Can intuitive eating and GLP-1 medications coexist?

Yes — but with significant clinical nuance, individualized professional support, and clear expectations set before the work begins.

GLP-1 medications suppress the body’s interoceptive signals: hunger, fullness, and satisfaction. There are GLP-1 receptors on the tongue, and the reward center of the brain is also affected, meaning satisfaction from food and, in many cases, from life in general is reduced. This creates a fundamental challenge for intuitive eating practice, which relies on the ability to sense and respond to these internal cues. While a client is on GLP-1, intuitive eating coaching must shift to functional or mechanical eating — scheduled meals, structured fuel, and gentle nutrition basics — rather than internal cue-based eating. This is not a failure of intuitive eating. It is an adaptation to what the medication is doing physiologically.

The most important clinical consideration is what happens when GLP-1 stops — and the majority of people do stop, with drop-off rates estimated between 50 and 75 percent. The food noise, body image fear, disordered beliefs, and emotional dysregulation that were suppressed by the medication return, often with greater intensity than before. This is sometimes called the beach ball effect: the further the signal is pushed down, the harder it resurfaces. Practitioners who use the time a client is on GLP-1 to do body image work, thought work, emotional regulation training, and nervous system skill-building are building the protection their clients will need when the medication ends. Practitioners who do not are leaving clients without a foundation.

Non-diet practitioners working with GLP-1 clients should conduct thorough assessments for disordered eating and eating disorder history before beginning, make body image assessment a standard part of intake, watch for red flags such as elimination of food groups or avoidance of social eating, and communicate clearly to clients that intuitive eating is not a weight loss tool or a weight maintenance strategy post-medication. The answer to whether these two things can coexist is yes — but only with the right clinical framework, appropriate scope of practice, and long-term individualized support.

Transcript 

[00:00:00] Stephanie: Welcome to It’s Beyond the Food podcast, my sisters. I’m your host, Stephanie Dodier, and today we’re gonna talk about intuitive eating and GLP-1: 15 clinical consideration.

[00:00:13] Stephanie: Now, it’s been a while since I’ve recorded a solo episode. I’m rusty. The last time I think I recorded a podcast episode, kind of a solo episode like this, I think I was in Mexico. So, uh, uh, it’s my third attempt at starting this podcast episode, and usually I just, like, bang them out, and oh, I was stumbling over my words.

[00:00:38] Stephanie: So bear with me as I get my groove back in recording, teaching solo episode. Because if you’re new here, we… I did, uh, a big series on GLP-1 and, uh, the weight neutral health approach. I brought in nine expert on the weight neutral space and health, and we talked about GLP-1 in the most detail, um, podcast I’ve ever done.

[00:01:11] Stephanie: Like, I’ve done my research prior to recording this series, and I couldn’t… I cannot find anything that is that detailed. So if you want to get yourself caught up on all the things you need to think about in the GLP era as a non-diet practitioner and anti-diet practitioner, it’s a mini course with all MDs, physician, PhD researcher people, like top-notch information.

[00:01:43] Stephanie: Um, and it’s on my podcast feed and in the show note I’ll put the link directly to the page on our website. And with a few of them, a few of the expert, I think we’re gonna do a 2.0 next year, right? We’re gonna bring them back and talk about any research updates, so stay tuned for that. Um, what else do I wanna tell you?

[00:02:05] Stephanie: Yeah, I’m back home, by the way. if you’re listening on, on YouTube you’re seeing the background. I’ve been here since, I think, May, and I’m planning to stay here for the whole autumn segment of the year. Um, I’ve got some things that needs to be done in my house, and I think I’m gonna be here, so I don’t think I’m gonna be traveling, but stay tuned as this could be changing.

[00:02:33] Stephanie: I’m recording this on August the 2nd, and I’m gonna be publishing this on August the 6th. So if you’re listening to this on the publish date, know that I’m doing a training series in August called the Thursday Sessions. Where I’m actually gonna teach you how to update your practice, your coaching process with your client, given the GLP era.

[00:03:01] Stephanie: This is a training that I’m integrating in the Non-Diet Coaching Certification, but I took the highlights, and I’m gonna teach them for you for free, um, in that Thursday series. So you may have missed the first part where we talked about the new angle of goal setting and behavior change, but no worries.

[00:03:24] Stephanie: If you subscribe, you will have access to the recording and the upcoming live session, the three other live sessions. So again, that will be in the show notes, and it’s everywhere in my social media and on my website. Also, leading into the last launch of the Non-Diet Coaching Certification for 2026, cohort 14, yay, um, where we’ve updated the curriculum for, um, GLP-1 era.

[00:03:56] Stephanie: So I can’t wait to see many of you there. Um, and I’m gonna do a kind of a disclaimer for this episode, and then I promise we’re getting right into the topic. The, these are my thoughts around combining or thinking about GLP-1 and intuitive eating in the face of what I’m seeing in the field. So these are my thoughts that I’ve collected on a Note tab on my phone based on supervision question from my, uh, mentoring students, from my clients, things I’ve been teaching in my various program on how to think about clients, GLP-1, and intuitive eating.

