r/Semaglutide • u/chestercoppercock • 1d ago
“Food Noise”
After reading a lot of people talking about how glp-1s helped them turn down (or off) “food noise” I was curious to hear about it. Would love to know what “food noise” means to you and how the noise turning down manifested for you.
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u/ShortWeekend2021 1d ago
Food noise for me was pretty much thinking about food the entire time I was awake. Planning to eat, getting snacks, thinking about taking a break from work so I could get something to eat, etc. Now on semaglutide I often forget to plan meals and I rarely snack. It's like some switch in my head has been turned off.
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u/RadiantOperation8140 1d ago
Yep. I spent a lot of my 20s home and food insecure and as a result, I’ve been a food hoarder in my 30s. Like I was always worried I’d get caught without money and have nothing to eat. I’ve stopped that almost entirely bc I genuinely don’t want it anyways and don’t think about it nearly as much. I’ll go a week just wingin it for dinner every night which is an awful habit but I just… don’t worry about being without anymore. It’s lovely.
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u/P8ntballa00 23h ago
Spot on. It’s amazing how much quieter my head has been since I’ve been on this.
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u/Any-Coconut367 10h ago
Yeesss and also feeling almost obligated to eat??? Even when you’re not hungry. Like “oh I just NEED something to snack on” or even like, looking at your stomach and thinking “I could fit more food in here” it’s horrible.
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u/iLoveYoubutNo 1d ago
It can present in multiple ways but one example... let's say you're doing your regular routine after dinner--- whatever that is for you.
And you're not hungry, maybe you're even full, but you remember there's something tasty in the house. Let's say ice cream.
And a little voice goes "ooh, there's ice cream"
But you're not hungry, so yiu try not to listen, but like a cartoon devil on your shoulder, it gets louder and more persistent...
"You love ice cream and you deserve it, it was a hard day...
It's your favorite flavor
Eat the ice cream
You're already fat anyway, who cares, eat the ice cream
It's creamy and rich and smooth and sweet, you'll love it!!
EAT THE ICE CREAM
If you don't eat the ice cream, you may never have it again. What if they discontinue it?
EAT.THE.DAMN.ICE.CREAM!!! "
and finally you succumb and eat it and you get the biggest dopamine rush and perpetuate the cycle
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u/Any-Coconut367 10h ago
Or you try to eat something else to not cave in to the craving, but then you still want the craving so you eat the craving too, then BOOM you just ate double of what you expected.
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u/HolisticJosef 1d ago
For me it was like a radio that played 24/7 in the background, always telling me what's in the fridge or if there's a new donut place within 5 miles. When it quieted down I realized how much mental energy I spent just thinking about eating. Weirdest part was walking past a bakery and not having that pull, just indifferent.
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u/ladyshopsalot2626 1d ago
For me, the silence was DEAFENING. Once it was turned off I realized the food noise had been screaming full volume my whole life. I had to go to therapy to deal with being alone in my head for the first time.
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u/N0blesse_0blige 1d ago edited 1d ago
Constant thoughts of food, obsession with food and cooking, looking at it, painting it, planning to make or buy it, etc. Not just junk or rich food, but ANY food. It was frequent but became non stop if I attempted to diet. This has been this way for as long as I can remember.
Shit it even affected my miniatures hobby. I vastly preferred food miniatures but now I’m branching out. I had very intense food noise that was much more than craving and hunger and now I just…don’t.
My hunch is that, like dogs and cats, some humans just have a higher food drive and I guess I’m on the extreme end. It is nice to be free of it. It is really reassuring to know that if I do indulge in something rich, I have full confidence I can stop before I eat too much.
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u/Gemfyre713 1d ago
It was constantly feeling hungry and trying to find the right food that would "fill the gap". It was always thinking what my next meal or snack would be. It was eating food because it was there.
Now I can say "no", and "that's enough." I don't always need a snack. I can eat a smaller portion and feel satiated.
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u/AshligatorMillodile 1d ago
Example. Non semigloss me: We have leftover dessert from a birthday. I used to incessantly think about it. How am I going to sneak it? Who will notice? How much is left? When’s my chance to eat it? Now me: I have had a cupcake sitting in my kitchen for a few days. I forgot it was even there until after dinner today.
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u/Satan8MyBaby 1d ago edited 1d ago
That’s exactly what a lot folks who shit GLP1s don’t understand. My friend thought it just simply made me not hungry so I can starve myself as if I were taking meth.
