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.

I agree.
I think it's a good thing that we have these medicines now but I'd prefer it if govts were prepared to protect public health by legislating against the production of addictive food like substances!

You don’t have to stop. You can take them for the rest of your life if you need to.

No one gives a shit when an obese person is on, for example, blood pressure medication forever. This is no different and the uneducated remarks and prejudice displayed on this thread are just 🙄🙄🙄

Let people live maybe?

They've obviously made the decision that the risks of remaining obese are larger than the risks of taking the medication, with or without consultation with their healthcare providers. I'm not sure why it would be any of your business.

@User14March It has made me much more cognizant of what I should be eating, and my water intake. If I drink wine it makes me feel a little sick towards the end of one glass, and definitely by the second, and I really think that equates to the sugar content in it. Before I would happily have a few glasses on a night at the weekend, and now I am far more careful and love my truly clear weekend mornings of feeling great. One of my friends lost 40lbs over a year (she is much taller and drinks much more alcohol). She stopped taking it and managed to maintain her weight loss. Others have similarly mentioned on this thread that it is possible to continue the good traits/positive gains. A huge win for me is that now i've lost c. 7-10lbs I have stopped getting shin splits on one leg every time I run. I've been battling it for a year and this now allows me to work out harder and better. Even before taking this I was moving between 3-7 miles a day whether walking/running, and just being able to do it pain free is so incredible.

This is no different and the uneducated remarks and prejudice displayed on this thread

Some of these drugs are life saving medicine for diabetics.

They are in short supply and it’s gross that people who want to lose weight for steal them when they can diet instead.

The world we live in now makes it v hard to be slim. I was a child in the 70s and there were v few obese children then, but now it's what, 40% or more. The supermarkets are full of cheap, addictive rubbish. Many pp don't have the time to cook from scratch. It's an ongoing struggle to maintain a healthy weight.

So I think for pp who are morbidly obese, or diabetic, this drug is a good thing, if it helps create healthier habits. I don't understand what pp mean by ' food noise', as I've never experienced that, but I smoked for years and have struggled with those issues, so understand addiction.

However, as a few pp have said, you can lose weight quite easily on a low carb high fat diet. And you don't need to be hungry! Fat digests slowly, keeps your blood sugar level and there actually is a website, diabetes.co.uk that has a forum of diabetics sharing high fat, low carb recipes that helps them stay healthy. We've been lied to for years about fats being unhealthy, what's really unhealthy is low fat high sugar yoghurts, ' healthy' ready meals, processed vegan foods etc

It really confuses me how so many people are keen to have this but refused a Covid vaccine.

It makes you uneasy because you have little information on the drugs. Do some research and I'm sure you will feel better about it all. The science behind them is astonishing.

Are drugs okay to take to treat heart disease or diabetes ? Is it just DRUGS that are dangerous when treating obesity ?

You do know how dangerous obesity is right ?

Ozempic at certain dosages is in temporarily short supply but there’s plenty of tirzepatide (Mounjaro) which is probably more effective. Many - but not all - people with type 2 diabetes have the disease because they are overweight. But we quite rightly insist they must lose weight with diet and exercise instead of being given medication. Obesity is a disease too. By taking medication developed, licensed and intended for the weight loss, often at their own expense, many people will never develop type 2 diabetes, saving the NHS a fortune.

Plenty of people have died of obesity, not just diabetics. In 2019 alone, 5 million people died obesity related deaths (that's in one year), in contrast, as of the end of 2023 there have been less than 1500 GLP-1R deaths since they were first prescribed in 2005 (so in 19 years). ourworldindata.org/obesity#:~:text=As%20you%20can%20see%2C%20it's,leading%20causes%20of%20death%20worldwide.
In the UK you need to have a BMI of 30+ to have Wegovy/Mounjaro prescribed. A BMI of 30 + is considered obese, so unless you're less than 5ft, you need to be well over "a couple of stone to drop". Yes, people lie and decive to obtain Wegovy and Mounjaro but it's a small number compared to those who have a BMI of over 30. People lie and deceive to obtain metformin, opioids, even large packs of ibuprofen. The prescribing rules are clear in the UK, it's the "policing" of it that's the issue and until you can be prescribed it by a GP that knows you, it's going to remain an issue

Because the 2 things aren't really related in any way maybe?

