12 months ago I wrote about the fancy new weight loss drug “Wegovy”. Well, here we are, a year later, and there’s another new fancy drug in town, “Mounjaro”. Both promise to help you lose weight by suppressing your appetite and making you feel full.

And even though my clients embrace my approach of not focusing on weight loss, the news of a new drug stirs up all sorts of questions and confusions.

“I read about this new weight loss drug,” a client told me last weekend. “I’m thinking if I just took it for a little while and lost some weight then I’d finally feel good about myself and be able to do the mindfulness stuff you talk about to change my relationship with food.”

I really felt and understood her conflict. I want her to feel good about herself, too. I want her to be mindful and heal her relationship with food, too. And I know that manipulating her natural hunger and satiety cues isn’t going to get her there.

So I told her what I know.

First, there’s no taking these drugs ‘for a little while’. They’re daily injections that you have to self-administer every day for the rest of your life to maintain weight loss.

Also, the major side effect of these drugs is extreme nausea and vomiting. There’s even a page on the website warning about this and how to deal with it. This makes me smile in a twisted, sarcastic way, thinking: “Want to feel better? Take a drug that ‘s going to make you puke all the time.” Whaaaa?

Also Also, in a perfect world, for people who have a straight-forward, uncomplicated relationship with food, it stands that being less hungry and feeling more full would be a sure fire way to eat less. And eating less is often associated with weight loss. And weight loss is supposed to make you feel better about yourself.

But not as often as you’d like to think.

Most people I know aren’t always overeating because they’re hungry, and they don’t always stop when they’re full. Suggesting: our eating isn’t always about hunger and satiety.

For some of us, what we’re trying to suppress isn’t appetite, it’s the way we’re feeling.

Sometimes things aren’t going quite right in our lives and we reach for food to suppress and soothe the feelings. It could be frustration, over-worked-ness, sadness, boredom, or not-being-appreciated-ness. Or loneliness. Or plain old tiredness.

Have you felt any of those lately?

Food can take the edge off, but it doesn’t fix what’s really going on.

Drugs might take some weight off you, but they don’t fix what’s really going on.

When you’re eating emotionally, you aren’t overeating because you’re hungry. A appetite suppressant isn’t going to change that. And maybe you don’t stop when you’re full. A satiety enhancer isn’t going to change that. At the end of the day, drugs don’t address the real ‘why’ of your wonky relationship with food.

I can help you get to the bottom of your wonky relationship with food and change it. You’ll be able to understand your feelings and make choices that truly soothe you without defaulting to food to do it.

I believe in making changes that last, not just suppressing problems.

I believe in slowing down, learning why you eat the way you do, and incorporating new skills so you can have a balanced and sane relationship with food that works for the long term.

This from a client who had tried every diet in town, including diet pills, after participating in my program:

“…for the first time in my life I feel I have found a healthy, sustainable way to think about and eat food. I never feel deprived.”

Find me a drug that’s going to do that.

Learn how you can heal your relationship with food and feel sane for the long term. Click here to get more info on how you can work with me.