[00:04:41] Stephanie: So with that in mind, I’ve got a long list. That’s why I decided to record this episode because I’m like, “I gotta get this out there,” because the list keeps getting longer and longer. So let’s start with consideration number one. I believe that we cannot turn away clients if they’re coming to us for support.

[00:05:04] Stephanie: Now- When I say this, I always caveat to you as a practitioner having gone through the process of deciding of your personal and professional value and your ethical boundaries when it comes to practice. So if you are in a position where you’re like, “I can’t, it goes against my value, it goes against my ethic, I cannot work with someone that is on GLP-1,” great.

[00:05:40] Stephanie: Have a referral list that you have people that you’ve trusted over the years that you can refer your client to. You can also think about, how can I support them without supporting them with intentional weight loss? Because as we’ve learned in the, uh, Beyond GLP-1 series, is that there is a lot of medical reasons why people are currently being prescribed GLP-1 without an intention of weight loss.

[00:06:17] Stephanie: So we’ve heard a lot of, uh, obviously, on label, which is Type 2 diabetes. Like, there is… I have a client that’s, funny enough, that was on GLP-1 for years, and I’ve been working with her not knowing she was on GLP-1 until about three years ago when it became a thing, and then she’s like, “Oh, I just realized I’m on a GLP-1, been on it for five years.”

[00:06:43] Stephanie: But it’s just, it’s like taking metformin for her. Like, she’s doing body image work, she’s doing intuitive eating. She’s such a low dose, and I think that’s the other thing to understand is that the dosing of the GLP-1 has a great impact to the capacity of your client to go through the journey of intuitive eating.

[00:07:09] Stephanie: So my client, for an example, has not lost weight because that wasn’t the intent. Like it was, for her, it was like taking metformin. So, and we’ve seen more and more research being done into connecting different health condition with the use of GLP-1. I just am thinking about another podcast episode I recorded with Julie Duffy Dillon on PMOS and PCOS, right, the new name, where she has a lot of patients that are on GLP-1 for a regulation of insulin, just like my patient on Type 2 diabetes, that don’t necessarily lose weight, right?

[00:07:51] Stephanie: That is not the clinical intent for it. So This is where understanding your client, doing a thorough intake, understanding their goal in taking GLP-1 is critically important, but I believe that wherever you lay on the ethical continuum, you either have a point of reference or you’re working with the person on whatever parts your ethics and your value are lending you.

[00:08:22] Stephanie: The other thing we need to be really, um, that’s really critical in this era of GLP-1 is assessment of patients and clients. If you do not have yet an assessment process where you evaluate your clients either using the intuitive eating scale or my free assessment that are out there into the world, you can go into the show note, I have an assessment for intuitive eating, eating behavior, body image, and mindset, it’s really critical because the potential harming that is currently happening with people with eating disorder or disordered eating while taking GLP-1 for intentional weight loss is very dangerous.

[00:09:20] Stephanie: So evaluating the person and making sure that they’re aware of their status when it comes to their relationship to food and the potential harm they’re putting themselves through by choosing to use GLP-1 for weight loss. So another thing to understand. If you wanna know more about the whole weight loss and medical dosage, that’s within…

[00:09:47] Stephanie: I don’t have the episode number, but the episode with, uh, Regan Chastain, we deep dived into the difference between the two, what she calls a super dose versus the regular dose. Thought number two to consider is that for a weight loss use of GLP-1, the journey of the client with the intent of losing weight with GLP-1 and the journey of becoming an intuitive eater are two completely different experience.

[00:10:24] Stephanie: Like, the intent and the outcome is very different. Now, what I’m hearing a lot these days is people, um, the fringe group of people who understand diet culture, understand that they don’t wanna diet, but the internalized fear of fatness is so powerful for them What they’re saying, and you tell me if you guys hear that, I want to, quote, “do it right.”

[00:11:01] Stephanie: I don’t want to take GLP-1 with the intent of weight loss and harm or impact my relationship to food. Because these people, this group of people, uh, I call them the comeback client, they worked with a lot of my students years ago. They became intuitive eating people, normal eater, and then they gained weight.

[00:11:29] Stephanie: And then GLP-1 came into their awareness, and they’re not like scientists, they’re not health professional. They just saw, “Oh, I could lose weight.” So they want to lose the weight because the internalized fear of fatness is still present in them because they haven’t done that level of work, they haven’t finished this work, whatever the reason might be, and they wanna keep their normal eating behavior, their intuitive eating behavior while taking GLP-1 for weight loss.

[00:12:03] Stephanie: So a lot of my mentees are seeing those people come in and asking question, and I think this podcast episode will help you with that. But one thing to make clear to your clients and patient, and these are two different journey, and it is most likely that using GLP-1 for intentional weight loss will impact negatively their relationship to food and their body image as well.