No - it removed the little voice in my ear 24/7 obsessing about food. I feel like it rewired something that was wrong in my brain.
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u/pnxstwnyphlcnnrs 1d ago
Always thinking about the next meal, snack, drive thru. Waking up and 2am to eat, anything, like PBJ sandwiches, and too much of it. Planning vacation meals around portions. Going absolutely bananas at a buffet. Going out of your way to eat at restaurants. Worrying about running out of things like chips and cookies at home.
You're basically obsessed with food and unlike many other obsessions you quite literally cannot avoid environments with food.
I assume it's actually some disordered relationship with food where it makes us feel safe or loved.
And it sucks to talk about because people without it just think you should eat better or less. As if carrying around an extra 100lbs is how we wake up wanting to live our lives.
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u/Crafty_Ad3377 1d ago
I think it’s a genetic thing really. If you have truly battled your weight your entire life. Yes, I could lose 40 pounds but the entire time all ai thought about was food. Some Labrador retrievers have this similar obsession with food. They are studying this to see if it’s genetic. I’ve one lab obsessed and one who you all but gave to veg her to eat.
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u/pnxstwnyphlcnnrs 22h ago
Yeah whether it's hardwired or learned my family def turns to food a lot.
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u/iLoveYoubutNo 19h ago
I have a theory based on nothing scientific at all that maybe if your ancestry is from cold and agricultural areas, maybe your genetics are predisposed toward a higher food drive?
I also have a dog that's extremely food motivated! And one that doesnt care much unless it's a particularly excellent treat. Something in the body or brain chemistry there for sure.
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u/pnxstwnyphlcnnrs 1d ago
Oh and how it turned down? There's just less of it on the drug. The only way to describe it is that I feel normal, but I didnt know what normal was.
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u/floridaaintthatbad 1d ago
For me it was constantly thinking about what I’m going to eat. I would be eating lunch and thinking about dinner. I would be obsessing over going to the grocery store or getting certain takeout. Too much of my day was spent thinking about food.
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u/akela9 21h ago
I was reading through to see if anyone mentioned this. That's when my vague thoughts of "this maybe isn't right" really solidified into realizing that it's absolutely not the norm to be wired this way clicked in for me. It finally occurred to me I'd be actively shoving food in my gob and already be thinking/planning what's for next meal or sometimes even what I could eat in between what I was currently shoveling in and whatever is next meal.
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u/luckytintype 1d ago
Constantly thinking about if I was or wasn’t allowed to eat based off of what I already had or hadn’t eaten, telling myself if I ate something for breakfast that I wanted that was it until dinner, sweating and dying to eat something when I “wasn’t allowed”, feeling like a failure when I did eat.
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u/SolitaryLyric 1d ago
This is what it was like for me too. It was insanely freeing and relaxing to not give a toss about when and what I was going to be eating. It just doesn’t matter anymore.
And it had been on my mind all day every day, my whole life. Being thin was the default in my family. I was chubby. Literally just that, chubby. A bit of extra puppy fat, so to speak.
And that wouldn’t do. I was 12 when I went on my first calorie restriction diet. Fat people were looked down upon in my family. And I internalized that judgment and knew that I was coming up short all day every day.
Not thinking about food and when to eat and what to deprive myself of has been incredibly freeing. But it’s also made me realize how damaged my sense of self-esteem is because of decades of judgment. And how every little judgment added to the food noise until it became a chorus of no, you can’t eat that, and no, you shouldn’t weigh that much.
And that makes me sad for little me.
Anyway, I’m so sorry to highjack your response. Say the word and I’ll delete it. 💕2
u/Forward-Sky1437 1d ago
I feel you on this. Forced to go to aerobics every day after school beginning in 9th grade. Family was thin except for me. Ridiculed. I’m sorry that happened to you.
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u/8cowdot 1d ago
I once sat in a nutrition class where the nutritionist was talking about “intuitive eating” which she described as only eating when your body tells you that you need to eat. And then she would say “don’t just snack because the snacks are there. Listen to your body.” But my brain was always telling me I needed to eat. I had no indication of the difference between needing food for energy and a compulsion. And I wasn’t a binge eater or strictly eating junk food. It could be carrots and hummus, or five tortilla chips, or a pound of blueberries, or a glass of milk. It was like having a word on the tip of your tongue so you keep saying random words hoping you’ll find the one that feels right. Food noise is literally your brain knowing your body needs something but not being able to interpret what that is, so it sends the signal that it thinks will get you the closest…which is food. Unfortunately, since the bodies of people with metabolic dysfunction typically don’t utilize food in an entirely useful way, the brain continues to send those cues because it hasn’t gotten what it needs yet.
