Risking a flaming but jealous of those on weight loss injections

[Notmyfinesthours]

I’ve specifically not put this in the weight loss section as I’d rather hear from those who aren’t dieting or thinking about it. Might help me find perspective better.

I am not overweight. I never have been.
I have however had what feels like a lifetime of making sure this is the case.

I suspect many women feel like me. Brought up to fear being fat or greedy or ‘let myself go’ as if it were the worst sin.

Ive skirted close to or actually been in the midst of orthorexia for most of my adult life. Always saying no to pudding, finding the latest food that will fill me up but not have too many calories and fixating on it before I find the next one. Exercising most days, fitting it in by missing lie ins or nights in front of the fire.

Fretting in pregnancy, menopause and any ill health leading to immobility that it might trigger weight gain.

you get the picture? Self flagellation is big driven by an instilled fear of being fat given to many in my generation (I’m 58) (and yes I know I should address this first- I am trying but the media doesn’t help)

Several of my friends and family are big eaters, always seem to have the toastie and cake when we are out and by their own admissions do little exercise. They have often jokingly talked about being slimmer but say they like food too much and ‘have no willpower’ and can’t be bothered to deny themselves for the sake of a few dress sizes.

I know it’s more complex than that but they basically enjoy life in the way it should be enjoyed to my mind and accept they will be a bit larger bodied. I’ve actually always really admired this as an attitude or at least been a bit jealous of it.

But with the new weight loss injections several of them have dropped weight significantly and are so slim and delighted.

I just feel so cheated. Like I’ve been so careful for so long and they haven’t but they get to be slim just with an injection.

I know it’s more complicated, I know it costs them money, might have risks etc but it’s clear so many celebs are doing the same and it feels like it’s not going to be more commonplace.

Why is this making me feel cheated and am I just an awful person?

Or if you're in the USA with a tame doctor, as I assume that all the already slim celebrities who I understand are using ozempic aren't actually getting it through methods that the NHS would approve of!

@WiserOlderElf you’re right BUT if you’ve always exercised but had flab you begin to see benefits, creating a virtuous circle.

Why would people who have had sleeves be pissed off?

that is both unpleasant and unkind.

There is something galling to think that people who haven't put themselves through this

You put yourself through it and succeeded.

Much better place to be in than those that put themselves through it over and over again and still failed. Failure does not automatically mean they didn't try or didn't try hard enough, they might have tried harder than you, but have different issues to you and still failed.

Why would you be annoyed with those people?

An alternative view -
not injections, but tablet form - for diabetes
some of the other diabetes drugs cause weight gain - so one counteracts the other I guess - some weight loss, not huge.

When seeing a therapist a few years ago over weight issues, childhood trauma came up, and links with addictive behaviour. Overall, therapist expressed the view that with other types of addiction routes I could have gone down, eating disorders are not great, less worse than the alternatives - drugs, alcohol, gambling.. - but of course eating not something you can abstain from in the same way.
So a life - and i am a similar age to you, similarly caught up with eating disorders, that have resulted in other health conditions, and now there is not necessarily a solution, but something that can help.

Sorry if you feel jealous or cheated - but the medical solution is not necessarily a simple fix, and the 'problem' can be a whole lot more complex than you seem to comprehend.

Dont be. My neck currently looks like a chicken's scrotum. It's replaced one major anxiety with another.

At least I'll live longer though and can invest in scarves!

How so?

You can feel however you want, and I don't think you're terrible, just a bit short sighted. The way Im reading your post is that the people who have lost weight don't deserve to or have cheated my using jabs. If they had just done what you had done (which you have acknowledged was disordered eating too at one point) they would be thin - basically they should have suffered a bit to "earn" it.

There is more to being over weight than choosing a higher calorie option when eating out. Its a very complex issue and as PP have said no walk in the park, a lot of people are truly desperate.

Because there are a lot of side effects to having sleeves - you have to take cocktails of vitamins to stay healthy, your hair thins, and you can only ever eat tiny amounts of food, and can't eat and drink at the same time, for the rest of your life. Compared to that, the injections do seem much easier.

There is something galling to think that people who haven't put themselves through this are able to achieve it through a simple injection

What a horrid sentence. Genuinely. Why do people have to suffer to be healthy? Do we have a lower value to you?

Well said! 👏

@elderflowerspritzer there is a growing group of affluent people on it who were never obese & mildly overweight only to start with.

I didn't say I was annoyed with those people, I was empathising with the OP. That's literally what my post is saying!

I don't think I actually have achieved much though, to me that is the point to all this: why are we so obsessed with how we look that we put ourselves through years of self-flagellation to achieve it?

Why would they be pissed off though?

Just because they didn't have a straightforward option - why would that mean they begrudge others?

