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.

No, I’m not saying that. They are risks - I wasn’t comfortable with taking the risks. I’m “just” obese though and in excellent health. My risk/benefit calculation may have been different otherwise.

Fyi:

OP have you been to Australia recently, they have drive throughs everywhere and 68% of the population is overweight or obese, the UK is a little lower.

The food in Australia is mostly over processed sugary rubbish, the bread is so sweet it was like eating a doughnut.

@Investinmyself can I ask which autoimmune diseases are showing improvement?

Never quite cracked cottage cheese, along with quark. Or is it quack.

YABU

they are not designed for people who are simply overweight or for a quick fix.

they are a tool to assist people living with the serious condition of obesity.

people still need to eat less and move more on them. They do not melt fat! They make it easier to get into a calorie deficit by reducing hunger and cravings. For me it is also buying time to manage my food addiction when I come off it.

they have been subject to clinical trials like other drugs and like other drugs they will be possible side effects some serious for some users.

but like other drugs we take for all sorts of things users weigh up (pardon the pun) the pros and cons and decide whether he balance of risk is worth it.

Incidentally, before being referred to the dietician I was prescribed Orlistat - a weight loss medication. It did absolutely nothing!

I had a similar experience, it cancelled out the food noise completely and allowed me to begin much healthier habits that I could then maintain.

So here you are. Fat. Unable to fix it. Berating something that is now established to work.

Why?

It's like being sick backwards

I haven't read the whole thread so apologies if this has already been covered (also I'm slim so haven't really looked into weight loss drugs much) but is it true that they're more a willpower drug? So they work on cravings? I'm sure I read they were showing promise in the field of alcohol use disorder - which is something that applies more to me personally.
I mean if they work on addiction in all it's various forms ie food/ alcohol/ drugs / gambling they could be an absolute game changer for society. Bloody amazing.

As I said on another of these interminable far bashing threads, fat people can’t do right for doing wrong.

Becoming obese - wrong
unable to fix it by diet and exercise alone - wrong
remaining obese - wrong
using medication - wrong
Having surgery - wrong
using the NHS to treat health problems caused by obesity - wrong
privately funding treatments to alleviate the burden of obesity on the NHS - wrong

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

Yeah, if it was that easy, there would not be a billion pound weight loss industry. The physical/hormonal side of obesity is very poorly researched/understood/accepted. So anything that helps is a good idea imo.

Actually I have been prescribed this for T2 diabetes

For me they have made me realise I do have willpower and can make healthy choices. I could still eat crap if I wanted to but it’s easier to not do so now. Whereas before I had crazy strong craving and pretty much a compulsion to eat crap. So my willpower is fine now my hormones are being fixed by MJ

pp don't have the time to cook from scratch.

A stir fry takes minutes.

Plenty of things can be put in the oven the same as fish fingers and chips. Chop and veg? Chicken drums or thighs & veg. Plenty of different flavour combos.

Medications have their place for sure but in my mind they are for things we don't have a solution for already. And in this case there are other viable solutions.

What are the extremely viable solutions?

YABU! I find some slim people think they're morally superior and are angry about obese people finally getting some help. This is disguised as some kind of concern for poor obese people who clearly cannot make their own decision.

(I say this as someone who has never been overweight btw, my weight has fluctuated a bit with pregnancies etc but I have always been a healthy weight.)

Obesity has SO MANY negative consequences and I don't think anyone chooses to be obese. Thank god we finally have some help.

So you are a BAD PERSON if you are fat, because you are part of an epidemic and a drain on society blah blah blah

but also a BAD PERSON if you use medication to lose weight because DRUGS?

Are you all thin because you’re clutching your pearls so hard it’s a full body workout?

My friend was prescribed one of these medications for her diabetes.

Previously she'd had metaformin and the usual 'eat less, move more' advice. Her partner was a very early Zoe tester and together they followed all the dietary advice - almost everything home cooked; loads of veg; brown rice; pulses; meat/fish in smaller quantities; fruit based puddings; no added sugar. But still my friend didn't lose weight - although she felt healthier.

On Ozempic she feels utterly different. She's lost some weight, which is probably good for her type 2 diabetes, but she says her head and mindset has totally changed. She is an intelligent person and knows that eating an apple is better than eating a donut, she know what a healthy plate of food looks like. Now, with this medication she can suddenly understand the mentality of the 'just eat less and move more' brigade. With this medication that strategy is possible for her. Previously it just wasn't. Whatever she did - healthy eating, low carb - her body (mind?) craved more food, and in crisis craved instant carbs.

She says she no longer has that. All her cravings have dampened down. One glass of wine is sufficient - no desire for a second. A long ago smoking habit has been entirely left behind - no inkling of a residual craving to join the others in the smoking shelter!

Wishful thinking, it sounds like.

Yes but many who could potentially reverse with diet can't/won't/don't for all sorts of various reasons, hence why medication is needed and given.

It's the same for obesity.

Even if you believe that it could be reversed with healthy eating and exercise that can't be considered a solution if efforts to get people to stick to that have failed.

If you look on various forums people are reporting improvements in all autoimmune conditions from pretty early on so not just down to weight loss. There’s articles suggesting mounjaro reduces inflammation. So less aches and pains, improved psoriasis etc.
Its had a massive impact on my overall wellbeing and lots of us on the weigh loss thread are finding it’s massively helpful with menopause symptoms (I do take hrt too but was still having lots of issues) I actually feel really well for first time in a few years, mood very stable.

Yes you are right you still need to maintain a calorie deficit which in theory one could do without the drug. But unless someone has lived with obesity I think it is extremely hard to convey the level of hunger and cravings. MJ for me turns all that off so makes getting into the calorie deficit much easier

Apparently it helps diabetes (type 1A), insulin resistance and psoriasis, from the following research:
Effect of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists in patients with psoriasis Marwa R. Al-Badri and Sami T. Azar

also autoimmune disorders

Habib Yaribeygi, Mina Maleki, Tannaz Jamialahmadi, Amirhossein Sahebkar,
Anti-inflammatory benefits of semaglutide: State of the art,
Journal of Clinical & Translational Endocrinology, Volume 36