Why are many severely overweight people not using GLP-1 treatments?

[Donteatmychips]

Just a pondering when I was on a day out yesterday. I know of course that there is an economic cost to GLP1s, but is there really really any excuse to such widespread obesity these days? I was walking around a seaside town and a National Trust property, and I would say a good half of those around were still large. I understand they are not that easily prescribed on the NHS, but I believe you can shop around and find deals from various online pharmacies. Is it just more that people don’t want to?

For full disclosure, I am on a GLP1 that I acquired elsewhere by walking into a pharmacy and just asking for it. Yes, it cost a lot of money and I know I am lucky to be in a position to have done that. I fought being on one for a long time and it’s not a magic bullet, but it does help and I’m grateful for that.

I know that modern versions of obesity are skewed, but I am talking really about people maybe 250lbs or over now, not just a stone to lose.

Many people are worried about side effects, some are on meds which contra act with them, and others would prefer to lose weight the old fashioned way. Some can’t afford it.

Still others are quite happy either way how they are. 🤷‍♀️

Well then for you, it wouldn’t be a cost advantage, clearly. For me, it is. Your experience doesn’t negate mine.

I wouldn’t have needed WLIs if I was eating what you were on your past diet. My food intake was obscene, as I’ve said.

That being said, I’ve not said anywhere that £113/month is achievable for everyone, or will represent a saving for everyone. Again, I was literally just replying to the person who said they’re £300/month and no one would save that on food.

I’m obviously still spending money on food, what I’m not doing is eating out and snacking which is where my savings come in. If you weren’t doing those, then yeah this wouldn’t be an advantage for you.

How does that relate to what I’m saying? I know there are side effects?

Which provider do you use.

The OP does come across like that, but I think the rest of us have no interest in whether other people use them. I couldn’t care less what anyone else does and wish I was afforded the same courtesy in return without hearing all the insults someone else listed earlier.

if you don’t take them - either because you have no need or just don’t want to - why worry about the effects? There is not a single order mediation that receives this much attention from people not taking it.

@JHound
e surgery, on a subscription & with a discount code

There isn't a single other medication that is so heavily marketed, either, or attracts such a cult-like following.

I'm not saying that you fall into that category, but it is happening, and that is why the drugs attract so much attention, both negative and positive.

Personally. I'm on the fence about WLI. I don't like that they are marketed, I don't like that they are so easily available and without proper medical supervision, but I do think they should be available for those who need them (and, most importantly, want them) on the NHS.

@JHound there are plenty of price comparison websites. Here's one: https://www.glpcompare.co.uk/mounjaro

No one should be paying £300 pm even on the maximum dose.

That’s fair. I also agree they should be available on the NHS (even if at a higher rate than for people who have co-morbidities).

I don’t think there’s any suggestion people that don’t want them are being, or will be, forced to take them. But the rest I agree with.

On 1st sept I was 124kg. I am now 100k and am aiming for 74kg. I have not used weight loss injections (although I think people are assuming I have) because I want to do it without the crutch of a jab removing my hunger as otherwise when I want to stop the jabs I will then need to learn self control when my metabolism is significantly lower which will lead to a weight gain boomerang or a lifelong dependency on the jab which is a cost I am not prepared to spend. I am doing the eat less, move more scenario and have a £50 gym membership which is significantly improving my mental and physical health. I don't want the jab to do the hard work for me - if I am going to keep the weight off later I need to do the hard work now.

I lost three stone on keto but I have another six stone to lose.

I’ve also struggled with food noise and love carbs and sweet things. WLI would really help me.

The problem is that I looked into the studies and I’m not convinced they’re safe for me. There is a lack of long-term data on non-diabetics and some of the potential side effects are pretty awful. Of course not everyone will suffer from these - WLI will be fine for many people.

I have digestive issues that I have to take Omeprazole for, and have had pancreatitis in the past. I am also the person who almost always seems to suffer the rare, adverse effects from medication eg/the COVID jab gave me a blood clot and put me in hospital despite them being safe for the vast majority of people. It’s always me 🤦🏻‍♀️

Hopefully the WLI will prove to be safe and will continue to provide health benefits to those who struggle to lose weight without help. I wish I could take them but the potentially severe side effects and my weird body mean that it just feels too risky for me.

I also think they should be more widely available on the NHS. Only allowing them after obesity causes other long-term medical conditions seems counterintuitive to me.

To clarify, though, I don't think anyone will be medically forced into taking WLI, but socially, it is already a thing, as we have seen from OP.

I was recommended them once by a MNetter when I started a thread where I mentioned a health issue, not caused by weight, and also mentioned that I find it hard to count calories, weigh myself, and "diet" the traditional way because I have a history of restrictive ED.

I read "WLI don't work for everybody" a lot on this thread.
Although advertised as such WLI are not a miracle drug. They don't automatically make you slimmer. I have been taking MJ for over a year now and it's "working for me" as it seems (I've lost about 5 stone). In reality I eat in a calory deficit, count calories and work out a lot.
The drug does help with appetite control but you really have to pay attention to what you eat and you have to put in quite a lot of time and energy for exercise. It's still possible to overeat or to eat the wrong food and that's probably why WLI don't work for some people.

