Women's Health September 4, 2026 0 Comments

Unmasking the GLP-1 Revolution: How These Dietitians Are Crushing Stigma and Redefining Wellness Forever

Have you ever felt like you’re doing everything right—eating clean, hitting your workouts, tracking progress—yet your body just refuses to cooperate? That was Gianna Beasley’s reality for years. Despite being a dietitian, living amid the health hustle in Denver, and managing her diet and exercise like a seasoned pro, she battled stubborn weight issues and health challenges that didn’t make sense. Imagine fighting chronic inflammation, brain fog, and pain, only to be met with the tired advice to simply “eat less and move more.” Frustrating, right? Gianna’s journey led her to an unexpected ally: GLP-1 medications—a tool shrouded in stigma but rich with life-changing potential. And she’s not alone; other dietitians are embracing these meds not just for weight loss, but for healing minds and bodies alike. Curious how these meds transformed their health journeys and shattered stereotypes? Let’s dive into the real stories behind GLP-1s and why the conversation around them desperately needs a makeover. LEARN MORE

10 min read

Something strange started happening to Gianna Beasley four years ago. Despite doing everything right with her diet and exercise, the Denver-based dietitian had been struggling with her weight for her entire life. (She was insulin resistant, a symptom of her polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome, or PMOS.) But at 25, she began dealing with unbearable inflammation and pain all over her body, as well as brain fog. Yet, she says her doctors dismissed her, essentially just telling her to eat less and move more.

“I literally felt like everything was on fire inside of me at all times, from my fingertips all the way up to my cheeks, my toes,” Beasley says. Feeling out of control of her body, she turned to a concierge doctor and learned she also had lupus, which can cause weight fluctuation driven by inflammation. Eventually, she asked her doctor about starting a GLP-1 to help with her inflammation—and she’s (proudly) been on one ever since.

Despite the fact that 12 percent of Americans are taking GLP-1s, there’s still a massive stigma around them—and it increases when you’re taking one as a dietitian, says Beasley, now 29. “I’ve had people be like, ‘Why would I work with a dietitian or a personal trainer that isn’t in great shape herself?’” she adds. “My education, knowledge, and expertise has nothing to do with the size, shape, or look of my body.”

Besides, GLP-1s are way more than a weight-loss drug, and may have tons of other benefits. They’ve been linked to a lower risk of cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer’s, improved symptoms of addiction, lessened migraine severity, and even stroke prevention and treatment. “GLP-1s are helping us change our biology and how our brain is working—and then weight loss is a result of that change,” Beasley adds. “It’s helping us from the inside out to live healthier, more active, nutritious, nourished lives.”

Ahead, find out why three dietitians started taking GLP-1s—and how they’re working to end that stigma.

Their GLP-1 Origin Stories

At first, Beasley doubted whether taking a GLP-1 was the right move, and whether she should just “try harder” with exercise and her diet. “I was worried about what other people would say or how they would treat me,” she says. “Would people not want to work with me anymore?” But over time, she realized that she truly did need the extra help. “I was miserable and out of options,” she adds.

When Beasley first started the GLP-1, she experienced side effects like fatigue and nausea. “I absolutely had moments in my first three months that I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can keep doing this. I am so nauseous and I’m so miserable,’” she says. However, she still tried to eat and increased her hydration to offset some of the effects. By month four, her nausea and fatigue were pretty much gone.

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Since starting a GLP-1, Beasley’s joint pain, brain fog, and swelling are gone, and she’s sleeping better.

Beasley also realized she couldn’t eat (or drink) like she used to—even portion sizes that were right for her prior to taking the medication made her sick. For instance, she used to celebrate Tuesdays with a few tacos and a margarita; but after starting the GLP-1, she got sick four weeks in a row from the food-drink combo in the middle of the night. The drink, along with the volume and fat content of the food, didn’t work for her anymore. “I had to find my new balance,” she says.

But on the whole, starting a GLP-1 has been life-changing for Beasley, to say the least; her joint pain, brain fog, and swelling are gone, she’s sleeping better, and can move regularly without pain. “It’s given me a quality of life that I don’t think I’ve ever had,” she says. “I feel like superwoman most days.” She also lost weight due to her inflammation decreasing, but perhaps best of all, her PMOS symptoms (like extremely painful, irregular periods) are now under control. After starting a GLP-1, she started getting her period monthly. “I never experienced that in my life,” she adds. “That was earth-shattering.”

