We believe that these medications are a remarkable opportunity. But an opportunity is only as good as what you do with it. This book helps you make the most of yours.
What’s Inside?
The book is divided into two parts, each serving a distinct purpose.
It covers how these drugs actually work in your body, who they are (and aren’t) suitable for, how to manage side effects, and the truth about topics like dosing, microdosing and muscle loss.
It also tackles the deeper question of why so many people struggle with their weight in the first place, exploring the psychological, social and biological factors that conventional dieting has always ignored. Think of this as the foundation. Once you understand what’s really going on, the changes you make will be built on solid ground rather than wishful thinking.
Crucially, Part One also sets out a three phase approach for using these medications that is designed to work hand in hand with the psychological programme.
In Phase One (the Treatment Phase), you lose weight steadily while beginning the psychological work.
In Phase Two (the Maintenance Phase), you reduce to a lower dose that holds your weight stable, giving you time to reconnect with your natural hunger signals and really embed the skills from the programme while still having the medication as a safety net. Research suggests that the body’s “set point” (the weight it naturally defends) needs months, not weeks, to adjust downward. By staying on a maintenance dose during this period, you give both your brain and body the time they need to recalibrate to your new, lower weight.
Finally, in Phase Three (the Independence Phase), when you feel genuinely ready, you stop the medication altogether and maintain your progress using the psychological tools you’ve practised. This measured, phased approach is what sets this book apart. It dramatically reduces the risk of rebound weight gain that so many people experience when they simply stop the medication cold and hope for the best.
This is the heart of the book: 12 structured sessions that walk you through a psychological programme developed from real clinical experience with hundreds of patients.
These aren’t chapters you simply read and move on from. They’re sessions, designed to be worked through over weeks and months, much like a course of therapy. Each one introduces practical tools and exercises that you’ll come back to again and again.
Across the 12 sessions, you’ll learn how to monitor your eating patterns and understand what’s really driving them, how to recognise and respond to genuine hunger rather than emotional cravings, how to tackle the difficult feelings that so often lead to comfort eating, and how to build a healthier relationship with your body image.
The later sessions focus on creating sustainable daily and weekly routines, developing an approach to food based on abundance rather than restriction, and building a personalised relapse prevention plan so that when you eventually reduce or stop your medication, you have a clear, practical toolkit to keep you on track.
The programme draws on well-established approaches including cognitive behavioural therapy, compassion focused therapy and motivational techniques, but it’s written in plain, jargon-free language. You don’t need any background in psychology.
You just need to be willing to do the work.
Downloadable Resources
Throughout the programme in Part Two of the book, you’ll come across exercises and worksheets designed to help you put what you’re learning into practice. Writing things down is an essential part of the process. It helps you spot patterns, track your progress, process your thoughts and hold yourself accountable. We really do encourage you to do it, even if it feels a bit unfamiliar at first.
Why We Wrote This Book
Between us, we have over 30 years of clinical experience working with people who struggle with their weight. Max has spent more than a decade in specialist NHS eating disorder services, treating patients at every end of the spectrum. Courtney has spent her career helping hundreds of people untangle their complicated relationships with food and their bodies. We’ve both seen, close up, just how much pain and shame people carry around their weight, and how little meaningful support is available to them.
When GLP-1 medications arrived, we were genuinely excited. For the first time, there was something that could offer real, tangible help to people who had tried everything and felt they’d failed. But we also saw, very quickly, that something was going wrong. People were being prescribed these drugs, often through online pharmacies, without the offer of any psychological support whatsoever. They were losing weight, feeling fantastic, and then stopping the medication only to watch the numbers on the scale climb steadily back up.
We kept seeing the same pattern in our clinics. Patients who were confused and demoralised because nobody had explained to them that the medication was only ever part of the answer. Nobody had helped them understand why they overate in the first place. Nobody had given them the tools to cope once the appetite suppressing effects of the drug wore off.
We knew this had to change. So we developed a psychological programme, grounded in evidence based techniques, specifically designed to run alongside these medications. The idea was simple: use the window of reduced appetite that these drugs provide to do the deeper work. To understand the emotional and behavioural patterns driving your eating. To build new habits and new ways of thinking. To make changes that would stick, long after the last injection.
This book is that programme. It’s the guide we wish every patient had been given the day they started their prescription. We wrote it because we’ve seen what happens when people get the right support, and it’s genuinely transformative. Not just for their weight, but for their confidence, their relationship with food, and their overall sense of wellbeing.