On the grief of not wanting food

Nobody warned you that you might miss it.

Not the hunger — you don't miss that. But the wanting. The anticipation of a meal you've been thinking about since Tuesday. The comfort of a bowl of pasta after a hard day. The ritual of Sunday breakfast that used to feel like the best part of the week.

GLP-1s quiet the noise around food. For most people, that's the point. But quieting the noise also quiets something else — a relationship with food that was never just about calories.

Food is comfort. Food is culture. Food is how we show love, mark occasions, belong to places and people. When the appetite suppression kicks in and you find yourself indifferent to a meal that used to bring you joy, it can feel like a small loss that nobody around you understands.

This is not a side effect that gets listed on the packaging.

What helps is naming it. Recognising that the grief is real, even if the thing you're grieving was sometimes hurting you. You can rebuild a relationship with food that isn't driven by compulsion — one that's slower, more intentional, more about pleasure than volume. Our protein-first guide can help you make those smaller meals intentional and nourishing.

The goal was never to stop enjoying food. It was to stop being controlled by it.

You're allowed to mourn the old relationship while building a better one. That's not weakness. That's exactly what month three is for.