Staci Rice had been a daily coffee drinker since the seventh grade. A marketing professional and mom in Georgia, she likes the taste, the routine, and how it makes her feel: awake.
But about six months ago, she walked into the kitchen to make a pot — and poured it out. "All of a sudden," she said, "I had no desire for it."
Rice, 40, had recently gone on the popular weight-loss drug semaglutide, which has since helped her lose nearly 50 pounds. She's now wearing pants she shelved 16 years ago, and seeing results she could never sustain on diets like Weight Watchers and Optavia.
But Rice still isn't able to stomach her morning coffee. "Every morning, I would try to make coffee, thinking that one day it would just taste good to me again." No such luck. "I miss having energy," she said.
Rice has lost her taste for other food and drinks she once loved, and acquired a few new ones. Long a fan of Chick-fil-A's "Number 1" — a 440-calorie fried-chicken sandwich served on a white buttered bun — she now describes the chain's kale salad as "delicious."
Ground beef is off the dinner rotation ("my husband and son are kind of upset," she said), and chocolate's lost its appeal, too.
When Rice tried a Kit-Kat, which she believes is the superior chocolate bar, for Halloween, she winced. "I can't even describe what kind of flavor it had," she said. "I just didn't want it."
Others on the drug have reported similar experiences. They anticipated that semaglutide would decrease their appetite, but in some cases, it seems to have hijacked their taste buds, turning french-fry fiends into kale enthusiasts and coffee snobs into smoothie kings.
And while many people say the trade-off is worth it, the unexpected hit to their identity and social lives can be tough to swallow.
"Food is so much more than just fuel. Culturally, we have rituals around food that bring us joy and fond memories," Rachel Goldman, a New York City psychologist who specializes in weight management, said. "What do you do to fill the void?"
Semaglutide is making people miss their favorite foods
Semaglutide, sold under the brand names Wegovy and Ozempic, is an injectable drug that boosts the production of insulin, a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar. While semaglutide was originally developed to help manage diabetes, Wegovy was approved as a weight-loss drug in June 2021.
Some obesity-medicine experts have called the drug a "game changer." Research has found it can lead to a 15% to 20% reduction in body weight over 68 weeks when paired with a reduced-calorie diet and regular exercise.
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