\n<\/p>\n
As GLP-1 use continues to rise in the US and the UK, people\u2019s bodies are being reshaped \u2013 as are their relationships.<\/p>\n
\u201cRelationships tend to develop a sense of equilibrium and predictability over time,\u201d says Dr Lindsey Berisha, a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked with clients using GLP-1s for over 10 years. \u201cWhen one partner undergoes a significant change, it can shift that equilibrium, and even positive change can create uncertainty for both partners.\u201d<\/p>\n
Berisha says that her clients who use GLP-1s often report feeling relieved that they are no longer consumed with thoughts of food. These users often develop more self-compassion, she says, as they realize what they previously interpreted as a failure or lack of self-control was a legitimate biological drive and food preoccupation that made life harder for them. \u201cThis shift can often be more impactful than the weight loss itself,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n
But these changes can elicit mixed reactions from partners, family and friends, says psychologist Dr Rachel Goldman, ranging \u201cfrom being supportive to feeling insecure, left behind, or worried that the relationship itself is changing\u201d.<\/p>\n
None of these reactions mean there is a problem with the medication or the relationship, Goldman emphasizes: \u201cThe goal is to recognize those shifts, communicate about them, and find new ways to connect rather than assuming the other person knows what you\u2019re experiencing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Below, 11 Guardian readers share how GLP-1 use has shaped their relationships.<\/p>\n
My husband is unsupportive. He\u2019s afraid of long-term, currently unknown side-effects and likens GLP-1s to Fen-phen. As a result, I don\u2019t discuss my experience with him. This has been a life-changing drug so far, and I can\u2019t share it with the person I\u2019m closest with. I can\u2019t share the wins, the way I\u2019m amazed and thrilled with how I feel, and I certainly can\u2019t share any concerns or worries. It\u2019s contributed to a distance between us.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve struggled with obesity for my entire adult life, and my family and personal health history put me at very high risk of dying young due to complications from the disease. But my husband scoffs at characterising obesity as a chronic and recurring disease. Instead, he thinks people should just make better lifestyle choices and stop making excuses \u2013 which tells me a lot about how he views me, too. I have been on Wegovy for six months and have lost over two stone (28lb; 13kg). The biggest impact has been on my 20-year-old daughter. I didn\u2019t tell her I was on it and she found out when one of her friends went in the fridge and spotted it. I didn\u2019t deliberately hide it in the fridge, but I also didn\u2019t make it easy to find. We had discussed weight, identity and GLP-1s, but I was so ashamed of going on it that I didn\u2019t want to tell anyone.<\/p>\n My daughter felt worried, angry and jealous. Food is a huge part of our family life \u2013 when everyone is home, we cook together and eat together. What kind of signal am I giving her and her brothers? So much of my insecurity about my weight and appearance is offloaded on to an injectable pen. My husband hasn\u2019t really said much. He\u2019s observing me. He also wants to lose weight, but maybe not enough to intervene in that way. I\u2019m the family guinea pig.<\/p>\n I feel conflicted but mostly positive. I am carrying less weight. My back doesn\u2019t hurt like it did. I can put on socks and shoes without being sore. I am more flexible. Calmer. I feel better. I care more about what I wear. I feel confident. I eat more healthily and drink less alcohol. The conflict comes in feeling like I\u2019m cheating, like I don\u2019t have enough willpower or strength to lose weight independently. What I need to do is own it and say, \u201cFuck it, I feel so much better.\u201d But it\u2019s not that simple. My partner takes GLP-1s. I\u2019m glad he is losing weight and is happy in himself, though it\u2019s hard when we go out for a meal and have something to share. It makes me feel greedy. I feel slightly envious too, which is illogical. I would like to lose weight and am doing so without GLP-1s as I have a history of eating disorders and was recently pregnant but sadly miscarried. Maybe my partner being healthier will help us conceive.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u2018I feel conflicted but mostly positive.\u2019<\/span> Photograph: Niall Carson\/PA<\/p>\n I think GLP-1s are brilliant and can really help people. My partner has struggled [with weight loss] before and this seems to be working. I am concerned about people using it who don\u2019t need it, though. It\u2019s complicated. My best friend of 15 years has recently lost three stone (42lb; 19kg) after being on a GLP-1. I am pleased for her as she seems incredibly happy. Unfortunately, she regularly talks about food and weight now. She talks at length about how much weight she has lost, the old clothes she fits into, and how good everyone says she looks. I am pleased for her but sick of her talking about nothing else.<\/p>\n I have struggled with weight and food. I don\u2019t want to go on a GLP-1, but I am struggling even more being surrounded by people who are on it. I don\u2019t like how [these drugs] seem to be shifting the narrative around weight so that fatness is suddenly massively unacceptable again. The truth is that [using] GLP-1s hasn\u2019t really affected my relationships at all. My partner knows about it but forgets all the time, because it\u2019s not changed our lives together. My friends don\u2019t know, but they don\u2019t know about my iron supplements either \u2013 what\u2019s that got to do with anything?<\/p>\n For me, my main issue is binge eating, which is a very private and isolating habit. Nobody I love saw me tear through three takeaways a night \u2013 I\u2019d hide that, which would create a distancing sense of shame. If anything, the medication means I can be more present and open with the people I care about.