For some of us the issues that increased weight gain, make it bloody difficult to lose it make it dangerous for us to take them

I'd love to. I'd do anything to shift the weight that now sits on me making mynl8fe miserable

But my blood issues mean I have very low BP
I have megaloblastic and pernicious anaemia

And a couple of other issues, any one of which makes them unviable

But thanks for the question

It's a choice of saving for a house deposit + other house moving costs or WLI at the moment. I can't have both.

Hmm, well if I count the number of times I tried exercise and eating more healthily, yet remained obese, it’s well into 3 figures. And I dare say the vast majority of seriously obese people have also tried many, many times. It’s not that we don’t know or don’t care that we’re obese, and it’s not that we didn’t try. It’s that losing a substantial amount of weight and keeping it off is very, very challenging.

This time, I seem to be succeeding in keeping the weight off, although I am still overweight. But I absolutely understand the hopelessness of the person who has done diet and exercise only to fall short of their goal weight and then put all the weight back on. Do it once, it’s deflating. Do it many times, it destroys your soul.

It IS possible to lose significant weight and keep it off without WLI. But it is damned hard work, and few people succeed. Pretty sure it’s still a lot of work for people who do use WLI, but they have a much greater chance of success.

Go WLI choosers, I say. If you understand there may be side effects, and that you will never be able to return to the way of eating you have now, and you can afford it and are willing to pay, good luck to you.

Being recommended something and someone speculating why strangers aren’t using it isn’t forcing someone to take anything though. The decision is still yours. People will always recommend things that work for them, but as long as they’re not your doctor I wouldn’t pay any mind.

I have just realised through this thread that I am guilty of wondering why people smoke when i see them, when there’s the knowledge and aids to prevent it. So maybe I’m just as guilty as the OP 🤷🏻‍♀️

They didn’t really work for me. Even at the highest dose I was losing maybe 1lb per week on average with long periods of no loss at all, and I found I could still overeat and make poor choices. Yes the food noise reduced but there are other factors at play. I spent a fortune hoping it would be the answer to my years of misery. I figured I could lose 1lb a week on my own so I stopped them and have managed to maintain my loss and then lose a little more. I am just under your weight threshold and I feel really good about myself. I will keep on with what works for me but the cost of £300 per month for maybe 4lb loss is not a good investment.

Gosh all these people worried about shitting themselves and looking awful if they get to a healthy weight or having lumpy breasts. I can only assume that’s why the uk has so many fat people. They are too scared to be slim.

shame. We need to do better at education.

You should at least read the enclosed patient information leaflet before you take any prescribed medication.

I feel so lucky, I’m six and a half stone down, bmi 20, dress size 8, work out 6 days a week, maintaining on a low dose, feel amazing, very healthy, no hunger or deprivation, been maintaining well over a year, no side effects like 80 percent of people, getting all the benefits of the drugs,

genuinely didn’t realise so many obese people were so scared and or ill informed preferring to live with the very real risks of obesity , the biggest killer we have.

cost restrictions I understand but this fear causing folks to live with a condition that’s killing tnem rather than take a prescription med is really sad.

Wow.

Isn’t that what they are saying, it’s fear, fear of the unknown or saggy skin or lumpy breasts or shitting themselves. No one is saying as I can and have done it myself, or very few. These are eligible people responding. So by default obese.

i don’t know any obese person who hasn’t tried everything to get the weight off and failed. Very few are fat by choice and loving it. I certainly didn’t. Everyone who takes these drugs does so as a last resort not the first. Because we know obesity will kill us, for sure, and we can’t do it ourselves.

there is so much misinformation on this thread, so much fear. Not affording is one thing, affording and too scared to take them and chosing to live with obesity is a such a shame, we need to better educate people

Are you the poster who gives all the advice about diabetics because you once spoke to a GP?

I feel so lucky, I’m seven stone down, bmi 22, dress size 10, work out 6 days a week, feel amazing, very healthy, no hunger or deprivation, been maintaining well over a year, no side effects.

genuinely didn’t realise so many obese people were so lazy and or ill-informed, preferring to live with the very real risks of obesity, the biggest killer we have.

This laziness causing folks to live with a condition that’s killing them rather than take up weight training and running is really sad.

or

Everyone is different. Some people, like me, cannot use WLI because of existing medical conditions, some people cannot manage the side effects that do not affect only 20% of people, only 20% of people have severe side-effects, but nausea affects as many as 40-70% and diarorrah upto 30% - you might have found that a managable side-effect, other people might not and that's fine, a lot of people simply cannot afford them. None of those reasons are a moral failing or an unreasonable fear.

Nor are anyone's reasons for not running a moral failing either, btw. We are all different, and posts like this one are exactly what I meant when I talked about the social pressure of WLI.