[00:12:30] Stephanie: And it’s not a personal failure, it is the side effect of the medication. That’s how the medication is intended to work in order for intentional weight loss to happen. It does reduce, and we’ll talk about that, hunger, fullness, and satisfaction capacity, so your client will go through that journey. And I think, this is my personal opinion, I think this is where we can play a significant role, right?

[00:12:57] Stephanie: We can play a significant role to guide people through that journey of minimizing the negative impact of GLP-1 on their relationship to food and body Consideration number three, and this is actually an analogy that one of my guests on the GLP-1, uh, series, Sam Previte, used, and I wanna bring it forward because I think it’s a brilliant analogy.

[00:13:27] Stephanie: She talked about, um, a beach ball. You know, imagine that inflatable beach ball, and you’re trying to push it down in the water, right? You’re trying to push it down, and you- if you’ve ever done it, like, you climb on top of the beach ball, and you’re pushing it down underwater. You’re going to probably be able to push it down for a little bit, partially, and then at some point, the ball will slip, poof, and will fly super high in the air, right?

[00:14:01] Stephanie: That’s the effect of GLP-1. GLP-1 quiets, and we’ve all heard the term, quiets the food noise, but it also quiets physiologically the hunger, fullness, and satisfaction eating cues. The interoception awareness, the ability to sense these three eating cues is suppressed. And we all know what happens when we think of it as using willpower and discipline on the hunger, right?

[00:14:37] Stephanie: You can, for a while, use willpower and discipline to reduce your hunger signal, but at some point, when it comes back, it’s gonna come back with a vengeance. That’s what she’s seeing in her practice, and she has a team of, I think, 10 or 12 intuitive eating dietitian, and that’s what they’re seeing. They’re seeing the beach ball below the water effect.

[00:15:05] Stephanie: The bounce back on the eating cues and the food noise is significant post GLP-1. So if you’re working with someone post GLP-1, and they’re completely overwhelmed, and most likely they’re thinking it’s their fault, right? They’re thinking they did something wrong. They did nothing wrong. Again, that’s… That was the intent of GLP-1, and that’s how human psychology and physiology respond to suppression.

[00:15:43] Stephanie: Instead of being a suppression of willpower, discipline, calorie counting, it’s a medical suppression. That’s the only difference, but the reaction of the human system is the same. Which brings me to point number four, which is probably gonna be the most, extensive of all the points, so bear with me.

[00:16:08] Stephanie: So we’re gonna break down the three eating cues individually, and I’m gonna share my thoughts on the impact of GLP-1 during and post with hunger. So again, keep the analogy of Sam on the beach ball, below the water. So we know that GLP-1, the mechanism by which GLP-1 at what they call superdoses induce a suppression of the hunger by keeping the food in the stomach longer, and also that has yet to be identified how, but also on brain receptor.

[00:16:49] Stephanie: So there’s two kind of ways by which GLP-1 impress– uh, suppress the hunger. So people will, while using GLP-1, have an inability to feel their hunger So if you are working with someone with GLP-1, during the phase that they’re taking GLP-1, you actually, in my world, I call that functional eating, where you’re going to have to– or some people call it mechanical eating.

[00:17:21] Stephanie: You’re gonna have to move them to a set schedule of eating because one of the risk is that they not only undereat to lose weight, but also create nutritional deficiency. So they’re no longer gonna be able to rely on their eating cue to guide their food choices. They’re gonna have to come back to the basic of gentle nutrition, making sure they eat enough.

[00:17:47] Stephanie: So what seems to be working the best is smaller meal multiple times a day. So schedule of three to five meals a day, and also being very attentive to the food that goes into the meal, protein, fats, and carbs to prevent nutritional deficiency, lots of fruits, lots of vegetables to bring in the micronutrient, and you treat macronutrients.

[00:18:15] Stephanie: So very intentional. And that’s the big difference between intuitive eating and a mechanical type or functional eating, where you have to understand gentle nutrition, the basic of nutrition, and then make sure that you are, I hate to use the term forcing them into your food choices, right? Into the food that y- they’re gonna eat during the day.

[00:18:44] Stephanie: So if left on their own device and not thinking about gentle nutrition, mechanical and functional nutrition, that’s when sarcopenia, nutritional deficiency can happen. And that’s also what we’re seeing in the media as extremely rapid weight loss happens because people literally undereat. I’ve seen some people, in some call it unreliable information, but social media, like eating five hundred calories a day because they’re like, “What?

[00:19:15] Stephanie: I’m, I’m not hungry. I’m just gonna lose weight faster.” You understand the gimmick here? So if you’re working with a client during the GLP-1, we really need to kind of move away from using satisfaction. And I’ll talk about satisfaction just a minute from another angle, but really come back to basic one-on-one nutrition with gentle nutrition Let’s talk about fullness.

[00:19:42] Stephanie: Again, due to the nature of those medication, the fullness will happen faster, therefore, there’s a severe risk of undereating. We’ll go back to… I’m not gonna repeat everything I said with hunger, but, um, their ability to sense fullness, I call it almost a false sense of fullness, and this is what the work you will need to do with your client post-GLP-1, is you need to go back to the basic of intuitive eating and reestablish a connection to the fullness cue, to the hunger cue, to the satisfaction cue.

