When Your GLP-1 Medication Takes Away More Than Your Appetite

So you got the prescription.

The weight started coming off. You should be thrilled.

But instead, you're standing in your kitchen staring at your favorite meal and feeling... nothing. And worse than nothing, you're feeling sad about feeling nothing.

Your doctor warned you about nausea. They mentioned constipation. They told you the medication would make you less hungry.

What they didn't tell you: GLP-1s don't just reduce your hunger. They can fundamentally change your relationship with one of life's greatest pleasures. And if you don't deal with the grief that comes with that, you'll either quit the medication because you miss food so much and gain everything back, or you'll stay on it feeling like you're living life in grayscale.

I'm calling this food grief. And nobody's talking about it.

This Isn't About Missing Your Favorite Foods

I came up with this concept after reading a comment from a woman on Threads. She was on a GLP-1, losing weight, but she said something that stopped me cold: "I lost my zest for food."

That's it. That's the thing nobody prepares you for.

Because for most of us, especially if you're over 40 and you've spent decades building your life around food, cooking for your family, connecting with your spouse over dinner, celebrating with meals, baking the annual Christmas cookies, suddenly not caring about those things feels like a death.

And I'm not being dramatic. It is a kind of death.

It's the death of an identity. A role. A source of pleasure and connection.

You didn't sign up for that part. You signed up to lose weight. You didn't agree to stop enjoying food.

The Four Stages of Food Grief

Let me walk you through what's actually happening so you can navigate this without sabotaging your progress or your mental health.

Stage 1: The Honeymoon Phase (Weeks 1-6)

At first, losing your appetite feels like a miracle.

You're finally free from the constant food thoughts. You're losing weight. Yes, you might feel a little nauseous, but who cares? You can feel your body getting smaller. You're actually doing it.

Here's what's really happening: Your brain is still running on the old reward pathways, but the medication is blocking the signals. You're high on the results. The number on the scale is going down. Your clothes feel different. That excitement temporarily masks the loss you're experiencing.

The mistake most people make: They don't prepare for what comes next. They think this is how it's going to feel forever.

So when Stage 2 hits, they're completely blindsided.

What to do instead: Start noticing now what role food played in your life beyond just "I ate too much of it."

Were you the one who cooked Sunday dinners? Did you bond with your daughter over baking? Was trying new restaurants your main date night activity?

Write this stuff down. You're going to need to process it soon.

Stage 2: The Realization (Weeks 6-12)

This is when it hits you: Food actually mattered to you for reasons beyond nutrition. And now it just doesn't.

You're at your church event and everyone's raving about the fried chicken. You're picking at it because it's in front of you, because you're supposed to eat something, because you're used to eating with these people. And people are looking at you like, "Girl, you're not going to eat your fried chicken? What's wrong?"

Or it's your birthday. Your family went to your favorite bakery and got your favorite cake. Your kids are so excited. They sing happy birthday, they give you a big slice, and you take two bites and you're done. Instead of celebrating, you're fighting back tears because this is your favorite cake. It's your birthday. And it's not bringing you the joy it once did.

Here's what's really happening: Your identity is shifting, and you didn't consent to that part. You agreed to lose weight. You didn't agree to stop enjoying food. This is cognitive dissonance at its finest. You wanted this medication, but you didn't want this.

The mistake most people make: They either try to force themselves to care about food again (eating when they're not hungry, manufacturing enthusiasm, finishing that fried chicken because that's what you've always done), or they feel guilty for feeling sad about something they "should" be happy about.

Women especially will tell themselves, "I should just be grateful this is working."

What to do instead: Name it. Say it out loud.

"I am grieving food."

Not because you're ungrateful. Not because you're doing something wrong. But because loss is loss, even when it comes from something positive.

You can be grateful for the medication and grateful that you're losing weight and grateful that you're breathing better and have less achy joints and all those wonderful benefits. And you can also be sad about what you've lost.

Both things can be true at the same time.

I coached a client who was in tears eight weeks into her GLP-1. She'd lost 18 pounds. She felt incredible. She looked incredible. But she was crying because she'd always been the one to make homemade pasta sauce for Sunday dinners. And suddenly she couldn't taste test it the same way. Her stomach was like, "We don't like this anymore."

She said, "I don't know who I am if I'm not the person who feeds everyone."

That is food grief.

