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

[OnHerSolidFoundations]

Is it me or is this a bit sinister?

People want quick fix
but I know several ( well lots ) who have takes ozempic saxenda and as soon as they stop the weight goes back on and more because they haven’t actually changed anything

Odd choice of words. There’s nothing sinister about it - these drugs work. Obviously if you don’t need to lose weight or prefer another method, then that is your decision (but no need to judge others for making a different choice).

It's concern rather than judgment

Yes you have to think of how you will manage things in the future while you are losing the weight. There is no need to lie on the form as it seems you are allowed to continue with a maintenance dose (privately anyway) if required. I would go back on it if necessary, although towards the end of my weight loss I found the medication became less effective. I have read that it is anticipated that some people will rely on these medications for life. Myself, now that I am significantly lighter I am significantly more active so that plays a role in keeping the weight off. I did put a small amount of weight on after finishing with the medication but I seemed to have plateaued at that weight and have never put any more on so far….

But these drugs don't work long term either. People regain weight when they stop taking them – the Weight Loss Chat board is already seeing posters reporting that the weight is piling back on again. Unless you're getting them on free prescription from a GP, most people won't be able to afford taking them for the rest of their lives.

The issue here is that weight is such an emotive and personal subject. There are as many reasons for obesity as there are people on the planet. For many people, it is a medical matter. I, personally, have an underactive thyroid and lipoedema. When we are told to "eat less, move more," l would like to see anyone moving more with legs the size of the average ten year old tree trunk. I do what I can and, no, it is not my "fault" that my legs are in this state, unless you count being born with the wrong genetic and hormonal makeup my fault. Around 10 % of the female population has lipoedema to one degree or another and obesity is the most common co-morbidity. Obesity is the only condition where the person with it is blamed for bringing it on themselves with such vehemence. Smokers are prescribed nicotine patches, alcoholics are treated (rightly) with sympathy but the overweight person - obviously stuffing themselves with cakes and chocolate. What pigs. Eat less and move more. There is only one problem with this approach: it doesn't work for many people. If it did, the entire population would be at optimal weight and slimming clubs would go out of business. Doctors only get around fifteen minutes' general training on obesity in their many years of study. For a condition that affects such a large proportion of the population, this is shocking. Most people are well aware that Wegovy and the like are not cures, but tools to help make weight loss easier and more sustainable. They work in much thecthe same way as weight loss surgery, but are much cheaper. Long term, there could be huge savings to the NHS in terms of fewer people with heart attacks, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis would be greatly relieved and the population would be healthier as a whole and require fewer prescriptions for other medications. No treatment is foolproof or works for 100% of the population, but, surely, anything that can help people should be welcomed.

Then you should consider educating yourself about these medications since you clearly haven’t done so. That may alleviate your concerns unless you’re someone who generally finds scientific/medical advances a cause for concern.

I’m 88 kgs down from 98 on Ozempic. The 10kg loss has given me the confidence to return to the gym, only doing 3 classes a week, but it’s something. I’m 52 with Hashimoto’s disease and athsma and have battled my weight since I was 30. This is a game changer for me. I get my script online from a bariatric service, I’ve never shared photos etc but they are registered nurses who are specialists in this area. I’ll be fucked if anyone try’s to shame me for trying something to care for my health and body. I expect I’ll remain on this or something g like it forever.

Whilst I do think obesity needs to be tackled and the mantra of eating less and moving more is what a lot of people need to do. I do think that for a significant number of people where there is something deeper going on.
A lot of people have had a trigger in their lives where eating became a coping mechanism after being subjected to abuse and have turned to food to numb their feelings

Whilst these treatments help to get to a place where issues related to excess weight are taken away and life is a little more manageable physically, I would like to see therapy happening at the same time to understand why the weight piled on in the first place and help to make lifestyle choices where healthy foods, portion sizes and exercise become something that doesn’t have to be thought about and are things that are enjoyable

Lots of people can naturally keep at a healthy weight but an accident, illness, a relationship breakdown, grief or awful pregnancy issues can send their weight shooting up and trying to lose the weight later becomes an uphill battle they can’t seem to win.

I can tell you I tried saxenda at enormous cost and it’s very effective in stopping you wanting to eat a lot. Unfortunately in my case the only things I felt like eating were chocolate and carbs which are my problem anyway. The drug does not address the issues that make you overweight. You’re better off, IMO, getting to the bottom of those.

The NHS is straining under the obesity crisis we have in this country

Knowing how the NHS works unfortunately I foresee these injections becoming a stand alone lifetime prescription and the reasoning behind why an individual was eating to excess and help with real lifetime lifestyle changes are dismissed as too expensive rather than looking at the long term benefits of this type of help and the cost saving of only having to pay for these injections for 3-5 years as opposed to paying for the next 30-50

@Bluebell my information may be slightly out of date as I haven’t used Ozempic for many months now but at the time even the private providers were saying people had to be overweight to be prescribed these sort of drugs.
Im also not sure using a maintenance dose would continue to work for life - I don’t think anyone really knows as the research just hasn’t been done yet.
I can honestly understand why you & others take it, having tried it myself. It did make my appetite disappear. But I can also see why it may not be a long term solution for people with psychological issues around food.

