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?

I’m also not sure what your point is though. There will always be people who try and bend the rules to get something they want.

It's not "grey", they won't be prescribed and are either unaware of the criteria, or unaware of their actual BMI, or they are hoping to lie and obtain prescription medicine fraudulently and knowingly against the prescribing criteria.

People seem easily confused by the fact that someone who was obese and has been using these injections legitimately and successfully for months who is now at a non-obese BMI can continue to use the injections until their BMI is well within the healthy range. And in some cases continue to take them as a maintenance dose for a period of time.

In a way it does seem kind of illogical that an obese person can access medical help to achieve and maintain a lower weight than an overweight person.

Op, your relationship to food sounds like it has taken up a lot of your physical and mental energy over time. It sounds exhausting. I think I can understand where you are coming from.

I hope you have at least been able to enjoy some of the benefits along the way. Better mobility, less wear and tear on joints etc.

I hope you can get to a place where your relationship to food becomes easier.

As with everything, there has to be a cut off. It appears that currently it has been decided that the risks of being clinically obese outweigh the risks of taking the medication. That cut off may well change in the future, but that’s a clinical decision. It the cut off was a BMI of 25 to start taking the medication, someone with a BMI of 24.9 would think it unfair and illogical too.
Either way, that’s not the fault of the people taking the medication within the prescribing guidelines.

I've always been very slim and it's mainly because I just don't enjoy food that much and cooking/eat is an effort. I've always felt I was missing out a bit on food enjoyment so it seems odd to be jealous of people taking the injections because surely they're now in the same position as someone who doesn't feel like eating which isn't particularly fun.

I think any slim 58yr old (I'm also one) will be slim only because we are mindful of what we can eat/need to exercise to stay slim. It's a conscious choice and as we age we need less.

So not having lots of puddings or treats all the time. Not always eating if we feel a bit hungry. Being clear about how some things (lots of bread or potatoes) can spike your blood sugar levels. I enjoy delicious deserts but wouldn't eat any old sugary thing.

Anyway much as it seems everyone is on the injections I don't feel jealous. I have my eating and weight under control. Eat healthily and can eat whatever I want. I just manage it.I wouldn't want to stop nourishing my body because I had no appetite.

Think that the injections are probably going to be a quick fix which we evaporate once normal eating starts as it doesn't change behaviour, just takes away appetite, artificially. I can think of people who have done the shakes or Slimming world or similar who have had a dramatic loss and then got even heavier.

Why would this quick fix be any different?

Well the scientific research suggests that for whatever reason it is different, and that people taking weight loss injections are less likely to put the weight back on than those who lost weight by other means.
As someone who lost 3 stone through diet and exercise and now struggles every day to maintain that (although I have succeeded for 3 years), that’s the one aspect of weight loss medication that I’m envious of!

@palepinkmermaid possibly because it is not a quick fix. I believe that what the injections provide is long-term sustainability. According to research, most dieters on average manage 4 weeks reasonably well and then start to fall off the diet. If you look at the weight loss injection threads, the injections seem to enable long-term sustainable diets. The injections don't themselves make you thin, they just help to enable successful dieting and therefore changes to habits and eating patterns.

However, the proof will be in the proverbial pudding (or not in the case of most people it would seem!).

I've been on the injections since the start of June. I've never been on a diet that long before. I plan to stay on it until January or so, so 7 or more months on it. I do think my eating habits have changed and certainly my drinking and snack habits have changed beyond recognition.

I think Slimming World encourages over eating. You're always told you can eat as much of certain foods as you like - pasta, potatoes etc. It stands to reason that if people eat in large quantities and manage to lose weight because they cut down on fat etc, then when they stop the diet they will continue to eat in large quantities and the forbidden foods will be reintroduced because the person has felt deprived of them.

The injections work on a completely different basis. I'm used now to not having a drink in the evening. I don't fancy one and am never tempted by it. It doesn't occur to me. I really don't think that after more than seven months of not drinking, I'll go back to drinking every night. If you believe that's the case then no diet will ever work, will it? Obviously we will have to be mindful afterwards. That goes without saying. But by eating an awful lot less - not just different foods (like keto or whatever) but actually eating less, that should surely help us to get used to eating smaller portions?

In all the years I've been on MN and the many threads I've seen from fat people asking what thin people think of them, I've never seen anything like the vitriol some posters here have towards thin people. Never seen it in real life either, never heard of thin people judging themselves 'superior'. This thread really has been eye opening about what some overweight people think.
I refuse to believe though that the overweight people I know irl go round with so much spite towards slim people and imagining they think all kinds of things they don't.

