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?

OP I know exactly how you feel and I can relate.

Going by BMI, I have never been even in the overweight category yet have been in a fight mode with either actual or potential weight gain my whole life. It is sad and exhausting. I look good in the mirror and terrible in photos. I have a very flat stomach but broad shoulders, B-road hips and big backside so always look wide. My face is round too, with small features, so I cannot event 'dress strategically' to hide imperfections of my body as every bit of short-term self-indulgence lands on my cheeks first and I look automatically fat. Even if my body is trained and athletic.

I promise this is not an eating disorder or body dysmorphia. I am just tired of never reaching the look where I genuinely look thin - despite all the exercise and good diet.

I would say a definite yes to an injection which could bring my weight down sufficiently to just stop looking big

for anyone on the jasbs here is help product to aid going to the loo nutrgums happy fibre gummies off amazon or direct from nutrigums. take 2 a day wioll aid not going to the loo ,

I hear you OP. I fully recognise that there will be people with genetic or health factors - I think they’re in a different category. However i know lots of people who just overeat, chug back alcohol and don’t look after themselves who are now using the jabs.
Of course I’m bitter - I have to low carb in order to stay a healthy weight. I don’t chug alcohol or overeat. I’d love to eat chocolate and puddings and potatoes….but I’m trying to be responsible for my health.
Case in point is a colleague who spent months whingeing about ‘not being able to shift the weight’, while eating croissants for breakfast, big pasta salads and biscuits for lunch and reporting how many glasses of Prosecco she had at the weekend. But of course, she’s on jabs now, rather than actually changing her diet.

So she is eating all the same calorie intake is she?

Sounds like fun. NOT!

As I said earlier, there is a bizarre attitude towards these weight loss injections. Like hey, why just eat healthily/eat less, and exercise more - when you can have weight loss injections - with side effects like nausea, sickness and diarrhoea, headaches, dizzy spells, bloating, gastro-intestinal problems, and a loss of appetite - making you struggle to enjoy any food, (and God knows what else in the future) instead!

Seriously, the bizarre championing of these weight loss injections just baffles me. There is a serious case of The Emporer's New Clothes right here.

Your colleague won’t lose weight if she keeps eating yeh same amount.

If her diet doesn’t change then she won’t lose weight.

The jabs don’t melt fat. That’s not how they work.

The injections won't help if she still has same calorific intake

BMI is a notoriously poor indicator for people who are physically active like you. But, perhaps wrongly, I’d also assume that someone like you is not seeking a weight loss drug because you know your weight is an indicator of your muscular physique and a result if your active lifestyle. The reality is that the vast majority of people I the modern world are not active enough ( regardless of their weight) and the vast majority of people who are morbidly obese are not healthy. But that is all by the by. I was merely telling the OP not to be jealous of people who take a pill to get a quick fix, because it’s not comparable to a lifetime of healthy living. Ditto, I’d suggest that someone who takes this pill is not going to get the cardiovascular fitness that you have.

Indeed, but this thread is about the OP’s envy, not about what is best for those people. My response was simply a reminded that the OP really has nothing to be envious of and should be proud of her perseverance in maintaining her health and weight over any decades. It’s a pretty impressive achievement in the modern world.

That’s my excuse I’m 5ft! 😆. I genuinely am. So I guess my daily calories are less than someone who is 5ft8”. But maybe I feel as hungry as the person who is 5ft8”? But maybe if we ate the same and exercised the same my BMI would be higher? It’s shit being a short arse.

Don’t fret on my behalf. I’m sure people do get it in questionable circumstances but It’s hardly a recommendation.

I feel you OP. I'm not slim, never have been. I'm not massively overweight either. But I've struggled all my life to keep it under control and really struggle now over 50. My waist has thickened massively and nothing I will do will get it to lose the layer of fat. I'm just skirting under the limit of BMI so no way I can get an injection.

I assume food noise is connected to my adhd. I didn’t have it when I exercised a lot and had my food under control. But who knows?

it quite probably is. A lot of people with adhd find adhd meds quietens the food noise and they lose weight. I paid for a private consultation due to a three year nhs waiting list and was diagnosed with adhd. But the private adhd drugs are expensive (more than MJ) and I’m also not sure I want them as there are aspects of my adhd which are very useful. GP won’t prescribe me anything anyway as my diagnosis is private. And this is wrong for such people…..that due to crazy nhs waiting lists they then can’t get the drugs the6 should be able to have for a medical condition and one of the known side effects of adhd is eating when not hungry.

interestingly MJ has only very slightly turned off the food noise for me, I would still like to eat a bar of chocolate every day (I don’t). But it’s turned off a lot of the other noise (not food related) in my head. I’m calmer and life is quieter.

Why do people assume that some using the injections are cheating.. some of us have spent our entire lives battling against weight! I'm fat because my parents never taught me about basic nutrition.. I'm fat because of childhood trauma, because of adult trauma, because of medication and illness! I'm fat because I eat my feelings and my body simply can't stand up to a daily exercise regime.

I pay for my Injections and to do this I miss out on other things in my life!

