Fat Shamed, Heroin Chic & GLP-1s
- Jeanna Winchester PhD
- Apr 6
- 19 min read
Updated: May 18
You are beautiful. You are special. You are in control.
April 6, 2026
Your body is an absolute masterpiece—a one-of-a-kind creation that belongs entirely to you. You are an inherently beautiful, singular miracle. While we all share roughly 99% of the same genetic code, the way that code manifests in you is a unique living record of your specific life path. Your physical form is constantly growing and changing in ways that only your individual code can dictate, making your existence a biological work of art.
True body positivity is more than just liking what you see in the mirror; it is a deep, radical respect for the vessel that carries you through this world. When we finally block out the external noise of shame and judgment, we can actually hear what our bodies are trying to tell us.
Nowadays, we have a lot more control, despite the rage bait and fat shaming that occurs all around us. You may choose to pursue an approach like a Glucagon Like Peptide-1 (known as GLP-1), or maybe you want to seek the advice of a nutritionist. Perhaps you are happy with your current weight and health, and are just looking to maintain this as you move forward in life.
Just remember, choosing to pursue health isn’t an admission of failure or a response to social pressure—it is the ultimate act of self-love. By acknowledging what our bodies need to thrive, we aren’t trying to fit a “standard” mold; we are honoring the incredible, unique biological engine that keeps us alive. Taking care of yourself is simply the best way to protect the one masterpiece you were given to navigate this life.
TRIGGER WARNING: My next statements may be triggering for many individuals, but I hope you’ll stay and perhaps jump to the next sections that are more medically focused and informative. Here, we have to discuss a couple very difficult things.
Most of us have dealt with body image issues at some point. Whether it’s genetics, height, or medical conditions, many of us simply don’t fit the “perfect” model we see in the media. While health is a personal journey that often requires professional medical guidance, the internet has turned body size into a target for cyberbullying and harassment.
Fat shaming is far from motivational; it is a form of bullying rooted in the false idea that thinness equals discipline and larger bodies equal laziness. In the digital age, this has become toxic to our mental and physical health. The anonymity of the web allows strangers to crash out on people with cruel comments and memes, creating a permanent cycle of abuse that leads to real psychological harm, including depression and eating disorders.
Our obsession with being dangerously thin traces back to the “Heroin Chic” trends of the 80s and 90s, and those unreachable standards still haunt us today.
This “sizeism” is even documented by the American Medical Association (AMA) as a health risk. When society—and even doctors—dismiss every medical symptom as weight-related, serious medical issues are often caught too late.
The reality is that weight is deeply biological. Since 2000, metabolic syndrome has nearly tripled, and we now understand that poor metabolic health often causes weight gain, not the other way around. Issues like insulin resistance create a biological trap that willpower alone can’t fix. Furthermore, dangerous eating disorders are often hidden in plain sight; when someone in a larger body loses weight through unhealthy restriction, society often praises it as “discipline” rather than seeing it as a crisis.
Today, the world is changing. We’ve moved past the “Filter Effect” of the 2010s, where algorithms trapped users in echo chambers of body dysmorphia. We are now in an era of metabolic complexity. New medications like GLP-1s are reframing the conversation from “willpower” to “biology,” though they bring new tensions regarding how we balance treatment with recovery. We’re also seeing the rise of orthorexia nervosa, where an obsession with “clean eating” often masks traditional eating disorders. As the science evolves, it’s time our social conversations caught up with the biological truth.
This Human Verified editorial is going to be difficult to discuss because this is a very dense area. There are many elements: the neuropsychological, physiological and biological, medical, social and even the business of health and wellness.
Today, I am going to start with weight and GLP-1s, GIPs and other co-agonists and then just briefly mention at the end of this article some relevant medical diagnoses.
You might think to yourself that this seems backwards and we should start with the other topics first. To some degree that is true, but right now, major advancements are coming into the market so for everyday pragmatism, I’ll start here. I’ll be publishing more editorials on these various topics, so be on the lookout for those. The library of articles will bring about a broad discussion on what is a major plague on our society, today.
