All these weight loss drugs... surely we are heading towards disaster?

[shellswirl]

So as we all know there are various weight loss drugs that have become very popular in recent months.

It seems like the whole of Hollywood is using it.

Even regular people are spending huge amounts of money on it from online pharmacies.

I get that these drugs might be useful for certain people with real medical conditions, but really a lot of people are using it as a quick fix to be thin.

With no consideration to side effects or future health. And without thinking about what happens when you stop it?

Surely the best way to lose weight involves no drugs. No fad diets. But exercising more, moving more, eating a balanced diet. Retraining your brain and finding food and exercise you enjoy.

I say this as an overweight person too! Surely there are other ways.

If every other person is taking these drugs won't there be a huge pool of people to monitor side effects etc?

Aibu to say the whole thing makes me feel very uneasy.

Appetite is caused by a complex interplay of hormones and discipline has absolutely nothing to do with it. You would not be slim if you had the hormonal configuration of a fat person. Period. You are lucky, not superior.

I'm in my 60s. I've been normal weight my whole life until recently, and now, after menopause, it has become impossible, and I do mean impossible, to not gain weight. Society generally acknowledges that as one gets older, it is more difficult to lose weight. But younger people, who may have hormonal issues (PCOS, etc.) will have the same problem losing. It is not a lack of willpower. It is uncontrollable appetite, and if you've never experienced it, consider yourself blessed and have a little compassion.

Exactly! I'm really struggling to see where this moral outrage is coming from. It's undoubtedly a good thing for the NHS, and other than that only affects individuals who take the medications.

Can one of those who are anti these medications enlighten me what their concern actually is?

It comes from their fear that if everyone is slim, they will lose their right to feel superior to all the fatties.

@LifeExperience absolutely!
It's another 'I worked hard for my mansion, anyone could do it but they're weak and lazy'. Show anyone that privilege played a whacking great part in that and they don't like it.

Personally I think it starts with kids
Education about diet (processed food, moderation, what to we actually need to eat)
I'd like more emphasis on sports in school. More money spent on it - swimming pools, scholarships for good sports players, more after school activities
More about growing your own veg etc
More info about what happens to you in obesity

While all of this is very laudable and sensible, in the meantime, those of us who are obese and have been for many years - often since childhood - have realised that eat less, move more does not work for us (hint: we've tried it duh), so we need something else and that something is either weight loss drugs or surgery. I personally choose the drugs, sorry DRUGS, because I don't fancy bariatric surgery.

You are constantly conflating two separate issues and that is obese people using this as a way of improving our health and life and to not be the burden on the NHS that you all accuse us of; and vacuous, image-obsessed celebs who are already a normal weight, or underweight, using it to become even thinner. It is not the fault of us obese people that this is happening. It is not enough of a problem to punish us.

According to a study paid for by the drug company producing it and not independently verified. There are some very concerning side effects that could cause long term damage so yes OP I agree that we don't know what the ramifications could be. No way I'd touch them

You clearly don’t understand how pharmaceutical evidence generation works. 2 years is very long for a RCT.

Who do you think usually pays for these studies - for any new pharmaceutical?

I'm going to be honest. Apologies if what I'm about to say is rude.

I'm kinda ugly but I'm in good shape and with the current "obesity epidemic " (as it's called) that makes me look better than a lot of people. It has literally never been easier for uggos like myself we just have to stay a decent size.

These weight loss drugs are making me feel uneasy for that reason

Anyone relate? Honestly?

I think the best way for someone to lose weight should be determined by a dietician or specialist. Just saying 'exercise more and eat a balanced diet' is just so incredibly unhelpful if as in a lot of cases that isn't the issue!

I have to take medication which has caused me to gain weight. I spent years being seen by 'health coaches.' They were very much just parroting the same information no matter the actual problem. I mentioned this on another thread but I told one of the health coaches I walked 40 minutes a day doing the school run, I also went to the gym 4 times a week - classes, weights, cardio, swimming and badminton. She told me to try walking for 30 minutes a day!! So advised me to do less exercise! She had no clue about the medication I was on and just suggested I eat more and to eat healthy food!

Eventually I got to see a dietician who was brilliant. Looked at my individual case and really knew what he was talking about.

Exactly this.

Also weird how the emphasis seems to be on improving fat people rather than improving the attitudes of people who want to be unhealthily thin through whatever means

I don't know much about Ozempic and I understand fears about side effects.

The problem is, there aren't actually any proven successful ways for populations to reverse the effects of being overweight like we are now. OPs preferred alternatives are wishful thinking.

It would be good to do things like tackle the more obesogenic aspects of our society etc. But the fundamental problem would still remain. We never evolved for abundance and evolution has favoured the sort of behaviours that lead to obesity.

A thousand times this.
Even 50 yrs ago people were slim compared to nowadays.
Junk food and not enough exercise
Vets say obese pets are a problem nowadays, too.
Too much calorific rich food and not enough exercise.

