inning, but
we're kind of in battingpractice for the baseball game
that is the GLP-1 industry, andI'm just really excited to be
able to be in that world, to beable to help people in my
smallest way and to be making animpact.
Philip Pape (32:30):
Yeah, I agree, and I can tell you do it with a
smile and the positivity and theenergy is obviously there.
So I appreciate it.
And last thing, last thing, man, where can people learn about
you and your work?
Justin Silver (32:40):
Oh man, check out SymptoGuardcom.
It's the best place to learnabout SymptoGuard and what we do
, how we do it, why we do it.
There's so much great stuff onthere.
A lot of hard people have madethat site look amazing.
And then, you know, also checkout at SymptoGuard across
different channels.
We have a SymptoGuard Facebookgroup where we have people who
(33:02):
are taking GLP-1s, symptoguard,all of that.
They're able to get in thereand have discussions about the
experience.
You can follow me on Instagramat TheJustinSilver if you want
to check me out.
I think I'm like the second orthird most famous Justin Silver,
so you can find me at theJustin Silver and, either way, I
(33:23):
just hope that you get a chanceto learn a little bit more.
And a fun fact, I'll let you inon something.
If you see any pictures of ourbottle and there's a hand model
holding that bottle, it is, infact, my hand, so I am a famous
hand model in the world ofSimtoe art.
Philip Pape (33:41):
That's pretty cool.
All right guys, check that out.
I'm a big fan of education, soI definitely want you guys
listening to get as educated aspossible.
Check out their Instagram atSymptoGuard.
Check out the Justin Silver onInstagram and then, instead of
going straight to SymptoGuardcom, click the link in the show
notes and you'll get 10% offSymptoGuard and it is going to
teach you about um.
(34:01):
It's going to take you to thesite anyway and you could
actually go to witsandweightscomslash SymptoGuard.
So it's easy on you guyswitsandweightscom slash
SymptoGuard, or hit them up forthe education on Instagram.
Justin, it's been a pleasure.
Hopefully people can learn moreabout you and the product as
they check things out.
Everybody be skeptical, asalways, but I think this is good
stuff.
That's why I'm vouching for itand I appreciate you coming on,
(34:21):
justin.
Justin Silver (34:22):
Thanks so much for having me, man, this was
great.
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