Food noise vs. compulsive/boredom eating

[deleted.user.18]

I have not yet begun to research glp-1 peptides… but being that I just finished my 3rd beer and second plate at a family dinner… that’s not food noise, I feel good, it tastes good, and I want it.

Does anyone with more experience on sema/tirza/reta care to share their experience with that sort of over eating/drinking?

 

[Retazempic]

Before tirz, I would not pass up an opportunity to eat like that. Since tirz, I just don’t want any more food once I feel satisfied. I know I’ve hit that point once the food no longer “speaks to me.” Also, alcohol generally doesn’t speak to me at all. I don’t enjoy the way it tastes or makes me feel the way I used to - and boy did I used to.

For me “food noise,” was different. I used to just think about my next meal or snack almost constantly. And it was even more in the front of my mind. At work, I’d think about chips and cookies the minute the clock struck 8pm.

 

[randompersonrandom]

I don't use the term "food noise" because I'm bored of listening to every redditor panic-shriek "FOOD NOISE" when they feel even slightly hungry. But I DO know that on tirz, I have the option to eat a high-protein, low calorie day with roasted vegetables and some meat. I can still trigger myself into cravings if I sit and think about all the delicious high-calorie food I sure would like to be eating, but if I just DON'T do that, I'm fine. It doesn't intrude past my willingness to have it in my head.

 

[Calm Logic]

Easier to say/feel/think "no" or "another time" (including when grocery shopping) and easier to eat smaller portions. Half a sandwich can feel as filling as two.

 

[HumanusExMachina]

I was raised in a "you must clean your plate" family and that's embedded deep in my psyche. By the time I hit 30, I had completely lost any sense of what a proper amount of food was. I would just eat until there was nothing on my plate. I never really had food noise, just no real feeling for a limit. And if I had a beer with my meal, seconds and thirds were no problem at all.

About a month-and-a-half ago, I started on reta. Within the first week, I started hitting a hard stop on eating, no matter what was left on my plate. It also slowed my eating down. If I eat faster, I end up feeling uncomfortably over-full and bloated -- something that never happened before. I'm now basically on half-portions compared to what I used to eat. (Side effect: my wife is eating less because I am. And she's not on reta. Yet.)

 

[hexagonal]

Tirz made it impossible for me to eat enough food to hit my macros - it 100% would have prevented the behavior described.

Reta, if I want to eat, I can eat. It doesn't do a whole lot for my physical hunger, either - but that's not what has gotten to me.

I'd eat... just because. Think about food for no real reason, decide I might as well eat, repeat. Tirz and reta both kill that.

 

[vewdew34]

Before GLP'S I used to fast and loose 10 to 15 LBS then gain it all back, so from fasting I trained my brain to look at food like it was nothing, now with Tirz to me is easy not to crave since I use the same method and Tirz kinda helps with the food noise.

 

[kimmykat415]

If my experience is an indicator you would enjoy the first plate of your meal but it might be half the normal serving size and you would pass up on a second plate. If it is really amazing you might have a little more but then pass on dessert until much later (if it is the kind of meal with dessert). You might not even have a second beer much less a third (in my case wine).

I still crave sweets. As an additional example just yesterday I had one great cookie and was perfectly fine eating just one serving. Prior to being on a GLP1 I would have wandered back into the kitchen and had a second or even a third.

FWIW "food noise" never really fit my experience but a desire to snack and generally graze my way through evenings fits with the title of your post boredom/compulsive eating. That said I'm just not thinking about food much at all less grocery shopping less meal planning. It is MUCH easier to just go to the store and get what I need and walk out without impulse buying anything.

 

[latviantower]

You can tell who’s been around a while in these communities when terms like “weight loss journey” and “food noise” cause violent irrational reactions. Lmao.

Tirz kills not just the obsessing over next snack or meal, but for me is inhibits the physical capability of stuffing anything more into my pie hole. Uncomfortably full is an actual state of being.

As a recovering alcoholic, I was prescribed Naltrexone for the first 12 months to combat cravings. I still thought about drinking a lot, but stayed sober, went to lots of meetings, etc. Then somewhat after the Naltrexone ended, I started on tirz. I would testify that tirz is far superior in suppressing alcohol cravings. There are stretches of multiple days when I don’t even think of taking a drink. Research is just starting to recognize just how good these agents are for combatting drug and alcohol addiction.

I am definitely a super fan and witness to the power these drugs have to rewire our brains and redirect prior obsessions.