I think it really depends on the person. If it's someone who weighs 30 stone and they've tried everything else, it will be beneficial for them.

If it's someone who has a binge eating disorder, or anyone who eats for emotional reasons, they are still going to eat and regret it, and it would make no difference to their behaviour, and therefore their weight. This would be me.

If it's someone who eats chocolate and crisps for the rest of their calories and nothing else, then that's not going to be healthy either. They are going to be massively nutritionally starved. This is the main one I'd worry about, because I'm a big snacker and go for whatever is easier.

If it's someone who is anorexic or a normal weight it's probably going to end badly.

It's like the equivalent of wearing shapewear - it doesn't teach you to be better, it just hides the problem until you stop doing it. Who is going to want to spend their whole life on injections when they aren't sick?

I had to laugh at the outrageous suggestion that not approving of a drug /injection for weight loss has become a 'FAR-RIGHT' conspiracy - are you for real?

Is everything to 'blame the far-right' for you that you cannot see how ridiculous that sounds.

If someone wants to inject a drug - they should crack on - their choice. I really do not care.

There are so many reasons people are overweight,
The whole food industry spends millions researching what food combinations are irresistible (apparently there's a specific sugar /fat ratio, cheesecake ticks all the boxes.)
tasty foods give you a dopamine hit, which is a reward, you feel better when you get a dopamine hit.
Food is literally made and researched to be as addictive as possible so it sells.
Add on to that, busy lifestyles, making convenience important, UPF foods are cheaper or easier to prepare than many healthy options,
Modern life is stressful and eating food is comforting (and makes you feel better, along with the Dopamine hit you get from it).
It's literally the same reward you get from taking drugs and if these medications switch off that reward-seeking behaviour and allow someone to ignore the urge to eat sweet/salty/fatty foods then it's no different than giving medications to help with any other drug withdrawal.
unfortunately, they will come with side effects for some, no drug is 100% safe and the studies are showing that once you stop them, then the weight goes back on. So it's not a quick cure-all.

They also smoked a looooooot more than we do now. The percentage of the population who were addicted to a drug known to suppress appetites was much higher.

They’re fantastic. I lost over a stone in 3 weeks on my second strength dosage.

What frustrates me is that there are people on this thread who seem to think they know my body better than me. I am nearly 40 years old. I know what I can and can’t eat in order to lose weight. I track calories religiously and have done for four years. I have experimented with amounts of calories and also the components of diet to find the perfect combination for my particular body. I know that I need to eat around 1000 calories a day, made up primarily of protein and good fat, with very minimal carbs. I find it easier to do this if I stick to one meal a day – once I break my fast, I’m hungry, so it’s easier to fast for as long as possible. If I do this, I lose approximately 2lbs a week. This is not a fad, this is what I’ve been doing for four years (on and off, I had a break of about 8 months during which I put on 1.5 stone despite eating “normally) successfully. This is not disordered eating, it is what I have to do in order to lose weight. And Saxenda gave me the mental space I needed to work that out. It gave me three months where I didn’t have food noise, where I ate solely to fuel my body rather than in response to a desire. It gave me time to teach myself what I needed.

What I’m getting from this thread is that society doesn’t want fat people to be fat, but it also wants it to be as hard and as painful as possible for us to lose weight.

I take medication for my adhd.
Because it´s a medical necessity for me personally. Most likely due to my body either being incapable of producing sufficient amounts of dopamine or being incapable of properly processing dopamine.

Seems like my ADHD brain may have been an advantage once upon a time. Nowadays? I was severely depressed (and actually became very overweight!!) when my ADHD was not treated.

Some people seem to have similar issues when it comes to their weight. Craving additional energy and being able to store it effectively? That was probably a massive advantage for most humans until semi-recently. Nowadays? Not so much. And why shouldn´t those people get help?

It´s fascinating how some people differentiate between "real" illnesses deserving of treatment and those that somehow just aren´t. Do we tell type I diabetics to just produce more insulin? no. Then why do it with other diseases and disorders?

Yes, there's always been something. I remember in the 70s when far more people smoked, people used to say if you give up smoking you put on weight. Because people replace putting a cigarette in their mouth with food.

And yet when I looked on the Gov.uk website this…

There was an 18th-century philosopher Edmund Burke, who said, “Under the pressure of the cares and sorrows of our mortal condition men have at all times called in some physical aid to their moral consolations.”

In the 18th century there was the gin craze which caused huge problems

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gin_Craze

The victorians took lots of drugs

wellcomecollection.org/articles/W87wthIAACQizfap

I'd use them if I could afford to pay for them.

It's amazing how concerned people who don't need GLP-1's are about a supposed lack of clinical trials, long term data and potential side effects of these drugs.

Do you have the same level of worry about these issues when it's drugs you personally aren't being prescribed which are for cancer, asthma, arthritis etc?

I suspect not, drill down and it always comes down to a belief that fat people are lazy or uneducated on nutrition and resentment for them getting an 'easy' solution (which it's not but hey don't let that get in the way of making yourself feel superior).