Stage 3: The Identity Reconstruction (Months 3-6)

This is where the real work happens. And this is where most people get it wrong.

They think the goal is to get back to enjoying food again. To find balance with food.

But that's actually keeping you stuck in your old identity.

Here's what's really happening: You have an opportunity most people never get. A clean slate with food.

The GLP-1 has removed the food noise, the cravings, the emotional pull. And instead of mourning that loss, you get to use it to build your 2.0 identity from scratch.

Most people spend years, decades even, trying to change their behavior while their brain is screaming at them to eat. I saw a funny reel the other day. A woman on the treadmill, and the caption said, "When your shot begins to fade." And suddenly you just hear all the foods running through her head: ham hocks, cornbread, macaroni and cheese, fried chicken, Doritos, nachos, tacos, margaritas.

The food noise has returned.

The GLP-1 quiets that noise so you can finally do the identity work that actually sticks. This is philosophy first transformation. You're not just changing what you do. You're changing who you are.

The mistake most people make: They try to recreate their old relationship with food, just healthier. But they're still giving food a job it was never meant to do.

Food is not meant to entertain you. It's not meant to soothe you. It's not meant to celebrate for you. It's not meant to connect you to people.

Food's job is to fuel your body. That's it.

Everything else? That's your old identity talking.

The Identity Shift Process: Three Parts in Order

Part 1: See food as neutral

Your old identity put food on a pedestal. Food was special. Food was pleasure. Food was comfort. Food was your best friend. Food was love. Food was celebration. Food was everything.

Your 2.0 identity? Food is fuel. Period.

Before you roll your eyes and think I'm saying you should eat boiled chicken and broccoli for the rest of your life, no. That's not what I'm talking about. I don't want that for you. That sounds terrible.

It means food doesn't have an emotional job anymore.

You're not eating to feel better. You're not eating to celebrate. You're not eating because you're bored or stressed or because it's just there.

The GLP-1 is giving you a massive gift right now. It's showing you that you can live without food being the center of everything.

Before the medication, you know what it felt like to use all your motivation and willpower to try to separate the emotional tug of food while trying to do the healthier thing. Most people spend decades on the weight loss struggle bus trying to make this work.

And now? You're getting it handed to you on a silver platter.

Don't waste it trying to go back to your 1.0 identity and using food for fun.

Part 2: Stop using food for entertainment

Food became entertainment somewhere along the way, and you stopped entertaining yourself in other ways.

Restaurant hopping. Bar hopping. Trying new recipes. The cooking channel. Collecting recipes on Pinterest. Food porn on Instagram. Food festivals for vacation.

Food became the thing you did.

Here in Philadelphia, we have more street festivals than any other city in the country, I think. And every single one is centered around food. There's literally one called the Feast. All food vendors, food trucks, everything.

Your 2.0 identity doesn't need food to be entertained.

And here's the thing: when you stop using food for entertainment, you suddenly have so much more mental and physical energy for the things that actually light you up.

I'm not saying you can never enjoy another meal. I'm saying enjoying a meal isn't the point anymore. It's who you're enjoying the meal with. That's more important.

The point is fueling your body so well that you can do the things that actually matter to you.

This holiday, I went to one of my best friend's big end of year parties. They have a huge house with a beautiful bar downstairs, specialty drinks, professional bartenders. It's a whole thing.

Normally I would have been drinking it up, clinking glasses with my friends.

But this year I was in a season where I'm losing my taste for alcohol. It doesn't excite me. It gives me heart palpitations, which I hate. It disrupts my sleep, which I hate even more because I finally got my sleep in order and I'm protecting it at every cost.

So instead of focusing on what I was going to drink, I focused on the people. I was going to see friends I haven't seen in over a year. People I only see once a year.

I drank sparkling water. I had half a glass of Prosecco and didn't even finish it. I was more intent on meeting new people, connecting with the people I haven't seen, focusing on the conversations.

It was a much more gratifying experience because I was making personal connections.

Part 3: Redirect your desire (this is the key)

Here's what I tell all of my clients:

You will lose the desire to eat all your junkie processed foods, all your comfort foods, all the foods that keep you inflamed, all the foods that make you feel like garbage the day after, when your desire to feel good in your body becomes greater than the Cheetos, greater than the Reese's Cups, greater than the margarita.