NOTE: I will mention the potential for masking eating disorders with the use of GLP-1s, GIPs and other co-agonists in the Safety Concerns section, but I will explore this in depth in a later editorial.
Here, I want to focus on those who are battling weight fluctuations or medical conditions that GLP-1s, GIPs or other co-agonists might be used to treat.
In the absence of some specific medical diagnoses, fluctuating weight management is now understood as a chronic metabolic issue, almost like a biological breakdown where your brain’s hunger signals are affected. This is a huge shift, especially since weight issues have tripled since the 1970s. It’s not about willpower; it’s about the body losing its ability to burn energy efficiently, which can lead to heart disease or diabetes.
The cause is a mix of genetics, stress, and hormones that don’t communicate properly. For many, that “I’m full” feeling never switches on, making weight loss a fight against biology. Because of this, we’re moving past the old “eat less, move more” advice. New medical treatments now act as a metabolic reset, fixing the underlying system so the body can find its natural balance again.
Choosing to use medications like GLP-1s or GIPs for your health should feel like a breakthrough, but for many, it comes with a side of digital vitriol. Despite the science proving these are life-changing medical tools, a loud corner of the internet still treats them like a shortcut or a cheat code. This new wave of bullying is essentially the old face of fat shaming wearing a new, medicalized mask.
The shaming often starts with that willpower myth I mentioned. Bullies will flood comments sections claiming that if you just “tried harder” or “ate less,” you wouldn’t need a shot. This ignores the biological reality of the real world, weight management affecting diagnoses, insulin resistance, and metabolic dysfunction; conditions that willpower alone can’t fix any more than it can fix a broken arm. It’s a form of gaslighting that tries to make you feel guilty for using a scientifically backed tool to repair a system that no longer works as it should.
There is also a particularly cruel trend of “side-effect shaming.” People may mock users for experiencing nausea or weight-related changes in their face, using these physical symptoms as proof that the medication is “unnatural” or “vain.” Because the internet allows for anonymous crashing out, a person simply sharing their success story can suddenly find themselves targeted by thousands of strangers calling them “lazy” or “fake.”
Perhaps the most frustrating form of this bullying comes from “health-trolling.” This is when people pretend to be concerned about your long-term health as a way to mask their judgment. They might lecture you on the “unknown risks” while ignoring the very well-documented, life-threatening risks of the metabolic disorders these drugs are treating. It’s sizeism disguised as “advice,” and it’s designed to make you second-guess a decision made between you and your doctor.
In the Human Verified era, we have to recognize that your medical journey is a private, sophisticated act of self-care. Using a GLP-1 or GIP agonist isn’t about fitting a social mold; it’s about balancing your unique biology. When the digital noise gets loud, remember: the people shaming you aren’t looking at your bloodwork or your lab results; they are just projecting an outdated social bias onto a modern medical method for changing one’s life. Your masterpiece of a body deserves the right tools, regardless of what the rage baiters think.
GLP-1s, GIPs & Other Agonists Might Help, But What Are They?
GLP-1 medications have completely changed how we treat metabolic health by acting as a high-tech version of a hormone our bodies already make. While the natural hormone in your gut disappears in minutes, these engineered versions are built to last for an entire week, giving your body a steady hand in managing energy.
These drugs work through a powerful triple threat approach. First, they talk to the pancreas to manage insulin, but only when your blood sugar is actually high, which prevents dangerous dips. Second, they slow down your digestion so food stays in your stomach longer, making you feel physically full for hours. Finally, they reach the brain to quiet “food noise,” those constant, intrusive thoughts about eating, by signaling that you’ve had enough.
To make this possible, scientists performed a clever bit of molecular chemistry. They swapped out specific links in the hormone’s protein chain to make it invisible to the enzymes that usually destroy it. They also added a tiny fatty acid tail that lets the medicine hitch a ride on proteins in your blood. This keeps the treatment circulating throughout your system instead of being washed away, allowing it to work effectively around the clock.
