Loving Sarah Vine on This Morning -Ozempic

[AmyFFowler]

She said we live in an obesogenic society and need to be realistic about the need for weight loss drugs like ozempic. She also said we are genetically programmed to eat as much as possible when we can as our ancestors didn’t know when the next wilderbeast would come along. Now we can just sit in our house and deliveroo will bring us food.
Completely agree with all of the above. I am currently working very hard and managing to lose weight without the help of drugs, so I do also ‘get’ the personal responsibility side to this. I just think as a society we are fighting a losing battle if we don’t embrace the new wave of weight loss drugs. Hopefully in time there will be more studies into long term use.

I agree with this. Coffee and a cigarette was off the menu so my appetite came back with a vengeance!

I’m 50 and my mum has been (a) on a diet despite being overweight herself my whole life (b) a feeder (c) very judgmental about fat people. Every time she talks about someone she refers to their weight even where it’s not relevant

No wonder I wound up fucked up 😂

Also agree with this. Food is a great comfort. It's not as simple as "just stop eating". Carbs give you a hug that protein and salads don't.

@katsusando thats really common. People eat to make themselves less desirable and deter attention. That’s spoken about a lot.

I think the issue is there is trauma and then there are learnt behaviours and coping mechanisms and it’s a bit chicken and egg, so you can’t treat the trauma in isolation. It can be helpful to peel back the layers which for someone like your friend might be freeing them of learnt, compulsive behaviours.

Mine too and my MIL! it’s disgusting. I asked once why she feels the need to point out someone’s flaws, we all know who Sue is, we don’t need a preface.

It’d be interesting to see research in terms of % different causes of obesity, though obviously complex. I became overweight (just qualify as obese) through medication. It’s near impossible to lose weight but easy to gain. Was briefly on ozempic and lost around 10kg but they took me off as I’m not diabetic. All the weight went back on. This is to be expected consultant said. Just been put on wegovy. Unless I eat around 800 calories daily, my weight won’t go down and would otherwise probably increase. It’s fantastic to have a solution.

That’s why ‘Fat is a Feminist Issue’ by Susie Orbach is such a great book. It broke me out of a cycle of bulimia when I was a university student. It really looked at the visibility/ invisibility issues and building up one’s esteem.

ETA it’s from a few decades ago!

Wegovy and ozempic are the same. It seems like this issue of regaining the weight needs addressing. There should be a maintenance amount?

The dosage is just different. Consultants in UK are currently only supposed to prescribe ozempic for diabetes according to my consultant endocrinologist. The new endocrinologist I’m with for wegovy said new drugs are being developed all the time and I will be put on something for maintenance.

Sorry @C1nders that wasn’t meant to be specifically at you re maintenance- just generally that seems to be a hurdle for people taking the drug. Seems nonsensical to have people yo-yoing on it.

Oh I agree . Just saying it seems they are now looking into the maintenance aspect at least for people in my situation which is a lot of people. Yes it’s bonkers otherwise. I guess it depends why the weight goes on.

I think these very slim, yet very judgemental, people LIKE there being very fat people around. It makes them feel superior and they don't want those fat people to be able to be just like them; that would make their perceived advantage disappear and they wouldn't be able to look down on anyone

That might be the case for some, but I'd rather people exercise more and eat less.

I still think it's a fairly simple equation of calories in and calories out, medication-related weight gain excluded. But I am in my early 50s and if I am struggling with my weight in my late 50s I'll realise that isn't the case (unless I am eating more and exercising less, of course).

Well done for missing all the points everyone has made.

For many many many people who have trauma and emotional/MH difficulty through their lives, it will never be treated successfully. Much lauded therapy can be successful but often is not. It may help contain you, it may help develop different or better coping strategies but can just be about managing.

For some people where that might lead to overeating, treating the side effect of the trauma (the overeating) is also necessary, its not an add on that isnt important, its really important because obesity will effect life expectancy, self worth, self esteem, physical mobility. Its necessary to treat this. Its not always necessary to wait for years of therapy to take effect to get the weight off, if it ever happens that way.

And for many people their overeating is not emotional. Humans just like food, as we should do, we're designed to.

While I do believe in therapy it is not the answer to everything and it does not cure people

many people understand their trauma and the impact trauma has had on their lives they understand why they over eat/take drugs/drink too much. People can understand all this learn the strategies to make changes but they still sometimes just unable reach the point where they can make changes for the better or when they do it’s replaced by another self harming action

trauma so often manifests in physical issues as well as mental health issues, the physical impact is so often overlooked

Surely it's better to uncover the root of over-eating etc in an individual rather than putting people on drugs for life?

@OolongTeaDrinker have you read the full thread? If it was as easy as uncovering the root cause and treating it we would all be slim. The reality is we are a fat nation which is getting fatter. This is costly to both individuals and society.

Absolutely. TBH I think it’s been established that the route of the obesity crisis is the industrialisation of food production (UPF), poverty is a big factor and our modern lifestyles.

Now if you can advise how to unpick all of that you’ll be a rich woman.

@Daisypod

re People saying we should do something about the availability of cheap processed food, what do you suggest?

I think a good start and something I feel quite passionately about would be to
stop feeding it to our kids in schools. School dinners are dreadful, after school clubs even worse.

It’s less the availability, but the marketing and reliance on them. Why are kids products marketed so intensely. There’s such a heavy reliance on them. By year 6 1 in 4 children are obese. Their life expectancy is dramatically reduced, it’s horrendous. If they start life obese and overweight what chance do they have??

@ZestofCoffee i completely agree on school food, our primary was okish as they had a kitchen and cooked from scratch, though not the best menu. High school is a shit show, sausage rolls, hash browns, white bread buttered toast, bacon butties and home bakes.

I mean it depends on the context though. Botox saved my vision but I wouldn’t inject it into my face!

Can I ask how it's used for vision?

Yes my dc secondary school was the same, dreadful food. Pastry, pasta panini, cereal bars, bacon butties, even some energy drinks but they were very proud of the fact that they only served chips once a week on a Friday.

Yes of course! It’s used to correct eye turns (strabismus) which when appear in adults can cause migraines, double vision and significant nausea.

That's really interesting, I had no idea, thank you