The Hidden Cost – What Women Are Not Saying About Their GLP-1 Journey
- Brainz Magazine
- Jun 25
- 5 min read
Michele DeJesus, PhD, NBC-HWC is a board-certified & Mayo Clinic-certified Health Coach and an ACE-certified Personal Trainer with a PhD, in Holistic Nutrition. She is the CEO of a 26-year coaching business, successfully guiding adults in transforming their health, fitness and weight loss.
As a health coach who works closely with midlife women, I’ve witnessed an emotional undercurrent that isn’t getting nearly enough attention in the conversation about GLP-1 drugs for weight loss. Yes, medications like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro have shifted the weight loss paradigm. But beneath the excitement and rapid results, there’s a quieter story, one that’s less about shrinking bodies and more about the emotional and mental toll of using these drugs in isolation, without the support needed to build sustainable health from the inside out.
Understanding GLP-1’s
GLP-1 receptor agonists are medications originally designed to treat type 2 diabetes. These drugs mimic a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar levels, slow gastric emptying, and perhaps most notably suppresses appetite. Their popularity as weight loss aids skyrocketed when people began experiencing significant, and often rapid, weight reduction.
“We know these medicines play on a receptor in the brain, the hypothalamus, and we know that regulates our appetite, but scientists haven't figured out the precise mechanism for the way these medicines do that,” says Dr. Sameer Khan, gastroenterologist of the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. ₁
That ambiguity matters. Because what we don’t understand fully can have consequences, especially when these drugs are used without a holistic support system in place.
The physical price tag
The known physical side effects of GLP-1s range from the uncomfortable to the medically concerning. Nausea, vomiting, fatigue, constipation, and headaches are common. Extreme side effects can include severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, changes in urination, and symptoms of hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). More serious, though rare, complications can involve pancreatitis, gallbladder problems, kidney issues, bowel obstruction, and gastroparesis.
Gastrointestinal issues can become so severe that users are prescribed stool softeners just to cope. For many women I speak to, these side effects become a kind of silent trade-off: If the number on the scale is going down, then the discomfort feels “worth it.”
But is it really?
What’s rarely explored is how these physical side effects begin to distort a woman’s relationship with food, with her body, and with herself.
The reality of recidivism
According to current research, up to 80-95% of individuals regain the weight they lost after discontinuing GLP-1 medications. This is a staggering statistic, especially for women who have been trying to lose weight for decades, who already carry the emotional scars of yo-yo dieting, and who are desperate to believe this time will be different.
My clients who choose to take a GLP-1 quietly confess a deep fear: What if I stop and gain it all back? What if I can’t do this without the drug? That fear alone can lead to risky behaviors and distorted choices, ones that, ironically, can sabotage the very health they’re trying to achieve.
What I’m seeing
As someone coaching women in midlife on weight loss and health, I can tell you what’s happening behind the before-and-after photos:
Women are eating very small meals or skipping meals entirely, not to nourish themselves, but to “stay in the zone” of weight loss.
Prioritizing the size of meals over the quality of food, choosing minimal eating over nutritious eating. Since they can’t eat a lot, they eat what they like or what feels good while dealing with nausea.
Regular use of stool softeners just to keep digestion moving, rather than adjusting their nutrition, water, or fiber intake to naturally support their body functions.
A persistent, quiet anxiety about going off the drug, so much so that some clients will subtly sabotage their success just enough to justify staying on it. This looks like keeping their weight or A1C levels just above healthy so that insurance continues to pay for the GLP-1.
Requests to increase dosage, not for medical reasons, but to completely obliterate the desire to eat, or because they feel they’re not ‘losing fast enough’ quickly.
Tolerating nausea, dizziness, constipation, and daily headaches is not a sign that something is wrong, but rather a badge of commitment to weight loss.
This isn’t empowerment. This is desperation wearing a mask of discipline.
A more compassionate model
Here’s the truth: GLP-1s can be a powerful jumpstart. But weight loss is never just about food. It’s about behavior. Identity. Beliefs. Triggers. Habit loops. Body image. Emotional resilience. Without addressing those, no drug will ever be enough.
My clients and I, whether they’re on medication or navigating their health journey drug-free, go deeper. We use the science of self-directed neuroplasticity to gently rewire the way they think, choose, and feel. These tools work with the brain, not against it. They bypass the need for constant willpower (which is fleeting at best) and instead build new neural highways that lead to sustainable, nourishing behaviors. How? Those new behaviors (new neural pathways) begin to feel familiar, empowering, and aligned with the woman they want to become, not the same person who’s struggling to try and willpower her way to weight loss.
In our work together, we explore three simple but powerful neuroplasticity tools:
Positive & Intentional self-talk, to shift the internal dialogue from criticism to compassion.
Thought management, to catch and redirect the old mental loops that sabotage progress.
Journaling, to process emotions, track progress, and reconnect to purpose.
These aren’t just mental or feel-good exercises. They’re identity-building practices. They help women not just lose the weight, but finally lose the mental weight they’ve been carrying for years. The guilt. The shame. The diet trauma. The internal story that says, “You’ll never figure this out.”
If insurance companies and medical providers truly want to create lasting, healthy outcomes for their clients, my female clients, I encourage them to pair GLP-1 prescriptions with access to health coaching, behavior change therapy, or lifestyle counseling. This dual-track approach doesn’t just help women lose weight; it helps them reclaim agency, heal their relationship with food, and build sustainable habits that will serve them long after the drug is gone.
Final thoughts
I get it. For many of my midlife women, GLP-1 drugs feel like the answer they’ve been searching for their entire lives. And I’m not here to vilify the use of these medications. But I am here to advocate for the women taking them for the mental health they’re not talking about, for the silent distress behind the rapid results, and for a model of health that honors more than just the number on the scale.
If we want to support people in their weight loss and health, we must do more than suppress their appetite; we must amplify understanding, compassion, and true behavioral change.
Read more from Michele DeJesus
Michele DeJesus, Health Coach/Weight Loss Specialist
Michele DeJesus, PhD, NBC-HWC is a board-certified & Mayo Clinic-certified Health Coach and an ACE-certified Personal Trainer with a PhD. in Holistic Nutrition. She is the CEO of a 26-year coaching business, successfully guiding adults in transforming their health, fitness and weight loss. Michele has been featured in the IDEA Health & Fitness online magazine as well as numerous television appearances speaking about fitness, weight loss and health. She is the host of the Facebook group Midlife Confidence: Women Conquering Weight Loss and the creator of an online 12-week weight loss intensive for midlife women. Her mission is to support midlife women in creating their own health & wellness renaissance.
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