<\/p>\n It\u2019s funny that people talk about GLP-1s being the \u201ceasy\u201d way to lose weight. Yes! Isn\u2019t that the point? I got my first fillings at 23 and remember telling my dentist how amazing anaesthetic is. Yes, I could get a root canal without anaesthetic, or lose weight by white-knuckling hunger pangs and miserable restrictions. Or I could use the brilliant medical invention that makes reaching my health goal feel just fine. skip past newsletter promotion<\/p>\n Sign up to Well Actually<\/span><\/p>\n Practical advice, expert insights and answers to your questions about how to live a good life<\/p>\n after newsletter promotion<\/p>\n I have been on a GLP-1 for nearly two years and have kept it largely secret. Weight stigma is real. At work, people respect me more \u2013 people I don\u2019t know have more time for me, and I get more praise than before. It\u2019s ridiculous and so fucking rude.<\/p>\n Generally, my friends are really pleased for me. They have seen my weight fluctuate over the years. My concern is that I am still concealing my secret. I don\u2019t want people to think I\u2019ve cheated. I guess there is still fat shame somewhere. I have pretended I don\u2019t care about being fat all my life. If I told people I was on this damn drug, they would know I was lying [about not caring]. I may tell them as time goes on. Some will have guessed. It\u2019s the wild west out here, in social terms.<\/p>\n My partner is really happy for me. She loves that I look fire so much these days, and that is partly because I can dress well. I think she has felt insecure at times because of my glow-up. But that is only one thing. It doesn\u2019t change our combined life, our shared ambitions and understanding. As soon as I lost 5 stone (70lb; 32kg), my husband told me he\u2019s no longer in love with me. It totally floored me. I knew that I had become the woman I wanted to be, but I was no longer the woman who needed his validation.<\/p>\n After a lot of heartache, I decided to stay and fix whatever broke between us. We have been together for 32 years, married for 25; we have three children and a beautiful home. We are trying to be the best for each other and have started dating again. There is still no intimacy, but the love and respect are there.<\/p>\n I love myself for the first time in such a long, long time. I only want the best for me. I have been using a GLP-1 for two years and have lost nearly \u2153 of my former body weight. Almost nobody in my life knows. I have family members and close friends who have used them and have been open about it. I really admire their ability to be so honest with everyone. I feel like I am being dishonest with people even though I don\u2019t ever deny using them \u2013 I just don\u2019t offer the information.<\/p>\n I\u2019ve started a new relationship and my partner doesn\u2019t know. I like to think he would be with me regardless of my weight. I think the main difference in myself that led to the relationship is my confidence and my willingness to put myself out there. Maybe one day I will tell him, but not yet. My ex-wife started using them to lose weight a few years ago. After about a year, she had lost 70lb (31.8kg). I was super proud and excited for her. But then she left me for another guy and now I\u2019m divorced. The drug not only destroyed any appetite that my wife had, but it destroyed any desire she had for anything other than sitting around watching TV. My wife used to be a little chubby, but she was happy and we had a good life. Now she says she is \u201cskinny, ugly and hates [herself]\u201d. I\u2019ve lost 35kg (77.2 lb) on Mounjaro, which I started in December 2024. I\u2019ve maintained my weight loss on a micro-dose for almost a year. I feel calmer, more confident, and much more inclined to initiate sex. I\u2019ve lost my appetite for greasy, heavy foods, and probably still eat under half of what I used to. This was hard on my foodie partner, but he knew how important it was for me to achieve a healthy weight.<\/p>\n I started exercising daily, and now my husband has joined me. Now, instead of drinking wine and eating cheese together, we go to the pool or the hot springs, and on evenings and weekends we walk. If he hadn\u2019t been supportive and willing to join me on my health journey, it would\u2019ve been much harder. As GLP-1 use continues to rise in the US and the UK, people\u2019s bodies are being reshaped \u2013 as are their relationships. \u201cRelationships tend to develop a sense of equilibrium and predictability over time,\u201d says Dr Lindsey Berisha, a licensed clinical psychologist who has worked with clients using GLP-1s for over 10 years. \u201cWhen one<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":52182,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[7998,937,862,2365,1376,2292,4461],"class_list":{"0":"post-52181","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-health","8":"tag-affected","9":"tag-glp1s","10":"tag-readers","11":"tag-relationships","12":"tag-share","13":"tag-sick","14":"tag-talking"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=52181"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52181\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/52182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=52181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=52181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=52181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nThe biggest impact has been on my daughter<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nIt makes me feel greedy and slightly envious<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nI\u2019m sick of her talking about nothing else<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nWhat\u2019s it got to do with anything?<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nI have pretended I don\u2019t care about being fat all my life<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nI love myself for the first time in a long time<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nI feel like I\u2019m being dishonest<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nNow I\u2019m divorced<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nShe was chubby but happy<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Anonymous<\/em><\/p>\nIf he hadn\u2019t been supportive, it would have been much harder<\/h2>\n
\u2013 Sara, 42, Brunswick, UK<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"