Are Diabetes Meds the Answer to Long-Term Weight Loss?

I don't know about you, but I've been seeing a lot more TV commercials for diabetes drugs like Ozempic, Jardiance, and Metformin than ever before.

While many require these potentially life-saving medications to help manage their blood sugar, others are being prescribed these for weight loss or to 'cure' ob*sity (* used on purpose because using BMI terms is stigmatizing).

In light of this trend, I wanted to educate myself further, so I took a few masterclasses with a well-known fat activist and podcaster Dr. Asher Larmie (they/them) (@thefatdoctor). I was curious to know more about the current research, especially in terms of safety and long-term efficacy. I also wanted to know if others experienced what I had when I was taking one of these medications years ago.

Shortly before I discovered intuitive eating, I was prescribed a now-common medication to help boost the effectiveness of another medication I was taking. I wasn't told a possible side effect was weight loss. Like most of these other meds being prescribed, this medicine was created to help another condition, but they inadvertently realized that it also caused weight loss in most folks.

Approximately one month later, I started to feel the medicinal effects. I was elated. I also noticed that I was losing weight effortlessly. Around the same time, I started a vegetarian diet, so I assumed the weight loss was from that.

I dropped about 3-4 pants sizes within a few months.

This was before I knew about diet culture, weight science, and set point weight, so I thought my 'new' body was my 'real' body. As a chronic dieter, this wasn't the first time I'd felt this way, but this time I felt different for some reason.

A few years later I didn't need the medication anymore, so I stopped taking it.

Within a few months, I gained every pound back plus more. Big surprise, right? Not really! Even though I wasn't dieting when I was on the medication per se, my body responded as if I had been. I learned that the medication had temporarily changed my metabolism affecting my appetite and causing me to eat less. Dr. Larmie confirmed that this is exactly what happens with all the popular medications that they're now pushing in the media.

In an effort to regain 'control' of my body and cope with the shame associated with the rapid weight gain, I quickly slipped back into my disordered eating behaviors again.

Just like all the other times I had yo-yo dieted, I wondered what I had done wrong and desperately wanted to find a solution.

Of course, now I know that I'd done nothing wrong, but at that time, it was all-consuming. To this day, I occasionally wonder what physical damage I've done to my body from all the yo-yo dieting I've done. Do you ever wonder about that?

I understand for many, it is tempting to want to be in a smaller body. After all, our culture elevates smaller bodies, so feeling this way is natural. Weight stigma exists and for most, it's not easy to live in a larger/fat body. I acknowledge that many fear their weight may lead to a long-term illness or cause mobility issues, etc. especially as they advance in age.

What we need to always remember is that while weight loss may help reduce these health concerns, it's not a permanent solution and often backfires potentially leaving behind emotional, physical, and mental side effects. This is true with traditional dieting/restricting and also with the use of medications and/or injectables for weight loss purposes.

If you have considered taking medications and/or injectables to lose weight (and are not taking them to treat a diagnosed medical condition like diabetes or pre-diabetes), please do your research to understand how weight stigma is influencing many of these recommendations in the medical field. The research is grim and so are the potential physical and emotional side effects.

While we all have full body autonomy, I'm sharing my story so you can see the other side of this all the media hype.

The truth is, we cannot escape the emotional work that is needed to accept our bodies. I've had clients who have used Wegovy and become more obsessed than ever with their bodies. Plus, they feared their insurance would stop covering the prohibitively expensive medication so they were stressed all the time.

Know that there are tried and true frameworks and methods that I teach to help make the body acceptance process easier and more pleasurable. My clients have shared their experiences so others can see what's possible for them.

Have you been tempted to ask your doctor about any of these medications?

Ready to fast-track your recovery? Tap the Let’s Connect button below to schedule your free 20-minute connection call.

You don't have to do this alone.

What To Do When the Temptation to Diet Gets Strong

Let’s be honest. There may be days when the desire to return to dieting will be strong. That’s not because you’re doing anything wrong. It’s because unattainable cultural norms around body size, shape, weight, the aging process, etc. often leave us believing that we're lacking in some way.

It's not just the cultural norms that make us feel this way about our bodies either. The reality is that body image is not constant and often wavers based on external factors like your social media consumption/literacy, hunger, sleep, stress, career, loneliness, etc. so it’s natural that the temptation to diet may return on occasion.

Oftentimes the slightest things can impact how we feel about our bodies. For example, stepping on a scale at the doctor's office (which you're not obligated to do but may feel guilted to do), a change in blood work, or clothes shopping can trigger a tailspin of emotions including body shame. 