[00:20:23] Stephanie: Use the scale. Use the different tools that you have in your intuitive eating coaching box to reteach people how to connect with their fullness. Um, and that can be… That will be challenging in of itself to connect with fullness, but when we layer the fear of regaining the weight, that’s a whole other can of worms that we’ll talk about shortly in this podcast episode.

[00:20:50] Stephanie: We’ll talk about the third eating cue, satisfaction. Here’s one thing that I learned on the GLP-1 series is that we do actually have GLP receptor on our tongue. I did not know that, right? By the way, that’s part of the reason why I did this series was to, like, take a deep dive myself in GLP-1, um, and really educate myself so that I can integrate that in the teaching of the certification.

[00:21:23] Stephanie: So satisfaction receptor are being negatively impacted because of the GLP-1 medication, and we also know that there is a mechanism by which the reward center of the brain is being impacted by GLP-1. Now, there’s very little research being done on that at this point or anything that has been published.

[00:21:55] Stephanie: We just know that there is an impact, but they don’t understand, as the recording of this podcast, August 2026, the mechanism. But what we do see is that there is a tuning down of the reward center which is involved in the satisfaction cue. More to come on this probably very shortly because they’re studying GLPs for addiction.

[00:22:25] Stephanie: So when it comes to intuitive eating because the mechanic of the satisfaction cue, people will not be able to rely on if they’re feeling satisfied with food. Again, we’ll have to go more to a mechanical or past experience of satisfaction so that people can make food choices that feel good to them, that they can enjoy.

[00:22:52] Stephanie: But again, for a portion of people, the other side effect we’re seeing is they’re… the people are losing their interest, their pleasure with food. So this is, again, something that will need to be re-onboarded post GLP-1 medication when they get off the medication for whatever reason. So the way that we have worked with client on this one was to go back to what prior to taking the GLP-1, what their satisfaction food were, and making sure that these food were in their eating choices as they’re moving through GLP-1

[00:23:45] Stephanie: Clinical consideration number five is the whole section around food noise. Um, that’s very interesting part where I have been reading Reddit trend on people who were intuitive eating and have now started to take a GLP-1, and one of the best comment I read from one of those person was, quote, “GLP-1 not only quiet down the food noise, but also the, the bad food noise, but also the good food noise.”

[00:24:25] Stephanie: Right back to the hunger, fullness, satisfaction. That person was experiencing a complete no thinking about food, where she forgot to eat completely. So food noise, there’s kind of two ways that I like to think about food noise. There’s the physical food noise, hunger, fullness, satisfaction cue, and there’s also the mental food noise, which is the rumination, the overthinking about food.

[00:24:58] Stephanie: So the… What we do know, and again, there’s, there’s no clear mechanism on that piece, but we do know that GLP medication numb the part of the brain that makes people think about food, plus it numbs or it keeps the stomach full so people don’t feel hungry. They don’t obsess about food because of the mental thinking.

[00:25:22] Stephanie: So it’s the whole kind of tuning out of the food noises. Now, what happens for someone who is taking GLP-1, they’re not doing the, what I call the mindset work of changing their belief about food, about their body, about health And so that is just on hold. While, while they’re on GLP-1, all that noise that is rooted in thinking pattern and in emotional dysregulation, uh, and belief system is just numbed out.

[00:26:08] Stephanie: But if, or more likely when they come off GLP-1, it’s like the beach ball effect. It’s just gonna come back, and clinically what my students are seeing, it’s coming back with a vengeance. Why? Because they have all the stuff from before, and then there’s a new layer on top of all the noise from before is, “Oh my God, I don’t wanna regain the weight that I just lost.”

[00:26:41] Stephanie: You know, the post-weight loss phase, the deep-seated fear of Not regaining the weight. And that’s where the, the quotation I keep hearing, quote, “I wanna do it right.” They want this time of losing the weight to be the quote, “right one” where they’ll never gain the weight back. So the food noise, and what I also call the body noise, is amplified, like significantly amplified post GLP-1.

[00:27:21] Stephanie: So I think the best approach at this point is if you’re working with the client while they’re on GLP-1, is to make sure they are aware of that, that this will likely… the food noises that they feel so relief doesn’t exist will come back. So let’s start working on changing your beliefs, your thinking pattern.

[00:27:45] Stephanie: Let’s teach you some tools right now to regulate your emotion, to be able to regulate your nervous system so that when you do remove the GLP-1, and that beach ball effect come back, you’ve got some tools on board. And I’ll be quite honest with you, this is where probably my graduates from the non-diet coaching certification excel at, because that’s what we teach in the certification, is all these tools, right?

