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.

It's a bit scary. I forsee a future where we all going to be skinny and using cosmetic surgery to look the same. A lot of these drugs suppress appetite so no one will want to go out for cake or an indian anymore 😂. We will all be stick thin, gaunt, plastic and zero craic.

Hitting perimenopause I gained weight and couldn’t lose. Months of cc - working with a pt, steps, water, prioritise protein. Barely lost. It’s absolutely soul destroying. Implication you are cheating and aren’t weighing everything.
Tipped into obese and taken mounjaro. It’s just a tool to stick to low cals. Lost just over a stone so far in a couple of months. I still have to cc but have been able to drop to 1000-1200 cals a day 100g protein.
Mood much better and more balanced.

I think it's quite refreshing to hear you admit this actually!

Weight is often a status thing and a social signifier. It's not surprising that some people who perceive themselves as benefitting from this standard might not want to lose that benefit.

Note I say weight and not thinness. Being thin is the relevant standard here, but this would apply just as much in a cultural context where being fatter is valued as a sign of wealth, and a pill suddenly emerged where everyone could take it and put on several stone. What I'm saying is, I think this is quite a normal response.

Yes it's a very complex issue of interplay between genetics, hormones and environment and research has shown this to be the case.

For naturally slim people - count your lucky stars but get off your high horses!

Also, once a weight is hit, our bodies are driven to get back to that weight which is why it's so hard to remain on the new weight as the hunger is so intense. Pharma companies are looking to hopefully use medications to switch this off.

What on earth

That's because Mounjaro is a new drug created especially for weight loss, which is now being extended to diabetics who cannot get their normal drugs because of the supply issues with some glucagon products.

Basically people wanting to lose weight contributed to a shortage of diabetes medicine, so new weight-loss medicines were created using semaglutide instead of eg glucaphade, and these can also be used to help diabetes.

I agree OP, but for different reasons. People will use these drugs instead of eating a healthy balanced diet and whilst they might not get fat, they will suffer other health problems. Were only just beginning to understand the importance of a healthy gut microbiome and the need for a wide ranging plant-based diet. I fear general health will start to suffer in other ways.

@AlanStitchmarsh why do you think people will use them instead of a healthy diet, rather than as well as? Can tell you from my experience that's not true at all!

I'm 53 and have been a type 2 diabetic for about 15 years, 10 of those medicated. Initially I could control it with diet, then Metformin. Since turning 50, my hba1c went through the roof and I'm now stuck having to carb count and keep carbs under 100g a day. What pisses me off is that my diabetic nurse has recommended Wegovy as Metformin is shredding my stomach lining, hence I can't take a higher dose which I really need to. They can prescribe but can't source with enough confidence to put patients like me on it. I could do with losing another 2 maybe 3 stone but I'm not massively overweight and there is literally nothing more I can do dietwise to control my diabetes. I have genetic type 2 as my Dad had it, as did his Mum before him.

Yet there is thread after thread on here of people taking these drugs and patting themselves on the back because they're saving the NHS the future costs of them being diabetic. If people were using a cancer treatment to lose weight there would be outrage, yet the diabetics can suffer

These drugs were designed to reduce blood sugar levels.

You get the same result if you eat low enough carb and exercise.

But people refuse to stop eating grains and starch - they’d rather take a pill as it’s the easy option.

I have a friend who made themself Type 2 diabetic through ghastly food/drink choices and now that they can have pills they can just keep eating and drinking the same as before. They say “I wish I looked like you” but then they have a pizza while I have a steak.

Love the honesty! I relate to a certain extent, I have always been effortlessly very slim and a dark part of me feels like MY "superpower" is being made accessible to everyone.

But in reality, you're not competing with anyone.
Other people being "attractive" doesn't take anything away from you.
Otherwise it'd mean that people who like you do so just because they couldn't find better, that would be sad, wouldn't it?
How many people do you really love and care about because of how they look / weight? And purely because of how they look?
And there are so many ways to be attractive (in the broad sense, not just sexually or physically) - the style, the charm, the humour etc...