And even though we now have access to many resources like podcasts, coaching, and body-positive content creators on social media to help shift our mindsets about these things, we all still get 'stuck in the suck' sometimes. This is natural so I think we all need to practice managing our expectations around this to help minimize shame spiraling. 

One thing I often help my clients do when they're stuck in the suck is to remember and reflect on their 'why'. 

So, when they're believing that being in a smaller, thinner, fitter, younger, etc. body is going to solve all their problems, we'll do some somatic work together (like hand over heart and belly, followed by some deep breaths) to help calm their nervous system. 

Once they've come back to their body, I ask them to reflect on why they left dieting behind (my definition of dieting is: prioritizing your food choices and food quantities based on your size, shape, and weight instead of your body's physical and emotional needs) I may ask questions like:

What was your life like when you were dieting?
How did dieting make you feel?
How is your life different now that you're not chasing a number all the time? 
What has giving up the thin ideal given you back? 

If you are just starting out in your journey or feel guilty that you've been at this for some time but still get these urges often, please know that I'm not surprised because diet culture messaging is seductive! 

If your self-care stores are low, your health is waning, you're in midlife, your pants are feeling tighter, or you're feeling vulnerable for any reason, you could easily be tempted to believe that your body, weight or age, etc. is the problem making dieting seem even more enticing. 

Keeping these dieting memories green will help you circle back to the reality that dieting has an approximate long-term success rate of only 5%. That means that approximately 95% of the time, the weight will be regained which studies show may lead to more serious health concerns, increase body dissatisfaction, and increase mental health issues. 

Please remember that while the way we feel about our bodies may naturally vacillate, our worth is constant. 

Despite What We've Been Told, Hunger Isn't a Bad Thing

Yours truly unapologetically savoring a snack in Italy this summer!

Have you ever heard, "Wow, you've got a big appetite!" or "Are you going to eat all that?"

I'm raising my hand because I have!

In fact, some of my most vivid childhood memories are when someone (mainly my mother) commented about how much food I had on my plate. I don't blame her because she was also a victim of diet culture, but nonetheless, I know that it negatively affected my relationship with food. I talk about this in my recent podcast interview with Chris Sandel of Seven Health. 

Comments like these often make us feel shameful and embarrassed about how much food we desire and/or eat. In some cases, comments like this may even lead to rebellious eating. 

Thanks to diet culture, we've been told that honoring our body's hunger cues is problematic. 

Diet culture tells us that:

• Eating is okay when it's only being used for fuel 

• Eating is okay when you only eat as much as you 'need'

• Eating is okay provided you're eating only when you're physically hungry (or else it's considered gluttonous)

• Eating shouldn't be used to help us soothe our emotions

Do you know what messages like this do?

They disrupt our ability to truly trust our bodies, specifically our hunger. A lack of body trust often makes us feel unsafe in our bodies. This lack of trust also interferes with our body sensations. So, our bodies may be giving us hunger signals but our minds will fight hard to override these cues because they've learned that not following the rules is bad, especially for women!

Don't be fooled and think that overriding these cues (which is also emotionally draining) means that you refrain from eating, although it may in extreme cases. How this usually plays out in our daily lives is,

• Not eating as much food as the body actually needs for physical and emotional reasons

• Not eating the foods that the body truly desires leading to feelings of dissatisfaction

• More often than not, eating past a comfortable fullness

• Increased stress and anxiety around food (which may cause digestive issues)

• Increased fear of weight gain and thoughts of restricting 

In the end, if we trusted our hunger as much as we trust our need to go to the bathroom, disordered eating wouldn't affect such a huge percentage of the population! 

If you're someone who doubts, berates, or belittles themselves because they've been told or believe they eat 'too much', eat 'too often', or eat for the 'wrong reasons', that's all diet culture conditioning that can be unlearned. 

Despite what diet culture dictates, our bodies know what they need, and they can be trusted! Keep tuning in, honoring your body’s cues, and unapologetically savoring every bite and wait for ‘magic’ to unfold.

Want eating and body image to be easier? I know I can help.

12 Things You Can Control Instead of Trying to Control Your Weight

If you're in the US, the recent news around gun violence in our schools and communities, reproductive rights, LGBTQ+ rights (especially trans rights), etc. may be weighing heavily on your mind. If this is you, know that you're not alone because I've lost hours of sleep in the last few weeks. Like many of you, I have a myriad of emotions but mostly I feel grief, overwhelm, and powerless because I have little control over what is happening. Do you feel this way sometimes too? 

I've had plenty of clients say that they feel this same sense of overwhelm and powerlessness when they've just started their intuitive eating journey, are struggling with peri/menopause, have been diagnosed with pre-diabetes or diabetes, an autoimmune illness, or their labs indicate elevated cholesterol, etc. 

