Navigating the Nuances of GLP-1s and Reclaiming Beauty
Body Autonomy, Nervous System Safety, and Weight-Inclusive Care
At Reclaiming Beauty, we support being in relationship with your body in ways that feel aligned with your values, grounded in the Body Trust® framework that affirms all bodies deserve compassion, nourishment, and respect. We hold body diversity as a natural and essential part of being human and work toward liberation from body surveillance, shame, and control. We affirm all bodies—including fat bodies—as valid and worthy human experiences, deserving of care, dignity, and belonging.
It is from this lens that we approach conversations about GLP-1 medications. There are times when people find themselves considering or using GLP-1 medications for health, metabolic support, or other medical reasons, and this decision is rarely simple. Beginning a GLP-1 can feel like stepping into a charged landscape shaped by diet culture, medical authority, personal history, and the long memory the body holds around food and weight.
At Reclaiming Beauty, we often meet people at this crossroads—individuals navigating GLP-1 consideration and use while also carrying a history of disordered eating or body image distress. If this is your experience, you are not alone, and you are not “doing it wrong” by feeling conflicted. This is a space where exploration, nuance, and nervous system care matter.
Honoring Body Autonomy
Our approach begins with body autonomy. Body autonomy means having the right, power, and agency to make decisions about your own body—without coercion, shame, or external control. It means you are allowed to listen inward, to move at your own pace, and to make decisions that align with your values rather than external expectations. You are allowed to hold mixed feelings. You are allowed to change your mind.
We honor your choices for your body—whether that means starting a GLP-1, continuing one, adjusting dosage, or exploring the possibility of transitioning off. There is no single “right” path, and no requirement to justify your decisions.
From this perspective, a GLP-1 medication is not a moral choice or a test of willpower. It is simply one possible form of support—and it deserves to be held with care.
A Trauma-Informed Lens: Nervous System Safety During Change
Change, even when chosen, can activate the nervous system. For people with a history of food or body trauma, the shifts that can accompany GLP-1 medications—reduced appetite, altered hunger cues, nausea, or fullness arriving sooner—may feel especially charged. A trauma-informed approach understands that these responses are not problems to push through, but signals from a nervous system shaped by lived experience and learned protection.
At Reclaiming Beauty, our trauma-informed care is grounded in choice, context, and consent.
Choice means you are not locked into a single path; pacing, dosage, goals, and even continuation of a medication remain open to your agency.
Context means your history with food, your body, weight stigma, and medical care matters—and informs how these changes are understood.
Consent means there is information shared about the benefits and potential challenges of taking these medications, and ongoing permission-giving: to slow down, to reassess, to name when something no longer feels supportive, and to make adjustments without shame. Rather than asking the body to override discomfort, we listen closely. We notice what feels resourcing, what feels activating, and what might need care or change. Safety—not compliance—is the ground we build on.
A Gentle Note for Those with a History of Disordered Eating or Body Image Distress
If you have a history of disordered eating, an eating disorder, or long-standing body image distress, GLP-1 medications deserve especially thoughtful consideration. Appetite suppression, nausea, or rapid changes in fullness can unintentionally echo past patterns of restriction or control, even if weight loss is not the goal. You may notice urges to skip meals, anxiety about eating “too much,” relief that feels confusing, or a return of old rules and “shoulds.” These responses are not signs that you shouldn’t be here or that you are doing something wrong—they are protective adaptations shaped by your history.
A Reclaiming Beauty approach holds this process with care, prioritizing regular nourishment, nervous system safety, and ongoing reflection so that medical support does not quietly re-entrench harm. This work is not about vigilance or fear, but about staying in relationship with your body through changes, with enough support to notice when something feels misaligned and to respond with compassion rather than control.
Weight-Inclusive Support for Body Image and Identity Shifts
Body changes, regardless of the reason, can be a real mindfuck. Clients on GLP-1 medications frequently find themselves processing complex body image shifts—sometimes unexpected, sometimes disorienting. Even when weight change is not the goal, it can still carry emotional weight.
In a weight-inclusive framework, we support clients in making sense of these shifts without centering worth, health, or success on body size, while situating their experiences within the broader social context of weight stigma and body hierarchies. We recognize that changes in appearance can stir grief, relief, anger, fear, longing, or confusion—often all at once.
This work often includes exploring how it feels to be seen differently, how internal narratives about the body are evolving, and how old shame—both familiar and newly formed—may surface. Rather than rushing to resolve these feelings, we create space to process them with compassion.
