{"id":900415,"date":"2026-09-21T19:12:14","date_gmt":"2026-09-21T19:12:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900415\/"},"modified":"2026-09-21T19:12:14","modified_gmt":"2026-09-21T19:12:14","slug":"illinois-gov-jb-pritzker-says-he-has-lost-80-pounds-on-life-changing-glp-1-medication","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/900415\/","title":{"rendered":"Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker says he has lost 80 pounds on \u2018life-changing\u2019 GLP-1 medication"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Illinois Gov. JB Pritkzer says he has lost 80 pounds while using a \u201clife-changing\u201d GLP-1 medication since he was diagnosed with diabetes two years ago.\n <\/p>\n

\n Pritzker discussed his weight loss and use of the medication in an interview with CBS News that aired on Monday. It comes as the billionaire Hyatt hotels heir seeks a third term as governor and is widely seen as a potential contender for the 2028 Democratic presidential nomination<\/a>.\n <\/p>\n

\n He said he feels \u201ca whole lot different, and a whole lot better\u201d after losing weight.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI have an opportunity, just with the platform I have as governor, to tell people that this is something that can work for them,\u201d Pritzker said. \u201cI think they should do it with a doctor\u2019s advice. But I can tell you, at least for me, it has been really life-changing.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Pritzker\u2019s father, Donald Pritzker, died of a heart attack at age 39 while playing tennis. In the interview, Pritzker discussed his own struggles with obesity. He said he has been overweight since he was 7 or 8 years old, and had gained more weight during his time as Illinois governor.\n <\/p>\n

\n He\u2019s also been mocked for his weight. During the 2024 presidential campaign, President Donald Trump said Pritzker \u201cwants to eat all the time.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\"<p>The” class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image__dam-img–loading’)’ onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1080″ width=”1920″\/><\/p>\n

Gov. Pritzker tells CBS GLP-1 has been “life-changing”\n <\/p>\n

\"<p>The” class=”image__dam-img image__dam-img–loading” onload=’this.classList.remove(‘image__dam-img–loading’)’ onerror=”imageLoadError(this)” height=”1080″ width=”1920″ loading=’lazy’\/><\/p>\n

Gov. Pritzker tells CBS GLP-1 has been “life-changing”<\/p>\n

0:26<\/p>\n

\n Pritzker started the GLP-1 medication after being advised by a doctor to do so two years ago, when he was diagnosed with diabetes. He also walks four miles along Lake Michigan almost every morning.\n <\/p>\n

\n He said he lost two pounds in the first week on the medication.\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cIt was the strangest feeling,\u201d he said, describing food cravings ending. \u201cI\u2019m not suggesting everything changed in a week. It didn\u2019t happen that way.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n \u201cI\u2019ve been driven my whole life to lose weight,\u201d Pritzker said. \u201cThe fact that I am now able to do it because this GLP-1 became available is truly, like \u2014 I mean, it\u2019s something that has meant a lot to me.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n Pritzker also said the Illinois state employee insurance plan is covering GLP-1 medications. He said doing so will save money ultimately because \u201cfewer people will have diabetes. People will be less overweight, which causes so many other diseases.\u201d\n <\/p>\n

\n He didn\u2019t directly answer a question about whether the prospect of a 2028 presidential campaign played into his decision to use the GLP-1 medication and lose weight. He pointed to his reelection bid this fall, and said he has \u201cnot made any decisions about what I might do in the future.\u201d\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Illinois Gov. JB Pritkzer says he has lost 80 pounds while using a \u201clife-changing\u201d GLP-1 medication since he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":900416,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":["post-900415","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900415","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=900415"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/900415\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/900416"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=900415"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=900415"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=900415"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}