[00:28:21] Stephanie: Thought work, self-coaching, uh, riding the wave, emotional intelligence, nervous system regulation tools, and they have that in their coaching toolbox, in their practitioner toolbox, and they’re able to teach that to their clients. So if you… I’m gonna make a statement here, but if you don’t have that toolbox, if you’re not able to work at the f- the thoughts, belief level, the emotional level, then you’re probably under-equipped to help people that are taking GLP-1 and will at some point stop taking GLP-1, because these are the tools they desperately need when they off-board GLP-1

[00:29:11] Stephanie: So, and I’ll close that section to say this. I sent an email to my community, think it’s on Saturday, that said, like, “Here’s the five practitioner coaching skill set I’m seeing in people that are thriving right now in the GLP era.” It’s because they’re, like, way beyond just intuitive eating. They’re able to coach at the emotional, mental level, and that’s why they’re thriving, is because they’ve expanded their scope of practice to be able to cover all that their client needs.

[00:29:53] Stephanie: They don’t need to refer them out for the mental and the emotional piece

[00:29:58] Stephanie: Okay, the sixth consideration is the body image work. So number one, when I referred to assessment, if you are onboarding people who have been or are on GLP-1, to me a body image assessment is non-negotiable.

[00:30:16] Stephanie: Just like the eating assessment for disordered eating and eating disorder is non-negotiable, to me it should come with the medication, but it, it’s not unfortunately. I talked about that with Marcy Evans, like if we can, as practitioner, lobby the regulating body would be to make the eating disorder assessment mandatory prior to prescription of GLP-1, but that’s a discussion for another day.

[00:30:47] Stephanie: But go grab my body image assessments, because that is the cornerstone of this whole thing, this whole, like, how do we manage intuitive eating with GLP-1, and I’m gonna kind of split that into two sections. We’ve got the people like my client I was telling you who’s been on GLP-1 for probably six years now, didn’t even know she was on GLP-1 until GLP-1 became a thing.

[00:31:13] Stephanie: Never lost any weight, not taking it for weight loss. She’s taking it for type 2 diabetes. So leave those people alone. Like, to me, the- these are a separate group, but they… These are the minority, unfortunately. Like these… I don’t know the statistic, and I don’t think we do have a statistic, but in my world, these are the minority.

[00:31:35] Stephanie: The bulk of people are taking GLP-1 either for pure intentional weight loss at an aesthetic level or because they’re… They have been counseled by a physician that believe in weight-centric health, which, right, it’s the whole model of weights equal health. So whatever health condition they have, “Oh, if you lose weight, your health condition’s gonna get better, so here’s a GLP-1.”

[00:32:08] Stephanie: That’s the vast majority of people. Therefore, body image is at the center of their desire to take GLP-1. So body image work has to be done, needs to be done, will need to be done. Otherwise, they will be… They will continue the pattern they were on before, because what’s fueling the fire before the GLP-1 will be there at some point after.

[00:32:39] Stephanie: Because we do know the weight regain post GLP-1 is significant. I’m not gonna quote a number here. Go listen to the Beyond GLP-1 series with Regan Chaston. She’ll give you the exact statistic, but it’s a large percentage and it comes back really fast. So, by the nature of the choice of using this medication, for most people, body image work needs to be done.

[00:33:16] Stephanie: And this is where, again, your clinical skills in a world, in a GLP era, to me, must include having a framework to coach people on body image, being able to coach at the belief level, the thought level, emotional regulation, nervous system, because that’s what body image coaching involves. And it will take a long time to em- to unpack that with people.

[00:33:46] Stephanie: Body image coaching will typically take months, right? Now, most of us weave that in with food, with health, with health promoting behavior coaching. Like it’s not just body image, um, but it will take a long time

[00:34:03] Stephanie: So, um, I have a number of body image coaching episode on this feed. Now that– these episodes are not enough to give you the skill set to coach body image, but they may be great reminder for some of you. But it’s at the core of most people’s reason why they’re engaging with GLP-1, and I’ll make a prediction here.

[00:34:29] Stephanie: This is a prediction. I think we’re gonna see a crisis of body image, um, dissatisfaction 2027 forward. Because of the nature of those medication, most people… I think the drop-off rate somewhere between 50 to 75%. Most people will, at some point, stop the use of medication because of financial reason, because of side effect, because of a number of things.

[00:35:04] Stephanie: So, and we do know that the vast majority of people regain the weight, so we’re gonna have a crisis of body image, in my opinion, in years to come. That’s my prediction. We’ll see what happens.

[00:35:18] Stephanie: A great question, and this is my clinical consideration number seven Once you onboard people who wanna work with you, if you ch- if you do that in your practice, and you’ve clarified the intention of why they’re taking GLP-1, a great question to ask them is, “What do you believe that weight loss will give you?”

[00:35:47] Stephanie: Or, “What do you believe that the use of GLP-1 will give you?” Now, a, a great analogy for that, the way that I teach that is, um, I want you to think of a forest, and then there’s a river in front of you. You’re walking into the forest, and all of a sudden you see a river cutting your way in the forest. And then there’s a little bridge that goes over the river that gets you on the other side of the forest so you can continue your hike, right?

