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.

A lot of people taking these drugs aren't obese they are normal weight but they want to be thin - all you have to do to get the drug is lie about your BMI on an online form. I totally agree that this is a great way to tackle obesity but that isn't what a lot of people are using it for.

There are lawsuits in the US already for people affected by gastroparesis, among other unwanted long-term side- and after-effects.

@shellswirl so what's your solution to the obesity epidemic? They've tried lecturing people for years, they've tried shame. What do you think is the answer if not medication which is clinically proven to help people lose weight?

I don't think relying on individuals willpower is working. We live in an obesogenic environment but with primitive instincts around food....ie eat as much energy giving food as you can when it's around to protect yourself in scarce times. It's a recipe (excuse the pun) for disaster

If you look at all the mad things people have done to loose weight in the past - taking sliming pills full of amphetamines, taking laxatives, 'heroin chic' got it's name from somewhere... colonic irrigation (surely that's not ok...), eating loads of low fat foods filled with aspartame... They ate tapeworms in the Victorian era FFS!

If it was a simple as 'use a bit of discipline and eat more kale'... do you think people would be eating tapeworms and popping speed!

So I wait to act getting fatter and fatter then I will be a candidate for NHS bariatric surgery - far more risks and far more poor outcomes.

Diabetes is the most common known underlying cause of gastroparesis.

and with the exception of tapeworm and heroin I have tried all these and yet the fat remains maybe the tape worm is next

It's a sad situation we're in when people see fit to judge other people's choices about their own bodies, and yet you still seem keen to perpetuate it.

I wasn't suggesting you personally don't use it. If you or anyone else is morbidly obese, the risks might be minimal compared to doing nothing or having bariatric surgery. But the vast bulk of people swarming to get this stuff into their bodies are not morbidly obese, and some are having dreadful after-effects.

Well, you can't sue the manufacturers of diabetes can you.

I listened to some podcasts/books recently explaining the biological dyregulation that a majority of people are experiencing around the amounts of food they consume.

Humans are adapted to survive in times of scarcity. The majority of people are programmed to eat more than they need to meet their hunger signals when food is available because in previous generations that would have been the best for the species, clearly certainly in the west, times have changed. People are meeting their programmed biological drives by overeating which is the gun to the modern lifestyle’s bullet.

There are estimates that between 40/70% of the propensity to gain weight easily is down to genetics and the rest is down to environmental considerations.

It is complicated to be sure as I think weight loss drugs are a part of the solution.

@Diddleyeyeeye that's why there's a predisposition in some ethnic groups but no one wants to talk about that.

In my experience in the 2 weeks I have been using it I can only describe it like this.

you should know I have brain hungry where I think I am but I’m probably not and I have stomach hunger which I am actually.

You feel a headache so you take the tablets but you don’t realise when it stops it hurting it just does. I didn’t realise I had stopped being hungry I just did and as a result stopped foraging out of boredom because my brain wasn’t hungry (apparently not connected to my stomach) the medication has stopped my brain hunger so now I eat when I am actually hungry not when I’m tired or bored or sad or happy or just about any other feeling.

It’s like it’s switched an addiction off somehow. It’s bizarre because I love food and I love eating it’s a very strange experience to not think about food all the time not be planning what’s next etc it’s odd.

They are great. Can just eat any old crap food and lose weight. What’s the problem?

The level of moralising on this thread is astonishing. OP, I don't understand your level of concern? Can you drill down into what exactly it is you feel is happening that shouldn't be?

• The medication is cost saving and a good thing for the NHS, that is generally agreed

• what individuals do with their bodies is, with very few exceptions, entirely up to them.

So what exactly are you concerned about? An entirely hypothetical future scenario where swathes of people have unknown side effects that someone also effect you, someone who hasn't taken it?

I really am very interested why people have such an interest in what individuals do with their own bodies.

The only time my weight has ever been in the healthy BMI range was when I was eating one meal a day...in my late teens/early twenties. I'm talking top end of a healthy BMI by the way so I wasn't exactly skinny.

Yeah you really can’t and you don’t want to more to the point. It’s a drastic solution for sure and not to be undertaken lightly.

i could go back to waiting until I faint before I eat of cube of cheese to lose weight if that’s more acceptable to you all

It is possible, if people eat the right foods. No one will stay obese eating whole foods, protein, veg and a little fruit, and a small amount of the right carbs, if they want them.

That needs willpower though.

Whoever asked me what I would do:

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

Then I'd like to visit a supermarket that doesn't sell 99% processed muck and a few mouldy strawberries

I'd like to live in a world where the fancy clean food doesn't cost more than processed chemicals we consume.

In fact, I'd like to visit a supermarket that has that stuff stripped out

I'd like supermarkets to work for what I need... eg. Here's a bunch of stuff you can pick up to feed a family of 5 in a healthy, easy non processed way. A little bundle of all the ingredients.

But of course they won't do that because of money... they want me to go in, walk past all the shit special offers (chocolate, cereals, beer) at the front before I get to fruit

I'd like to buy a loaf of bread that doesn't have 80 ingredients (for the same amount of money)

By the standard BMI measurements, half the UK population is overweight. A new study came out last week suggesting that if you take account of hidden fat, many normal and slim people are still overweight inside- so that rises to about two-thirds of women over 40.

If 2/3rds of the women you know are overweight or obese and their heart health (the number one cause of death being heart attacks), doesn't that suggest there's something wrong with the food we are eating? Even if we try to 'eat healthily', it's very very difficult, the quality of food such as chicken has gone down as it's full of water/chemicals and killed early and much of it is processed.

Given that we can't magic that away, I think these drugs are great for individuals. I don't think it will solve the obesity epidemic though as that's driven by different things, but for individuals who are just stuck, this is a way through a industry-created problem (google hyperpalatable foods and then just tell me it's all about self-control, these foods are made to be addictive!)

@shellswirlI agree about the food industry, but given this is a capitalist profit-driven sector that government doesn't really want to control, what are we all supposed to do?

Also there is really a lot of confusion about diet on here which hints at a lack of education

"I've been starving for xxxx months and I'm still obese"

"Fine I'll only eat a tiny bit of food til I faint"

"I can't lose weight even if I only have xxxx calories"

Clearly there is work to be done in society if we think we are getting this right but it's still not working