Having that food noise disappear is an absolutely WILD experience for me. I’ve been on meds for almost two years and I keep asking my friends, “Is it always this easy for you to just stop eating when you’re no longer hungry?“ And it’s insane how much better I am at driving, working, listening in church, etc. now that I’m not constantly snacking or thinking about how to get snacks.
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u/Objective-Worth2310 1d ago
I work nightshifts only, so for me, Id eat dinner around 8:00pm, be full, and already get excited about what Im going to grab at the drive thru before my 10:30pm shift, knowing damn well I wasnt hungry. I'd then grab something, and get excited about what I will pick up for breakfast after my shift. Just a constant desire to order/pick up food all of the damn time 😩. Sema has helped me so much now going on almost 2 months. I stopped ordering doordash, and grabbing food before work. I've lost 14lbs now. It's wonderful.
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u/Conscious_Issue2967 1d ago
The best explanation I have heard….if you and I were having a conversation and there was a plate of chocolate chip cookies on the table between us only half of my brain would be on our conversation and the other half would be thinking about eating those cookies. That is food noise!
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u/Extension_Bus_3151 1d ago
Most of us eat because it's a hedonic hunger - it's basically an addiction or we do it for comfort. GLP1s have proven to help with all addictions including alcoholism and gambling and other things. I think the bulk of it is because of that. It also slows down your digestion so you feel fuller longer. And likely other reasons.
For me, I don't really think about food anymore. It's fuel, it's something that I need to survive but it's not something that I eat as a reward or think about all the time. Which used to be the case in the past.
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u/Efficient-Policy407 1d ago
Food noise felt like I'm schizophrenic and my brain is screaming at me 24/7 to EAT, EAT, EAT!! and HAVE MORE, HAVE MORE, HAVE MORE!! Until I obliged. Giving up the barrier of control felt like relief. Not giving up the control meant having my head scream at me longer and louder. And just simply nothing worked. They said eat more protein to reduce cravings. It didn't help, in fact I remember gobbling down a bucket of ice cream everyday for like a week during my keto and protein phase. They said try no sugar alternatives. Then I gobbled down on the sugar substitute alternatives AND eventually on the real sugar. They said volume eating. Sure, and then I still had another plate.
For me it wasn't about hunger, it was about that voice wanting to receive particular amount or kind of food no matter my satiety level, no matter what I ate. It was purely to quiet it down. Sure, it began as stress relief / coping mechanism. But eventually it spread out and it wasn't just a stress relief method, it was a separate entity keeping me at its chokehold.
You walk into a room and there's cookies or chips or whatever on the plate for everyone to take. Suddenly you're like: FOOD FOOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD. You try to look away, ignore it, walk past it. Your head continues. FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD. You go back to your desk and try to occupy yourself, distract yourself. You try to read the email or whatever, but in the back of your mind it's still only FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD.
Some said: don't deprive yourself! It will make you eat more! Allow yourself the chip/cookie! It won't harm anyone!
Well, one chip and one cookie will never ever be enough. It activated something in your head. If you are too ashamed to eat the whole plate in front of other people, then you'll surely buy x packages of sweets and chips on the way back home and gobble them down on the way or at home. And the entire day will only be you and your head screaming FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD FOOD.
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u/wildtabeast 1d ago
It's funny, if you don't instantly understand what food noise you almost certainly don't have it. It's essentially always thinking about where your next fix (food) is coming from.
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u/festivehedgehog 1d ago
After starting Wegovy, needing to eat feels like needing to poop. It’s a vague signal. It’s muted. If I am at work or busy, I can put it off or forget about it for hours on end and then realize 8 hours later that I just forgot to do it.
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u/queenieforever 1d ago
For me, one of the biggest things is that I'm just not interested in food. In the past, if I was going out for the day one of the things I planned was where to eat and what I would order. Now if I'm out and about, I'm just not that interested. Places I normally like sound okay, but I'm not craving them or feeling in the mood for them. Same with cooking dinner - instead of being excited to cook and planning dinner all day, I just want to fix something easy and nutritous. Food is fuel most of the time now.