Similarly, Omaha-based dietitian Whitney Black, 32, consistently struggled to feel full no matter how much she ate, and always toed the line of being overweight and obese her whole life. With type 1 diabetes, Hashimoto’s, and PMOS, “my relationship with food and my body…it just never really felt simple,” she says.

After Black had her second child in March 2024, she gained a bunch of weight, experienced joint pain, and became insulin resistant. She knew what to eat, but her hunger cues still felt out of control. “I couldn’t recognize myself and I was so frustrated,” she says. “I was thinking, ‘I’m a dietitian. I should know how to do all this.’” Despite worrying that people would think she was a fraud, Black spoke with her medical team and endocrinologist, and started a GLP-1. “I had to get comfortable with realizing my health decisions are for me alone,” she adds.

At first, Black was one of the “hyper responders,” where she was super nauseous and didn’t have much of an appetite at all. So, instead of doing three meals, she had to first do a lot of snacking throughout the day to make sure she was eating enough. “Once my body got used to the medication, then I was able to really hone in and focus more on the compositions of the meal,” she says.

When she had adjusted to the medication, Black’s hunger and fullness finally cues felt normal. It was “a night and day difference,” she says. Her stomach no longer felt like a “bottomless pit,” and for the first time, she didn’t feel like she had to finish full plates of food.

Summer Kessel, 39, a dietitian based in Tampa, was also trapped in a lifelong cycle of losing and gaining weight. “I just always, my whole life, remember having a huge appetite and struggling to maintain a normal, healthy weight without having to be super diligent with my nutrition,” she says. Over the course of a marriage, divorce, and having babies, she lost 100 pounds through diet and exercise. But she struggled to maintain it. In fact, her struggles were part of why she became a dietitian. “I thought if I just was a dietitian, I would be able to manage my weight better, but that never worked out because it’s not a knowledge deficit,” she adds; it was her biology.

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Summer Kessel

Using a weight-loss medication has helped Kessel feel in control with her food.

Then, about four years ago, one of her colleagues started tweeting about how GLP-1s could help minimize food noise, and she realized that’s what she was struggling with. Hungry and miserable, she decided to take the shot.

Within a week, Kessel felt in control with her food, eating intuitively and feeling full. She didn’t really experience any negative side effects—just the occasional upset stomach when she tried to eat a little too much of something too rich. But on the whole, “it was just such a dream,” she says. “I can have that flexible diet and stay a healthy, normal weight without having to stress out about exactly how many calories I’m eating,” she adds. She’s been on a maintenance dose for a few years now and has zero intentions of stopping. “I’m in the best shape, best health, best place in my life I’ve ever been since starting these medicines,” she adds.

Flipping the GLP-1 Stigma on Its Head

The world of GLP-1s is basically the wild west; there’s a range of people using these medications—and both sides are giving weight-loss meds a bad rap. The stigma is “a double-edged sword,” says Black. “There’s this skinny epidemic, and there’s a lot of people that are abusing these medications.”

However, there’s also still a lot of misconceptions about those living in larger bodies. They’re “unfairly judged as if obesity is a character flaw, and it’s not. It’s biology, it’s a disease,” Kessel says. “There’s so many environmental, political, socioeconomic impacts that drive obesity in certain people versus others.” Because of that stigma, there’s this perception that everyone can easily lose weight if they just try harder.

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“We don’t tell people with high blood pressure, ‘Just don’t be so stressed—we provide them evidence-based care,” she says. “Obesity has just not yet fully been adopted by the general public as a disease in those same ways.”

To turn the stigma upside down and fight the misinformation on the internet, all three dietitians have taken to social media to be authorities in this space. “People are still so starved for accurate, reliable, practical, realistic guidance for using these medications in a healthy way,” Kessel adds.

Still, it was hard, even for Kessel, who’s shared the ins and outs of her health journey on social media for years. “I was and still am known for being extremely honest about the wins, failures, struggles,” she says. But the response was overwhelmingly positive. “My followers didn’t really care because I was always so open and honest about being a real human and struggling with my weight,” even as a dietitian, she adds.

Despite what some may think, GLP-1s are much more than just a so-called vanity drug: They’re changing lives. “The stigma makes me so sad because for so many people who benefit from being on a GLP-1, we have battled stigma, shame, guilt, and blame, a lot of our entire lives, especially around our body,” says Beasley.

