Is it healed, or just quiet? The GLP-1 conversation nobody's having

Let me take you back to two conversations I had this week.

One online. One in real life.

The first was a woman I follow on Instagram, from Telford.

She's been on GLP-1 drugs for a few months now.

Every week she gives a little roundup.

Lost two pounds, had a takeaway.

on two pounds, rubbish week.

This week she wrote something like, "I generally feel so much better with less food noise in my head."

I banked that one. Good podcast material, I thought.

Then, in real life, I spoke to someone else.

Also on the drugs.

Also lost a substantial amount of weight.

But she'd put a stone back on. In her words, from "not listening to her body."

Two women. Same drug. Two very different stories.

That's what I want to unpick.

What is food noise, actually?

It's the constant chatter about food in your head.

Thinking about it.

Planning it.

Being preoccupied by it.

It's becoming part of the national conversation now, especially since Oprah spoke about it.

And for so many people who've lived with it for years, it's the first time they've had a word for what's going on in their head.

My stance on GLP-1 drugs

I don't care if you're on them.

I'm not bothered.

There's nothing virtuous about doing it without drugs.

There's nothing virtuous about doing it with them.

You have full autonomy over your own body.

If you want to lose weight, that's fine.

If you don't, that's fine.

My coaching has always been inclusive.

That includes people on GLP-1 drugs.

But here's the bit I need to say.

GLP-1 drugs physically suppress physical hunger.

That's what they literally do.

And that suppression can get misinterpreted as something else entirely.

In the first few months, people do genuinely feel less food noise.

But then the honeymoon period ends.

And that's when it's worth asking: is it because there's less urge to eat?

Or because you feel less guilty after eating?

Is it because you no longer feel controlled by food?

What is it, actually, about it?

Because appetite suppression, physiologically, is great. It stops you eating so much.

But the mindset work is a different thing entirely.

Why this matters when you come off the drugs

Having an improved relationship with food while on GLP-1 drugs, without doing any work around it, is just a temporary thing.

There still needs to be coaching.

Still needs to be work around the food noise, the identity work.

Because when you reduce the drugs, or come off them, that's where it counts.

Otherwise GLP-1 drugs just become another diet.

One you come off, regain the weight, and go back on.

It doesn't have to be like that.

What I actually do with clients on GLP-1s

I look at why they're on them in the first place.

I look at identity. Who they've become used to being, and how that shifts as the body changes.

I look at language. ("Cheat meal" - we're working away from that, hun.)

I look at what people are actually eating. Protein, fibre, veg.....yes, I do the nutritionist bit too.

I look at why the takeaways are happening.

Organisation?

Social?

Genuine want?

There's no judgement in any of it.

Just unpicking.

So if this is you

Whether you're on GLP-1 drugs, thinking about it, or nowhere near it, the relationship with food work still needs doing at some point.

So might as well get on and do it, hun.

If you're ready to actually work on your relationship with food, GLP-1s or not, I'd love to support you.

Book a free, no-obligation consultation call here.

And listen to this weeks Chatting with Cara podcast here as I go into more detail about this really naunaced subject.

Cara x