Adding the clinical framing, because it changes how the question reads.
One year anniversary on mental health — reflections:
What I wish I'd known: the side effects are temporary, the benefits compound over time, protein is more important than I thought, and the mental health aspect needs as much attention as the physical.
What surprised me: how much my relationship with food changed, the cascade of health improvements beyond weight, and how supportive this community is.
What I'd do differently: start therapy earlier, prioritize resistance training from day 1, and stop comparing my progress to others. Everyone's journey is unique.
Adding the clinical framing, because it changes how the question reads.
Therapy insights from my mental health journey: my therapist introduced me to the concept of "identity updating" — the psychological work of becoming a new version of yourself.
Key realizations: I used food to manage emotions, I had internalized fatphobia that I'm still unpacking, my social identity was partly built around being "the big guy/girl," and learning to accept compliments is surprisingly hard when you've been invisible for years.
Physical transformation without emotional processing is unstable. Do both.
Dr.GutHealth said:Therapy insights from my mental health journey: my therapist introduced me to the concept of "identity updating" — the psychological work of becoming…
Adding a me-too, because a thread of one person's experience is not much use.
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Browse GL BiochemDr.GutHealth said:Therapy insights from my mental health journey: my therapist introduced me to the concept of "identity updating" — the psychological work of becoming…
Coming at Dr.GutHealth’s question from a different direction. The honest answer is that the effect is real, the magnitude is contested, and the individual variation is larger than either. Those three things can all be true at once, and most arguments here are two people holding different parts of that.
I would rather be corrected than agreed with, if it comes to it.