It's absolutely normal to struggle with food shame around the holidays if you've struggled with weight in your lifetime, but our goal at TAC is to mitigate this because you don't need stress and shame surrounding food at what should be the most joyful time of the year. With that in mind, our hope is that some tactics to manage the stress and shame around holiday treats along with a reminder about how your GLP-1 medication works behind the scenes (supporting you even when you do have a treat) will alleviate the food shame that can pop up during the holidays.
Why You Won't Gain Weight Enjoying Holiday Treats in Moderation on a GLP-1.
Let's start with why you shouldn't be scared of holiday treats as your medication is actively helping support your insulin sensivity therefore supporting a host of metabolic functions that simply are more effecient now than they were before you started a GLP-1.
1. When you're on a GLP-1 your metabolic handling of food improves. GLP-1s enhance insulin sensitivity, lower fasting insulin levels, and reduce post-meal glucose excursions. What this means is: lower insulin = less lipogenesis (fat storage) and more stable glucose = fewer reactive hunger spikes. This doesn’t “boost metabolism,” but it makes your metabolism more efficient at energy use instead of energy storage so the same treat leads to less fat deposition than it would have before therapy.
2. Your body weight is regulated by the hypothalamus through a concept called the metabolic set point. Before GLP-1 therapy, your hypothalamus defended a higher set point by increasing hunger, slowing metabolism, and encouraging weight gain after even small deviations. GLP-1s reduce inflammation in the hypothalamus and normalize leptin and insulin signaling. This effectively lowers the defended weight range. With a lower set point, your body no longer aggressively stores excess calories from small indulgences.
3. GLP-1 medications activate receptors in the mesolimbic dopamine pathway, which regulates reward and impulse around food. Off a GLP-1, high-sugar or high-fat foods caused a dopamine spike and this spike triggers follow-up hunger, cravings, and a tendency to “eat around” the treat. Because dopamine signaling is blunted on a GLP-1, treats can lose some of their reward-related pull and because of that, no longer triggers the cycle of overeating. This removes the chain reaction that used to make a single treat lead to hundreds of extra calories.
What To Do When You Feel Yourself Shame Spiraling About Holiday Treats:
1. Identify that this is an old emtion and while doing that remind yourself of the above and enjoy a treat if it brings you joy. PTSD-style food reactions live in the amygdala, which reacts fast and emotionally. Labeling the emotion signals your prefrontal cortex to come online and regulate the response.
2. Use now vs. then grounding. Your body is operating on GLP-1 physiology and before it wasn't. This is an accurate biological statement and it teaches your nervous system to update its files.
3. Practice safe treat exposure to prove to yourself that nothing bad will happen. Choose a treat that will bring your joy and enjoy it slowly (activating parasympathetic nervous system). Observe the outcome that you won't gain weight over the course of a few days and then try it again. Each time you enjoy that treat in moderation rewrites the old pathway and lowers the alarm response. It also keeps you from restricting and placing too much importance on the treat. The treat does not control you. Think of this one like rehab for the nervous system.
4. Remind yourself that you have a team of medical professionals that can address any gain or bounce that occurs. Our practice is built on data, if there's weight gained, we tweak the plan and find a dose that accurately supports your goals and optimizes that metabolic handling. It's possible that a dose can be too low for a certain person's metabolic makeup and physiology, but doses are not concrete -- they can be changed and that's why even gain is not the end of the world.
Need more support with holiday treats and shame? Shoot us a note and we can set up an appointment to chat providers@theaestheticconcierge.co or book your appointment to kick off your journey on our website: https://www.theaestheticconcierge.co.
