Size 18 and Happy - Anyone Else Not Wanting to Lose Weight?”

OP you can use WLIs differently to your friend. I’ve been taking them for 6 months and I’ve lost 2 stone. I’ve been eating normally, just healthier food and smaller portions. I wasn’t looking for a quick fix, I wanted to lose weight and improve my health. The injections have made it easier

I think there are a lot of people, like your friend, who risk damaging their health by using the injections to starve themselves. But it doesn’t have to be that way.

I'm another one who is finding it hard to believe you are completely happy with your weight. I think what you are happy with is the acceptance that you have given up trying to lose weight (you must have been trying since you were doing calorie counting). I also find it hard to believe that hoards of people are coming to you and telling you to use WLI because you are overweight. I think if you could go down to a size where you are not considered overweight you'd do it in a second if it didn't involve a lot of effort.

Same! I'm an 18. I run, I lift weights, I walk the dog every day, I eat a balanced, nutritious diet. I'd say I look chubby at most. I've had MISERABLE years in the past of obsessively calorie counting and logging everything and exercising to burn things off and restricting eating before holidays and weddings and still hating the photos and thinking I was too fat to be deserving of certain experiences and outfits. What a waste of energy and worry! I was fine! I've been a 10, 12, 14, 16 and all those times I stressed about it and was really cruel to myself and my body makes me really sad for that me.

No one's asked me about the jabs. I've been in conversations about them and I'm not interested in it.

I have teen boys and a husband who are all involved in sports teams, hiking expeditions, weightlifting so the focus in my household is everyone getting the protein and carbs and veggies and water that they need to FUEL their bodies.

I'd rather be a happy healthy 18 than a miserable 10 ever again. Yes I get fewer compliments than my figure but I'm in my 40s not my 20s and that's got way more to do with it. What I do get plenty of nice things said about? My glowy smooth skin, my fashion sense, my positive energy.

@ThatJadeLion I can list countless slim people with health issues, and a heck of a lot of older ones too, many just plodding along alive. I can also list a heck of a lot of healthy slim old people too.

What I can’t do is give you a list of healthy obese older people, I can think of one overweight lady in her 70s with Diabetes (20+ years) and Alzheimer’s, and an obese family member in her 70s with cancer and debilitating joint pain, chronic arthritis and COPD.

It’s a numbers game and sadly the odds go against you once you throw in obesity.

I don't think it's that rare. Yes, of course you're more likely to suffer health problems if you're overweight. But lots of other factors are at play too. A woman on my street has just had a knee replacement, she's always been a steady 'healthy' weight all her life. I know so many people classed as overweight that don't have health problems. You can't pinpoint every health problem such as cancer, heart problems, diabetes etc to obesity. I have known people that stay slim to drink multiple bottle of wine a week and that's why they are slim, they don't eat because they drink.

LOL, really? What is this ‘Doctor’ friend, a herbalist or something? She thinks millions of people addressing chronic obesity and the implications of carrying excessive weight will result in a metabolic illness epidemic? Sounds more like a Doctor of Arts or Philosophy.

Respectfully, your mum is an anomaly when it comes to the statistics, she’s in a small minority of ‘healthy’ bigger size 18 older women.

What a load of crap! Your doctor friend does know that this a treatment for obesity right, not 'slightly overweightness'?

It's mind boggling that a medical professional would wish metabolic illness on people who are addressing a significant health issue with medication!

Fair enough if that’s really how you feel.
I was a size 18 last year and lost 2 1/2 stone on WLI.
I thought I was happy but realised I was avoiding things that my weight may affect . Mostly physical things.
I realised my weight was holding me back with activities with the dc. We attended a family festival and I couldn’t do some of the events as I simply wasn’t fit enough to run around, climb etc.
I was too heavy to go on a pony trek suggested by some friends.
Another time I was too heavy to go on a roller coaster ride at a forest park in Wales. Also an embarrassing day on holiday when I struggled to walk a long way sightseeing. Fitting in to Seats on rides were also a worry.
Now I’m a bit lighter there is a freedom that I did not realise I was missing!
I respect your confidence and happiness in yourself but I definitely feel like I can simply do more now.

