Chrissy Metz says GLP-1 treatment has brought benefits beyond weight loss

Chrissy Metz says she has been noticing improvements in her life that reach far past the number on a scale.

The This Is Us star said earlier this year that she started taking a GLP-1 drug, a medication used to treat Type II diabetes that can also be prescribed for weight loss, and she has felt an overall boost in her health.

One major change, she said, has been having the stamina to perform in the Broadway production & Juliet over the past several months.

“Honestly, being able to run around a stage eight shows a week was really amazing,” she told Entertainment Tonight.

Metz said her inflammation has been “really minimized,” something she welcomed because “I'm perimenopausal. I got knee issues. There's things going on.”

She also described another advantage as “super, super helpful” — the ability to think about more than constant “food noise.”

The Emmy nominee said she was initially “very skeptical” about trying a GLP-1 until a friend shared “very thorough” research with her, she told E! News.

“I didn't know that I could quiet food noise and I didn't know there were other factors,” she said.

Metz acknowledged that people may have strong opinions about using a GLP-1, but she is glad to talk about her experience because it “opens up conversation.”

“There are people who, not even with medication, but want to try things in their life, but are afraid of what people are going to say, and don't do it, and perhaps don't find the life that they want, or the joy that they want or deserve because we're so transfixed on what people think about our choices,” she told E! News.

She added, “Again, I was the biggest skeptic. I was like, ‘No, no, no, no, no.’ So, I hope it enlightens people to an option that might be right for them.”