And keep in mind, for many many people, it's for health, not for looks. Everyone has a right to good health.

.

This is nonsense! The new medications have been made because Ozempic/semaglutide was the first GLP-1 agonist to last a whole week & work so well for weight loss (there were already similar meds for diabetes but they didn’t last as long or cause as much weight loss) and was an instant blockbuster! All the other pharma companies naturally want to get in on this market and to create even better, more effective medications. They were in development before Ozempic was launched & were not quickly whipped up to fill the gap caused by shortages.

You can reset your ghrelin and leptin with the appropriate diet.

People with eating disorders.

@OneTC and @AnitaLoos thanks I clearly had my timings wrong!

The point I was trying to make though was an answer to someone asking why mounjaro was being used for diabetes if a medicine created for weight loss. So that part still stands, just got my motivations for creation wrong!

Tirzepatide ( Mounjaro) was first approved for diabetes and then for weight loss but was developed for both.

It’s funny how much thin people don’t want fat people to be thin 😂.

Well... I can only speak for myself, obv. I'm very slim and don't use any medicine for that. I was medium weight/a bit chubby child, medium adult and then due to various reasons I've gained about 5ish stone.

Lost 7 stone (cal counting, eating healthy), kept it off for the past 10 years. BUT. The food is constant noise in my mind. No, I'm not hungry. I actually don't eat much and I'm ok with that, I'm not starving. But you know how people say 'oh, as soon as you lose weight and become healthier, you reset your appetite and healthy, natural, whole foods become extremely tasty, your tastebuds change'. Well that's total bullshit. At least for me.

I just love processed shit, as simple as that. I must have shit taste, but it's tasty for me, tastier than all those 'wholesome home cooked meals'. If I could, I'd ditch my smoked salmon, avocados, lentils and feta for burgers, kebabs, and LOTS of sugar. Because I love it. I don't do it, because I want to stay slim. But the urge is there constantly.

So it's hard work. Very hard work, actually. I can imagine it might be something similar for other overweight people. I understand them, it's HARD and not everyone can do it.

So yea, eat less, mostly plants, low-ish carb, limit processed food, yadda yadda. Everyone knows that. Fat people know it. The question is HOW. If it would be easy, everyone would be slim.

My brother, for example, is naturally slim/medium. He eats a normal sized meals, likes good 'whole' foods, doesn't like junk food. Doesn't have cravings, so when he sometimes fancies say ice cream or a biscuit, he eats a cone or a few biscuits and stops. I can't do that, I'd demolish the whole packet and go for a second one.

It's sounds flipping marvellous to me!

I was reading about the development of a daily pill version of this which it is hoped might prevent obesity in the first place! Considering I take meds for high blood pressure and under active thyroid sounds like a great prospect.

Exactly the same as me. Would you be able to message me what supplements you take please as I’m not getting anywhere with doctors x

@JosiePosey which diet resets grehlin & leptin?

Whilst drugs can people not reset their ‘hunger’? Why do most regain?

Could it be as simple as training self whilst on these drugs to never let a UPF touch lips & never drink alcohol? It’s so much easier on them.

Also daily exercise (?)

As well as helping with pcos/insulin resistance lots on mounjaro are reporting improvements with autoimmune conditions.
In uk it’s prescribed for bmi 30 plus only and your gp is informed. They seem to be preparing to prescribe to bmi 25 or 23 for certain ethnicities.

@Investinmyself many I know in London on it have BMIs 25-27 ish. Their social circle can all fit designer stuff, they’re on it as ‘fat’ outliers as they see it.

People talk about willpower and appetite like we are all the same. I have been fat, thin and everything in-between. To be thin/slim I am hungry all the time. It's incredibly difficult for me. I've done it but I can't pretend it's easy. I would go to bed with my stomach rumbling. At the moment I'm a size 14/16...even this is only due to sheer will power.

I had a terrible virus a few years ago...when I got better I remember I had about two weeks where I was totally uninterested in food. It's was actually amazing. I only wish I could always feel like that.