[00:36:17] Stephanie: Gotta take the little bridge. So the bridge is GLP-1, right? So people are on the left side of the river. They have problems, suffering. There’s something, and they wanna solve that thing to get on the other side of the river where their life is better. So left side, problem; right side, life is better. And then there’s a bridge in the m- that will get them to the other side.

[00:36:48] Stephanie: Right now they believe that the bridge to get to their better life, better health, whatever, better mental wellbeing, is GLP-1. You wanna focus to get clear on what’s on the other side, on the right side of the bridge, on the other side of the bridge, because that’s what you have for objective in working with them.

[00:37:14] Stephanie: Because we are not here to help them lose the weight, because we know weight is most of the time not the problem. It’s their mindset, it’s their emotion, it’s their health-promoting behavior. So you, when you do your intake with your client, really deep dive into what’s on the other side, and then take the…

[00:37:37] Stephanie: These become your goal, right, of working with people on or after GLP-1. And then these goals that they wanted to achieve by the use of GLP-1, you need to match them with your clinical process or your clinical skill set and say, “Using my process of the weight neutral health, using my skill set, how can I help them achieve that?”

[00:38:02] Stephanie: Right? I’ll take a classic case of, “I wanna lose weight. Uh, I’m using GLP-1 to lose weight because I wanna feel better in my skin. I wanna feel more confident. I wanna find a new partner. I wanna go back on dating apps.” Okay. So that… The goal is to feel more confident in their body. Okay. So- What is my process to build my client’s confidence?

[00:38:28] Stephanie: What is my tools, my coaching tools that I, I can deploy to help them feel more confident in the body that they are now or in the process of GLP-1? Okay. That’s how I want you to think about the right side of the bridge or what do you believe will happen as a result of taking the GLP-1. Consideration eight, what I call health promoting behavior.

[00:38:57] Stephanie: So thinking about that right side of the bridge, many people are now understanding the, the statistic of potential weight regain. So what we’re hearing a lot of right now is people saying, quote, “I’ll go on a GLP-1. It’ll be easier for me to build my health habits. So when I come off of the GLP-1, my habits will be built, and I won’t regain the weight, and I’ll be good to go.”

[00:39:30] Stephanie: So here are my thoughts on that. That’s flawed. H- hear me out, okay? And, and, and I need you to understand this so you know what to deploy in your coaching. So building health-promoting behavior, which by the way, is going to be the Thursday sessions, the training that I’m hosting in August 2026, it’s gonna be day one.

[00:39:57] Stephanie: Building new behavior, health behavior in our case, does require you be- building the skill set to cope with the things that get in the way of your health behavior. So yes, the environment, your schedule, your family arrangement, like all the physical stuff, that’s one thing. But it’s also all the mental and the emotional things.

[00:40:25] Stephanie: So here’s what happen when people are on GLP-1, the food noise in- is numbed out, the body image noise is numbed out. So yeah, it is easier to be more consistent because the noise in the brain that usually gets in the way of you deploying your health-promoting behavior are numbed out, and that will come back after.

[00:40:54] Stephanie: So now when the noise come back, when life kicks back in, and what tools you gonna have to deal with self-sabotage, right? Lack of motivation because we do know through research that weight loss-motivated health behavior are not sustainable because when you stop losing the weight, when you get to whatever the weight you wanna be at, then the motivation is no longer there.

[00:41:29] Stephanie: So you are… It’s very challenging for you to get motivated to do the behavior And let alone when the weight starts coming back, not only is the motivation not there, but now it’s the whole shame cycle that starts kicking in and negatively impact your health-promoting behavior. So how do we work with that?

[00:41:54] Stephanie: Well, first, we name all of that to people, that it’s gonna be a lot easier for them to deploy health-promoting behavior while on GLP-1, but I’m here to teach you all the tools to deal with all the things, so when you do stop the GLP-1, you will have tools that you will be able to cope with the real life coming off of the GLP-1.

[00:42:17] Stephanie: We can work with people on, I know, sleep hygiene, joyful movement. We can talk about rest. We can talk about emotional intelligence, on how to deal with our emotion. We can teach them self-coaching tools so when the food noise come back, they can address it. But it remains that it will be hell of a lot more challenging post GLP-1.

[00:42:42] Stephanie: So yes, we can work with health-promoting behavior while they’re on GLP-1. I think that needs to be our focus, right? Because if we’re not helping them lose weight, we have to help them with health-promoting behavior. That’s why we’re there, and we explain to them what’s gonna happen after, and then we help– we teach them a whole bunch of tools, so when the post GLP-1 noise come back, they will have tools to deal with that other side of that bridge Consideration number nine is rejecting diet culture, and that’s, that’s a huge tension for people that are working with GLP-1 people because the 80%, this is Stephanie’s number, but the vast majority of people taking GLP-1 are taking it to lose weight.

[00:43:40] Stephanie: Therefore, they’re believing that to be happier, healthier, it’s the outcome of losing weight. So our work, the mental and the emotional work, while we’re supporting them to unpack all of that, to introduce them to health at every size, to introduce them to weight neutral health, to introduce them to diet culture, to introduce them to body image work, is essential, but it’s gonna be very tense.