The natural response when things feel out of control is to try to regain control somehow. While is a logical response, it often doesn't come easy. This is because many of the things we tend to try and control only give us the illusion that they can be controlled.

Below is a short but not exhaustive list of things we do when we are trying to regain control:

• Weight, body size, and shape

• Our food by practicing restrictive behaviors/dieting (a.k.a. undereating)

• Other people

• What other people think of us

How did trying to control those things work out for you?

Now for the good news. Below is a list of a few tangible things that are within your control:

• Our attitudes, actions, and reactions

• How much time we spend on social media and who we follow 

• Boundaries we set with others, around our time, etc. 

• Spending time with people that nourish us emotionally 

• How we speak to ourselves

• Our spending/budgets

• How often we're checking in with our bodies

• Harmful habits and/or patterns 

• Our self-care practices (sleep, movement, time management, etc.)

• How we dress ourselves 

• Nourishing our bodies with foods that put their needs first 

• Organization/cleanliness of our environments

The illusion of control in a society so hyper-focused on physical appearance is powerful so if this is hard to accept, it's understandable. Even so, I encourage you to keep focusing on the long list of things within your control and see the freedom and peace they can offer you. 

If you're feeling that you could benefit from getting 1:1 support because you're still trying to control the uncontrollable, let's connect to see how coaching can help you move past this. 

Your Body Isn't the Problem, but Here's What Is

One of the most common struggles my clients and the women I support on social media have is the fear of weight gain. So, if this is you, you're not alone. 

It makes perfect sense that so many are afraid of weight gain. I want to be clear that fear of weight gain can happen to people of any size. If you're in a smaller body you likely want to stay that way and if you're in a larger body, you may even fear it more. 

Some reasons why this is a common concern (this list is not exhaustive):

• People in larger bodies are pathologized and seen as a problem to be "fixed". 

• Weight gain, even when done for medical reasons like weight restoration, is usually noticed and is often a popular topic of conversation because our culture is obsessed with body size!

• Clothing options in terms of sizes, styles, and availability often become more limited.

• Fight travel is often a challenge and may be more expensive.

• Finding a weight-neutral or HAES practitioner isn't easy so weight stigma is rampant.

• People make automatic assumptions about people in larger bodies, especially in terms of fitness levels, overall health, love life, etc. 

• Fitting in (literally and figuratively) challenges our sense of belonging which is a basic human need. 

The truth is while all these concerns are 100% valid, there is still nothing wrong with your body as it is right now. 

Here's what IS wrong:

• That our culture discriminates against certain body sizes, especially aging bodies! 

• Our societal beliefs that there is one acceptable way to have a body and that they aren't supposed to change are rooted in a cascade of oppressive societal norms like patriarchy and racism. 

• That there is a magical formula to manifest the desired weight, size, and shape and that if we just tried hard enough, we'd have it. 

• That punitive behaviors like food restriction, compulsive exercise, and beating ourselves up for the sake of maintaining weight or looking a certain way regardless of the negative health outcomes are celebrated instead of questioned.

Here's what can be done to navigate this to experience peace:

• Understand that the diet and beauty industries are billion-dollar non-stop machines whose sole purpose is to make us feel like 'less than' or 'not enough' so we'll keep investing in them instead of in our true selves. 

• Stay rooted in your WHY. Remember why you left dieting (a.k.a undereating) behind in the first place and all the challenges associated with it. 

• Take time to reflect on the many gifts that food freedom and body liberation offer you daily. If you're a newbie, wait for it because you'll start feeling it soon enough. 

• Continue to do a cost/benefit analysis. Ask yourself what is the emotional and physical cost of going back to restrictive behaviors vs. what are the benefits of staying on the freedom trail. 

• If you are managing a chronic illness or are fearful about your long-term health due to your weight, remember that correlation doesn't prove causation. Research has shown over and over again that consistent self-care practices including gentle nutrition, movement, stress management, sleep, the way you define 'success', tending to mental health, etc. often have profound positive effects on our long-term health regardless of weight. 

• Learn how to feel the feelings of discomfort that often drive people back to restrictive behaviors. When we learn to feel, we slowly begin to neutralize these overwhelming feelings that something is wrong with our bodies.

That's why getting support from those specifically trained in this work, being part of body-positive communities, and continuing to lean into the discomfort is important. 

The truth is, you're on the right path and just because it may not always feel that way, those doubtful feelings will pass. As I often say, keep your eye on the prize which is FREEDOM and SUSTAINABILITY. 

Remember, you don't have to do this alone. Support makes all the difference!

