Be Careful, Diet Culture might be tricking you into making a deal with the devil.  But be cautious, she wears a lab coat now. 

“When I started this blog in 2007, Binge Eating Disorder (BED) wasn’t even a ‘real’ diagnosis. Nineteen years later, we have a new challenge: the rise of GLP-1 medications like Ozempic and Mounjaro. While these drugs are helping some quiet the ‘food noise,’ they are also fueling a aggressive new wave of diet culture. If you’re feeling pressured to take the shot, or noticing a lack of joy (Anhedonia) while on it, this is for you.

I haven’t written in a while because honestly, it didn’t feel necessary. But something has been nagging at me and I really wanted to reengage with my readers.

When I started Recover in 2007 (nineteen years ago! my blog can finally vote), Binge Eating Disorder wasn’t even recognized as a “real” eating disorder. Nobody was talking about it. My hope was to reach people who were struggling alone and who thought that the problem was that they had no willpower, who thought they just had to diet harder.

But, in 2013, the diagnosis became official, the anti-diet and HAES movements exploded, and I thought: “Great, mission accomplished!” People younger, more social-media-savvy, and way louder than me were covering this now. The pandemic happened, I had clients who really needed my full attention and of course two children who also did and continue to.

So I sort of just stepped back.

But something has really been bothering me lately.

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When Ozempic and Mounjaro first started entering my clients’ lives, I was nervous. I’ve written before about how diet pills have historically been weaponized against people with binge eating disorder. BED, in most cases, has two sides — restriction and binge. Most medications aimed at “fixing” BED just fuel the restriction side.

But here’s what actually happened: many of my clients weren’t restricting. They just became less obsessed. They weren’t thinking about food all the time or even obsessing or caring about their body size. Some noticed decreases in compulsive drinking and spending. Many didn’t lose significant weight, but they stopped binge eating, and that alone changed the way they saw themselves.

So I watched with open curiosity and without judgment. I hadn’t fully formed an opinion, but I wasn’t staunchly against it.

But then, the Ozempic culture happened and it smelled a lot like diet culture.

And then, the other day, I got targeted in my social media feed. I was so mad! My algorithm has been trained to show me only have anti-diet content and cats doing funny things. A woman (or maybe a bot, genuinely not sure) said to me:

“You LITERALLY have no excuse NOT to be on a GLP-1.”

And I fell out of my chair, “you say what now?”

Diet culture did not die. It just got a lab coat and glasses and writes prescriptions now.

And that sneaky bitch thought we wouldn’t recognize her.

Diet culture did not die. It just got a lab coat and glasses and writes prescriptions now. And that sneaky bitch thought we wouldn’t recognize her!

bingeeatingtherapy.com

This is not an anti-GLP post.

*I truly believe that everyone gets to make their own decisions about what feels right for their bodies.*

But the GLP-1 push is not staying in its own lane. It’s starting to come into my safe space and encroaching on my boundaries.  Someone invading my algorithm and telling me that I “literally have no reason not to be on a GLP-1” just pushed me over the edge.

Freaking diet culture.😱  It’s back.

No matter how easy it is to get this drug now, you can still choose not to. If you don’t want to go on a GLP-1 but you feel pressured to do so, I want to present you with some reasons to help you trust your own decisions about what you are choosing to put in your body.

 

You get to do what feels right for your body. But if you are feeling pressured by people to take a GLP1 and you don’t want to, here are seven reasons that you LITERALLY don’t have to.

8 Valid Reasons Not to Take GLP-1s

1. YOUR BODY YOUR CHOICE – Full Stop. 
    “I don’t want to”  is a complete sentence, no justification needed. You are not required to justify your medical decisions to anyone, including well-meaning people on the internet, or your mother. Your body your choice. Always
2. No long term data. These medications are relatively new. If you’re not comfortable being an early adopter of a drug whose 20-year picture we haven’t seen, that is a scientifically reasonable position.
3. You don’t like needles. I mean, honestly. Who does?
4. You’re fine with your body as it is. You don’t want your body to change. You like your body. You are comfortable in your body. You like to eat and enjoy food! That is totally fine. It’s amazing actually.’
5. Other people’s reactions are weird. You don’t want to think about or deal with how people might treat you if your body changes. Weight loss shifts relationships in ways that can be disorienting and painful. When people who ignored you suddenly pay attention, or when someone who loved you “no matter what” seems more loving now, or if you feel that suddenly you are “more acceptable” to your family or someone else, it’s just not good. That information can’t be unlearned. This is a valid, emotionally intelligent reason to opt out of the shot.
6. It’s Freaking Expensive! The cost doesn’t work for you. If your insurance isn’t covering it and your doctor isn’t on board, you might not want to source compounded medication from an internet pharmacy. 100 percent valid.
7. You don’t think it will work. And you can’t do another disappointment. You know what hope followed by disappointment feels like in your body. Protecting yourself from yet another diet/weight loss journey that might just cause pain again is so smart.
8. The Ozempic Blues. I admit, this is what I really wanted to talk about. Many of my clients are noticing emotional blunting, they are feeling a loss of interest in hobbies, they don’t want to go out with friends, and they are generally just feeling a sense of malaise.

Meet Anhedonia. Not the new exchange student who lives next door. Basically the opposite of that. Ozempic is effecting your dopamine receptors and inhibiting the dopamine reward system in your brain. And the phenomena known as “Ozempic Face,” this is the expression of boredom and ennui.

And why is no one talking about this?

The Side Effect No One Is Talking About: Anhedonia

This one is a big deal, and I don’t think it’s being talked about enough.

I’ve been seeing a lot of anhedonia in clients who are on GLP-1s. Several clinician colleagues are reporting the same. Anhedonia is a low-grade flatness, not deep depression, more like a persistent lack of luster. You’re not interested in seeing friends. You don’t want to go out. You’re not picking up the phone, returning texts, replying to invites.

A physician colleague asked me why she’s seeing this in her patients. My clinical hunch (not peer-reviewed, just pattern-recognized): these medications act on the dopamine reward system. Food, alcohol, shopping, socializing, all of these light up the same reward pathways. When GLP-1s quiet the food noise, they may quiet other pleasures too.

 

The irony is that people spend years, decades, lifetimes even chasing the promise that once they lose weight they will be happy.

The belief was, “once I lose weight, I will be happy.” But would you swap happiness for thinness?

If so, why?

When we thought that thinness = happiness, perhaps that could explain it… but there might a little Faustian drama happening with these medications.

Happiness research is pretty clear that anticipation, having something to look forward to is essential to feeling joy. If nothing is making your brain light up in anticipation, life starts to feel uninteresting. I believe that while these medications reduce reward signaling (genuinely helpful for compulsive behaviors), they can also dull joy.

That’s worth understanding before you start. It doesn’t mean it will happen to everyone, it’s just what I’m noticing.

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So no, there is not “no excuse.” You have lots of them, and they are all valid. You don’t owe anyone a justification for what you do or don’t do with your body.