What do we REALLY think about the weight loss jabs?

Honestly people can shoot me down all they want, but I’m sceptical for most people. If your health is dangerous as a result of your weight, and you haven’t been able to lose weight through dieting, then I think there’s a place for it.

If you don’t have health issues due to your weight, I think you risk adding health issues through the jabs.

They're also not sustainable so you need to be prepared to be on them for life. Most people are overweight due to food intake - these people need to be aware that if they stop the jabs, they will likely regain, potentially the weight will distribute weirdly.

If it’s to counteract another drug which may stop once a healthy weight has been reached, then I can see the benefit.

People think it’s a quick win and there’s no such thing.

But you're presenting your own anecdata of one.

Plastic surgeons wouldn't refer to "Ozempic face" if they weren't seeing it.

Oh, and gallbladder removal is quite a common result, well-discussed among people working in hospitals. Obviously not everyone is affected that way.

I sniff journalist being lazy

Personally they’ve been life changing for me. I have under active thyroid and piled on 5 stone when it went wrong when I was preg with my eldest. I’ve then spent my whole adult life trying different diets. Some would work for a while but never past a Cpl of stone. Over the years my weight got steadily higher after each diet. I’ve never (genuinely) been a big eater but can never quite get a hold of it. Last 5 years I have his ate healthily, calorie counted and exercises. Since new research is saying how bad all these diets are for us till you get to the position I am. Only diet I ever had any success with was keto but that’s not sustainable long term.

started the jabs a year and a half ago and they do work. I’ve been on them and lost 4 stone last year, had a few months off and I’ve gone back on them. Genuinely they work miracles for those like me that has tried hard all her life. I know it’s being overused these days by people who just want an easy fix and have never tried properly but if it helps their health what can we say.

I'm no expert but I wish they had existed when my mum was in her 40s and her weight ballooned to about 20st. She might not have spent her last few years bedridden, incontinent and dying of a heart attack at 70

I agree with both of these people. A lot of people ive seen using them are in their 40s/50s and have been fat all their life so suddenly losing an extreme amount of weight is going to make them look older because of the loose stretched out (now baggy) skin. However these people have dreamed of being thin their whole life and probably don't care about looking old or any side affects they are living off the buzz of being thin without having to work on the mental mindset ordeal.

I lost 8 stone through diet and exercise. No medication. Yes it was hard and it was slow going but I was motivated and stuck with it. I do find it hard to believe that people say they cannot loose weight without the meds unless of course there are mobility issues. I do feel these injections are almost like an easy option these days

I'm on the fence about them, that's perhaps because I have both high blood pressure and diabetes, however, can't be prescribed them on the NHS because I don't meet the obesity threshold - I'm technically obese (BMI 31) but not obese enough. I'm constantly watching what I eat and always get 10k steps in a day at least. As it goes, I'm autistic with OCD - so well aware of food noise. I suppose I'm a bit shocked that a medication developed specifically for people like me isn't available to me. I'm unsure what I think about the NHS prescribing 'off label' while NICE guidelines prohibit prescribing on label for someone who that the NHS website states needs to lose 3 stone. I have been unable to lose this 3 stone for 10 years. That said, I realise I could be jealous of others who are able to secure this medication for their needs. It's not their fault that the medication is rationed.

On the other hand, I'm a teacher and weirdly after the summer hols last year a bunch of staff came back noticeably thinner. All were on the jabs, privately, and none of them any bigger than me originally. Although correlation isn't necessarily causation, many of these staff had significantly more sick days than the rest of us due to illnesses associated with their digestive systems - think 3 weeks rather than 3 days. This cost the school quite a bit in cover. Two of these members of staff who I'm friendly with stopped taking the jabs because of the illness element, both are now back to the same weight as me.

I suppose in the final analysis I sort of think that medication developed for a purpose shouldn't be rationed so that it's available for another purpose. However, I also think that people should be able to do with their own bodies whatever they choose, as long as it doesn't affect others.

So your opinion of them is solely based on looks? Shallow.

I ended up with gallbladder issues in my 30's too, before ever touching mounjaro.

Have you heard of the four 'F's', the medical mnemonic for those most likely to get gallbladder problems showing up?

Female. Fat. Fertile. Thirty/Forty.

Those are the people most at risk, mounjaro or not. I'd imagine a large proportion of people on the jabs fits this description.

Before I started Mounjaro I was nervous about the pancreatitus too, so I looked it up. The incidence of acute pancreatitus in mounjaro patients is around 0.2%.

Do you know what does makes you three times more likely to get acute pancreatitus though? Being morbidly obese.

Seemed lile a no brainer to me. And I'm so glad I ignored all the moral granstanding and scaremongering.

Absolutely this
There is no shortcut for a healthy diet and exercise
The muscle loss is particularly worrying
I can spot someone on them a mile off, they might weigh less but they dont look healthy
Its like the body has been draped over their skeleton and it ruins your face
Hey ho then you can buy face injections ...

@Lastpushtothesummit do you think smokers who take nicotine replacement or patches to help stop are cheating?

Does insulin sit right with you? What about antibiotics? Or vaccines? Or decongestants?

What do your waters have to say about birth control pills?

Menopausal, weight was going up, I’ve lost nearly 3 stone, my health has improved, no more aches and pains. It’s no one else’s business and I couldn’t give a flying fuck what anyone else thinks

I think they are fantastic and looking forward to starting them soon. People who have never struggled to lose weight haven’t got a clue how blooming hard it is. Less obesity = less strain on the NHS so imo they should be more readily available.

I know people who get them through the post, having never spoken with their dr about it.

That’s what worries me- that it is so available, online, without a drs approval.

Again, not true. Im.on it. I dont look older, have had nothing but a slew of compliments a.d havent ended up.in hospital. Anecdata is not evidence.

What a load of absolute crap. Must be hard living life in such a weirdly unspecified suspicious way. Who are 'they'?

I’m naturally slim but my goodness, I am all for these jabs.

Some of my friends are on them whilst attending the gym and they are doing and looking phenomenal. I can’t really understand why people choose not to use them.

I do think you can tell who is using them if they don’t go to the gym.. the facial hollowness is definitely a thing, but choose health over face every single time.

I have never had any weight issues so I don’t know much about these injections. I do vaguely wonder about the long term effects in the same way I think about vaping.

I don’t believe for a second they've got anything to do with Covid, but surely those who are anti vax and refuse vaccinations will also be anti weight loss jabs?

I work in HR and we've had around a dozen people end up in hospital this year, all in their 30s-50s with gall bladder and other issues related to the jab so it's not something I would touch. At first we thought there was something at work making everyone sick until the link to the jab was identified. People still take it though. Also everyone who is on it looks ill, it does something weird to peoples faces, makes them look older.

I've lost around 3 stone on them and my body feels more capable than it ever has.

As someone who has had lifelong struggles with weight, I think they are fantastic.

It doesn't sit right with me. I can feel it in my waters. You never know what 'they' are up to.

The gall bladder issues are related to the weight loss, not the medication. My friend had bariatric surgery about a year before I started Mounjaro.

We have each lost around 40% of our original weight. She has had to have gall bladder surgery, I haven’t.

The drugs are safe and are hopefully going to make future generations far healthier.