Measuring Progress without the Scale

The other day, I was asked how I measure my client’s progress without using the scale. I thought this was such a great question, especially for anyone who is considering practicing Intuitive Eating. The truth is, unlike dieting, with Intuitive Eating, progress isn’t measured by numbers (although metabolic health ranges may improve as a byproduct of better self-care). In fact, focusing on numbers like weight, inches lost/added or number of times eaten hinders the healing process. If you’re struggling in your relationship with food and have decided to start practicing Intuitive Eating, there are several indicators that show your progress without ever stepping on a scale, counting a calorie, ‘point’ or measuring your waist!

1. Hunger/fullness — You’re allowing yourself to unconditionally eat (mostly when hungry, but sometimes just because you want to) and not just basing your meals/snacks on the time of day and/or the number of hours between meals/snacks. Also, you’re becoming more aware when you’re feeling full and are usually able to stop eating based on these signals.

2. Reduced stress/anxiety — You enjoy your food with a noticeable difference in how you feel when you’re preparing it, eating it, and feeling after eating it. In the past, certain foods may have left you wanting more and possibly even obsessing over them but when you’ve begun to make peace with food, that stress around food often dissipates. This certainly doesn’t happen overnight, but eventually, white knuckling around food will be a faint memory.

3. Digestion matters — Many who consistently eat foods that don’t agree with their digestive systems are often not tuned in to how certain foods or combinations of foods make them feel. Becoming aware of this is a huge part of the Intuitive Eating process. For some, becoming more observant about their food choices and/or food combinations is important. This may be difficult in the initial stages of Intuitive Eating, but over time, it usually becomes easier to discern this. Supplements may also be needed to help with this.

4. More variety — For those who have religiously restricted foods high in calories, fat, or carbs often limit the types of foods they’ll eat. They do this because they fear they’ll go ‘overboard’ and not be able to stop eating once they start. They are often terrified of weight gain. This is very common and can sometimes keep people in a rut with their food and often stagnates or prevents healing. Being open to and then noticing that you’re allowing a variety of foods in your diet and that you eat these foods without (or with reduced) anxiety or fear is huge growth!

5. Stop labeling and judging– You’ve stopped labeling food as “good” vs. “bad” or “healthy” vs. “unhealthy”. Labels like these create a lot of guilt around food choices and, over time, chip away at self-esteem. Labeling foods also causes us to have a moral attachment to foods. This attachment makes it impossible to notice the satisfaction level of the food and how you’ll feel physically and emotionally after eating it. Without this knowledge, foods will continue to be seen from the standpoint of calories, fat grams, carbs, etc. which is still dieting. Once you’re able to get past your judgments about food, the food choices usually become more nutritionally balanced.

6. Less preoccupation — Instead of being consistently preoccupied over what to eat, how much to eat, when to eat it, etc. you can simply be mindful and enjoy what you’re eating! While it’s certainly acceptable to give thought to food and the enjoyment of it, doing so in an unbalanced/obsessive manner isn’t healthy. When the food obsession diminishes, there is more time to enjoy life!

7. Move for fun, not punishment — It’s amazing what happens when the focal point of the exercise isn’t on the number of calories burned, but on how the movement makes your body feel. When your criteria for choosing movement is based on how it makes you feel rather than on the number of calories that will be burned or the number of steps you walked, you can choose movement that you’ll enjoy and likely do consistently. Engaging in consistent movement is important for metabolic health (blood pressure, blood cholesterol, sugar), managing stress, bone health, and emotional wellbeing.

8. Stop food extremes — You know you’re well on your way to food freedom once you’ve stopped going to food extremes like forbidding refined sugar, carbs, fats or high-calorie foods. When you’ve gotten to a place where you recognize that all foods can be enjoyed in moderation (which is different for everyone) and without all the guilt, this is a great sign! Once you’ve begun to see that all foods (barring a food allergy or sensitivity) can be enjoyed without the sky falling or the nasty food police always judging every morsel of food that crosses your lips, you’re on your way to achieving food freedom!

So, the next time you’re wondering if your Intuitive Eating efforts are “paying off”, I hope you’ll consider these non-numeric benchmarks. Remember, being an Intuitive Eater is not about being “perfect” around food. In fact, it’s just the opposite. Intuitive Eating is about allowing ourselves to be more flexible around food while allowing our bodies to guide us. When we’re ‘tuned in’ to what our bodies need instead of focusing on numbers, food freedom and body acceptance are possible!

Are you ready to ditch dieting and try Intuitive Eating instead? If so, good for you! Join us in The No-Diet Sisterhood group on Facebook where we talk about Intuitive Eating and body acceptance all day long!

P.S. Coaching is the perfect space to explore any eating and body image struggles you may be grappling with. Click the button below if you’d like to schedule a free 20-minute connection session with me to see if coaching is a good fit for you.