Let’s take a look at the key players in this field, focusing on what they do, what their similarities and differences are and how it relates to you. Your journey is unique and you are in control. It is brave to explore these options and see if they might be right for you. There is no judgement nor shame, here.
Semaglutide Is The Fancy Name For Ozempic
For years, managing type 2 diabetes and chronic weight issues felt like an exhausting uphill battle against one’s own biology. Then came Semaglutide (widely known by brand names like Ozempic and Wegovy), a medication that effectively rewrote the book. Originally developed to help diabetics regulate blood sugar, researchers quickly discovered it did something much more profound: it communicated directly with the brain’s reward system, fundamentally changing how we approach metabolic health.
By deemphasizing willpower in weight management and moving towards hormonal signaling, Semaglutide has transformed weight loss from a lonely moral struggle into a treatable medical condition. It has bridged the gap between complex metabolic science and everyday life, offering a lifeline to millions whose bodies were previously stuck in a cycle of insulin resistance. In this new era, we are finally moving away from the culture of judging individuals for their size and toward a deeper understanding of the internal chemistry that governs our health.
In the current American medical landscape, Ozempic has become a cultural phenomenon, but it is also the precursor to an even more targeted generation of care. Choosing between these modern medications often comes down to the specific way they talk to your brain. While the goal is the same, to regulate hunger and insulin, different drugs use different biological keys to get the job done.
Semaglutide focuses its energy on a single receptor to signal fullness. Because it concentrates its biological impact on this one pathway, it can also hit the brain’s nausea center quite intensely, which is why about 38% of users experience gastrointestinal side effects. This type of patient feedback has driven the industry to go back to the lab and uncover new ways to accomplish these goals without the uncomfortable side effects.
Enter Dual Action & Triple Action Agonists
The reason I started off by discussing GLP-1s, GIPs and other agonists is because 2026 is the year that science take a giant leap forward. We now understand that our bodies have multiple biological pathways to health, and we are finding more precise ways to embark on that journey.
The Dual-Action Harmonizer (Tirzepatide)
This is the next-gen approach seen in medications like Mounjaro and Zepbound. It mimics two hormones: GLP-1 and GIP also known as Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide. While GLP-1 handles the “stop” signal, GIP acts as a buffer, helping the body process fat more effectively and potentially reducing the nausea associated with single-target drugs like Semaglutide. Recent data shows this dual approach can lead to a more than 20% reduction in total body weight, compared to the 15% typically seen with Semaglutide.
The Future: Triple Agonists and Beyond
We are now standing on the doorstep of the “Triple Agonist” era with investigational drugs like Retatrutide. By adding a third hormone, Glucagon, to the mix, these medications don’t just signal fullness; they tell the body to actively increase energy expenditure, known as thermogenesis. Early 2026 clinical results are mind boggling, showing weight loss exceeding 24%, a level of efficacy previously only seen with bariatric surgery.
The Agonist Super Soldier & Oral Delivery
The industry in 2026 is also moving away from painful injections and toward something much simpler: a daily pill. Only last week, Eli Lilly’s new drug, Foundayo, a daily pill, was approved by the FDA and works just like a regular vitamin. Unlike the first generation, you don’t need to fast or keep them in the fridge, making them far easier to fit into a normal routine.
This leap is about more than just avoiding needles; it’s about making care affordable. Because pills are cheaper to make and ship than liquids, costs are crashing. Monthly prices that used to be $1,000 are heading toward $274 or less by 2027. You can now get top-tier health support through a quick video call or your local pharmacy.
While these smart pills are great for weight loss, they do much more. Doctors are using them to treat liver issues, balance hormones for conditions like PCOS, and even protect brain health. This is something I will be covering in the final sections of this editorial.
The goal isn’t just to take a pill, but to help your body manage energy better. These tablets are practical tools to help you maintain your progress and stay in control of your long-term health without the hassle of complex medical logistics.
