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?

You may want to get your thyroid checked

But unless Ive misread your post, you seem to be suggesting you could have injections and eat more and still lose weight. The injections give you the opportunity to eat less without having cravings for food, but you still have to eat less, your diet wouldnt look any different to now, i fyou think that is miserable and too little, then it would be the same

I'd be interested as well.

I've seen that they suppress appetite, my weight gain is because I eat despite not being hungry

Another fat bashing thread , lovely
Sad your fat friend is no longer fatter than you ,??;what a shame ..
All these weight loss jabs do ,is level the playing field .
Now we have as much chance to be thin ,as others do .
But your attitude does not surprise me ,and fair play for being honest, because I bet a hell of a lot of things people feel the same .
Do I care ..ha ha ,do I hell

I don't think OP is saying that at all. It's such a compex area. I can feel extra weight hampering my ability to move its not pleasant at all. I do think if my mother hadn't cast a disapproving eye over me when I hit puberty, I would not have had any issue with weight.

I literally just saw an interview on sky about wegovy. I hear you completely except I’m fat and not willing to go down the injection path yet. I’m like you in that I exercise loads but I have a binge eating issue so no matter how much I exercise if I don’t shut it off at the tap I’ll always be overweight and I have a tonne of the food noise you describe because outside of binges I eat pretty much as you describe. I hear you though it’s frustrating.

I’m sorry. I didn’t want to make anyone else feel bad. I’d love to think we were changing things for the next generation and had hoped the tide was turning but who knows.

I hope you can find some peace and sorry again for making you sad.

I'm using Mounjaro, it doesn't take away the enjoyment of food in the slightest. I know some people like to believe that, but it's not true. I just eat less food, and prefer different things now, things that are better for me.

I appreciate the OPs honest. She's the flip side of the same messed up attitude towards eating and women's bodies that our society perpetuates that results in overweight women feeling shit about themselves. Turns out, very few women just eat enough and feel happy and content about their body shape, both fat and thin people are messed up!

I said YABU. When people overeat they’re overweight, which is a consequence of ‘not denying yourself’. The jab makes you not hungry, so that you don’t overeat. So it’s not as if you get to eat what you want and not be skinny, the jab just gives people what you already have, the will to say no.

You should be careful about spreading such misinformation

The studies show that its one of the most effective methods of weight loss, all weight loss methods such as slimming clubs, 'lifestyle changes', injections, surgery etc have lowish success rates but out of all of those injections and surgery have higher success rates over the long term. That might be because of the starting weight in the first place of course, no one wants to put 10 stone back on

it is highly unlikely, to the point of impossible that Sharon Osbourne is unable to put weight on, she would be a medical miracle and rather undermines the narrative that the money people stop taking them, the weight piles back on

The drugs that are licensed for weight loss are a different source than those licensed for diabetes.

Well, maybe I was being harsh - I think ozempic etc uncover attitudes that fat people somehow need to atone, that they need to undereat to balance out overeating.

As pp said, some fat people simply had medical conditions. Others might have overeaten but don't need moral judgment because it doesn't help.

There are all these cultural stereotypes from the seven deadly sins etc that show fat people basically as sinful and needing to be punished, which is what your op made me think of. I think the attitude increases shame and self-hate and makes it less likely fat people will lose weight.

This is such an interesting take on the issue OP. I've been fat on and off all my life and have silently envied those with slimmer bodies and thought how "lucky" they are...but it's not luck is it, it's effort. In your case you were conditioned into fearing fatness and have worked your whole life to avoid it - I was also conditioned into loathing fatness and believing it made me unlovable, but then using food to comfort the self-loathing!

I've battled and will-powered and denied myself to slimness a few times but I always, always slip back as the need for emotional comfort pulls me back in. I am intrigued by the injections but I fear the side effects, and besides...I don't think it works well for emotional eaters, I don't even have a big appetite. I just absently graze on sugar when procrastinating and doubting/hating myself.

I can totally see how you might feel "cheated" from your perspective.

They don't become slim by using the injection. It doesn't dissolve fat!
They still need to diet with a calorie deficit and exercise.

If they were really happy at their weight, why would they be spending money on an injection to reduce their eating?

I feel like what you've described is eating disorder level.

Let me point out, that if you did somehow manage to get your hands on weight loss drugs, they really aren't going to help you. It sounds like you don't eat many calories anyway, so the drug wont help you to lose more weight when already you undereat.

Please don't try and get them. You really need to address your disordered eating and the worse thing you can do is try them and go fully anorexic by trying to use them. Also good chance you will end up in hospital with horrific side effects for taking them when you don't need them.

You are comparing your internal thoughts with others external speech. It's apples and oranges.
They might be doing the same and be thinking of goodie for @Notmyfinesthours she has the self control to not overeat she gets to do it naturally without effort and I'm having to resort to medication.

