Lately, I’ve been fascinated by the conversations I have with friends who are taking GLP-1 medications
They tell me about ordering new pants because the ones they bought just a few months ago are already too big. They talk about the surprise of realizing the “food noise” they’d lived with for years has suddenly quieted.
I listen with genuine curiosity because, for the past eight months, my body has been doing almost the exact opposite
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I’m sizing up every four or five weeks. I am so hungry that I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night and need to eat. There was one point in what I assume was a growth spurt for my daughter that I was eating chili for breakfast because it was the only thing that would keep me full for a couple of hours.
In some ways, though, the pregnant version of me and my friends who are on a GLP-1 are having similar experiences: We’re becoming more attuned to what our bodies are asking for. At one point, my cravings for things like Greek yogurt, almonds and cheese amplified, which is great because my baby needs calcium to grow strong bones!
All this to say, I can’t help but notice it’s an interesting cultural moment to be pregnant
The percentage of U.S. adults taking GLP-1 medications for weight loss purposes has risen to 11% in 2026, up from 3% in 2024, according to a Gallup poll. And 15% report having used the medicine for weight loss at some point
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For me, gaining weight is expected and part of the assignment. My belly is supposed to get bigger. My body is supposed to change. At every prenatal appointment, I step on the scale and watch the number climb because my body is busy growing a human
But when I scroll through my phone, my algorithm is filled with before-and-after photos. Friends and acquaintances share updates about their GLP-1 journeys. Celebrities seem to shrink between red-carpet appearances. Weight-loss transformations that once might have taken a year now seem to happen in the span of a season
Let me be clear: I don’t begrudge anyone their health or their decision to use medication. GLP-1 drugs have been life-changing for many people, and I’m so glad they are an option. They’re not just about weight loss, either. There’s a growing body of research that shows while they were initially developed for blood glucose and weight control, people are seeing benefits when it comes to cardiovascular, kidney, liver, arthritis, and sleep apnea disorders, according to researchers
I celebrate GLP-1s. In fact, a year before I was pregnant, I tried a GLP-1 medication at a low dose and absolutely loved the way it changed my relationship with food. I didn’t feel like I was dieting or constantly thinking about what I should or shouldn’t eat. Instead, with the food noise turned down, I felt like I could listen to my hunger cues more intuitively. In some ways, I think that it prepared me for pregnancy because I became so in tuned with my body
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There’s also something comforting about knowing that tool may still be there for me on the other side of pregnancy and breastfeeding, if I decide with my doctor that it’s right for me again. I know my body will look and feel different after I give birth. But knowing I have options in my toolkit along with eating healthy and working out actually makes me feel less urgency about what happens next. I don’t need to think about losing the pregnancy weight while I’m still pregnant. I don’t need to turn this version of my body into a “before” photo.
Here I am in my final month of pregnancy:
That’s really what I’ve been thinking about. It’s not a criticism of GLP-1s. It’s an observation about timing. Right now, my body is supposed to be moving in the opposite direction
I know intellectually that weight gain is necessary during pregnancy, and still find myself surprised by the changes. Clothes stop fitting. My face has changed. My ankles are swollen. I’m winded easily.
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I’ve spent months retiring clothes from my closet one by one. First the jeans went. Then dresses I was convinced had enough stretch to make it through pregnancy proved me wrong. Anything with zippers were abandoned sometime during my second trimester. Just when I think I’ve figured out how to dress this version of myself, my body changes again
I’m embracing each one of these changes because my body is my daughter’s first home. For the first time, I celebrate when the number on the scale goes up.
My body isn’t simply getting bigger: It’s been busy building a brain. Tiny lungs. Fingers and toes. A little heart that I get to hear at my appointments. The hunger that sometimes wakes me up at night makes sense when I remember the enormous amount of work happening inside my body around the clock
The weight I’ve gained isn’t a before photo waiting to be corrected. Right now, it’s evidence that something extraordinary is happening
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Of course, I know the conversation won’t disappear once I give birth
Pregnancy has barely ended before women start hearing about “bouncing back.”
Someday, I’ll have my own decisions to make about what I want my body to look and feel like after pregnancy
But I don’t need to make them yet
Right now, my body has a different job
Pregnancy has forced me to live, temporarily, outside a metric I’ve spent much of my life paying attention to. Instead of asking whether my body is getting smaller, I’m asking whether my baby is growing and care about her being healthy and getting all of the nutrients she needs
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And I’ve started to appreciate the strange symmetry in those conversations with my friends. We’re all paying closer attention to our bodies. We’re all noticing hunger—or the absence of it—in ways we hadn’t before. We’re all buying different pants. We’re just moving in opposite directions
Brittany Anas Creator
Brittany Anas is an award-winning journalist covering all the sweet things in life, from travel to home to food and beverage. She is based in Denver, Colorado.
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