Safety Concerns
Resistance Training Reduces Lean Muscle Mass Loss
These weight-loss medications are incredibly effective, but they come with a specific challenge: about 25% of the weight lost isn’t fat—it’s muscle. Think of your muscles as your body’s engine. To keep that engine strong while the car gets lighter, you need two things: resistance training to shield your strength and higher protein to provide the building blocks your tissues need.
It’s not about how much you weigh; it’s about how well you can move and how capable you feel. While losing some muscle is a trade-off, these treatments are masters at melting away dangerous visceral fat: the hidden stuff deep in your belly that causes inflammation. By clearing that out and protecting your lean tissue, you aren’t just getting smaller; you’re becoming a healthier, more resilient version of yourself.
Copycat Weight Loss Meds
The buzz around new weight loss and diabetes drugs has created a dangerous side effect: a surge in unverified copycat versions. Because these compounded medications skip the official FDA review process, they lack the safety and quality guarantees of the name-brand pens. This isn’t just about red tape; it’s about real-world risks like hospital-grade dosing errors. Unlike the foolproof “click” pens from commercials, these alternatives often arrive as vials with loose syringes, making it incredibly easy to accidentally take ten times the proper dose.
Beyond the needle, there is a serious chemical gap. Some compounding pharmacies use different salt versions of the active ingredients or toss in unproven additives that haven’t been tested for safety in these specific combinations. Shipping is another weak link; these meds must stay cold, but many arrive warm and chemically ruined. The FDA is also tracking a rise in counterfeit products that contain the wrong ingredients, or no medicine at all.
This trend is especially risky for people struggling with eating disorders or substance abuse. There is a high overlap between these conditions, and the pressure for a “quick fix” drives many toward unmonitored, online, or spa versions of these drugs. Using these powerful hormones without a doctor’s oversight can lead to severe dehydration, kidney injury, and dangerous muscle loss. While supply shortages are frustrating, rolling the dice on a knockoff isn’t worth your health. If your regular prescription is out of stock, the only Human Verified move is to talk to your doctor about a safe, approved alternative.
Masking Eating Disorders
Experts in medicine and government are starting to worry that the massive craze over new weight-loss drugs, like Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Zepbound, might be making it much harder to spot eating disorders. Because these drugs are everywhere now, behaviors that would normally be red flags for serious mental health issues are being mistaken for successful dieting.
Most people still think you have to look skeletal to have an eating disorder, but that’s a myth. In reality, less than 6% of people with eating disorders are actually underweight. People in larger bodies struggle with these issues more than twice as often as thinner people, yet they are diagnosed half as much. When someone on these medications drops weight quickly, doctors and friends often cheer them on, missing the fact that the person might actually be starving themselves or spiraling into a crisis.
These medications are designed to shut down hunger and make you feel full, which is exactly what someone struggling with anorexia tries to do. For someone already prone to restrictive eating, these drugs become a “doctor-approved” way to stop eating entirely. Even the side effects cause confusion. Since the drugs often cause nausea or vomiting, a doctor might assume a patient is just reacting to the medicine when they might actually be purging.
Buying Them Might Be Too Easy
With the rise of online health platforms and weight loss startups, many people are getting prescriptions through quick virtual visits or automated refills. These high-speed services might skip the deep, in-person screenings needed to catch the shame and secrecy that come with eating disorders. Even worse, some people are buying “knock-off” or research-grade versions of these drugs online, completely bypassing doctors and pharmacists who could otherwise spot signs of drug abuse for weight control.
The Fix The Body But Not The Mind
Eating disorders are rarely just about food, they are almost always linked to mental health. Nearly everyone with a Binge Eating Disorder is also dealing with things like anxiety, PTSD, or past trauma. While these drugs can physically stop a person from craving food, they don’t fix the emotional pain underneath. If we just “reset” someone’s metabolism without giving them therapy, we’re just covering up a wound that’s still there.
Underemphasizing or Completely Erasing The Problem Of Fat Shaming
There is a hidden danger: if we stop talking about how much our culture shames people for their weight, we might accidentally make things worse for people’s mental health.
