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.

I'm guessing that you have never been really poor OP? I mean poor to the extent that you have less than £30pw for food and sundries? (and that might be a good week). Seriously. It reminds me of a story I heard about an unnamed A-lister who wondered why people didn't just save all their money for a Hermes bag rather than buying several 'cheap' bags.

You really can, I'm veggie and eat a lot of toast and beans. I'm hugely obese but can't afford jabs. I'm on a really tight food budget and easily overeat on it, I'd say it's the main cause of my weight gain. I buy the £1 cereals, pasta for 19p, big 500g blocks of cheap cheese £3, I make our own cakes for pack lunches, basic self raising flour is really cheap, but then there's a full batch of cakes in the house for the cost of half a bought muffin. I make a lot of things with oats, lentils and dried beans which may be healthy but are dense calories and when you make it yourself you end up with loads of dal, hummus etc, my portion of homemade hummus is a whole pot of shop bought for a fraction of the price. I absolutely would take the jabs if they were around £20 a month. There's no way I'd save on my food budget though.

You do realise it costs more money to eat a nutritional and healthy diet, as opposed to UPF, don’t you?

If critical thinking isn’t a strong point of yours, I’d refrain from making further threads like this tbh.

I’m on GLP and have lost 5 stone and sitting in the middle of healthy BMI. My food costs have gone up not down. Most obese people have too many calories but not enough nutrition which is expensive. It’s on one of the reason why poor people are more likely to be obese.

Not all people who are overweight are unfit or metabolically unhealthy. I weighed just under 24 stone at my highest and have weighed between 18 and 24 stone most of my adult life. So severely or morbidly obese. My bloods have always been bang on normal, including specific testing for diabetes (fasting blood sugar and HBA1C), liver, kidneys, inflammation, bones, cholesterol. I have always been physically fit - lots of weight lifting and conditioning and walking - and have maintained a varied diet with lots of good veg and fibre. I just eat too much and for the wrong reasons.

I actually am on GLP1 meds now (privately prescribed, because my metabolic health means despite my BMI I do not qualify for MJ on the NHS) because I worry about how much longer I can expect my body to stay metabolically healthy as I get older. But that is because I can afford to try to address the risk before it materialises. I just want to make the point that it is not true that all people whose BMI puts them in the morbidly obese category are critically or acutely ill. If you're metabolically healthy and physically fit then of course even if your BMI is very high, you might not feel that £250 a month on GLP1s is the best use of your money even if you can afford it.

Being overweight significantly increases your risk of pancreatitis and a host of preventable cancers, including that of the pancreas. Your pancreas is safer on the meds than off them and overweight.

I‘ve got a dear, very overweight friend who talks to me a lot about trying to lose weight. In the past I‘ve suggested a rehab in a clinic (in Germany we get that through our health insurance), an operation and now the jabs. I honestly said that I was rather fascinazed by the jabs. She could afford them. She comes up with counter-arguments -she‘s an intelligent woman.. We all behave in ways which harm us and other people don‘t understand.

They are expensive, some people cannot use them, they can cause unpleasant side effects which some people cannot tolerate and some people are emotionally attached to food.

Money.
Loose skin
I like my gallbladder.
My Nan died of something pancreas related.

No long term safety data, they have only been prescribed / available for weight loss for a few years, so although they existed before were never used in such a widespread way.

It's known they can cause pancreatitis, which can be a precursor over time for pancreatic cancer, a disease that is on the rise in any case. In 20 years time we might find out it was safer being fat.

I can afford them but am concerned about side effects.

I’m not overweight so maybe I would feel differently if I was in the position of really needing to lose a large amount of weight but for me there just hasn’t been enough long term research done to make me feel comfortable with using them. Maybe in 10+ years of them being used broadly I’d be more comfortable but for right now, too many unknowns.

I have been on them for 14 months and they are bloody expensive! This post is rage bait surely.

This is a bit of a daft premise for a thread, speaking as a great lover of MJ.

There are loads of reasons. Money, needle phobia, contra indication, worry about side effects whether well informed or otherwise, they have tried but it's not worked. I agree that in many cases it doesn't cost that much, but you don't actually know that until you see how it goes for you. I've been one of the people who's found it cheapest and that's because I seem to do well on it at low dose. But you don't know that before starting.

What a stupid thing to say, how do you know they are not taking them and have already lost some weight? But more importantly, why do you care, it's literally none of your business!?

Good point, a visibly obese person might already be losing weight with WLIs. If you don't know them you'd have no idea.

What has anyone's else weight got to do with you

You're wrong. Pancreatitis can kill and these medications are contraindicated in pancreatitis sufferers because it's such a serious condition. I can't even tolerate the blood pressure medications the GP prescribed because they set off my pancreatitis.

Is there really really any excuse

Your hatred is showing OP

I’m not morbidly obese but drop me a message if you want to pay for mine, given that you obviously think it’s within everyone’s financial reach!

I've had pancreatitis so can't use them.

Maybe they dont actually want to eat less?
Generally severe obesity is an eating disorder, if eating is an emotional comfort for them then the idea of not having that regular comfort could be scary. The same as how people often dont want to quit smoking because its an emotional comfort/enjoyed by them.

Probably affordability- although it is often a lot less expensive than some might think. I started wegovy in January, first month was £40. It's now £120 a month. And I save at least that much no longer buying alcohol and takeaways.

Because they are not a magic panacea. I’ve been on WLI for 15 months. For the last 7 months I haven’t lost an ounce. Not one. I’m still obese. All the providers say is ‘drink more water’ like it’s going to wash the fat out of you. We are all biologically individuals and the causes of obesity and the remedy for it are individual too. Also it costs a fortune, money I don’t really have spare and the cost increases as you need the higher doses.
I’ve not seen a reduction in my food costs because feeding three teenagers is the bulk of my expenditure.

Money.

Might not want the food/appetite changes that would occur if the GLP-1 meds were effective.