Black is hoping to humanize GLP-1 use and help people realize that it isn’t some fad diet, they’re a medication. “I’m not trying to just fit this skinny narrative—I have a health condition,” she says. She wants to help others who are using this medication live their longest, best, healthiest lives, outside of weight loss.

“How we talk about it matters,” Beasley says. That’s why on social media and with clients, she uses language describing them as a way to improve health overall. “Yes, that can have weight loss included, but it’s also going to come with more nutritious meals, more balanced meals, an ability to move more frequently and regularly, better sleep, feeling more energized,” she adds.

A woman preparing fresh fruits and vegetables in a bright kitchen.

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For Black, a GLP-1 has helped her put together healthy, well-balanced meals.

Of course, the haters still lurk in the dietitians’ Instagram comments sometimes. “My favorite is, ‘You must not be a very good dietitian if you couldn’t lose the weight on your own,’” Kessel says. “Just because I have this profession, education, and training for being a registered dietitian doesn’t mean that I don’t have this insatiable appetite. My profession has nothing to do with my biology.”

If someone needs a little extra assistance to live their healthiest, longest life—and losing weight is part of it—that’s completely fine. “Why do we judge people for wanting to change their bodies? If they’re unhappy, uncomfortable, and unhealthy and they want to make a change, I support that,” Kessel says. “Healthy nutrition and weight management can be a very enjoyable, self-loving self-care activity with these medications. Just because some people abuse them doesn’t mean that the majority of people taking these medications aren’t doing so appropriately.”

A Message for the GLP-1-Curious

When people who need GLP-1s finally take them, it’s rewarding because they can eat less with appropriate hunger and fullness signals—and it actually results in weight loss. “Most people I know that start these medications have done every diet under the sun,” Kessel says. “It was never a knowledge problem. It was an application problem. They just couldn’t stick to it long enough for it to be effective.”

When you have chronic health issues and you feel like you’ve exhausted all of your options, it can feel nerve-wrecking to try yet another supposed solution. But if you’re doing everything “right” and you still can’t lose weight or you’re dealing with pain, inflammation, or other symptoms causing discomfort, chat with your doctor about trying weight-loss medication. “If you’re a candidate for it and you’re wanting to see if it could support you and your body, it’s worth it,” Beasley says.

Then, when you’re adjusting to the meds, go back to the basics with your health habits. “Get some protein in, get some fiber, drink some water, be consistent, get some movement,” says Black. “It doesn’t have to be overly complicated.” That way, your routine will be sustainable—and you can always build on it. Then, regularly check in with your doctor to talk about your dosage and how you’re doing, she adds.

Being on a GLP-1 hasn’t just improved the lives of all three dietitians; it’s also changed the way they work with clients. Black can empathize better with what clients are going through. “They kind of go, ‘Oh, you get it. I don’t have to sit here and explain all this to you. You know what food noise is like. You know what it’s like to be hungry all the time,’” she says. “They know I’m not just this picture perfect aesthetic dietitian online. I am a human and I struggle.”

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Beasley now knows how to help clients who want to lose weight (with or without GLP-1s) focus on their health and lifestyle habits outside of the scale. “The biggest thing that I hope people walk away from when working with me is that they’ve learned how to build flexibility and resilience into their routines that help them be as healthy as they can be,” she says.

These dietitians are never looking back. “I wish I would’ve started sooner,” Beasley says. “I wish I would have taken the leap and trusted myself.” She’s giving clients the support she wishes she had from her family and friends when she began: “That’s why I now am very determined to support other women when they start GLP-1s or when they’re on GLP-1s, because I know how life-changing it’s been for me.”

Meet the dietitians: Gianna Beasley, RD, CPT, is the host of the podcast Your GLP-1 Bestie based in Denver. Whitney Black, RD, is the owner of Whitney Black Nutrition based in Omaha. Summer Kessel, RD, dietitian with the weight-loss platform Vineyard, is based in Tampa.

Addison Aloian is the associate health & fitness editor at Women’s Health, where she writes and edits across the health, weight loss, and fitness verticals. She’s also a certified personal trainer through the National Academy of Sports Medicine (NASM). In her free time, you can find her lifting weights at the gym, running on the West Side Highway in New York City—she recently completed her first marathon, the 2025 New York City Marathon—and watching (and critiquing!) the latest movies that have garnered Oscars buzz. In addition to Women’s Health, she’s made an appearance on the Oprah Podcast and her work has also appeared in Allure, StyleCaster, L’Officiel USA, V Magazine, VMAN, and more.