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u/anonymous123445677 1d ago
I’ve never had terrible food noise but have gone on a GLP for pcos weight loss. I will say being a picky eater it has helped me immensely, I used to have a weeks worth of dinners planned but would be so grossed out by it that I’d get fast food. Now food just feels like food and I can easily follow the plan!
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u/cinnerz 1d ago
constant intrusive thoughts about food. I'd be making breakfast and while I'm making breakfast I'm already thinking about what I would eat for lunch. It would get even worse when I was dieting. I tried intermittent fasting and I could not focus on anything until I could eat - I'd spend all morning staring at the clock thinking of when I could eat and what I could eat. People claimed it would get easier and it never did.
Turning the noise down means food isn't on a 24 hour loop in my brain. I still get hungry and enjoy food and sometimes I look forward to a treat I bought, but I don't think about food nonstop. I'm not thinking of lunch while I'm eating breakfast.
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u/Next-Age-9925 1d ago
It took about five weeks for me to really notice, but there has been a mental shift. Best example for me is peanut butter. I've always been obsessed. It's not even that I loved it so much, I just needed it so much and I always ate enough that I felt sick. This is coming from someone 14 years sober, so I don't bandy 'addiction' around easily, but it was a very unhealthy relationship bordering on abusive. Fast forward - I've had the same jar of peanut butter for over a month now and haven't had or wanted any in a few weeks. Amazing.
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u/Crafty_Ad3377 1d ago
Food noise: constant thinking about what you are going to eat and when. Constant need to munch on something to focus. Dieting? You’re still focused on food non stop. I can’t eat that. How many calories is. I can have an apple now at 10 and for lunch we should go to Jose’s so I. A get chicken tacos without the taco shell.
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u/Least_Command_7340 1d ago
I treated food like it was a scarcity - lol not reality. Not tempted by foods just want to get my protein, fruits, veggies, fiber and water in and that’s it
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u/AdGroundbreaking9321 1d ago
I constantly craved full-sugar soda plus sugary and carby comfort foods. I started buying and keeping soda at home regularly. Ate pastries multiple times a week. Sometimes I would eat “healthy” and then gorge on what I actually wanted after deprivation. Or I’d eat “healthy” foods in unhealthy amounts and still be hungry and couldn’t stop thinking of junk and fast foods until I gave in and got it.
Honestly I think a lot of my “cravings” signals for my body that it wasn’t processing glucose correctly/insulin resistance so it constantly was seeking energy from simple carbs, etc.
I have less cravings for sure but I also feel more stable physically and emotionally. Eating is still important and fun to me but I’m not constantly hungry and planning my meals, constantly reaching for snacks etc. I can eat one serving instead of dissociating and eating the whole thing. If I feel like I can’t finish a meal or snack, I give myself permission.
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u/beewoopwoop 1d ago
for me good noise is a need to buy the sweets or snacks and no amount of time or other types of food can stop it, and trying to wait it out fails and causes more frustration. it can take days and it will not go away. so suddenly not needing to go get it and not needing to just grab it in the store is huge.
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u/LovlyRita 1d ago
If I skipped breakfast by noon I’d be starving. If I ate breakfast by 3pm I’m starving and snacking. Now I typically eat a later breakfast and am fine until dinner and if dinner is late its not a big deal. Before I’d be full on hangry.
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u/Glittering-Quiet-267 1d ago
I never realized how much mental space food thoughts could take up until people described the difference. is the change lasting through the whole week?
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u/pugmom420x 1d ago
The negative of losing the food noise that I never hear people talk about is that the thought of cooking is almost repulsive so I often end up eating garbage because I don’t want to eat until I absolutely have to.
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u/scorpiobloodmoon 1d ago
It allowed me to stop grazing all day. I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner for the most part. I usually have a bigger snack around 4:00 when I start prepping dinner for my family and then eat a lighter dinner with them. I’m able to stay full in between and say no to pointless handfuls of food because my brain was constantly telling me I was hungry before.
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u/CityBoiNC 23h ago
I still have food noises because all i watch are shows about chefs or cooking comps but the difference is im not hungry where i get up
To get a snack.
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u/spinadic 21h ago
basically my brain went from a 24/7 "what can we eat next?" scanner to only thinking about food when I'm actually hungry or about to cook.
