Sick of GLP-1 Weight Loss Injection Culture? This Is for You

Unless you've been living in a cave recently, you'll have noticed that we're living in the GLP-1 weight loss injection era. Purchasing weight loss jabs online, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, is too easy and accessible, posing risks to many people. As a counsellor working with individuals struggling with food, body image and weight stigma, I see the impact that GLP-1 culture is having and the pressure this creates. It's always a personal choice to take weight loss injections, and I work with people who choose to take them and who don’t.
 
However, this blog is for those who don't want to take them and are trying to withstand the relentless marketing, adverts and pressure.
 
It’s for those who have struggled with their relationship with food or body image and don’t want to get sucked back in.
 
It’s for those who have realised the coercion of diet culture and need a reminder of why they opted out.
 
It’s for those working on self-acceptance and having a more peaceful relationship with food and their bodies.
 
If you're sick of the power of diet culture and GLP-1’s, this is for you. 
 
(To be clear – this is about GLP-1 use for intentional weight loss, not when prescribed for medical conditions such as diabetes)

The Marketing Behind GLP-1 Weight Loss Injections

​Novo Nordisk is one of the pharmaceutical companies that manufactures weight loss injections. Novo Nordisk do not care about your health. They have created a “triumph of marketing”.
 
Novo Nordisk “created the need” for GLP-1’s with a ten-year marketing plan, purposely positioning “obesity” as a disease to be “treated”, pathologising “food noise” and recruiting influencers and celebrities for endorsement. This, and the flaws and misrepresentation of data in GLP-1 research, is explored in much more detail by Regan Chastain and colleagues in this paper, and in this webinar.

The power of this marketing strategy and the discourse around GLP-1s makes it very difficult for users to make an informed decision about taking weight loss injections. This risks harm to many, and prioritises profits over people’s wellbeing. Positioning larger bodies as diseased fuels weight stigma and anti-fat bodies. It exacerbates the idea that people in larger bodies need to be “fixed” and that fatness is the enemy.

Virgie Tovar has spoken on her podcast, GLP-1 Truth Serum, about how the body positivity movement was targeted in the marketing of GLP-1s. I’ve personally seen body positive influencers talk about how they have been offered large sums of money to promote GLP-1’s, and I’ve seen the pivot from others into weight-loss framed as “self-care”. Many people in body positive/acceptance spaces online have struggled with their bodies and may be in recovery from disordered eating. This exploits people's vulnerabilities and puts people at risk.

GLP-1s and the Evolution of Diet Culture

Weight Watchers have been around for decades but have now also adopted weight loss jabs into their plans. They've had to continually adapt over the years to fit current trends to keep making money off people's insecurities. This is the same for the whole of the diet industry, their focus is on pivoting their marketing – they don’t care about your health. They know that using the term "diet" isn't so cool anymore, so they talk about wellness and self-care and being "strong not skinny". These are all the same beauty standards and tactics to sell products and services, they're just packaged up as something else. 
 
Living under diet culture makes it challenging to have informed consent due to the coercion of the industry and societal messages. This is why the slogan “my body my choice” is simply not enough. How can anyone make an educated, informed choice when we have been swimming in diet culture for so many years? We need to unpack all our influences and pressures from childhood, the media and society. We need to understand ourselves, and challenge the myths and narratives around weight, health and beauty.

Health Is About More Than Weight

Losing weight doesn't automatically mean that somebody is healthier. Being in a larger body doesn't automatically mean being unhealthy and being in a smaller body doesn't automatically make you healthy. But, weight stigma is the one thing we know is harmful for people. It drives body dissatisfaction, mental and physical health problems, and disordered eating.
 
It’s also important to say that some people can’t be healthy due to ageing, disability, chronic health conditions, mental health problems and more, and also due to the impact of systemic inequalities and discrimination.
 
Unfortunately, weight and health are so conflated that weight loss at any cost is regularly praised. People online recently have talked about having a “parasite” or getting food poisoning to lose weight. People with cancer have been praised for their weight loss. Those with eating disorders are commonly praised for weight loss (until they’re deemed to have gone “too far” and then they’re shunned for it). The pharmaceutical companies won’t care who takes GLP-1s – it could be a person with anorexia or a child – as long as they are still making money.
 
