Oprah is coming out with a special and she's going to talk about her use of weight-loss drugs. There is a time and a place for these weight-loss drugs, for people who have been struggling with their weight for years and have tried everything. I'm Ilyse Schapiro, registered dietician with offices in Westchester, NY and Greenwich, CT and here are my thoughts.

If you're going to be on one of these weight loss drugs you need to make sure you're working alongside a registered dietitian to come up with a solid meal plan. I had a client once where the pharmacy stopped carrying it. She couldn't get the right dose at the right time. She went weeks without her weight-loss drug.

And I will tell you, she ended up putting on weight, but that's because she wasn't following the plan. Because while you're on these weight-loss drugs, you're not going to have that much of an appetite. But if you have to go off of them suddenly, that appetite is going to come back. And the weight that you already lost is going to come back tenfold.

So we want to prevent that. So we want to make sure that you are eating appropriately throughout the day, having breakfast, having something to eat every three to four hours. Making sure you have foods that are high in fiber, high in protein, staying away from junk and ultra-processed foods to make sure that if, and when you do go off these weight loss drugs, you still maintain and can even continue the weight loss.

I have not watched the Oprah special yet. I will. And when I do, I'm going to come back on. I'm going to talk about it and my thoughts as a registered dietitian. My thoughts are that it's important to maintain a healthy lifestyle approach with your food. Food to lay the foundation down so that when you go off of these drugs you have the right tools to maintain the weight that you already lost and don't put it back on.