The big worry is that these medications are being branded as “miracle cures.” When we stop calling out fat-shaming, it sends a silent message that being in a larger body is an emergency that needs to be fixed immediately to avoid being bullied. This pressure can lead people to buy sketchy, unverified versions of these drugs online just to get thin fast, skipping the doctors who could spot an emerging eating disorder.
There’s also the “Success Trap.” In our society, when a person in a larger body loses weight rapidly, everyone cheers. But that applause can be dangerous. It can mask a mental health crisis, like “atypical anorexia,” where someone is literally starving themselves but getting praised for it because they haven’t reached a skeletal weight yet. If we don’t actively fight body-shaming, we keep the toxic idea alive that your worth as a human is tied to the number on the scale. We might fix someone’s blood sugar, but we leave their self-esteem in shambles.
Social media makes this even more intense. If the medical community doesn’t take a stand against weight bias, platforms like TikTok, Instagram, Snapchat and X will continue to be a breeding ground for cyberbullying. People might be shamed for taking the “easy way out” with a needle, while those not on the drugs feel even more pressure to use dangerous methods to keep up with impossible beauty standards.
What Do We Do? I Really Need A GLP-1, But Eating Disorders Are Everywhere!
It starts with better supervision. Instead of just getting a prescription through a quick online form, doctors are moving back toward face-to-face meetings. The goal is to make sure a patient actually needs the medication, rather than abusing it to reach a dangerously low weight or masking an underlying eating disorder.
Because these drugs change your biology but not your brain, the industry is also bundling medicine with mental health support. Many programs now include apps or coaching to help people deal with the psychological side of weight loss.
Another major goal is changing how we talk about weight. By treating obesity as a long-term medical condition, like we do with high blood pressure, rather than a “quick fix” for looks, experts hope to remove the shame that often leads to secretive, disordered eating. This also helps push people away from dangerous, unverified “research” chemicals sold online and toward safe, supervised medical care.
Finally, doctors aren’t just “setting and forgetting” these prescriptions. They are now checking in every few months to see how a patient is doing, not just in terms of weight, but also their bone health and muscle mass. This ensures that the weight loss is healthy and that the patient hasn’t fallen into a pattern of malnutrition or extreme restriction.
Medical Applications Currently in Clinical Trials or Approved Already By The FDA
As I mentioned before, it would be a mistake not to talk about the serious medical issues these drugs, like GLP-1s and GIPs, were initially made for. To be honest, using them for weight loss is a secondary thought. The main reason they were developed was to treat Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. Since Diabetes is such a massive subject, I’m going to give it its own dedicated space in the Human Verified library rather than trying to cram it all in here. This article is giving you just a snippet of what we will cover later.
What’s been really surprising, though, is how many other health problems these drugs seem to help. It’s been a bit of a shock to the medical world. Before we wrap up this piece, let’s quickly look at some of those bonus benefits. We’ll dive deeper into each of them in their own separate articles down the road.
Diabetes Mellitus
Tirzepatide is a powerhouse for blood sugar control, significantly lowering HbA1c levels and helping the body handle insulin more naturally. In fact, it actually works more efficiently than many older medications. Beyond the numbers, it triggers a metabolic reset. It consistently improves blood pressure and slashes triglycerides, which are vital for heart health. Ultimately, the drug remains a dual-threat solution that tackles both weight and metabolic health better than almost anything else available.
Seizures & Epilepsy
Recent research suggests that these medications may do much more than manage blood sugar. They might also protect the brain. For adults with Type 2 Diabetes, these treatments are linked to a significantly lower risk of developing epilepsy. If someone already has a seizure disorder, the data shows these drugs could help prevent recurring episodes and even reduce the risk of life-threatening, prolonged seizures.
The protection seems to go beyond just controlling glucose. Scientists believe these medications help calm inflammation in the brain and shield nerve cells from damage. In fact, patients on these therapies saw much lower rates of hospitalization and overall better health outcomes. Because this data comes from looking back at patient records, doctors are now calling for official clinical trials to prove exactly how these drugs can be used as a new tool for seizure management.