[00:44:15] Stephanie: Like, this is the most challenging work that my, um, mentees are facing, is having to do this work while the person is focused on losing weight. It can be done, but it’s gonna be much more difficult, much more slower. Uh, for those of you who’ve read the Intuitive Eating book, um, you probably heard or read El- Elise and Evelyn talking about, quote, “Putting weight loss on the back burner” and why it needs to be put on the back burner in order to be moving forward with intuitive eating.

[00:44:58] Stephanie: Now, that tension is there. So that work can proceed while they’re on GLP-1, but it’s not gonna be efficient. It’s not gonna be very productive, um, because in the brain, these are competing belief system. Like it’s, it’s like they’re going to be… Those two sets of belief system are gonna be, like, fighting each other in their brain.

[00:45:26] Stephanie: So introduce the topic, talk about it, but this is the work that needs to be done after. The other tension, which is clinical, um, consideration number 10, is that intuitive eating is not a weight loss tool by definition. So this is, I think, where the intake process needs to be extremely clear that, yeah, you can work with them with intuitive eating, but it cannot be a tool for weight loss.

[00:45:57] Stephanie: And when they stop taking the GLP-1, if they do stop, then they– we will, we will have to continue to work together to re-onboard hunger, fullness, satisfaction And you will need… You will find yourself, by nature of the medication, eating more. So you’re gonna need… You’re gonna continue to need my help post GLP-1, ’cause intuitive eating cannot be a form of weight loss maintenance or weight loss.

[00:46:28] Stephanie: Again, big tension here. Um, which bring me to the clinical consideration number 11, the whole binge restrict cycle. What’s… Like, one of the thing I learned doing the Beyond GLP-1 series, talking with Marcy, when I did my research, I found that there’s a current line of research, there’s a, a researcher out there who’s studying the use of GLP-1 for binge eating disorder.

[00:47:05] Stephanie: It just, like, blew my mind that somebody would do that, but come to find out it was one of the manufacturer of GLP-1, right? They’re… Right now they’re exploring, the manif- the manufacturer of GLP-1, they’re ma- they’re exploring all the different condition that they can attach the use of GLP-1 to in order for them to continue their revenue-generating venture because of the high drop-off rate of people.

[00:47:40] Stephanie: Like, people are trying it, getting off of it, they need to replace that with the next group of people. Um, but actually, as we all know, in the binge restrict cycle, it’s like the beach ball expression of Sam, right? It’s gonna be suppressed, and it’s gonna come back with a vengeance. And here’s my fear. My fear is that people will come off of the, the GLP-1 medication, and they’ll be met with The weight regain, and it will amplify the disordered eating behavior and, and we know from talking with Marcy, it’s amplifying significantly eating disorder.

[00:48:24] Stephanie: So I think not only will we have a body image crisis, we will have a re-amplification of disordered eating post GLP-1 simply because of the nature of what the medication are doing and the fear that people have to regain the weight, and the, the length at which people are gonna go through to avoid the weight regain, which will be to restrict their cycle because what, what some of my mentees are seeing is that people are coming off GLP-1 and they’re determined to be the exception to the statistic.

[00:49:08] Stephanie: And then very quickly, within days, like one week cycle of the medication when they’re stopping, they’re starting to eat as much as they were eating before, and they are paralyzed with fear because like, “Oh my God, like, I’m eating as much as I was eating before. Oh my God, I’m gonna regain the weight.” So there’s a lot of psychological and emotional work that needs to happen, and all of our counseling skills to avoid, as much as we can, increased disordered eating behavior or even slipping into, to eating disorder.

[00:49:53] Stephanie: So I don’t have an answer for that. It’s just a clinical consideration to watch, which bring me to the other one. We talked about eating disorder assessment or disordered eating assessment. All those red flag I’ve been mentioning through the episode needs to stay top of mind as people navigate out of GLP-1, like going back to calorie counting, going back to measuring food, going back to orthorexia, removing food group.

[00:50:28] Stephanie: Uh, because what we’ve heard also, um, I did a reel, if you’re watching my Instagram account, I did a reel that went viral a week ago about the high drop-off rate of GLP-1, and the reel went viral on Facebook On a very s- different segment. Usually my reels go viral with manosphere and red pill people, but this time it went viral with women in GLP-1 Facebook groups.

[00:51:01] Stephanie: Don’t know why, but that’s where the algorithm sent it, and I have seen through the comments and people what they were saying, like how toxic those support Facebook groups are. And, uh, one woman said it feels like we’re back in the ’80s: low fat, low carb, low calorie. Um, people are doing all of that at the same time in hope to not regain the weight, plus high level of exercise.

[00:51:32] Stephanie: So there’s a lot of red flag in disordered eating and eating disorders. So lean heavily on the assessments and really what I call, um, cognitive behavior coaching, like really listening to the words your clients are using in order to detect those red flag Which brings me to clinical consideration number 13.