"If I can't have it, no one can" is a terrible way to go through life - especially as it wasn't even available a few years ago.

I have a friend who had a gastric sleeve - she is just really happy that people can now have easy access to these drugs which hopefully mean they won't need to go through the same. Of course it would have been great if she could have had it too - but it doesn't mean she begrudges its existence!

Whats that got to do with whether its ring fenced or not?

And lots of online pharmacies, do a medical review/questionnaire, sometimes an interview, some dont do any of that, when I was using them for a short period I made sure my own GP was sent the information and details of what I had been given

Some might do, some might not. Not exactly connected to your argument though is it and I wonder why you have gone off at a tangent

... and your point?

That isn't the point I was trying to make. Obviously, it didn't come across clearly but I was saying was: I understand what the OP is saying, but essentially, women's relationship with weight is extremely complicated due to societal pressures and expectations. I don't judge anyone on their weight/decision to lose weight.

Is it because of your thyroid it's not suitable for you?

I have an underactive thyroid and am on MJ. Most prescribers allow you to be prescribed it. A few don't but there no reason not to be on it. It's helped me lose weight that was impossible to lose on my own with diet and exercise.

Because someone was claiming all Monjouro for diabetes has been ring fenced. I was pointing out that pharmacists (unless they are prescribing pharmacists) can guess why you've been prescribed it, but don't actually know. I have never been asked by a pharmacist

I don’t understand the comments giving you hate. Of course you’ll feel the way you do, especially when you’ve been battling an eating disorder all your life the way they have just in the opposite direction. They are unable to stop eating and you are unable to eat. They’ve now got this miracle cure that doesn’t seem to be doing them any harm (right now) and you’re still stuck struggling with your eating disorder. Except your eating disorder is considered you whinging because you’re thin whereas they’re freely allowed to voice their displeasure over their own eating disorder because they don’t have the “privilege” of being thin and ignoring the fact that being thin at the expense of having an eating disorder is just as awful.

I haven't had a gastric sleeve so I am surmising but I imagine they'd be pissed off because the injection would have been a much better option but now they're stuck with something that actually does restrict enjoyment of life. Better than being morbidly overweight, I know. But I can see why that could be really frustrating for them.

I sympathise with you but these injections don't magically make you lose weight. You still have to be in a calorie deficit. They won't tone you up either you still have to exercise
So if people lose weight with them and are looking very good then they will have done this work. Literally all they do is suppress appetite and stop food noise. So if they've lost weight now then the reason they didn't before was literally just due to cravings and 'food noise'.
So basically what you describe battling every day. It's just they weren't able to battle it as well as you and so have taken this.
If they were just lazy they would not lose weight on this drug as it's not magic you still have to be in calorie deficit. You can't just eat any old thing.
Also think of it this way, they have lived with being fat, which isn't fun tbh.. as someone whose been overweight a large portion of their life I can't tell you how much abuse I've endured. It effects your self esteem even if you learn to put a smile on your face. It effe ts your health, the activities and places you can access
It's not actually fun being obese at all.
You think the grass is greener because they've gotten to eat the food they craved but there's a high price for that.
And they have paid that price even if they've now managed to lose weight on these drugs
And let me also tell you that when I was morbidly obese I had an eating disorder
I was not 'enjoying food'. I was binge eating and in a lot of pain. I've eaten until I threw up sometimes. There was no having fun about it. It's an abuse of your body and it's rooted in and causes psychological pain.. and obviously causes physical issues.
I have also dieted in my life to the point where I was seriously under weight.. my hair fell out I had heart palpitations.
My relationship with food is awful, sad and self destructive.
You wouldnt know this if you casually knew me.
i think you would probably see a normal woman who was a little chubby and who lost weight via weightloss drugs to be a healthy weight. You wouldnt know the deep sadness and all the shit that went down throughput my life regarding my weight.
so dont judge these women.
don't resent people using these drugs.
Try instead to be kinder to yourself and work on your own self image and relationship to food.
Many of us are struggling with body image and u healthy relationship to food.. I'd actually wager that a good 80% of women struggle. Let's not judge each other.

Totally get you @Notmyfinesthours I don't watch my weight too much, but I think about food constantly and I do control what I eat - but the thought of the rest of my life limited to 1500 calories a day is just so depressing. I comfort eat & I am hungry a lot. If I were offered Ozempic, my goodness I'd grab it!

I think they will discover that blood sugar & hormones are much more closely linked than has bene previously thought. I know a number of people with PCOS who have become pregnant within 6 months of taking monjouro, without having lost significant weight. I know people who have been able to come off HRT after starting it. It has been pretty much a miracle drug for me with an endocrine disorder and has improved so many aspects of my health.