If you are on weight loss injections, what do you make of this article?

I think for some people there is definitely a relationship with food that could be helped by counselling - I know Noom has kind of tried this line. Unpicking the ideas like “clear your plate” or worse for those who grew up with very restricted food, rules around food or associations from parents etc.

However, for I would imagine the vast majority of us (me included) I slowly put on weight by small levels of overeating over 15 years, this accelerated during menopause when I just couldn’t shift the pounds by doing all the things that previously worked (increasing exercise, cutting portions and knocking biscuits on the head) without being utterly miserably hungry all the time.

WLI have taken me back to feeling how I felt about food during my childhood, teens and 20s. I just eat when I’m hungry, stop and then don’t even think about food for a few hours until I’m hungry again. I can make sensible choices because I never get that wild, dizzy hungry feeling of just needing sugary, carby food. I feel in control and this enables me to choose healthy and filling food.

I do have an ice cream or a biscuit, but I’ll just have one and then I don’t need willpower to stop - I just don’t want any more. I’m done. Most importantly it doesn’t send me sliding down the “well I’ve had one so fuck this diet” because I know I can just have one and then not actually want any more.

So the idea that I have to stay on a medication that allows me this level of calm control over my eating forever more? Good. I’m so happy that I get to stay on this medicine.

What type of counselling or therapy do you feel fat people need then? Do tell.

and most folks don’t drink much in the drugs, which is why it’s being reviewed for alcohol abuse treatment,

and long term effects have been taken into association, they are all positive so far.

@Spookyspaghetti I don't need counselling or therapy. I think most people don't, if they don't have any trauma around food. I think most people just have a fairly natural tendency to overeat and in a developed country that means you can easily eat too many calories and not do enough physical activity - that results in gradual weight gain. Add in people leading busy, stressful lives and possibly not getting enough sleep, none of which helps with consistently making a choice to eat less. How would counselling and therapy help with that?

And as @Binus has said, what evidence is there that counselling and therapy helps with maintaining weight loss?

I don't know what the comment about drinking relates to? Do you mean alcohol?

There are no long term effects of this medication that need to be taken into consideration. Compare that to the multitude of known risks of remaining obese, which is what really does need to be taken into consideration!

What counselling and therapy would improve the odds of people changing things long term, is there any evidence of this and how do you think the long term effects of the jabs should be weighed up against the long term effects of obesity? Also I'm assuming when you say most people aren't going to change anything long term you don't mean those of us who will be remaining on WLIs, but useful to have clarification.

Agree. Without out counselling or therapy alongside these injections most people aren’t going to change anything long term. There are also people who get a lot of calories from drinking.

As an aside, long term effects of the jabs need to be taken into consideration.

I agree with you. In the past I have tried the Atkins diet and the Michael Mosley Fast 800 diet and was open about it. And not one single person was remotely bothered.

So why is people's attitude to WLI so very different? I have encounted such a lot of derision and scaremongering both on here and IRL. Without fail, 90% of it is simply factually incorrect and just 30 seconds on Google can prove it.

Yet, people seem to actively want nasty side effects to be discovered. They actively want to believe that we're buying them on the Black Market from a dodgy bloke in the alleyway behind Morrisons.

Obviously, it is envy. Of course it is. It is classic envious behaviour. And that's a shame and I'm sorry that so many people want to take WLI but cannot. But there's absolutely nothing I can do about that.

This latest article mentioned in the OP is meaningless to me because I don't intend to come off WLI for a very, very long time (and neither do the other people I know IRL who are on them). I'd much rather take Mounjaro long term than statins, or blood pressure meds, which is the path I was starting down.

My BMI is 22. I am free of all my aches and pains. My cholesterol is now normal. I am enjoying my Pilates classes and eating more healthily. I am monitored by the pharmacy I buy MJ from, and my GP is very pleased with me. I can easily afford to stay on WLI for the rest of my life if I choose and will still leave plenty for our DDs to inherit (yes I have been accused of selfishly spending their inheritance FFS).

Has it occurred to you that you may have made a bit of an assumption dressed up as a statement of fact?

I think the envy of these medications is off the scale. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything like it to be honest. This feels like people just want to find something they can cling onto as a pretend issue. You don’t see anyone spaming the slimming world threads going on about how folks will regain. But I guess that’s as no one is jealous of people on slimming world or low carbing.

i don’t know why but the envy has really taken me by surprise, the scale of it.

It's evidence that the treatment of the symptoms of obesity stop when the medication stops. No more no less. It evidences nothing at all about people's behaviour while they are on the medication.

If you are on weight loss injections, what do you make of this article?

What do I think? Doesn't influence my decision to take or continue to take WLI. I've been on it for over 18 months now, maintaining for nearly a year. I plan to stay on for at least 3 years whilst I am maintaining this lifestyle. I'm not eating in deficit anymore, I work out and lift heavy weights 5 to 6 days a week. I eat 2200 to 2500 calories a day. I'm hoping this means that I won't 'suddenly' be hungry when I come off due to being used to eating so little. I'm on 5mg and may titrate lower but we'll see.

What do you think it’s evidence of then?

Oh - another massive positive! I also gave up smoking within a couple of weeks of taking MJ. Haven’t touched one for a year now and the thought knocks me sick many, many people are reporting the same 😁

I actually wonder if the cigarette companies have anything to do with the scaremongering stories in the press…

They alone are not going to make you lose weight and keep it off.

Why do certain posters keep on making statements like this? 😂

Some people will take a maintenance dose and keep it off. Some people will keep it off without a maintenance dose.

I’m 4 stone lighter and over one year in and it’s staying off effortlessly.

Even the article posted states:

Wegovy can be prescribed on the NHS for up to two years, while there is no prescription time limit for Mounjaro.