When your desire for a flat belly, for waking up without joint pain, for sleeping through the night, for having energy at 3 p.m., for looking in the mirror and actually liking what you see, when that desire is stronger than the donut and the chocolate cake, that's when you know your identity has shifted.

And that's not about willpower. That's not about restriction. That's about genuinely wanting something more.

The GLP-1 is quieting the food noise so you can actually hear your real desires.

Most people spend decades drowning out their real desires with food because they think they can't do it. They think they can't achieve it. They think they can't ever have a flat belly anymore. They think they're never going to be able to lose the double chin. They think they're never going to be anything other than a 2XL.

Now that the food noise is quiet, you can do the identity work. You can slow walk your way to belief and possibility. To knowing that it is possible for me to be in a size 10 from a 2XL. It is possible for me to lose 80 pounds. It is possible for me to have a flat belly over the age of 50.

So what do you actually want?

Not what your old identity wants. What does your 2.0 version want?

Because here's the truth: The grief you're feeling isn't about losing food. It's about losing the old you. The version of you who needed food to cope, to celebrate, to connect, to feel alive.

And that version needed to die for you to become who you're meant to be.

Stage 4: The Integration (Month 6+)

This is where you land in your new normal.

Food has a place in your life, but it's no longer the center of your life.

Your identity has evolved. You've genuinely processed the loss. You might still have moments of sadness. Holidays can be hard. Certain events where it's always been centered around food, you may feel not part of the crowd anymore. But those are just moments. It's not your everyday state.

I don't want you to think you've failed if you still feel twinges of grief occasionally.

And I don't want you to get so comfortable with food being less important that you don't notice when you're actually isolating yourself or losing quality of life.

Check in with yourself honestly every couple of weeks:

Am I still finding joy in my daily life?

Are my relationships healthy and connected?

Do I feel like myself, not who I used to be, but a version of myself I actually like?

If I'm still on this medication a year from now, will I be okay with that?

If your answer to any of these is no, it's time to reevaluate.

Maybe you need a dose adjustment. Maybe you need to add back some food rituals you dropped. Maybe you need coaching to help you process the deeper stuff that's coming up.

The goal isn't to stay on the medication at all costs because you're afraid of the food noise coming back.

The goal is to live a life you actually want to be living.

Why Most People Gain the Weight Back

Most people try to do this alone.

You get to Stage 3 and you know you need to shift your identity, but you don't know exactly how. So you either stay stuck in grief in your 1.0 version of yourself, or you go back to what you're used to doing: depending on motivation and willpower, white knuckling your way through the medication, hoping things will magically click.

And then one of two things happens:

Either you can't tolerate the grief and you stop the medication early because you miss the connection with food, and you gain everything back.

Or you stay on it, you lose the weight, you don't shift your identity, and then life happens. Insurance stops covering it. You hit your goal weight and decide you're ready to come off. Whatever the reason.

Six months later, the food noise comes back. You don't know how to deal with it because your identity is still stuck in your 1.0 self. Your 1.0 habits come right back. And you end up with rebound weight.

I see the commercials just like you do. Serena Williams with her 31-pound weight loss on Roe. Every 10 minutes. Girl, you look good, but I don't need to see you every commercial break.

We don't hear about the rebound rate.

But here are the statistics as of right now: 50 to 70% of people gain the weight back after they stop GLP-1s.

I saw a guy on TikTok who lost 80 or 90 pounds. Stopped taking the medication. The food noise came back. He freaked out. Didn't know how to handle it. So now he's back on it.

I want you to have an option to be on the medication or not. I don't want you to become dependent on it because you don't know how to handle the thoughts in your head.

The people who gain the weight back? It's not because the medication stopped working.

It's because they never changed their identity. They were still their 1.0 self, just on some medication.

So of course when the medication stops, they go right back to their old patterns.

What to Ask Yourself Right Now

If you're on a GLP-1 now, or you're thinking about starting one, ask yourself this:

Do I have a plan for what happens when I stop taking it?

Do I know how to shift my identity, or am I just hoping I'll figure it out along the way?

Because hope is not a strategy.

The women who keep their weight off with a GLP-1 aren't special. They're not more disciplined. They didn't get lucky.

They did the identity work while they had the window to do it.

The GLP-1 is giving you a clean slate. Don't just lose the weight.

Become someone different.

Ready to become unrecognizable in the next 12 months? Book a free consultation call to see if my Complete Transformation private coaching program is right for you: https://jenniferdent.com/consult

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