To think that people pretend not to understand obesity

But from a moral stance, and not a judgemental one, how do you feel about the fact that you can afford to pay for treatment and improve your health as a result, whereas another person who has the exact same problem as you has no option but to suffer the chronic ill-effects of obesity because they don’t have the spare income to afford MJ?

I know the fact it’s available to buy is something people can benefit from if they can afford it, we know private healthcare benefits people in lots of way and is used my many people (myself included), but do you think MJ should be more widely available so those who would be considered ‘poorer” can have the same access to health treatment as others?

Kind of like how people on certain benefits don’t have to pay for dental treatments and prescriptions for example.

Lifestyle, choice and willpower are all critical.
its never easy to master all of them but ultimately they all end up being key to healthy eating and size.
when people like yourself say they’ve tried every diet under the sun (as have I, I hasten to add) I would guess they didn’t try them very well.
My observation of myself and those who manage weight well or those who don’t is it comes down to mastery of those things.

Every diet I’ve done under the sun I’ve failed to stick to rigorously, I’ve cheated, grabbed snacks. I’ve made bad choices

Then when not dieting my portion sizes are too high and my snacking is out of control. I constantly treat myself when I should never treat myself. I’m not ‘eat a packet of biscuits in one go out of control’, but maybe six Jaffa cakes. And let’s face it you only need to eat 2 or 3 to tip your entire days calories out of whack

Sometimes people do express all these notions cruelly. But us fatties do need to be realistic about what got us there in the first place.

good luck on Mounjaro. I’ve had to come off it due to horrible side effects even at the low dose, and Ozempic made me sick as a dog. But you WILL still need to master your diet when on it

In a way I am agreeing about non-physical contributors, but just wanted to put a slightly different spin on that based on what I see in the lives of my friends who have serious weight struggles.

I think there is an aspect of personality involved and it actually makes me feel very defensive of them, because they often tend to be people who take on the burden of the troubles and strain of those round them and seek to address that as a priority. They tend to be very outward-looking and very giving, so yes, I do think emotional factors and stress can play a part. My friends are the type who tend to help others before attending to themselves. I know plenty would criticise that and say “ put on your own oxygen mask first” but if you have people close to you with needs, that can - for some personality types - be a very hard thing to do. Certainly some people are very good at it. The very slimmest, fittest people I know either tend to be at a stage of their life where they can focus on themselves a lot or they just continue to do so regardless. Also a lot of them also tend to be very judgmental of others so are terrified of being criticised in the same way if they gain weight and that shunts it way up the list of priorities.

I know this will draw out some furious responses - from the self invested particularly - but it is something I have noticed in many cases and I get tired of the negative personality and life-style choice judgments ( lazy, greedy etc) only being allowed to be made in one direction. Both my very overweight friends are the loveliest, most fabulous examples of human emotional strength and kindness. The person I know who in her forties takes most assiduous care of her weight and appearance generally is a very judgmental person who always puts her needs first. If it’s gym time, it’s gym time: the kids have even been left to sit in the car while she goes because there isn’t always time to drop them home!

I was clinically obese for many years. Then I lost 35kg and have remained a healthy weight ever since. I did it without drugs or any other form of external intervention. Just diet and exercise.

I began to lose weight when I stopped blaming anything & everyone but myself for my obesity and accepted that I, and I alone, am responsible for what I choose to put in my mouth. Not ‘society’. Not the government. Not the media. Not the junk food industry. Not the supermarkets. Me.

Losing a lot of weight is simple. Eat less, eat better, move more, and accept that it’s a marathon not a sprint. That’s it. The hard bit is stopping making excuses & just doing it.

It doesn't.

I am on month 5 on MJ and finding myself slipping back into bad habits now the novelty has worn off. This is where the challenge begins. I have to find a way to repair my relationship with food using MJ as a support mechanism.

Sorry, I was genuinely being flippant as opposed to factual.

It’s such an interesting topic to delve into though, as many on here have said it’s such a multi-layered issue and not just as black and white as people being greedy (which is a common assumption).