 

[ThatNextGril]

I don't even care if "food noise" is a trendy or overused term, it's a real thing and I never knew I even had it. Looking back, I'm amazed that I'd spend so much time thinking about what I would eat and when, and then half an hour later, I'd either want to eat a little more or begin planning what I would eat at my next meal. Even if that next meal was just a snack (and one that I didn't even really need!).

Every now and then I stop and think about it like it was happening to another person who wasn't me. I used to travel a lot for work and boy, making sure I had snacks for the flights, wondering if I had time to grab something at the airport or during a connection was so time and mental energy consuming. It was almost always healthy enough food, which is why my weight never got as bad as it might have, but still, the fact that thinking about food all day was just a normal part of my life is so depressing. Now, not only do I eat and then stop thinking about food once I'm done, but I often will eat a meal later than I intended because I was doing something else and forgot.

For me, the scientific miracle of pinpointing the chemical that feeds the food noise (pun!) and creating a drug that quells it, is why this is so life changing.

 

[miss-sanne]

Food noise is a bitch, - before glp-1, I was thinking about food ALL THE TIME, using so much energy on this, what to eat, when to eat etc.
And of course overeating because it was just too much all the time.
Now researching, I also think about food, I do get hungry, it's normal and its relieving.
I don't get any rewards from eating, so I can stop when I want.

 

[deleted.user.18]

Well… it’s a week into treatment. No weight lost(not that I expected it but some report losing). For sure I can still eat, but it’s like everyone reports, I don’t really feel like it. Full after a small portion. Perhaps when the constipation eases I’ll lose 5 lbs! 🤣 and since day 1 not even a thought of alcohol- just totally gone. I’ve been trying to keep my protein intake high and stay hydrated with whey isolate in water with some inulin fiber. But so far so good.

 

[jwilson1828]

I buy all of our groceries for a family of 7 and I can go to the store, having not eaten, and not find my cart full of everything that 'looks' good.

 

[druell235]

Glad I did a search first, as I am dealing with something similar. I'm on tirz and it is working well, down over 90 pounds, and I don't compulsively eat all the time anymore. However, I still have what I would call neurological food noise. I still think about food all the time. I am constantly planning my next meal in my head, thinking about what calories to cut to enjoy a slightly bigger meal or better desert, and just obsessing in general.

It's such a weird place to be in mentally, because I get all the other food noise related benefits of tirz. I stop meals when I am full, like this morning, I had made three chicken sausage patties, and some egg whites, but I did not eat the third patty. However, I am already thinking about lunch, I am not hungry, as I am still nursing the last bit of my protein shake, but the whole process drives me mad. I am thinking about adding contrave. Anyone else on GLP-1's also take contrave? I talked to my provider from my telehealth company and she thinks it might work for what I am experiencing.

 

[Zydeceltico]

Glad I did a search first, as I am dealing with something similar. I'm on tirz and it is working well, down over 90 pounds, and I don't compulsively eat all the time anymore. However, I still have what I would call neurological food noise. I still think about food all the time. I am constantly planning my next meal in my head, thinking about what calories to cut to enjoy a slightly bigger meal or better desert, and just obsessing in general.

It's such a weird place to be in mentally, because I get all the other food noise related benefits of tirz. I stop meals when I am full, like this morning, I had made three chicken sausage patties, and some egg whites, but I did not eat the third patty. However, I am already thinking about lunch, I am not hungry, as I am still nursing the last bit of my protein shake, but the whole process drives me mad. I am thinking about adding contrave. Anyone else on GLP-1's also take contrave? I talked to my provider from my telehealth company and she thinks it might work for what I am experiencing.

It sounds like you're ultra-bored to me.

Join the gym and burn some mental-obsessing time and energy at the same time?

 

[druell235]

It sounds like you're ultra-bored to me.

Join the gym and burn some mental-obsessing time and energy at the same time?

That might be it. I do walk for an hour six days a week. I also got one of these, Arm trainer, and use it 4-5 times a week as well. But I have not had much motivation to do anything I like, like playing video games for example, for the last few months.

 

[Zydeceltico]

....But I have not had much motivation to do anything I like, like playing video games for example, for the last few months.

That's actually a common side.....search "anhedonia."

 

[Retazempic]

I had anhedonia (which I thought was just fatigue) for the first 2 or 3 days after my weekly shot for the first 8 weeks of me starting Reta. I split the dose to 2x a week, with one larger dose and one smaller dose, then still had the blahs. This past week, I had zero blahs and a ton of energy and motivation.

I’m only an N=1, but I’ve also read similar accounts by others, whose anhedonia also went away after a few months.

I’d stay in touch with your doctor (as you could have any number of things unrelated to the Reta), but it’s possible whatever you’re experiencing will dissipate over time.