Forgot to write at the end of my post that Mumsnet isn't the best place to write this sort of post, it brings the infamous Mumsnet chicken undereaters out in force and then there's some posters that generally like feeling smug. It's great you feel content, so many people wish to feel comfortable in their own bodies, don't let anyone tell you you should feel differently. If you feel like you want to lose some weight you can when you're ready, you can, but only if/when you wish to.

I have lost 8 stone and aged quite rapidly. I have no issue with it, I am far healthier than I have been in over 25 years. So I will take it. If I had never been fat my face probably would have looked like this now anyway, but the effects would have presented more gradually without the fat to pad out the wrinkles. I can’t think why anyone would be so vain that their face was more important than their overall general health. Weird that.

I stuck some Tanita scales results into ChatGTP and got it to calculate my physiological body mass floor (having been "big-boned" all my life) and mine is 75kg, which would make my BMI probably around 30.

Losing more weight than that would result in significant muscle mass loss and at middle 50s, that's a terrible idea.

Honestly, concentrate on being mobile, strong and getting some element of CV work done, improve your body comp and you'll get denser anyway.

I'm training someone just now and she's made amazing progress with dropping weight and it's now at a point where it's conflicting with her other goals. So I discussed all of this with her and she's now going to concentrate on CV/weight training.

I'm not sure they would, I know some people where being a size 10 would look very aging!

Your people are doing it badly, they don’t have to. It’s possible to use WLI to support a healthy balanced diet. You don’t have to eat next to nothing to lose weight. I have done it on 1600 ish calories a day and have never been healthier. I was far bigger than you to start as well.

Good for you.
I was just chatting to a doctor I know yesterday and she said she thinks we’re going to see a lot of metabolic illness in 10-20yrs from the WLIs and she would rather people were slightly overweight if all the health markers are good, so it sounds like you’re making the right choice.

I would not be happy being obese, no. It’s a huge risk to your health in the future.

There's some horrible smug comments on here. I was the unhappiest when I was a size 10 in my life. Happiest when I've been a little larger. My mum has been a size 18 since her 20s, she has always looked beautiful, has the personality and confidence to carry it off and hasn't suffered health problems now she's in her 70s.

Kindly, I don’t think you would write a status about how happy you are being large if you were actually happy with your size.

You see a lot of people on here saying a size 18 is healthy. It isn’t. You get all the other overweight people jumping on the bandwagon and saying how great they feel being larger to convince one another that it’s ok.

If you could click your fingers and be a size 10, would you? I think most people would.

I did try calorie counting for a while, but it became very restrictive and unenjoyable, and it just wasn’t something I wanted to continue.

So why did you try it? You were actively trying to lose weight and it was "too hard?" - Does this mean if it was easier you would have continued?

Your weight is your business. That said, It does sound like you are not actually happy where you are.

Because with my stats I wasn't heavy enough to get WLI even privately without underlying conditions (which I had so qualified at BMI 28.8), and at my weight then most people would be a size 18- I was and am fit, narrow build and solid so heavy for my size. Now I'm a size ten and most women who are 11st and 5'7" and more like a 12/14. I can get away with a small 12 but 14s are definitely too big.

I don't want to be remembered as cuddly 😂

Ive always been heavy for my build. Even at 15 years old when I was extremely slim size 8. I was 10.5 stone. Im now 13.5 stone and a size 12. Yes I am carrying a bit of extra fat on my tummy, I am not disputing I am overweight, but I am certainly not obese. My best friend weighs only a few pounds more than me and her BMI is the same but our body composition is very different. BMI can be used as a guide but also waist height ratio is important. Mine is .53 so slightly elevated. Below .5 is low risk, above .6 is high risk. I need to lose a few cm round my waist to be in optimal health. But if I stay where I am I'm still not high risk.

Exactly
I'm muscular. My body is smaller overall now at 11 stone than it was when I was 25 and 10.5 stone (tried on my wedding dress to see!) but all of my excess weight is still fat.