GLP-1s, Food Noise & The Real Secret to Keeping Weight Of

Three GLP-1 conversations into this podcast and they all keep landing in the same place:

The medication is a tool.

What you do with it is still on you.

This week I sat down with Shenelle Green, a bariatric coach who had bariatric surgery herself almost four years ago, is in recovery from alcohol, and now helps women navigate weight loss on both sides of the conversation: surgery and medication.

Within about ten minutes I knew we were speaking the same language.

Because while we talked about GLP-1s, bariatric surgery, food noise, and the scale, the real conversation was about something much bigger.

Most women only know two versions of themselves.

On It Olivia and Whatever Wendy

Shenelle said that before surgery she only knew two versions of herself.

The woman who was dieting.
Or the woman who had given up.
I immediately started calling them On It Olivia and Whatever Wendy.

You know these women.

On It Olivia has the meal plan.
The water bottle. The step goal. The color-coded calendar.

Whatever Wendy is ordering mozzarella sticks and promising she’ll start over Monday.

Most women spend years bouncing between the two.

Sometimes in the same week. Sometimes in the same day.

What neither woman knows how to do is live in the middle.

And that’s where maintenance actually happens.

The Question She Asks Before Recommending Anything

Before Shenelle recommends a GLP-1.
Before she talks surgery.
Before she suggests a program.

She asks one question:

“Tell me everything you ate yesterday.”

Because that answer tells her a lot.

If someone is eating balanced meals, prioritizing protein, moving their body, and still struggling, that’s one conversation.

If someone is skipping breakfast, grabbing whatever is convenient at lunch, and hitting the drive-thru at dinner, that’s a different conversation.

The medication changes hunger.

It doesn’t automatically change food choices.

Food Noise or Chemical Noise?

One of my favorite moments in the conversation was when Shenelle challenged the phrase food noise.

What if it’s not food noise?

What if it’s chemical noise?

Think about that for a second.

Food companies have spent decades hiring scientists whose job was to create foods that keep us reaching back into the bag.

The perfect texture.

The perfect crunch.

The perfect combination of fat, salt, and sugar.

Maybe what you’re experiencing isn’t a willpower problem.

Maybe you’re having a perfectly normal response to foods that were specifically engineered to be irresistible.

That’s a very different conversation.

The Comparison Trap Is Alive and Well

If you’ve spent five minutes in a GLP-1 Facebook group, you’ve seen it.

“She’s on the same dose as me and lost 20 pounds.”

“Why am I only down five?”

“Should I increase my dose?”

Shenelle’s answer was simple.

You don’t know their story.
You don’t know their starting weight.
You don’t know their muscle mass.
You don’t know their mobility.
You don’t know their nutrition.
You don’t know how long they’ve been taking the medication.

Comparing your results to someone else’s is like comparing two vacations based on one Instagram photo.

You’re missing most of the story.

When Does It Actually Make Sense to Increase Your Dose?

Not because Susan in a Facebook group lost weight faster.

According to Shenelle, the conversation happens when:

• You’re tracking your food
• You’re making solid choices consistently
• You’re moving your body
• You’re strength training
• You’ve been stalled for about a month

Then you bring data to your provider.

Not panic.

Data.

There’s a difference.

The Thing Nobody Wants to Hear

My favorite line of the entire episode came when Shenelle talked about reaching her goal weight.

She got there.

And nothing magical happened.

No confetti.

No heavenly choir.

No voice from the sky announcing she had officially won weight loss.

It was just another day that ended in Y.

The relationship problems were still there.

Life was still there.

Because weight loss doesn’t fix your life.

It removes one challenge.

That’s it.

What Actually Keeps the Weight Off?

According to Shenelle, the answer is surprisingly boring.

Run a tighter ship at home.

Know what you’re eating most of the time.

Look at the menu before you go out.

Stop treating every dinner out like a last meal.

And maybe most importantly…

Go live your life.

We’ve spent decades trying to optimize ourselves.

Track ourselves.

Fix ourselves.

Improve ourselves.

Maybe the goal isn’t to spend your life becoming the healthiest person in the room.

Maybe the goal is to become the woman who can enjoy her life without constantly needing to start over.

Because we were taught how to diet.

We were taught how to quit.

Very few of us were ever taught how to live in the middle.

And that’s where the real work begins.

Listen to the full episode of Fit Girl Magic wherever you get your podcasts.

Links

Facebook group https://www.facebook.com/groups/fitgirlmagic
Tik Tok https://www.tiktok.com/@kimbarnesjefferson
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/kimjeffersoncoach/
Feet Up Summer https://kimbarnesjefferson.lpages.co/feetupsummer
LinkedIn: in/ShenelleGreen
Facebook: /RewriteLifestyle
Facebook: /groups/BariatricRewrite
Instagram: @TheBariatricRewrite
tiktok: @coach_Shenelle
free workshops every six weeks http://BariatricRewrite.com