All these people taking weight loss appetite suppressant drugs?!!

[OnHerSolidFoundations]

Is it me or is this a bit sinister?

Not "Sinister" (odd choice of word), no. Just a huge number of people wanting to lose weight without having to work at it.

No surprises there.

You do have to work at it. They are a tool to help, that's all.

I've never heard of this. I mean, I've heard of weight loss drugs but not of some kind of epidemic of people taking them.

Is there a reason they shouldn't? Why is it sinister?

I agree OP, I think it’s madness…

but then I am very skeptical of Big Pharma in general

In what way is it sinister?
wegovy isn't a magic cure. You still need to work at losing weight.

Do you mean Ozempic type injections? Why is it sinister? I listened to a doctor talking about them and he said that it is going to help millions of people avoid weight related health problems.

Flip side; this could save the NHS millions currently being spent on obesity related illnesses. Isn't that a good thing?

Right?!

Fine to be skeptical but are you saying you never take medication to treat medical issues? Because wegovy is a treatment for a medical issue that is safe and effective. Why do you think that's madness?

Sinister- a medication that needs to be taken for life, with unknown consequences. Yep, sounds sinister to me. But then again the pharmaceutical industry, is an industry, and just out to make as much money as possible. They have no motivation to act in the best interests of patients.

A slight digression: type 2 diabetes is curable with lifestyle interventions. One of the largest manufacturers of insulin debated in a meeting whether 'curing' diabetes was a sustainable business model. It isn't. Pharmaceutical companies want repeat, lifetime customers, they want to manage symptoms and not cure diseases.

I disagree that being overweight is a medical issue. It’s actually a lifestyle issue in the vast majority of cases.

that doesn’t mean it’s easy to fix - on the contrary, this makes it very difficult to fix as changing your whole lifestyle often feels like you are swimming upstream against the river of society/cultural norms.

But ultimately I don’t think a pharmaceutical is a solution for lifestyle issue, it may “work” but it will not be without trade-offs. In general I find big pharma predatory and untrustworthy.

I looked at them because I'm a fat fecker and need to lose weight for health reasons - spent a lot of time reading about people's experiences using the various incarnations of weight loss injections.

Been totally put off by stories of fairly horrendous side effects, the cost, and the number of people who have piled the weight back on again after stopping the injections.

There was a story in the press yesterday of someone rushed to hospital with a heart rate of over 200 after injecting weight loss drugs, so I'm doing weight loss the fucking impossible hard way and reducing calories.

Chronic obesity is a medical condition.

Chronic obesity is a medical condition.

most obese people reach that point due to lifestyle though

a minority might become obese due to another medical condition (such as a brain tumor or medication) but for the vast majority, it is lifestyle and it can be reversed with lifestyle, though in practice this is very difficult to achieve

@PineappleTime

Whilst chronic obesity causes medical problems, for most people the obesity isn't a medical issue in itself, it's a lifestyle issue, a symptom of other health problems (depression, anxiety etc), social problems or simply a lack of self control.

I'm overweight, but it's not drugs I need it's self discipline, impulse control and will power nothing that can be provided by medical professionals. It's not lack of money, lack of access to healthy foods or knowledge here, just the fact we eat more food than we expend in energy each day, a pure accounting problem!

People are just getting hold of it themselves. All medication has side effects. It's not dealing with the underlying issue which is sugar/ alcohol addiction and lack of exercise/ stress/ anxiety.

I see why it's attractive. But it's worrying (maybe sinister was the wring word) from a long term health point of view.

So many chats on here with people saying, "I've just started Wegovy/ ozempic etc and everything's aching me or I have a horrendous headache... "

It doesn't seem healthy to me.

Oh I totally have weight to lose! Am completely aware of how hard it is and how nice it would be to have a magic fast solution. But I don't take medication unless absolutely necessary.

I'm not anti vaccination & will take antibiotics when required.

Yes it’s extremely sinister.

You still get to eat whatever crappy food, albeit less, you want and you just inject yourself after.

It is like telling someone with a peanut allergy that they can have peanuts as long as they have their EPI pen.

It doesn’t teach people how to eat a nutritious diet of whole food and what shite that’s marketed as food to avoid.

Exactly!

They are fantastic and will only get better. We're likely to reach a point in the next 10 years when obesity can effectively be cured through medication. That's a good thing for the health of the nation. We're getting fatter all the time and without them I can't see that improving.

Full disclosure, I've been on Wegovy for 5 months and have lost 36lbs. I need to lose another 8lbs to hit my goal of a healthy BMI. Its been an absolute game changer for me and has allowed me to focus on building good habits and routines without the constant overwhelming desire to overeat sabotaging my efforts.

No, that's not how the medication works

I don’t think anyone takes weight loss drugs as they are an alcoholic, what an odd take.

and obesity is a huge medical issue, it’s the leading cause of cancer for example , and can lead to many other issues, from high blood pressure to diabetes. Yes all drugs have side effects but that doesn’t mean we do not try to use medicine to cure. And clearly if people were able to do it themselves they would not be taking drugs.

you say you have weight to lose, so surely you’re an example of someone struggling to do it through sheer willpower?

Obesity can be "cured" by eating less, mainly veg and moving around more!

Guess what? That's good for your mental & physical health too 🤷‍♀️

I don’t think anyone takes weight loss drugs as they are an alcoholic, what an odd take.

@Janetime completely NOT what I said!