Choosing an Anti-Diet Path in the Age of Ozempic: 5 Tips

“So, why aren’t you on a GLP-1?”

These days, the decision to stay committed to an anti-diet lifestyle can be complicated. You’re trying to resist the temptation to change your body when it seems like everyone else is changing theirs (and encouraging you to come along!).

First of all, we believe in every person’s autonomy to do whatever they feel is right for their own body. But if you feel like you’re the only one not pursuing weight loss, we want you to know that you’re not alone, and there is a way through!

We’ve compiled these tips from some of our favorite voices in body liberation and weight inclusive spaces. 

1. Give Yourself a Reality Check

We get it. Headlines claim new ways these “miracle drugs” will help you achieve your health goals almost daily. And when it feels like everyone around you is taking them, it can be hard to remember why you decided not to. The first thing you can do is ground yourself in what we know.

Discussing GLP-1’s on the podcast Burnt Toast, Corinne Fay reminds listeners that “they do cause weight loss in most people, but they don’t cause weight loss in everyone. And, if you ever want to stop taking them, you will likely regain the weight. So I think the question is:

“Do you want to go on this drug, see how much weight you can lose, then go off it and regain the weight? Is that a net positive? ”

And we see that as a genuine question! You have the right to decide what’s right for your body, but that choice should be rooted in reality (for example, the nausea many people experience, which Fay and co-host Virginia Sole-Smith discuss later in the episode.)

HAES-aligned therapist Edie Stark emphasized the importance of understanding the research around using these drugs as weight loss injections (or lack thereof) on the Full Plate Podcast: “These drugs are not being studied long-term in terms of the effects that they are going to have when being taken solely for intentional weight loss,” she said. “We've already started to see negative outcomes and negative side effects when they are taken in this way. People are manufacturing non-FDA approved versions of these drugs and selling them. They're being given to people without medical approval.”

2. Normalize the Desire for Weight Loss

It’s normal to want to lose weight in a culture that values thinness.

Even activists who have done huge amounts of work to unlearn anti-fatness acknowledge that the thoughts still come up.

“I think all of us have had these thoughts, right? It’s hard.” said Sole-Smith. The drugs are everywhere. People are talking about them constantly. We’re human.”

But there is hope!

“It's hard to exist in a fat body and that can be extremely demoralizing,” said fat activist Sharon Maxwell.

“And yet there still is this [body liberation] movement going. Seeing that and believing in a different tomorrow…that fuels and motivates me to continue to be an agent for change.”

Vinny Welsby, of the Fierce Fatty Podcast acknowledges that while life can feel harder in a fat body, they’ve worked to differentiate between “I am bad, my body is bad and I need to lose weight,” and “society is f*cked up.”

3. Allow Space for Grief

On this episode of practice founder Amanda Mittman’s podcast, body image expert Bri Campos shared that to divorce yourself from diet culture, you have to grieve the loss.

“When I thought about what loss I would experience by my body not getting smaller, but getting bigger, it was, people are going to judge me. I'm never going to be able to get quality medical care. I will not fit in places. I won't be able to buy clothes.”

Sharon Maxwell also recognized the necessity of grief while in treatment for an eating disorder.  

She described the realization that “I'm grieving. I need space to be angry. I can't continue to pursue recovery if I can't sit with the real grief of not only losing the pursuit of the thin ideal and this image of what I thought my body would eventually attain, but also the fact that when I walk out in this world, it’s not created for me. I can't just go to an amusement park and get on any single ride. I have to plan extra for travel with an airline and figure out what airline I'm going to fly and what their customer size policy is.”

You have to allow yourself to “sit in the suck,” as Campos calls it.

“Doesn't mean it's going to feel good. It doesn't mean it's going to feel great,” she said. “But I am resourceful enough to handle even the worst case scenario.”

4. Find Community

“We need to see people who are living like us,” says Maxwell. “We need to normalize seeing fat bodies. When you scroll through your feeds on social media, are you mostly seeing thin bodies? Because that's not an accurate representation of this world.”

On Amanda’s podcast, Bri Campos encouraged listeners to think about people whose bodies look like yours when making decisions. She asks:

“Is it okay that people can't fly on airplanes comfortably or sit in booths comfortably?”

“If this was for somebody else, for my best friend, my child, my partner, would I be like, yeah, you don't deserve to fly? If your innate response isn't yes, what that tells me is that [intentional weight loss] does not align with your core values.”

5. Live Your Life Anyway

Campos calls this step “Live Your Best Life” in her 7 Steps from Body Grief to Body Acceptance. The premise: Instead of waiting for your body to change, prove to yourself that you can live a full life in the body you’re in by doing it!

Maxwell agrees.

“Jump into finding ways to actively live your life in your right-now body. There are ways to travel. I just went to Disneyland for the first time,” she said. “Find ways to engage in your right-now life and look for ways to experience joy. That's evidence I have in my real life that my body isn't holding me back. I'm experiencing a full, beautiful life in my right-now body.”

What better response to the question of why you’re not on a GLP-1 than the fact that you can live a full life without it?

Finding Support

Whether you’re committed to or curious about an anti-diet path, we’re here for you! At Happy Valley Nutrition, we work with clients in-person in Amherst, MA and virtually (reach out to inquire about nutrition counseling in your state!). We have immediate openings and offer free clarity calls to help you figure out what support you need.