Alzheimer’s Disease
New research suggests these treatments could slash Alzheimer’s risk by up to 70% by acting as a biological reset. Instead of just managing blood sugar, they enter the brain to dial down inflammation and clear out the toxic proteins that cause memory loss. By strengthening the connections between brain cells and fixing systemic stressors, these therapies help keep our minds resilient. It is a massive breakthrough where advanced science is being leveraged to protect the most vital part of who we are, ensuring our cognitive health remains Human Verified as we age.
Addiction
Scientists are discovering that these medications might be a secret weapon against addiction. Interestingly, by calming the hunger in our neural circuits, they can dampen the intense cravings associated with substances like alcohol, nicotine, and opioids. The most promising results at this point are in alcohol use, where people report a significant drop in the desire to drink. It turns out that the brain uses similar pathways to process the “reward” of a high-calorie meal and the “hit” from a drug. Because of this, these medications can help reset the system for people struggling with both metabolic issues and substance abuse.
Fatty Liver Disease
The newest generation of metabolic medications is a total game-changer for treating fatty liver disease (MASLD). Your liver isn’t just “carrying extra weight”; it is biologically trapped by insulin resistance and chronic inflammation. These new therapies are revolutionizing care by attacking the problem at its roots:
Metabolic Harmony: Instead of just cutting calories, these drugs help your liver process insulin and glucose correctly. This flips the internal switch from “fat-storing” to “fat-burning,” directly addressing the core failure of insulin resistance.
Stopping the Damage: Fatty liver is progressive, moving from fat buildup to inflammation and eventual scarring (fibrosis). Co-agonists have shown a powerful ability to lower systemic inflammation, shielding your liver cells from permanent damage.
This Editorial Is Human Verified
You may be experiencing fat shaming in your own life. You may have a medical diagnosis that is making your health journey difficult to maintain or improve. Perhaps you have always had a negative self-image or are in a situation where those around you don’t support you.
It’s important you know that if you choose to utilize these advancements, it is an act of radical self-love.
It is an acknowledgment that your body is a unique masterpiece that sometimes needs a specific chemical tune-up to overcome a biological trap that may be preventing you from reaching your own health goal.
In a world that may still attempt to shame you, remember that you are now armed with the truth: your health journey is a private, scientifically backed pursuit. Whatever you choose to do, you are honoring the incredible biological engine that keeps you alive. These medications are not “taking the easy way out.” They are finally using the right tools for the job.
And if you are someone who battles with an eating disorder, whether it’s anorexia, bulimia, binge eating, or orthorexia, please remember that your health journey is not just about the body; it is about the mind. Eating disorders often co-occur with disorders like anxiety, depression, and/or PTSD. Please reach out. There are people who can help. You do not have to do this alone.
As we move through the wealth of information on this and its related topics in future articles, I want to encourage you to do your own research and speak with a medical professional such as a general practitioner, a neuropsychologist, or even a nurse. You have a team that can help you on your journey, and it is something I am doing as well.
In another Human Verified article, I discuss my own battle with paralysis. I was once an amazing athlete. Although I am taller than most women, and was always called “big” because of that, I had a very healthy body positive image. I love me and the miracle that is life itself. I am exactly who I need to be.
But once I was injured and began the path to recovery, my body started to fight against me. It’s not its fault. There are serious spinal pathways that are not functioning, and not surprisingly, it has affected my own metabolic health.
So I want you to know this, I am choosing the GLP-1, GIPs or other agonists pathways and I am not ashamed.
I will not listen to the rage bait from the internet or even in my own sphere. I choose me, and I plan on updating you on that journey as it progresses; with a Human Verified touch, of course!. My body is a masterpiece, and it has undergone serious injury. That is just my path and thankfully, I can walk it again.
Also, I love food! I will not give that up!
Despite all that, I chose to fight. And I hope you will too.
Thank You For Spending This Time With Me Today.
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