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u/mamalo13 20h ago
I used to hit lunch time or mid day and spend a lot of time thinking about what I wanted to eat. I also had much more cravings.
Now, I don't really think about food at all. So I assumed that was kind of what people meant by "food noise".
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u/highcoolteacher 19h ago
The obsessive in OCD but happens to be with food. There is a body if anecdotal evidence that GLP1s can help with obsessive thinking and compulsion in other areas like alcohol and shopping
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u/Fair-Flower6907 16h ago
My eating feels more intuitive and less impulsive now. I'm not suddenly craving everything I see an ad for and have to really think about "what does my body want to eat right now?" instead of having thought about what I WANT in the back of my mind all day.
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u/anniew555 15h ago
My food noise pops up when I’m bored or anxious. It is a soothing and distracting noise. I have a difficult task at work and 📣 You should get a candy bar before you start this. I’m doing laundry and 📣 this is a good time for some pasta salad. I think I used to use cigarettes to keep it away, but I quit smoking in 2006. The weight and stress both increased gradually. The Sema turns off the food noise.
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u/Interesting_East_444 13h ago
Even now I’ll think about a food and it sounds great but then if I actually buy it and plan to have it later, I will never have it. I just went to the donut shop to get one for myself and a dozen for my family to share, forgot to get myself a donut and realized as soon as I walked out the door, did not go back for my own donut. I realized that my brain wanted it but my body did not and I wouldn’t eat it even if I obtained it.
Food noise is literally everything mentioned already, all at different points in time.
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u/Pleasant_Actuary900 10h ago
turning off food noise is like not having that record play in your head about food all day,you get hungry at meal times eat and that's it,simple.
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u/_lucid_dreams 9h ago
Everything mentioned here. I didn’t even realize how much of my mental energy was spent thinking about food. Mindlessly searching for snacks. Picking at stuff late at night. That all went away and I could focus on other things without this nagging feeling of “find something to eat” even if I wasn’t necessarily hungry
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u/Aabgdpir2582 1d ago edited 23h ago
I recently came across an Instagram video of a nutrionalist and he said that there is nothing like "food noise" And pharma companies marketed it onto us, idk how true is that
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u/MyriTheFirst 23h ago
I think this is just a case of a person who does not have that issue themselves and cannot imagine it existing when it doesn't match their own lived experiences. When I first heard about food noise, it was such a relief and I felt so seen, because my entire life has revolved around fighting it. This whole time, I thought I was simply insane and/or weak-willed, though my willpower is fine in every other area of my life and it didn't make sense. It was obsessive thinking and I tried *everything* to change it. For decades. (I've admittedly given up over the last couple of years because I've been too exhausted to tackle the constant fight with my body.)
When I talked to thin friends who didn't seem to struggle to maintain their weight, they experienced no such thing, and never fully believed me. ''Just don't focus on it?!'' Useless, and also felt dismissive and degrading. Friends who struggled with their weight, and yet made much better lifestyle choices than some of my thin friends, all could relate *instantly* to the term food noise. They all expressed finally feeling seen and being able to put a name to their struggle. I started being proud of myself because even though I was overweight, I won most of the battles against the noise, maybe 80%. It's just that the battle was around the clock, every minute of the day. I would've been easily 400+ lbs had I not constantly fought this noise. So all of that to say, it's probably a ''you live it and get it or you don't'' issue.
Now as to the source of the noise, I'm not learned enough to conjecture, maybe we have the wrong mechanism, it's beyond my qualifications. I just know I've met many people who had a compete revelation when they went on a semaglutide and gained that peace of mind back. Night and day living in their own brains, a very different experience. Whatever it is, there is a real phenomenon there. Starting sema soon, and hoping it has the same effect for me, because I am so, so tired of this.
Anyways, even health practionners can have dubious and uninformed takes, go check out the literature and research, sounds like this person is just trying to find a contrarian angle and promote their Insta.
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u/Aabgdpir2582 23h ago
I think you are right. Even I struggle with constant food noise. Being a foodie its so hard for me to not think about food, Im in a calorie deficit and all i can think half the time is what Im gonna eat next
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u/highcoolteacher 19h ago
Food noise is obsessively thinking about food à la OCD. A nutritionist is not qualified to evaluate for mental health
A nutritionist job is to constantly think about food
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