Peptides, and the Future of Human Performance
with Dr. Ian Ellis, VOAT / VOIT
Peptides, and the Future of Human Performance
Show Notes
The story starts in an emergency room. Dr. Ian Ellis spent almost a decade watching the same patients cycle through with the same problems, receiving the same treatments, never actually getting better. Just bailing out the pool, he says. That disillusionment became the seed of something bigger.
When Dr. Ellis was prescribed semaglutide in 2022, he experienced what millions of people experience every day: real weight loss with a catastrophic tradeoff. Thirty pounds gone. But the body composition scan told the real story. He had lost twice as much lean mass as fat. Same body fat percentage. Just a lighter, weaker version of himself. The drug had done what it was designed to do. The problem was the dosing.
That realization sent him down a research rabbit hole that ended with the founding of his concierge practice and an app called My Level, designed to help patients find their minimum effective dose of GLP-1 medications — not the maximum tolerated dose. The results at his clinic have been remarkable: faster weight loss than clinical trials, on half the medicine, with zero desistance due to side effects.
Key Frameworks
The Precision Dosing Model
Standard GLP-1 protocols escalate doses on a fixed schedule regardless of individual response. Dr. Ellis argues this is backwards. The goal is to find the lowest dose that suppresses appetite just enough to create a 500–750 calorie deficit — not to eliminate hunger entirely. Think dimmer switch, not on/off toggle.
- Losing at most one pound per week is the target zone
- Losing muscle at a 2:1 ratio to fat is the most common and overlooked failure mode
- High doses increase cost, increase side effects, and increase desistance rates
The Appetite-as-Physiology Framework
Willpower is not a weight loss strategy. Dr. Ellis compares appetite suppression to sleep deprivation. You can fight it for a day or two, but biological drives increase in intensity until they become inevitable. The solution is not discipline. It is solving the physiologic problem.
The Nutrition Hierarchy on GLP-1s
Because appetite is suppressed, what you eat first matters enormously. If you fill up on carbs, you will never reach protein and plants.
- Priority 1: Animal protein
- Priority 2: Plants — fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts
- Priority 3: Carbohydrates, timed around physical activity
The Cost-Convenience-Quality Triangle
You only get two. Cheap and convenient equals low quality. Convenient and high quality equals expensive. Inexpensive and high quality means you are cooking it yourself. There is no fourth option.
Peptides as Information Systems
Peptides are strings of amino acids that act as keys for specific biological locks. Their safety profile is relatively predictable because they bind to one receptor and produce effects that follow logically from what that receptor does. GLP-1 receptor? Suppresses appetite and slows gastric motility. Overdose? Stomach stops working. Predictable. Manageable.
The 15% Body Fat Sweet Spot
Evolutionary biology has calibrated human attraction toward function, not aesthetics. Studies show 15% body fat consistently ranks as most attractive across populations because it signals strength, capability, and survivability. Single-digit body fat is not optimal health. It is a performance liability.
Founder Experiment: Build a Precision Dosing Tracker with AI
Using a no-code AI tool like Claude, Cursor, or Replit Agent, build a lightweight personal health telemetry app that mirrors the logic behind My Level.
Prompt the AI with: “Build me a simple daily logging app where I can track: current GLP-1 dose (in mg), appetite level (1–10 scale), side effects (dropdown), weight, and body composition if available. After 14 days of entries, generate a summary that identifies my lowest-dose window with the best appetite suppression and fewest side effects.”
This mirrors the core intelligence of what Dr. Ellis built and gives founders a hands-on feel for adaptive dosing logic applied to their own body.
Glossary
Q&A
What is wrong with standard GLP-1 dosing protocols?
Standard protocols increase doses on a fixed schedule regardless of individual response, often pushing patients to doses far higher than they need. This drives up side effects, increases cost, and causes most people to quit. Precision dosing finds the minimum effective dose for each person.
Why do people lose muscle on GLP-1 medications?
High doses suppress appetite so aggressively that patients eat too little, fall into excessive calorie deficits, and fail to consume enough protein. The body then catabolizes muscle for energy. The fix is dose precision plus protein-first nutrition.
Are peptides safe?
Peptides tend to have more predictable safety profiles than small molecule drugs because they bind to specific receptors and produce effects that follow directly from receptor function. Risk varies by peptide. Dr. Ellis advises only using peptides to address a specific health problem, not casually for biohacking.
What is My Level?
My Level is a patent-pending precision dosing engine built into the Voafit platform. It calculates how much medication is active in your body and determines the exact dose needed to maintain your ideal level — the sweet spot where you get the best results with the fewest side effects.
What should you eat while on a GLP-1 medication?
Protein first (ideally animal protein), then plants (vegetables, fruits, legumes, nuts), then carbohydrates only if you still have caloric room and especially timed around exercise. If you fill up on carbs first, you will not reach the more nutritionally dense foods your body needs.
Can you eventually stop taking GLP-1 medications?
Potentially yes, but only with a precision taper from a low dose. Stopping cold turkey from a high dose almost guarantees weight rebound, especially if muscle mass has been lost during the treatment period.