While taking Saxenda, you should avoid or limit high-fat, greasy, fried foods, sugary items, refined carbs, and excessive alcohol, as these can worsen common side effects like nausea, indigestion, and slowed digestion, making you feel worse; instead, focus on bland, low-fat foods, lean proteins, fruits, and veggies to support weight loss and comfort.
On Saxenda, we recommend limiting the consumption of these foods: Ultra-processed foods: Most boxed cereals, supermarket bread and pastries, fast food, microwave meals, oven pizza, crisps, biscuits, fizzy drinks, and supermarket sandwiches. Added sugar.
Foods to avoid while on Saxenda® to reduce side effects
Take these tips from the Calibrate medical team for a spin: Avoid fried, greasy, or fatty foods and foods high in sugar: These tend to be the toughest for your body to digest and the most likely to cause nausea while taking a GLP-1 medication.
You can drink caffeine on Saxenda. However, if you are experiencing heartburn as a side effect of this weight loss medication, it might help to avoid or reduce the intake of common food triggers of acid reflux, such as caffeine, alcohol, acidic foods, and spicy foods.
There may be an interaction between liraglutide and any of the following:
Nausea is the most common side effect when first starting Saxenda®. If you (or your teen) experience nausea, speak with your respective health care providers about ways to manage it. They may suggest some of the following: Eat bland, low-fat foods, like crackers, toast, and rice.
Factors That Affect Weight Loss Outcomes
Drink enough water to avoid dehydration
When starting Saxenda, it can cause nausea (feeling sick), vomiting (being sick) and diarrhoea (runny poo) that can last for a few days. This increases your risk of dehydration, which can cause serious kidney problems. Be sure to drink plenty of water or non-sugary beverages.
Ozempic tends to result in more weight loss than Saxenda, and it's more cost-effective per pound lost. However, it's a once-weekly injection, while Saxenda requires daily dosing, which may affect user preference.
For weight loss, the best alcohol choices are clear spirits (vodka, gin, tequila, whiskey) with sugar-free mixers like soda water or diet tonic, light beers, dry wines (white or red), and hard seltzers, as they are lower in calories and sugar, with vodka soda and champagne often topping the list for lowest calories; avoid sugary cocktails, regular beers, and sweet wines to keep calorie and carb intake down.
What time should Saxenda® be dosed? Saxenda® can be taken at any time, independent of meals. It's best to be taken at the same time every day, at a time that's convenient and easy to remember.
National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) recommends tirzepatide (Mounjaro®) for the management of obesity for certain patients. Tirzepatide (also called Mounjaro®) is a weight loss medicine that makes you feel fuller for longer and therefore less hungry.
Saxenda can make you tired until you get used to the medication. To limit any tiredness, try to get at least 8 hours of sleep, eat a healthy and balanced diet and keep active.
Kelly Clarkson uses a prescription weight-loss medication, but specified it's not Ozempic, though she hasn't revealed the exact drug; it helps her body break down sugar, a necessity due to pre-diabetes, alongside healthy habits like a high-protein diet, increased walking, and a better lifestyle after moving to New York. Her doctor encouraged medication due to concerning blood work, leading her to start after a health scare prompted change, though she initially hesitated due to thyroid issues.
5 tips to reduce side effects on Saxenda
Here are some other things you can do to feel better: Eat regularly. Skipping meals can cause low blood sugar, which can worsen symptoms like nausea, says Abayev.
When taking Saxenda, there are no specific foods you can't eat while taking Saxenda, but it's a good idea to limit certain foods, such as: Foods high in added sugars. Refined carbohydrates such as white bread, white pasta, and white rice. Unhealthy fats such as fried foods or pastries.
GPs are reminded the GLP-1 receptor agonist Saxenda will no longer be available in Australia by year end. Saxenda will be unavailable for purchase in Australia after December 2025, and GPs are being advised to discuss alternative treatments with patients.
Aiming for a gradual weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds per week is generally considered sustainable and safe. Over six months, this can translate to a weight loss of 20 lbs, provided that the individual commits to using Saxenda alongside a disciplined diet and consistent exercise regimen.
Tolerability: According to a study, semaglutide was associated with a lower rate of discontinuation due to side effects compared to other GLP-1 medications like liraglutide, making it better tolerated over the long term.
Hair shedding can also occur with Saxenda® during rapid weight loss, but this is generally temporary and reversible once eating stabilises. Will hair loss from weight loss injections grow back? Yes — in most cases, hair returns to normal thickness within a few months as the diet stabilises and energy intake improves.
The 7 common signs you're not drinking enough water include thirst and dry mouth, dark, infrequent urine, fatigue and headaches, dizziness, dry skin, constipation, and bad breath, all signaling your body needs fluids for functions like toxin flushing, nutrient transport, and maintaining energy, with urine color (pale yellow is ideal) being a great self-check.
For additional side effects, please refer to the Medication Guide. If you (or your teen) miss your daily dose of Saxenda®, just take the next daily dose as usual on the following day. Do not take an extra dose of Saxenda® or increase the dose on the following day to make up for the missed dose.
Once-daily Saxenda®, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, can be taken at any time, independent of meals. Saxenda® is administered by subcutaneously injecting into the abdomen, thigh, or upper arm. The injection site and timing can be changed without dose adjustment.
People have been filing Saxenda lawsuits after experiencing serious adverse effects in connection with the drug. The lawsuits allege that Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Saxenda and similar drugs, failed to warn of the potential for stomach paralysis and other conditions resulting from Saxenda use.
To lose weight in two weeks, your body needs to burn more calories than you consume. A safe and effective target is reducing 500–750 calories per day, which typically results in losing 1–2 pounds per week. Over two weeks, this adds up to a total deficit of 7,000–10,500 calories.