They are both medications which are quite new and haven't had long term studies on the side effects etc.

People flock to try this because it's for weight loss and they are happy to put substances into their bodies that they don't understand, but there was huge outrage about the Covid jabs.

Please educate yourself on the causes of diabetes. It's nowhere near as simple as eating too much sugar and not doing exercise.

Also there are more than two types. Types 1s pancreases have stopped working completely and for a lot of type 2s either their pancreas is not working properly or their brain does not recognise the amount of insulin in the blood.

They've obviously made the decision that the risks of remaining obese are larger than the risks of taking the medication

Right. The medication might have risks, as any medication does, but there are plenty of risks associated with being overweight too. So it’s a matter of balancing the costs and benefits.

Saying that you can just lose the weight with diet and exercise ignores the evidence. Maybe 5-10% of people can do it with lifestyle change, but the vast majority of people gain the weight back after losing it initially. There are many reasons for this including emotional problems/eating disorders/food addiction and simply your body being at the wrong ‘set point’ so it forces you to gain the weight back through increased hunger or lowering your metabolic rate.

I don’t think it’s all or nothing. You can use the medication while also trying to consistently improve your diet and exercise more. I fully support people using it as a crutch when they are struggling. It’s not just for those with diabetes - obesity is a disease too.

"Obesity is a disease"

WTF????

I looked into this in quite some depth. I’m obese. I know shitloads about nutrition and I exercise a lot. I’m still obese. I went as far as getting some Mounjarno but decided against it.
Some of the weight lost will be muscle (Up to 25% even if exercising and eating protein). I don’t want to lose muscle and accelerate the ageing process/increase frailty. We should be focussing on building and preserving muscle.

I couldn’t afford to stay on it forever and was worried about putting the weight back on as I’d be in a worse state. Say I lost 4 stone, 3 stone fat and 1 stone muscle. Put the weight back on but it’s 4 stone fat!!!

Also, but not relevant to my decision, I was horrified how easy it was to get. Absolutely no checks that I wasn’t suffering from an eating disorder. It makes me really uncomfortable that prescription drugs can be prescribed without seeing a human being.

Maybe they’re different people?

The WHO defines obesity as a disease. I'd love to see your scientific argument compared to theirs... Let me first get my popcorn though please

You have no idea if the people that didn't take the jab do take this or vice versa.

Scientists started working on GLP 1 medications nearly 50 years ago. These medications are not new.

@shellswirl So don't take it.
Move more eat less. Dead easy.
So remind me why you are fat?
How about you do you?

So anyone on these drugs @NoAprilFool is:

1. accelerating ageing process? How exactly - due to no 2?
2. Expect to lose 25 per cent muscle even if on lots of protein & doing daily weights?
3. Any weight gained when you come off all fat?

Ozempic is no longer in short supply in the UK. But to put the cat amongst the pigeons:
Ozempic and other GLP-1R drugs are licenced to treat type 2 diabetes (i.e. not type 1). Although type 2 diabetes can affect anyone, it's true that 90% of type 2 diabetics are overweight or obese. Now, over the last 10 years or so, it's been comprehensively shown that losing weight can take type 2 into remission. So if you're saying that it's simple to lose weight, surely it's easy to stamp out type 2 diabetes? Goodbye Metformin, Ozempic etc forever then. I don't actually think this way but it follows from some of the "you brought it on yourself" and "weight loss is simple" arguments here.

asmbs.org/resources/type-2-diabetes-and-metabolic-surgery-fact-sheet/#:~:text=Obesity%20%E2%80%93%20medically%20defined%20as%20a,BMI%20of%20at%20least%2025).

https://www.diabetes.org.uk/diabetes-the-basics/type-2-remission/how-to-go-into-remission

In the mid-80's at uni I remember girls smoking and taking "blueys" (amphetamines) with the aim of staying thin. Most of them would die if they had to run to catch a bus - they were so unhealthy.