to feel uneasy about what this means long term rather than surprised by the weight regain itself?

Some people are consumed by envy and resentment over these injections. Threads like this pop up most days from them. They think they are hiding behind faux concern, they aren’t.

op. I’m on the meds, my bmi is 20, I look and feel fabulous, I am staying on a low dose to maintain, but plenty will either stop and restart if they can’t maintain, or will maintain, it’s all personal.

im sure you’re the exception and aren’t just one of these consumed by envy and resentment though snd you do spend your days all worried for us. But you can stand down.

You’re not discussing anything though? In the past few pages of this thread you’ve done nothing but reply to people who’ve questioned your motives for this thread.

Well, there aren't actually any other less risky methods when a person is already obese. Because the thing about traditional weight loss techniques is that on a population level, they don't work. An obese person who loses weight through dieting is probably going to put it all back on again.

So the actual comparison is the risk of continued, lifelong obesity vs the risk of ongoing WLIs that allow the person to stay a normal BMI. We do need to be really clear about that.

I'm open to arguments and evidence that the risk of obesity is lower than the risk of long term WLI usage, but that does mean acknowledging that an obese person probably only has these two choices. That there isn't a version that involves obese people as a population losing the weight through diet and keeping it off.

A lot of people ‘being trapped on them for lifelong chronic conditions’

Does this refer to people who met the medial threshold and prescribed accordingly to manage chronic obesity/diabetes with all other risk factors taken into account OR

Does or refer to people who are privately prescribed them for being overweight or obese

The WLI were meant to be used as a last resort to reduce serious health risks associated with weight and on the short term may alleviate serious risks.

So like any other weight loss intervention that works - it has to be maintained and I genuinely would like to know if not is worth it compared to other less risky methods

I grew up in the 1980s and see how our environment has changed. Genetics may affect individual risk, but today’s obesogenic environment is terrible. Easy access to processed foods, food industry influence, and politicians reluctant or in hook to food industry e.g. donations or lobbying etc. Faced with this scenario unfortunately, its down to individuals and families to protect themselves with everyday habits: For my family this means

• mostly home‑cooked meals 7 days a week. Occasional takeaways like pizza
• Careful shopping minimum heavily processed food and no sweets or fizzy drinks except special occasions
• throwing away excess sweets and treats from school and kids parties
• encouraging regular outdoor activity e.g. swimming, walks, bike rides.

One friend who struggles with weight along with his whole family says the above is extreme and kids need to be kids. Unfortunately, sustainable lifetime healthy habits need to be ingrained at younger age. Otherwise, it will be lifetime of anguish and agony struggling to manage food.

The same as what happens when any medication becomes unavailable. Just like HRT or statins or PPIs. People need to stop thinking of them as a lifestyle craze/fad and start thinking of them as medication to treat a disease (obesity among others).

Nobody gets all faux concerned when my eczema medication is having production issues.

In that case, if you genuinely have concern about the meds then you shouldn't take them. All meds have risks, those that take them know this. I have concern with the black market meds from the beautician. I have concern with the risks of WL surgery and decided against it. I had concern about vaping but it helped me quit 15yrs of smoking, now I do neither.

I've written concern in my post so much that it seems a weird word :)

I think it’s great you spend time worrying about the prescription meds people take op. Very kind of you. To help ease your concern. That data is based on people in trials who loss an average of 8kg then gain it back at an average of a pound a week, subsequent trials on real life people ie non trial shows weight loss is much higher than 8kg on average and people keep it off, so you can google or there is another thread on here where it is linked.

anyways, this comment someone made made me laugh This is a HUGE issue. It is a drug that needs to be taken continuously otherwise you lose all benefits

there is no drug you take which when you stop keeps working. Every single drug stops working when you don’t take it. It’s moved into the land of comical that anyone actually thinks this is unique to this prescription med. 😂

Friends of mine that have stopped the WLI suddenly have found appetite comes roaring back. Those who have 'tailed off' gradually have not.

If you're not on HRT why would you be on a thread about HRT?

Its not even better food choices, i have a much better relationship with food now, not scared to eat things that might work out calorific but filling and good for me

not feast and famine which was what i did before to lose weight

do need to work on upping my fibre though 😳

read somewhere that the human body sets itself at a particular weight which is why keeping off the weight is so hard

yeah i heard 2 years is a bit of a reset

i was overweight, not obese but being on wli has allowed me to not only stop the food noise and make better choices but its shown me that my body can cope on less calories (i need less calories than others my size to an underactive thyroid and PCOS)

because its stopped the food noise its also stopped the hamster wheel of thoughts i had before sleep which meant that i quite often struggled to sleep

i am quite happy at this weight, i have a bmi of 24.6 but would be happy slightly higher if i could maintain it

I took them for a while and lost around five stone. I stopped because of chronic constipation. I have kept to my calorie counting and have just returned to swimming after a major operation. I avoid, or try to, avoid cakes, alcohol, crisps etc, but have still put on around a stone since last year. I still write down everything I eat and watch what I eat like a hawk. I think healthy eating and exercise is a life long commitment, not easy I know. I think it is a myth that overweight people necessarily eat uncontrollable and metabolism comes into it as well. I read somewhere that the human body sets itself at a particular weight which is why keeping off the weight is so hard. Oh well, back to the swimming pool!

Well yes, if I need them in my 80s and 90s I intend to take them as long as I have capacity to do so. Hopefully my body will recover enough to allow me to come off them one day but who knows? At least I might see 80 now.

😂
I love that the "care" is mainly from people that have never experienced weight issues and will never know what it is like to live in a bigger body.

Overweight people aren't stupid, they know everything they need to do to lose weight. It's deeper than just eat better and move more. It's a psychological and often emotional issue. The WLIs take that constant niggle and food demon off the shoulder enabling the patient to easily make those healthier choices.

Some people taking the WLIs are looking for a quick fix and afterwards will go back to overeating and therefore regain their lost pounds and some will have learned portion control and developed exercise routines and keep the weight off.

If it isn't obvious from my defensive post, I've lost 5 and a half stone with WLmeds and am finally at a normal and healthy weight for the first time in 30 years. I had gotten to the point where I considered gastric surgery even though that terrified me. I was worried about the meds when they came out but decided it worth that last try to lose those lbs before menopause. I've lost those 74lbs slowly over 2yrs and have developed healthy habits.

@velvetgeranium the risks of any possible unknown future issues with GLP1s are weighed against the very real knowns of remaining obese. That has again been ignored in the discussion about the long term implications.

I’m not at risk of diabetic retinopathy as I’m not diabetic, so I have no risk of that worsening. There’s no causal proven link with NIAON, it needs further investigation. It is still also an extremely rare event for anyone, and if there is a proven causal link to using GLP1s then it would still need to be weighed up against the risks of remaining obese or even the risk associated with losing weight regardless of method, as it may be caused by weight loss alone.

It seems that possible risks of side effects are allowed for T2 diabetics because that is considered a valid disease and people understand the risks of not treating T2 diabetes effectively. It seems that obesity is judged as a lifestyle choice and something that should only be addressed by non-medicated approaches. As a result of that judgement, any side effects from medication to treat obesity are considered not worth the risk, and anyone choosing to use GLP1s is therefore taking unnecessary risks full stop.

I have a school friend who has struggled from the age of eight as long as I’ve known her with her weight. Her mother struggled before her. I’m absolutely absolutely delighted that she’s been able to get down to a size 12 probably for the first time in her life.
She was a lovely person before and she was a lovely person afterwards. I don’t think anybody is anything other than really concerned.

People will always abuse things. Millions of people are using the injections safely.