I've been on them a year now, and I've only lost 4 stone! It's been a very hard long slog to get to where I am now!

I didn't choose the trauma of childhood, the genetic diseases that have ruined my body and I pay my own way to ensure I don't become a massive drain on the NHS... but by all means if you want to be jealous of me... go ahead

No worries. Are you really interested in the injections though? If so, even with the 27 bmi, you can qualify with some weight related illness if you have them or if you're not of 'White' ethnicity, as 'obese' starts from 27 bmi with other ethnicities. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) this is the only way I know it can be gotten.

The OP has put out a statement and is explicitly asking for opinions on whether or not the users of this forum think she is being unreasonable.

As someone who has yo yo dieted all her life (and been very big at times) and as someone who struggles every day to keep my weight between 26-29 bmi, I do think it's unfair that people can be prescribed the drug until they're a healthy BMI but I cannot. I don't expect it on the NHS- I'd be happy to pay full price.

@LikeWhoUsesTypewritersAnyway

"As I said earlier, there is a bizarre attitude towards these weight loss injections. Like hey, why just eat healthily/eat less, and exercise more - when you can have weight loss injections - with side effects like nausea, sickness and diarrhoea, headaches, dizzy spells, bloating, gastro-intestinal problems, and a loss of appetite - making you struggle to enjoy any food, (and God knows what else in the future) instead!

Seriously, the bizarre championing of these weight loss injections just baffles me. There is a serious case of The Emporer's New Clothes right here."

Do you think that I, as an obese adult having been overweight for the best part of 35 years, have never been told or thought about "just eat healthy/eat less, and exercise more"?? Do you really think that obese people don't know that? Why do you think people remain obese? Just ignorance of that simple fact? Obviously now you've mentioned it here, none of us obese people will stay that way and we'll all drop the weight. Thank goodness you commented!

But, seriously, I've been eating less and exercising, losing weight putting it back on since I was around 12 years old. I have only ever maintained a healthy weight once, and I was essentially orthorexic in my behaviour during that time. So I've never had a normal relationship with food as an adult. These weight loss injections have helped to stabilise my diet, to stop overeating and to stop craving salty, sugary, fatty foods. It feels possible for the first time in my adult life to manage to lose all the weight and move forward at a healthy weight. Why on earth wouldn't I be positive about these injections?? As for side effects, I've had one instance of gastric upset due to what I ate. I haven't repeated that and have no other side effects.

@Babbahabba those in your situation are getting them in some circumstances.

I predict they’ll be widespread within 5 years even for those with high end of normal BMIs at a low dose. They generally lower cholesterol etc.

Botox is widespread initially it was used only for medical conditions. Metformin taken by some re: longevity now etc.

I don’t even want to be or look thin. If I can get to even just obese or by some miracle overweight that will improve my life no end. I had no quality of life before these drugs. Yes I know most of you probably think it’s my own fault but it was still a fact. Even at still morbidly obese but going on for 3 stone down I am starting to get my life back. It’s so not about vanity or looking slim for me. I’m well past that ever being an option.

I totally understand where you are coming from. I am permanently hungry, often starving but am determined not to be overweight. I exercise every single day and eat a strictly healthy diet. I am a size 10 but my god it is hard work. I could eat double what I eat at every meal, no problem.

I found your post interesting. I have a very good friend with obesity, I was always slim. I know her since we are kids and we are now mid forties, we are the same age.
I witness all her struggles with food. The mad dieting, and the very poor self steem she has all her life. Your post resonates a lot when you describe you have the urge to eat really fast. This is also her. She seems to think about food all the time and it's like torture for her, it's a life time of struggling with the same thing.

I do think that there is a difference with people without a weight issue. I don't feel that urge to eat a lot of food and fast. I feel full quite quickly. If I get upset I tend to forget about food, if she gets upset, she eats more.

I am not a doctor but I am convinced that obesity is linked with not being able to recognise the sensation of being full. Our brain controls hunger/ satiety so maybe its an issue with the mechanism in the brain that regulates hunger.
I am sorry for all the people suffering from obesity. x

@User14March hopefully. My eating is incredibly disordered- I've been trapped in a binge/starve cycle since I was 14 and I'm now mid 40s. I was never a skinny teen- I was after at 18 than I am now. When younger I used smoking, speed and purging to lose weight. Now I have a miserable existence of calorie counting - restricting and bingeing to stop myself getting really big. I eat crap, I don't exercise, I'm not healthy and I'm constantly tortured with thoughts of food, bargain with myself, reward myself, punish myself etc. it's hell. I don't even know what my average weight is because I've been everything between a size 10 to size 20 my adult and teen life.

To add, I don't have any of the weight related conditions which would mean I would qualify nor in any of the relevant ethnic groups. I feel like I'm constantly on the precipice of ballooning, which is a very real possibility for me. I might be "obese" by BMI standards but I'm really not convinced I haven't damaged myself internally physically with all my years of unhealthy habits and mentally I'm certainly wrecked. My relationship with food is totally broken.

@Babbahabba sorry to hear this.