But if its about a BMI of 32 being say more damaging than a BMI of 27 why can't anyone take it only until their BMI reaches 27? Why can someone with a BMI of 32 take it until their BMI is 24?

I don’t know, I’m not the medical professionals who have made the scientific decisions on prescribing guidelines.

I think part of that stems from the fact that some (not all!) slim people thought they had no negative feelings towards fat people until a medication was introduced that meant those people could have an opportunity to no longer be fat. There are many, many threads on here that would suggest that.

Because the medication is intended to get the person to a healthy weight, not an overweight weight. Is that really that hard to understand?

Do you not understand that the patient would not reach a healthy weight if they had to stop at a BMI of 27?

There is also medical evidence to suggest that someone who has become clinically obese has an altered physiology that makes it far more difficult for them to lose weight than someone who is overweight but not obese. So I suspect that plays a part in the decision.

But if the purpose of the medication is to enable people to reach a healthy weight then why can't it be used by anyone who is significantly above a healthy weight? (Obviously little point if its just a couple of pounds)

I wonder though in reality if anyone who is significantly overweight and has been for years really does have that much chance of reaching and maintaining a healthy weight.

You have to remember that this is just the first stage in rolling out these medications for weight loss purposes. It may well be that at some point anyone overweight will be able to purchase the medication. We just haven’t got there yet. These things are evolving all the time.

I think this competitive thinness thing as been around for ever. Look at AbFab portrayal etc & competition there. ‘Friends’ sabotaging diets by adding extra sugar to tea when no one looking. Mean girls & ‘diet’ cereal bar for Regina George etc.

[This is like pigeon chess]

Because the benefits of losing weight don't outweigh the risks of using the injections for those people who are only slightly overweight.

Well the patriarchy has done a number on all of us hasn’t it? I can’t imagine men having this conversation. Using other people’s bodies to make themselves feel better. Feeling less than because they are bigger.

Having lost so much weight on Mounjaro myself (almost 4 stone) my appetite has dropped significantly and is showing no signs of increasing despite long periods without the medication.

I’m not denying myself or feeling hungry. I still enjoy food- just eat less of it cause my stomach has shrunk. It’s like a big reset. I simply can’t eat anywhere close to 2,000 calories a day now …. unless I’m eating out and then it’s easy to go over.

I assumed this is how most slim people go through life, but it’s seems there are plenty of women who deny themselves and are starving hungry to stay slim. That’s really sad and if it were me, I’d overeat and get fatter. It’s not worth it. No one cares that you are slim.

I don’t think my life has really improved that much since losing this weight. I look better, younger and I’m getting more positive attention but it doesn’t make me happier. I am as successful in my career and family as I was before. I’m grateful for my good life and I still fear illness (cancer as surrounded with it sadly).

I do like being slimmer and I’m more confident, but happier no. That may sound contradictory but I don’t think happiness comes from how you look- it’s about living your values and having good relationships with people. That’s true happiness. Being BMI 33.5 didn’t stop me living a good life but perhaps BMI 40 would have… I don’t know cause I never got to that size.

I am sorry to say that I think slim people who are going hungry to stay slim either have a mental health issue (and need to seek help) or are shallow and have a screwed up value system due to the patriarchy.

Patriarchy!

It is completely someones choice if they want to see themselves in competition about weight or appearance or any other physical thing with other women

Men have their own competitions, internally, they may not voice them.

Some people are more competitive than others, mainly because they're not satisfied with themselves, if they were satisfied with themselves they wouldnt find something to hook into about looking at what others are doing

And by the the way its perfectly normal to feel hungry, we should experience hunger and if its not time for tea, we just wait until it is, so theres no MH issue for someone 'feeling hungry' and not eating every single time they get a pang of peckishness.

@Waboofoo that’s so interesting on appetite reduction, is this why we’re seeing WLI meaning the end of yo/yo dieting, less likely to gain again?

Some say UPF the reason for regain & big appetite spikes. Is it simply stomach shrinkage over time? More likely to hit gym so inc in muscle mass?

@SilenceInside the PP was talking re: the significantly overweight.

But if its about a BMI of 32 being say more damaging than a BMI of 27 why can't anyone take it only until their BMI reaches 27? Why can someone with a BMI of 32 take it until their BMI is 24?

This is literally what the manufacturer is testing to determine - as posted up thread somewhere. Whether people who are a healthy weight - or just above presumably - but have factors that suggest they may gain weight would benefit from it.

It's one of the next steps with these medications.