As some with eating disorders and disordered eating since early childhood I'm envious of anyone who's worth isn't tied into the number on the scales or the distorted picture i see in the mirror. I have learnt a long time ago that you don't know what demons a person is facing from sight alone so I treat those I'm envious of with compassion because my assumptions could be wrong and they are haunted by the same things I am

You can be happy at your weight but realise its not healthy and struggle to get to a calorie deficit which results in weight loss, so you need a tool, just like a weight loss club or something is a tool. Thats all any of these things are, just tools

Op
You do you
And the rest of us will do what we think is best for us
You have no need for the weight loss drugs ,so why are you even starting threads on it .
..it's of no concerns to you ,your never going to use them ....
lucky you .....a lifetime of slimness most of us fatties can only dream of....
now that dream can become a reality for some of us .
Can't you just be happy for us ?..if not be happy for the money we will save the NHS by being thinner,,that's a good thing surely?...plus the NHS is not paying for these injections,the majority of us are paying privately,...again saving the NHS money .
Your sucking on a lemon ,op and it's not nice

I was on Ozympic with no side effects but they no longer give it to me. I have Diabetes type 2 and wish they were still giving it to me.

I must admit that I've had these thoughts op. I'm not sure about the orthorexia thing though....I'm not sure why having willpower and looking after your health has to be pathologised. It's extremely difficult because of the ways that the food industry operates, to just eat normally and be slim. Now we have a situation, where the food industry gets to continue to produce it's crappy food and the pharmaceutical companies gain from the situation too.

I don't think you'd swap with your friends. I think we all know that weight loss injections are going to cause issues down the line ....how could they not?

If obesity was merely an overeating issue like the WHO and subsequently NHS claim then the solution is easy. But it is not, obesity is a fat retention issue, otherwise a lot of slim people would be fatter and a lot of fat people would be slimmer..

When we stop looking at food as an "energy in minus energy out" equation, because that is an oversimplification of obesity, we start to understand why obesity is found all over the world in communities that don't overeat on a normal basis. Research is really stilted on this, they are still sticking to the calorific values of food rather than why some people are retaining more fat despite diet and lifestyle.

TBF I think we are generally living in a food system where businesses that own big food processing companies control a lot of what we eat, are exposed to, and they also own the medications and lifestyle products to "cure" it. (Food production is my background). So research is still stuck on the 1930s models of energy consumption because that is what makes these companies money.

I say this as an obese person, I was always so slim and super fit but my thyroid broke down in my 30s and I piled on a stone a month until I could build up a thyroxine dose high enough to balance out the fat retention. Losing weight feels impossible.

I'd chew dog shit and concrete to lose it if I thought it would help me get to a healthier weight. The jabs are not suitable for me but for those who use them and benefit from it, I say good for them, I hope at some stage some researchers will think of those us us who gain weight through medication side effects and health conditions.

I understand you OP.

I'm not sure I have anything to add to this discussion really. However what I will say is that the exercise you do will be helping your body so much and that will be noticeable in old age.

I think it can be very tempting to look on and think 'I've struggled all these years and now they have achieved the same thing with no effort'.

It's almost impossible to compare effort but I don't belive that is true. I think what is really true is that (for most overweight people who want to change) they have struggled all these years and just not got the same results as you - because their body chemistry has been working hard against them. Now, they are having to put the same effort in as you, but are also getting similar results.

The jabs don't give them an advantage over you, they level the playing field.

And the jabs are not easy. They are expensive, don't make you lose weight if you don't also eat and exercise right and come with a list of side effects. For sure, they are a ray of hope in what is otherwise a dark and lonely place (and for that, they are a miracle) but they don't do it for you. They just reallign your body chemistry to allow you to do it for yourself.

What's becoming more and more apparent as doctors are studying and understanding the impact these GLP-1 agonists are having in the body is that chronic obesity is actually a symptom of a wider malaise. Their body's inability to create and respond to their own agonist receptors actually triggers a whole host of problems including weight gain.

The people who have struggled with their weight their entire lives, have been overweight since childhood, etc etc - they have underlying health issues that can be helped by these GLP-1 agonist injections. A stabilised blood sugar and subsequent reduction in raging hunger all day every day, leading to weight loss, is an outward sign of improved overall health.

The emerging understanding is that obesity isn't a moral failing, it's a symptom of ill health - and now we have developed (and are continuing to develop) sophisticated medicines that address those health issues.

Then find £180 a month or what ever it is and buy the bloody injections. Literally no one is stopping you. But stop being a bitch about those that are using it.

This sounds similar to someone complaining that other people get state benefits when they themselves have had to work all their life to pay the bills.

If you had struggled with your weight to the point you were now obese and needed the weight loss jabs to get down to a safe and healthy weight, then they would be just as accessible to you, OP.

Yes, you struggled with maintaining your weight, but clearly it was manageable for you because you managed it. If you hadn't managed to do that, you would be obese and potentially seeking out weight loss medication too.