Health is so much more than weight; it’s about sleep, mental health, social interaction and connections, self-care, joy, and more. If you want to lose weight, dig deep and explore why. Because if it’s for “health reasons,” then that doesn’t need to be about weight. If it’s to fix a part of you, or feel more confident, then often weight loss won’t solve this as there are often deeper-rooted issues. My work with people with body image or eating difficulties involves exploring way back into childhood, exploring wounds and trauma, and building self-worth and trust in yourself.

Food Noise: What Does It Really Mean?

The term “food noise” is used casually now but was popularised as part of GLP-1 marketing strategies. I encourage people to unpack this term to really understand what it means. Sometimes food noise can be hunger, cravings, conflicting thoughts, critical thoughts, constant worrying about food or what to eat, thoughts telling you not to eat, etc.
 
This all sounds decidedly similar to disordered eating. 
Calling this food noise and thinking of it as something GLP-1s can “fix” runs the risk of minimising or not noticing when people might need psychological help.
 
GLP-1s do not make food noise go away, they mask it. For those who stop using GLP-1s, often the food noise comes back, and they also regain weight. Even for those who continue taking the jabs, food noise can sometimes still come back. This is because there is no quick fix for food noise, it’s way more of a complex issue which requires much further attention.
 
Counselling can help unpack where food noise comes from, how you experience it, and ways to help deal with this. I also have a full blog on food noise and weight loss injections here for more info.

 
Can GLP-1 Weight Loss Injections Treat Binge Eating?

There is increasing anecdotal talk of GLP-1s “treating” binge eating. The research on this is not yet robust or long-term enough to show this. Some people say they are experiencing a reduction of binge eating in the short term, so I’m not saying they’re wrong, I’m just wondering how long this may last?
 
Food noise comes back. Weight comes back. Binge eating comes back. GLP-1s are not a “treatment” for an eating disorder. In fact, they will likely make them a whole lot worse. Binge eating, for some, can be connected to restricting food intake. People may be in a “binge and restrict” cycle, so weight loss jabs add to the restriction as they are appetite suppressants.
 
If a thin person with anorexia was taking weight loss injections people would likely be horrified. At the very least, people would hopefully agree that those with eating disorders should not be taking GLP-1s. So why not those with binge eating, or those at higher weights with anorexia or bulimia? It’s worth remembering that many people with eating disorders are in larger bodies and challenging the myth that only thin young girls have eating disorders.

​​Everyone's Taking GLP-1s. Will I Be the Only One Left Who Isn't?

No. People in larger bodies have always existed and will continue to exist.
 
Weight loss jabs are just the next “wonder diet” like every other diet in history. If you’ve stepped off the diet train, be assured in your decision not to get on this one.
​
For those who have been around and around in diet cycles, you likely know how this ends – feeling guilty and ashamed, constantly feeling not good enough and giving yourself an endless hard time.
 
I understand if you’ve worked hard to build a better relationship with yourself and have finally stopped hating yourself. Or if you’re on that journey, you deserve to do that for yourself. You don’t need to take a GLP-1 if you don’t want to. You know what’s best for you and your body.
 
Quick reminders if you need them:

• The diet industry thrives on making money off people’s body shame
• Informed consent involves having the options of alternatives to GLP-1s (ahem… therapy)
• Having a smaller body does not automatically bring better health or happiness
• Don’t go along with “food noise” talk – challenge and unpack what this really means
• You don’t have to love your body all the time, but respecting it enough to make an informed choice is crucial
• Don’t be afraid to be angry about GLP-1 culture (but keep this focused on the culture not individuals taking GLP-1s)
• GLP-1 culture reinforces the thin ideal and creates more weight stigma/anti-fat bias
• You are not alone – surround yourself with like-minded people and set boundaries with those who test yours

 
This blog was geared towards helping people who don't want to take GLP-1’s. Sometimes it’s important to have an “unbalanced” view because this is the very balance needed when the marketing and narratives are overwhelmingly dominant.
 
My overall hope is that people are safe and free from harm no matter what their choice. I say I am anti-diet culture, not anti people who diet. As a counsellor, I work with people with a whole range of eating concerns, and those who have dieted through their lives. I also work with those at any stage of considering, taking, or coming off GLP-1s.
 
For more information about my counselling service, click here. I offer a free 15-minute intro call, please get in touch here.