Appetite Suppression Isn’t the Same as Behaviour Change
There’s no doubt that the advent of widely available GLP-1 medications such a Ozempic and Mounjaro have changed the conversation around weight. Many people find that starting these medications leads to a rapid reduction in appetite. Eating less becomes easier and weight loss, often significant weight loss, follows quickly.
What comes as a surprise is what doesn’t change. Habits, emotional eating patterns, stress responses all remain. And once the medication is reduced or stopped, or even when the dosage plateaus, those patterns frequently return. This isn’t a failure of willpower, it’s a misunderstanding of how behaviour works.
Appetite and Behaviour Are Not the Same Thing
Whilst appetite is biological, behaviour is neurological and psychological. GLP-1 medications affect our appetite and how full we feel. They do not directly change how we regulate stress, how we soothe our emotions or how habits or formed and maintained.
When appetite is suppressed, behaviour often goes quiet, but only temporarily. Unless underlying patterns are addressed, behaviours re-emerge once appetite returns. Which is why so many regain weight after medication is stopped.
A comprehensive review published in the British Medical Journal analysed data from dozens of studies and found that after stopping GLP-1 medication, weight regain occurs faster than after ending diet or exercise programmes. On average 0.4kg (lbs) of weight is regained every month, with most people returning to their original weight within 1.5-1.7 years.
Emotional Eating is a Stress Response, Not a Hunger Problem
For many people, eating isn’t driven by hunger. It’s driven by stress relief, emotional regulation, fatigue and falling back into automatic coping patters. When the nervous system is under pressure, it looks for relief and food is fast, familiar and reliable.
Medication can mute the appetite but it doesn’t teach the nervous system new ways to regulate. And without that shift, behaviour can easily snap back into old patterns once the external support of medication is removed.
Where Hypnotherapy Fits In (With GLP-1 Medication, not instead of).
Hypnotherapy doesn’t replace medical treatment. But what it can do is exploit the “quiet” or “space” created by GLP-1 medications to work on changing underlying behaviour. Hypnotherapy can help to reduce reactivity to stress, loosen automatic habit loops, restore a sense of choice around eating and support regulation that isn’t dependent on medication.
Used alongside GLP-1 medication, hypnotherapy focuses on helping behaviour change stick, so progress doesn’t rely solely on appetite suppression. You can read more about this approach here: Ozempic & GLP-1 Weight Loss Support.
Why Stress Matters More Than Motivation
Stress is often the missing piece. Stress keeps the nervous system alert, with the result that regulation drops, habits become rigid and eating becomes reactive.
This is why many people using GLP-1 medications notice that eating patterns worsen during periods of stress, even if appetite is reduced. Addressing the stress response directly, rather than trying to override it, is often key to sustainable change and you can read more about that here: Hypnotherapy for Stress.
Try a More Sustainable Way of Thinking About Weight
Medication can be useful but long-term change is more complicated and depends on how the nervous system responds under pressure, how habits are formed and how emotions are regulated without food. When these are addressed, weight management becomes less about control and more about stability. That’s the work hypnotherapy is designed to support.