GLP-1 Medications, Food Noise & Body Image: Can You Want Peace and Still Take the Meds?
In a world where body image, weight stigma, and health are so often tangled together, navigating your relationship with food can feel complicated enough. Add in a GLP-1 medication like Ozempic, Wegovy, or Mounjaro, and the inner dialogue might get even louder. You might find yourself asking:
"Am I betraying my healing if I'm on this medication?"
"Is it okay to want help with appetite while also wanting peace with food?"
"What does this mean about me?"
If you're feeling conflicted, you're not alone.
We work with many clients who are exploring how to use GLP-1 medications for medical reasons and want to do the deep, meaningful work of healing their relationship with food and body. These two things can co-exist—and it's okay if it feels messy.
What Are GLP-1 Medications?
GLP-1 receptor agonists (like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro) are medications originally developed for managing Type 2 diabetes. More recently, they’ve gained popularity as weight-loss drugs due to their ability to slow digestion, regulate blood sugar, and reduce appetite.
For some, they offer relief: more stable energy, reduced binge episodes, and improved medical markers. For others, the experience is mixed or triggering—especially for those in recovery from disordered eating or who have internalized years of shame around food and body.
This is where we work with you bring in compassion and nuance.
You Are Not a Problem to Be Fixed
Many clients come to us carrying deep burdens:
A belief that their body is wrong
Shame about how much they still want to lose weight, even after rejecting diet culture
A sense of failure for not being able to control their body or hunger
A deep longing to be seen as attractive, desirable, or lovable—and the belief that only thinness will unlock that
A belief that their worth is tied to their appearance or body size
Fear that their body will never be “good enough,” no matter what they do
Shame around using any tool that might lead to weight loss when they are navigating healing their relationship with food, body and movement
Internalized fatphobia that feels like “truth,” not conditioning
Grief over how much time and energy they’ve spent trying to shrink themselves
Through an Internal Family Systems (IFS) lens, we often see that these beliefs come from parts—well-intentioned internal voices trying to keep you safe in a world that hasn’t always been kind to your body.
You might have:
A Perfectionist Part that carries narratives, like:
“If I do everything right, maybe I’ll finally feel safe.”
“If I control my body, I can control how people treat me.”
“There’s only one right way to recover—and I can’t mess it up.”
“Needing help means I’m weak.”
A Protective Part that often carries its own set of burdens, like:
“If I don’t try to lose weight, people will judge or abandon me.”
“This is the only way I’ve ever known how to stay safe.”
“I have to do something—anything—to avoid being shamed.”
“If I stop trying, it means I’ve given up on myself.”
A Shamed or Exiled Part that may carry stories like:
“I’m not lovable unless I look a certain way.”
“If people really saw my body, they’d think less of me.”
“My body is the reason I haven’t been accepted.”
“I’ve failed, and that failure lives in my body.”
None of these parts are bad. They’re trying to protect you from rejection, stigma, and pain. We honor these parts and we help them soften—so you can hear the voice of your Self: the calm, compassionate part of you that knows you’re already worthy.
We also help clients explore their relationship with food noise—those persistent thoughts about food, eating, and hunger that can feel consuming. From an IFS lens, food noise is not a failure or flaw. It’s often a part trying to get your attention, communicating the unmet needs of your system in the only way it knows how. It might be signaling hunger, yes—but also loneliness, overwhelm, or a need for comfort and connection. The goal isn't to silence it with force, but to listen with curiosity.
Can You Heal Your Relationship with Food While Using GLP-1 Medications?
GLP-1 medications can be part of your care plan if they’re used with intention and awareness, not as a weapon against your body. Here’s what that might look like:
Exploring how different parts of you feel about being on the medication
Being curious about your appetite changes, rather than judging them
Noticing whether restriction, fear, or food rules are creeping back in
Continuing to practice unconditional permission to eat and body neutrality
Letting your values (not your fear) guide your decisions
Holding both—using medication and working toward peace with food—is a harm reduction approach. It means recognizing that you live in a complex world with systemic barriers and personal challenges, and you’re choosing the tools that reduce harm and increase access to care.
Questions to Ask Yourself (or Your Parts)
What part of me wanted to start this medication? What was it afraid of?
Is there a part of me that feels like I’ve failed? Can I be with it instead of fighting it?
What does my Self—the grounded, wise part of me—think about all of this?
You might be surprised at how much relief you can feel when you welcome your internal conflict with curiosity instead of criticism.
What We Want You to Know
You are not broken.
Wanting to feel better in your body is not a betrayal of your recovery. Using medication doesn’t erase the work you’ve done—or the work you’re still doing. It’s okay to hold space for both complexity and care.
We live in a culture that glorifies thinness and punishes bodies that don’t conform. Of course you’ve developed parts that want safety and control. But you also have parts that are tired. Parts that want peace. Parts that want to eat without overthinking. Those parts deserve space, too.
We also support clients in expanding the conversation around body image to go far beyond weight loss. Through a social justice lens, we explore how diet culture has systematically oppressed people—especially those in marginalized bodies—into believing that thinness is the only path to being accepted, loved, and seen as attractive. This messaging is not only harmful—it’s untrue. Your body deserves respect and care, no matter its size, and healing means reclaiming your worth outside of a weight-centric framework.
You Don’t Have to Do This Alone
If you’re navigating GLP-1 use and trying to heal your relationship with food, we’re here to support you. Our approach is weight-inclusive, trauma-informed, and grounded in the belief that your body is not the problem.
We can help you:
Explore the emotional layers behind food, body, and medication use
Build a relationship with your parts—especially the ones carrying shame or fear
Create a way forward that honors your lived experience, not someone else’s rulebook
You don’t have to choose between support and self-trust. You can have both.
Let’s talk. Book a free consult to explore if working together feels right for you.
Because healing doesn’t have to look one way—and your path gets to be your own.
