Why It's Not a Good Idea to Mess with Your Appetite Hormones

If you’ve ever felt like your appetite is “too much” or “out of control,” it’s easy to be tempted by promises of appetite-suppressing injections. But before you go down that path, it's worth understanding what's actually going on inside your body — and what these medications might be doing long-term.

Your appetite isn’t broken.It’s dysregulated — usually because of dieting.

Appetite is regulated by a finely tuned network of hormones working between your brain, gut, and fat stores. These hormones don’t just affect whether you feel hungry or full — they also control your stress response, mood, sleep, energy use, and even how much joy you get from eating.

When you go on a restrictive diet or use willpower to suppress your hunger, your body fights back. Hormones like ghrelin, neuropeptide Y, and cortisol increase, making you hungrier, more food-focused, and more emotionally reactive. Meanwhile, fullness signals like leptin, GLP-1, and PYY drop, leaving you unsatisfied even after eating.

This isn’t a character flaw — it’s a survival mechanism.

Now, let’s talk about weight loss injections.

Many of these work by overriding your natural hunger signals, particularly by artificially boosting hormones like GLP-1. Initially, this can feel like relief: less hunger, less food chatter.

But here’s the catch…

👉 These injections don’t fix your appetite.They silence it — temporarily.

Once the drug is stopped (and most people do stop), the body often rebounds. Hunger hormones surge, satiety hormones drop, and cravings return — often stronger than before.

This is why studies show over 80% of people regain weight after stopping GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide. Appetite is not truly healed — it’s been paused and then reactivated in survival mode.

So what’s the alternative?

Normalising your Appetite Hormones

✨ Intuitive eating is the only approach that works with your body — not against it. When you stop dieting and start nourishing your body consistently and unconditionally, your appetite hormones begin to stabilise:

• Ghrelin calms down — hunger becomes predictable, not panicky

• Leptin, PYY, GLP-1, and CCK begin to rise — you feel satisfied and know when to stop

• Cortisol drops — stress around food fades

• Dopamine and serotonin rebalance — you enjoy food without obsession

• Thyroid hormones return to normal — your metabolism stops slowing down

  
  

Over time, your body stops fighting for survival. Your brain stops obsessing over food. Your eating becomes peaceful, flexible, and satisfying — without control, without shame, and without drugs.

Final thoughts

It’s not your fault if you’ve struggled. Diet culture has taught all of us to distrust our bodies and override our signals. But your body isn’t broken. It’s doing what it was designed to do when it senses threat — and that includes protecting you from starvation, whether it’s real or self-imposed.

Weight loss injections offer a short-term override.Intuitive eating offers long-term healing.

One silences your signals.The other restores your trust.

Choose the one that leads to lasting peace.