So - even if you’re taking it via the NHS (which the vast majority aren’t - they’re getting it privately) there is NO limit on how long you can take it.

Myself and other posters who are pointing out their individual experiences or research, are not jealous

What individual experience and research? I thought you didn’t take WLI’s?

If you mean the fact that people are likely to regain the weight if they come off it and don’t stick to a calorie restricted diet? Well, yes everyone knows that. It’s common sense. It’s the same whatever diet method you use.

So we are all in agreement:

If you come off the jabs and overeat - you will gain the weight. How quickly you gain the weight depends on how much you overeat and how much exercise you do. The same will happen if you lose weight by another method and then stop doing it and start overeating again.

Yes? We all agree?

I don’t understand why certain posters struggle to hear a balanced opinion.

Nobody struggles to hear a balanced opinion. But we do struggle to let opinions posted as “fact” go unchallenged. ie. “you can’t take them for life”. “You’ll gain weight 4 x faster if you come off”. That’s just a personal opinion, and it’s incorrect. And if someone doesn’t have any experience of WLI’s why should we listen to them? Unless they are a qualified medical professional who specialises in WLI’s?

And honestly? Some posts do come across as sounding like jealousy dressed up as concern. It sounds like some posters can’t/won’t take them for some reason and are a little pissed off or whatever and are trying to put a negative spin on something that is having a life changing effect for many many people.

I have a friend who is morbidly obese and has several health conditions who won’t take WLI’s because she doesn’t want to give up her food addiction, just like an alcoholic or drug addict. She has a real problem with the fact I’m taking Mounjaro and makes snide remarks about scare stories - despite the fact she is losing her eyesight (amongst other things) from being obese. So maybe there’s something like that going on with posters who always pop up on WLI threads and seem to want to put across negative opinions as fact. Or they have a history of ED and the fact there is now a jab people can take in order to be thin throws up a lot of tricky feelings for them. Or they’ve always battled to stay thin and feel they are now losing their “thin privilege” as there will be no way to distinguish who is thin from exercise and a calorie controlled diet alone or from using WLI’s. Or they maybe can’t afford them and don’t fulfil nhs criteria.

I can understand why it must be really maddening for some people.

I think people just don’t get why some posters who have no skin in the game are so bothered? And also have to make stuff up to try and prove their point? People who deal with facts don’t have to make things up.

Even if the link posted were absolutely true and had been proven beyond doubt (which it hasn’t if you read it properly and are capable of understanding what it means - it’s basically just a catchy headline designed for clicks) I’d still carry on taking my maintenance dose. I think everyone on here would.

If at some point in the future I had to come off it bc I developed a side effect or lost all my money well meh…il deal with that at the time.

Let me ask: Those of us on this thread who are taking WLI’s - would you stop now the OP has posted that Guardian article?

ie. Has it made a blind bit of difference to anyone?…

Because from what I can see the OP’s question was If you are on weight loss injections, what do you make of this article?
and everybody who is on them has responded “We don’t really care” and given the reasons why. Mainly that their lives and health have improved tenfold.

I don’t think it’s an actual appetite suppressant, it is more about giving your hand and mouth something to do other than eat. When I went on mounjaro, it took a couple of months for the desire to smoke to disappear - I have only ever social smoked and then in my 20s (now 50s) but I put it down to just needing the hand to mouth thing to be there. Seriously contemplated it multiple times!

As an ex smoker I’d say it’s limited at best in terms of appetite suppresant and not the reasons teens vape, and plenty of fat smokers and vapers.

having done them all, smoking, and vapong is probably about one millionth of the effect of the drugs. They don’t talk about it because it’s over hyped in the media and very insignificant in reality for most people unless you’re on 60 a day.

Interesting point. You could well be right.

I think there is a real reluctance to talk about the fact that nicotine is an appetite suppressant because of a fear that it will actually encourage its use. People hardly ever mention it as a reason that teenagers vape, either.

Yeah that makes sense. Another thing that kept some of us thinner that I'd still rather not go back to on balance!

Just because you dont gain weight, doesn't mean it is healthy for you.
Look up Fat Inside Skinny Outside. Fat build up on your organs isnt noticeable but it is really bad.

They focused more on how active people were - women did about 40 hours of manual labour with housework before washing machines and hoovers were ubiquitous.

Exactly this.

Basically, even in the UK as one of the first societies to broadly eliminate the risk of mass starvation, everyone having enough to eat is still a very new thing. The last few decades are actually the only time in our history when we didn't have a food insecure population and the numbers of us consuming nicotine were low.

Obviously the food industry and obesogenic society both play a role, but the truth is we don't actually have any evidence that it's possible to have a society that combines sufficient food with low smoking rates and doesn't pile on the weight. There are no examples of this. Even Japan's obesity rate is increasing.

And now you are causing issues for Greggs - shame on you! that would be Greggs with their high fat/salt content but now you are looking to eat less or eat more protein and fibre. Strange greggs and others can do that now

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20g11y4dywo

Years ago Sue Perkins did a food history progamm about the 1920s and it was said that the reason the women were so slim was mainly because their diet was of black coffee, water and appetite suppressant.

Hardly a healthy diet either. So controlling weight is not new and while I am sure the easily availability of sweets, convenience food and lack of manual work has plenty to do with obesity, there is so much more to it.

Wow, that's quite an omission if they're talking about the rise in obesity rates. Half the adult population were on an appetite suppressant drug during the period! If they made enough time to blame women and talk about clothes sizes, there was room for a few sentences on that.

No mention of cigarettes.

The programme's probably available on catch up. The clothing was the biggest eye opener for me, because of how high street vanity sizing has normalised obesity. I'm a 16 now but would have been a 20 in the Seventies.