I got served all these ads too when I was researching Mounjaro. One thing I’ve realised since starting Mounjaro is how misinformed some of these comments are. You still need to be active and in a calorie deficit to be losing weight on Mounjaro, so it’s not a magic bullet for weight loss. What it does is give people who have metabolic challenges (due to obesity, hormones etc) a boost to lose weight in a normal way and it dramatically improves insulin resistance.

@NorthernGirl1981 Mounjaro works partly by suppressing appetite but mostly by regulating blood sugar levels by increasing insulin production and by reducing the amount of glucose produced by the liver.

I’m using it alongside a lower carb diet so that when I hit my goal weight I should be able to manage my insulin resistance by diet. I may need to stay on a maintenance dose for longer or I may need to stay on it for life.

It’s expensive and I can’t really afford it but on the other hand I can’t really afford not to take it. The benefits I’ve had through MJs anti inflammatory properties have been significant

When you start on MJ you’ll understand their perspective a little more. It was a revelation to me; it’s like the brain of a skinny person was suddenly activated and I could easily eat a lot less. Transformed my life

That's simply not true. It's well known what happens to traditional populations when a US style diet is introduced, the Pacific Islands being a prime example.

So it seems as though that over-processed, high sugar foods so common in the US and UK are disastrous to populations.

I think Greece is the 'largest' country in Europe btw.

Walking is cardiovascular exercise

Over eating to the point of obesity is an emotional issue. Sticking a needle into your arm won’t fix this (unless it’s a lifelong plan of course).
Diets don’t work, you’re usually just replacing one disordered set of eating habits with another.
The cold hard fact is that eating too much, whilst not exercising, causes weight gain. There is no magic diet, injection, or surgical intervention on the planet that will change this.
Eat less, move more. Costs nothing in monthly subscriptions and it’s the only healthy option.

I really hope it works for you 🤞

Food addiction seems to be an illness that’s only inflicted upon the British and Americans I think.

It’s a very interesting point though as to why obesity is so rife over here and so rare elsewhere.

I imagine every country in the world (apart from third world obviously) has processed food, sweets and crisps and take-out options, so why isn’t obesity a world-wide issue as opposed to being so localised to certain countries?

Maybe I can't stop, or maybe after a couple of years I can - only time and testing will show, sadly.

So what happens in this scenario when you stop taking the MJ?

Surely you will just go back to the eating behaviour of having the energy-dense foods whilst cooking if it’s a true addiction?

Or does the addictive side of eating stop once the MJ has done its job of making someone lose huge amounts of weight?

Obvious your friend massively over ate but you are making it sound very simplistic to say she's reduced portion size and is losing weight. Sure she's needed to change her mindset and psychology around food too? Recommending reducing portion size only to lose weight is a bit like telling an anorexic person to, "Just eat more and you'll gain weight".

I live in Spain and was chatting to some Spanish friends on Friday who’d never heard of weight loss drugs. They looked totally confused about the idea!

I don’t see that many really over weight people here apart from tourists, so maybe it’s to do with Britain having much more processed food available? There’s very little here in supermarkets, and most people cook proper meals having bought veggies etc from the local markets.

I have learnt a lot from.somethingnquite ridiculous. I got two rescue cats a couple of years ago. They are different builds. They eat exactly the same amounts - in fact one scoffs more than the other and nicks the other's food given half a chance.

One is a skinny Minnie, the other is very round. One is 4.5kilos, the other is 5.05 kilos.

I have concluded that one is an ectomorph and the other an endomorph. One eats what she likes and stays slim, the other piles on the pounds.

Yeah people would be kidding themselves if they didn't see the link between more people being obese these days and the way our diet and lifestyles have changed. Interesting point about the big pharma companies!

you wouldn’t tell an asthmatic to just simply breathe in and out and then you wouldn’t be asthmatic.

You must have missed the recent disability benefit threads 😂

@Middleagedstriker i fully agree with this, and the conspiracy theorist in me can’t help but think there’s a link between the food industry spending years pushing processed, sugary, shite food onto us, and the pharmaceutical companies coming along with the magic cure all fix with injections. Some very rich people are laughing all the way to the bank.

For me it allows me to just have the nourishing food because while I get hungry it has stopped my brain focusing on the energy-dense processed foods to the extent that I have mindless eaten the junk while I am making the family meal and now I am so full of rubbish I either can't eat the good stuff or I have to force it in to eat with the family.