What If Weight Loss Is Your Goal?
At Reclaiming Beauty, we hold a weight-inclusive framework while also honoring body autonomy. Wanting your body to change makes sense in a culture that attaches safety, access, and relief from stigma to smaller bodies. We get the layers people are navigating around this issue and we can hold it. For some people, weight loss feels connected to comfort, mobility, medical concerns, or simply wanting something to be different. We meet this desire with respect rather than judgment and do not shame or moralize the desire for weight loss given the culture we live in.
At the same time, we believe informed consent matters and can be an important part of what therapy offers. For many people, maintaining weight changes while using GLP-1 medications may mean taking them long-term. Because these medications are relatively new, we don’t yet fully understand the long-term effects, which is something to consider when making choices about your body and health.
Centering weight loss can come with real emotional, relational, and nervous system impacts, especially for those with a history of disordered eating or body image distress. In our work, we make space to explore both the potential benefits and the possible costs—how focusing on weight might affect your relationship with food, your sense of self, and your long-term wellbeing. We’re here to support you by holding this process with awareness, care, and choice, so that no outcome—on or off the scale—comes at the expense of your safety or humanity.
We recommend reading through this Informed Consent Resource from Medical Students for Size Inclusivity.
What Clients Often Explore in This Work
Here are some things we can work on in this nuanced process:
How to stay connected to pleasure, satisfaction, and nourishment while using GLP-1 medications even when appetite feels quieter or nausea is present
Fear of restriction returning, confusion about “shoulds,” or concern about eating enough when hunger cues are muted
Making sense of mixed emotions around possible weight change
Noticing how external praise or concern impacts your internal world
Working with shame that may arise related to weight
Transitioning off GLP-1 medications in a way that is paced, resourced, and grounded in body trust rather than fear
If You Decide to Come Off a GLP-1 Medication
Some people choose to stop GLP-1 medications due to side effects, cost, access issues, or concerns about long-term impact. If and when this happens, it’s important to know that weight regain is common and expected—not a personal failure. This response reflects the body’s innate biology, shaped over thousands of years to protect us during times of perceived famine by restoring energy reserves when conditions change.
At Reclaiming Beauty, we approach this transition with compassion and preparation rather than surprise or shame. Drawing from the Center for Body Trust® framework, we support clients in tending to the emotional and relational layers of this shift, including body grief, fear, and the stories that may resurface about “going backward” or “losing control.” Together, we explore how your body’s history, needs, and resilience inform your unique body story, and we help you define health in ways that are meaningful to you—beyond weight.
This process often includes identifying weight-neutral goals that support wellbeing, such as nourishment, steadiness, mobility, energy, rest, connection, and nervous system safety. Coming off a medication does not mean abandoning care; it can be an opportunity to deepen body trust, re-center your values, and continue moving toward health on your own terms.
Reclaiming Relationship, Not Control
At Reclaiming Beauty, the goal is not perfect hunger cues, flawless attunement, or a calm nervous system at all times. The goal is relationship—staying connected to your body with curiosity and kindness, even when things feel messy or uncertain.
This process often means using structure as care rather than control, eating regularly to support steadiness, and allowing nourishment to be grounding rather than something to optimize. It means noticing how food supports energy, mood, digestion, and pleasure—without turning those observations into rules or measurements of worth.
A Closing Reflection
At Reclaiming Beauty, we hold GLP-1 journeys with nuance, respect, and a deep belief in the body’s wisdom.
You can choose medical support and still resist diet culture.
You can honor your health and protect your recovery.
You can feel grateful and unsettled at the same time.
Your body is not failing. Your history makes sense. And your autonomy matters.
Get Started With Nuanced GLP-1 Support in Asheville, NC Today
If you’re ready for nuanced support as you navigate your health journey—with providers who center body autonomy, practice weight-inclusive care, and bring deep expertise in trauma, eating disorders, and body image distress—we would love to hear from you.
Learn more about our caring and compassionate approach.
Discover how to create a supportive environment for healing your relationship with food and your body.
Other Services We Offer in Asheville, NC
Discover a holistic approach to well-being at Reclaiming Beauty. Our personalized embodiment coaching unlocks the wisdom within, fostering self-compassion and resilience. Or, explore the transformative benefits of the Safe and Sound Protocol (SSP). This is a non-invasive auditory intervention that enhances social engagement and reduces stress.