[00:52:00] Stephanie: At this point in time, in what we know of GLP-1 and intuitive eating, I do not believe that group coaching is the right container for this work. And Sam shares, Sam Prevette, who did the intuitive eating, uh, interview with me, does not believe the same thing. This is highly individual work. This is counseling.

[00:52:27] Stephanie: This is pure coaching at the individual level. Um, there’s too many variable. There’s too much customization that needs to happen in order to help an individual. So… And to me, from a business perspective, that’s amazing because the– this could be a whole other podcast episode, and I think I need to do one on business.

[00:52:52] Stephanie: But in today’s online coaching environment, where we make the most money is one-on-one coaching. So to me, that’s, that from a business and a clinical perspective, that’s the perfect place to be. Um, clinical consideration number 14, um, some thoughts around specifically people who have left GLP-1, have stopped the GLP-1, and they’re coming to you post GLP-1.

[00:53:28] Stephanie: Again, one-on-one, customized work, in-depth assessment of your client, and literally go back to the 10 principle of intuitive eating. Like, and check off every one of them. Like, your coaching plan after the assessment will be to go back to do the groundwork of every principle and re-teach all the basic principle of the 10 principle.

[00:54:01] Stephanie: Like baseline hunger training, baseline fullness training, baseline satisfaction training while doing the, the mindset diet culture rejection mindsets, um, and being there with your clients. So one of my mentee has, um… She does one-on-one every week, and she has also– she’s doing, um, Voxer coaching, which is a messaging platform Um, for the first six weeks when people stop GLP-1 because of the food noise coming back and the intense fear.

[00:54:43] Stephanie: So she, she charges more to have that high level of presence the first six weeks post GLP-1 to be able to support them with the intensity of the beach ball effect coming back out. Now there’s another trend we’re seeing, I wanna call this out but I don’t have an answer for, this, this phenomenon of call- quote titration.

[00:55:13] Stephanie: There is no scientific evidence to the titration off GLP-1 that it will retrain your body. There’s no clinical evidence as we know of now, but that’s a… I, I’m assuming, we’re assuming it’s coming from those Facebook group. People are seeing– They’re believing if they titrate from their super dose back to a lower dose, they will somehow avoid the weight regain.

[00:55:41] Stephanie: But there’s no evidence for that. So more to come on this, but as of now, uh, it’s a trend. And clinical number 15. We’ve been together for an hour, folks. Thank you for sticking with me. If you’re still here, thank you. Um- To the answer can GLP-1 and intuitive eating coexist? Yes, but. That’s my answer. Yes, but very nuanced, very individualized, um, and very driven on expectation from the patient client side.

[00:56:27] Stephanie: Yeah, I can help you, but know that after all of this blah, blah, blah, all these things will need to be done. I will support you during with this, this, this. Like, it needs to be transparent from you what can be done during, what will need to be done after, and why it needs to be highly customized, and it needs to be long-term.

[00:56:49] Stephanie: And if you do choose to go down that path, um, be sure to stay Very aware of the latest research and the latest finding from a credible source. Don’t rely on your client, on hearsay, what you’re seeing in the media, because it’s all bias. So subscribe to Reagan Chastain’s Substack. Uh, I think she has a podcast now.

[00:57:23] Stephanie: She’s just come out, um, as of August 2026. Uh, stay connected to credible sources so you can be the source of unbiased information for your clientele, and you can really customize your coaching approach to your client based on facts instead of marketing information that people are finding on the wide world of the internet.

[00:57:56] Stephanie: So these were my notes on my phone. I hope they were helpful for you. I would love to hear from you. If you’re listening to this and you have things I didn’t cover, that you’re like, “Oh my God, what about this? What about this? What about this?” Send us an email, [email protected], and maybe I’ll do a part two to this episode based on your question.

[00:58:19] Stephanie: Even DM me on Instagram, um, and I will maybe do a part two. Um, so if you wanna take the next step and gain those skill set and gain this ability to work with people, that’s where the non-diet coaching certification comes in. The next cohort will start the week of September the 14th, and we go on for six months working to develop those skill sets.

[00:58:48] Stephanie: And, and if you’re like, “Well, I’m not sure,” come in the Thursday session and you’ll get a kind of a sense of what it is that we do in the certification and also how I teach. And if you are a person listening to this that are not a professional, but you stumble onto this and you’re like, “Oh my God, that was so helpful,” um, the way for you to work with me at that level would be groundwork, which will reopen for the next cohort at the end of September.

[00:59:22] Stephanie: Thank you for being here, my sister. Can’t wait to hear from you, and I’ll see you on the next episode, which, by the way, my next episode is .Going to be how to coach weight gain. So I think stay tuned for that. I’m gonna share my process and the one that I teach, and, that’s gonna be another tool in your toolbox.

[00:59:44] Stephanie: See you then

[00:59:49] wanna coach behaviors, not bodies. Learn the mindset tool and the method that create real changes.

[00:59:57] Join the wait list for the next cohort of the non diet coaching certification at stephaniedodier.com/waitlist. That’s where the real training begins, and I’ll see you on the other side, my sisters.