Why does everyone say they love being fat until they get their hands on skinny jabs?

Yes, you could stay on til your BMI is 25 and some places will prescribe a maintenance dose at that point too.

So if I got my BMI up 1 or 2 points, qualify properly, wouldn't I stay on them till I'm back at BMI 25 anyway? I know what you're saying though and get how that works.

I think my family member plans to be on them for life.

Though I know I could get them anyway

Yes, but the risk vs reward calculation is very different if you’re not actually obese, whether you can get hold of them or not.

You’d know why if you tried them!

It probably wouldn't take too much for me to cross over to a BMI of 30 and qualify. Though I know I could get them anyway. Yes, that's what any normal person will do - evaluate the risks for themselves and decide whether it's right for them.

There are other factors though, such as where the weight is distributed. You can be skinny and have unhealthy fat around your organs, or heavier and have the fat in less risky places. I think I fall into the latter category. Yes, I'd like to lose a bit. My body doesn't want to co-operate easily, so I try to accept myself as I am. I know I am fit and my medical tests are all good, so I'm listening to that. Like I said, if I suddenly became pre-diabetic and had high blood pressure, I might consider it worth a short course to get on top of thing. The benefits may outweigh my concerns then.

It's actually a WLI user I know who told me all about the possible risks and made it sound scary. At least they're informed though and have made the decision it's worth it for them. The only side effect I'm aware they've had, other than weight loss, is extreme nausea, though maybe that has stopped now, I haven't asked.

I don't see how having a particular approach to how we engage with medicine makes us special or not special.

I do know people who take anything the doctor wants to give them. Even requests particular medications which the doctor tends to give them. They are very intelligent and I think their value of it comes from their own scientific background, but you'd think that would also make them aware of some of the terrible things that have happened in the name of medicine. It's enough to make me wary.

When I was pregnant I'd learned about some of these things like thalidomide and DES during my university studies. I puked for months rather than take anything as a result. It just wasn't worth the risk. Not because I'm special but because I thought it was best for my baby. I know other people who took medication (without problem as a result) and didn't particularly care what their decision is. If it goes wrong or right for them, it has no impact on my own life.

Medicine most definitely has it's place but it's not perfect either, so I think questioning things is a very reasonable thing to do.

Like most people, then.
I took WLI. I researched carefully and weighed up the risks of the medication vs the risks of remaining obese.
If, like you, I wasn’t obese and wouldn’t actually be eligible for the medication under the current prescribing rules, I imagine my conclusion would have been different. I don’t think there’s any glory in deciding against taking a medication that you aren’t eligible for anyway.

Oh dear, you're really not a special as you clearly think you are. I don't know anyone who gleefully necks medication without giving it a second's thought. Neither do they just blindly accept prescriptions from their GP, either.

That I lost the weight with a healthy balanced diet, while increasing my exercise even more? That while losing fat, I have significantly increased my muscle mass percentage? I look and feel incredible. Why shouldn't I be proud? You think this all happened magically while I was sitting on the sofa and stuffing my face?

Just because WLI helped me with constant food obsession, so losing weight was now as hard (or as easy) as for normal people, I should feel what, ashamed? Don't worry, I have been fighting my weight every single hour of every day since I was about 13, (generally more or less successfully, so most of my life I was not categorised as that lazy stupid fattie who should just try to eat less), so I think I have suffered sufficiently.

WLI don't cause fat to magically melt off your body. You still have to make significant effort, the WLI just make it possible. It's fine to be proud of losing weight with the help of WLI.

This is insanely naive. If you think people who have turned to WLI dont know the formula for weight loss, you’re completely missing the point. As I’ve already said I lost 7 stone “naturally” years ago (and regained it all). Theres nothing I don’t know about weight loss. What I couldn’t do was find a way to stick to it without becoming obsessive, until now.

As an aside, I’ve had no negative side effects whatsoever. But plenty of medications that help people give nasty side effects - chemotherapy being the first that comes to mind. Not sure anyone would be going up to a cancer patient and saying “it’s making your hair fall out that can’t be good for you”

I wonder this too. I am half tempted but then read about constipation, diarrhoea, nausea, exhaustion, headaches and think I just need to eat less, cut out sugar and processed foods and get back to lots of training. Injections with side effects like that can't be good for you.

You don’t understand how weight loss injections work. You have to dramatically cut down calories to lose weight on them. They just help regulate feelings of hunger and slow gastric emptying, so the person feels less hungry and fuller and therefore eats less. You won’t lose weight on them if you stick to your usual intake. There is also a small population of people for whom they don’t work.

By the time someone comes off the medication, months later, their eating habits have been changed.

Great points.