The great thing about these drugs is- you don't have to take them!

At the moment, they are expensive or only on prescription, so no-one is coming around to your house and making you comply...

They are not a miracle cure, because no drugs are miracle cures, they have downsides, they are quite unpleasant to be on and they don't solve some of the problems of weight loss which is that it is hard to sustain over time.

But, within that, they are effective.

You are 'concerned' but you should be concerned why our food culture and the food industry have knowingly and happily (for their profits) produced less nutritious food, in huge quantities, at cheap prices, and made 60% of the adult population overweight or obese. Even trying to 'eat healthy' in the UK is almost impossible as the quality of the food such as chicken is very very poor due to farming practices (stuffing meat with water, sugar and antibiotics).

Celebrities are different as they are richer and their livelihood depends on looking a certain way. Yours presumably doesn't and if some people are given a glimmer of hope by being able to at least start to tackle their lifelong obesity problem, what is it to you?

People who say eat less move more are ignorant. Pure and simple ignorant. Ozempic has a number of functions including slowing stomach emptying, appetite suppressing via GLP-1 receptor agonist and acts on ghrelin receptors in the brain. Ghrelin is the hormone responsible for making us feel hungry when other hormones like leptin are not blocking it. Since Semaglutide blocks ghrelin, you feel less hungry throughout the day reducing snacking and food noise. It also (in some people) reduces the taste for alcohol also reducing caloric intake. People who think salads and a walk will solve the obesity crisis are dumber than a brick.

Ah I see, one of the Saturday morning argy bargy posters.

Good luck with your nit picking.

The whole patronising eat less move more mantra is like me telling my alcoholic brother to have a Pepsi instead.

The problem is naturally slim people will never understand what it's like to be fat and unable to lose weight.

Most of the obese/overweight people on the weight loss threads know everything about weight loss, nutrition, eating healthy etc. They have done every diet going and have all experienced the same. They try really really hard, diet, exercise, they lose some weight in the first few weeks, then they stall and stop losing and the diet just gets too difficult to maintain, so they give up, then a short while later the weight is back on plus more and they are back to square one. This is a cycle many obese people go through to lose weight. Us obese people all know what it's like to try hard to lose weight. The weight loss drugs have put us on an even footing with the naturally skinnies that don't eat much and don't have a problem with their weight.

So we have found the cure to fix our bodies to work how it is meant to work... Why is it anyone else's business what we do? How does it effect you? If anything, less obese people means less strain on NHS for obesity related medical conditions. Most of us are two steps away from diabetes!

We are all well aware of what could happen when we come off it. We openly discuss this. We are all working really hard to change our eating habits now and doing everything we can to make these changes permanently. Read on the mounjaro and wegovy threads, look for people saying they eat process food every day and lose weight... You won't find them .. we are working on calorie deficits and making sure we eat enough protein and drink enough water etc. This isn't an easy quick fix for us. It's just putting us on an even playing field with naturally slim people.

I see your comment and raise you:
'What you call nit picking I call getting facts correct.
Good luck with your not quite understanding.'

Or we would both just accept that there is nothing wrong with someone pointing out when something isn't quite factually correct, and wish each other a good day.

Crikey you're excitable. I raised an opinion on a chat forum on a sunny Saturday morning. No facts there needing correcting. Anyway it's MN not an exam.....but if it's important for you to spend your Saturday morning imposing your will on other people's opinions then good luck to you.

If this thread goes the way of other similar threads, it puts off the other posters and becomes a personal battle between a small number of posters.
I learn a lot from discussing the merits and downsides of these drugs and yes, it is everyone’s business if the NHS funds the drugs for some anyhow and treats their side effects. It becomes interesting when we look at the trade offs in not having to fund other obesity related illnesses.
But if we just insult each other and take everything personally, the reasonable debate ends. Can we keep it non-personal please?

If obestity can be cured by eating less and moving mor3 and that’s all there is to it op,why are you not doing it?

It's more like telling your brother to just have one drink and stop.

@JudyBlumesBlubber currently the NHS are not funding the weight loss drug for a majority of people. Most are buying it with private prescriptions.

A few are getting in on the NHS after reaching tier 3 or 4 weight loss management on the NHS. It think it now might be a step before weight loss surgery. I would say that the cost would probably be cheaper for the NHS than the cost of a surgery.

I don't think its sinister - its just that our society sees thinness as a positive thing, to lose weight naturally takes time and discipline - so having, for example, Ozempic available made a lot of people who previously were "not bothered" about extra weight use it to get thin quick and with little effort.

I visited a friend in US recently and most of her group of friends who I know and met previously lost a lot of weight - apparently, everyone is on it! Some look better, some not. But I don't consider it sinister, its just a fad.

As a person who has hypothyroidism and is on multiple medications that cause weight gain being overweight was definitely not a choice or anything to do with diet. I was skinny my whole life up until my diagnosis and medication changes and I eat less now then I did when I was skinny