Perhaps they were experiencing health problems and finally decided it was time to do something about it. They can get the jabs and maybe they think they don't have to change the lifestyle which caused them to be obese, which of course is not true. They will eventually gain it back if they don't.
I agree with PP that it was a defence mechanism for the very obese ones. How can anyone truly feel positive about a body that is unhealthy and will send them to an early grave? You could if you're just overweight, but not if you're morbidly obese.

I agree. I have a friend who eats the worst diet hates all fruit and most veg, basically lives on burgers and chocolate and does no exercise beyond mucking out a pony and she looks incredible at 49.

I may be influenced by the fact the family member I have on the jabs does pop anything and everything. We have a very different approach to things and I just don't have their trust in medical science.

Meanwhile the rest of us are popping all kinds of things, willy nilly.
You aren’t special. Most people only take medication when they absolutely have to…

I consider everything on its merits and would research anything my doctor wanted me to take on an ongoing basis. Sometimes they can be pretty free with prescribing. I often find a more natural approach.

I have a chronic condition and told the specialist I didn't want any of 'those meds' if I could get away with it. Fortunately I am coping without medication, though if I were like a family member with the same condition, I know I wouldn't have a choice.

That said, I'm not a total idiot either. I had blood transfusions that saved my life. I took paracetamol this morning because I'm sick and my temperature was shocking.

My approach is closer to the least amount of medication for the shortest amount of time. I'm one of those annoying patients that asks questions.

Yeah I’m really short and my BMR was 1343 and has dropped to 1213 as I have lost 2 stone. I have a sedentary office job for about 45 hours a week.

I do a lot of exercise but that only goes to 1750 really if I include exercise cals.

1200 cals = 300 breakfast, 400 lunch, 500 dinnner. No snacks, no cals due to drinks such as tea and coffee.

It’s bloody hard work to maintain that unless I am also working my ass off in the gym.

I think this is very telling

We are told the "average woman " needs 2000 calories a day

If I ate 2000 calories a day Id be obese again within a year

My BMR is less then 1200 calories

That's bloody tough

Really tough so I have to put the exercise in so I can at least get to 1500 and still be in deficit or break even

For coming up for three years now Im watching every bite. I had cake yesterday so to balance it today Ive eaten fruit, vegetables, lean protein. There is desert sat there crying for me, I cant take it today because I took cake yesterday

If I want to have a mid week meal out, I need to know at the start of the week so I can meal plan around it

I didn't know about BMR until after I lost the weight I needed to and thought as long as I kept to 2000 cals a day Id be grand - and on went the weight

I wouldn't say life around food is miserable, Im learning how to make better choices and getting more bang for my cals, but it does take a lot of effort and time

My BMI is good, but body fat - Im still officially over weight. I think personally, as a run of the mill educated person ( secondary education ) I believed the NHS mantra - 2000 cals, 5 portions of fruit and veg, low fat diet and for me that was totally wrong

So now, in my 60's Im having to concentrate more and more on meals when I thought Id be putting my feet up and eating chocolate and drinking good wines ( wine is a rare treat now and chocolate, has to be totally worth it , so I now do understand how all these celebs say its an occasional glass and the odd cube )

@Allseeingallknowing I privately funded them and yes I am prepared to fund them for as long as it may be necessary.
@BlankBlankBlank14 thank you!

Haven't rtft yet but I can't see how the two things are mutually exclusive. People can love themselves and still want to be a better version. I'm paying for DD to have her teeth straightened. They are crooked but still she has a beautiful smile. So why am I fixing it? Because I can. If braces were not available I would hope she would love and accept her crooked teeth but I have the option of dealing with this. Acknowledging that her teeth weren't straight didn't require her to hate herself or even hate her smile. It's just an acceptance of fact. Same with fat people, why not take the opportunity to improve yourself when you can..same with anything really, hair colouring, fake tan, education, etc.

Yeah absolutely, when I first thought about WLI, I read lots of other people’s experiences where they were saying they just eat less now and I kept thinking “but I don’t eat becuase I’m hungry, I eat because I want to” so it won’t work. It wasn’t until I started and the food noise disappeared, that my first thought was “oh wow so this is how normal people live!”

before WLI I did appreciate that not everyone wanted to eat like me, but did also think think people were being deliberately smug about not eating junk all the time and really did want to. I realise now, that isn’t the case. So yes, I suppose it does work both ways!

I can't imagine anyone loving being fat (I certainly didn't!),but I think they say they do as a self-defence mechanism,which I can totally understand. I never pretended that I loved being fat,I just acted as if I wasn't bothered. Now I'm 7 stone lighter,I sometimes look back and think how on earth did I let myself stay like that for so long?!