AIBU to ask GP for weightloss jab?

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Im 43, bmi 37, 5ft 8inc, size 18. Ive recently had my over 40s health MOT at the doctors and ive got high blood pressure and cholesterol (they text and want me to go in a statin). Ive not really discussed my results properly yet with them as we keep missing each other on the phone.

i saw the GPs will prescribe it for those classed as obese (me) and have high BP.

morally should i? Could i use this opportunity with the weight loss jab to change my lifestyle/habits?

I'd second what some previous posters have said. It costs X, but you can offset the cost of most of your food. You may eat so little on these drugs that you save plenty!
Also clothes- if you can get back into a wardrobe full of smaller clothes, there's a good saving rather than buying more 'fat' clothes
It'll cost less than what it appears on the tin, if you consider the above

Though I think they should absolutely be available on the NHS to anyone with an obese BMi, these drugs are fantastic!!

I'd say it really is a magic bullet.
And the NHS should get on with rolling it out!

Agree!

@ThePure from a reputable online prescriber you will have access to medical support, the level of support varies. Some offer regular coaching, video sessions, all kinds of things. Some it's not so intensive but you can contact the doctor responsible for prescribing to you with any questions or issues. Obviously you get a lot of information alongside the prescription about what it is, how it works, what to expect, what to eat, exercise, nutrition...

Every time I order, my prescriber sends a letter to my GP detailing the current prescription. I have to fill out the consultation each time and update with my current weight, and at some point I may be asked to provide photos again to verify.

@TentEntWenTyfOur of course its a trite comment and one that gets dropped onto pretty much every thread on this topic. There is a huge problem with obesity in this country, if it was as simple as that then we wouldn't have a problem. I'd suggest that nearly all obese people understand and know that they need to change the way they eat and the amount of activity they do. Yet, nearly all obese people don't manage it. Your answer to that is that they are all irresponsible and lazy, even the people that are using the weight loss injections because they're relying on a magic wand to solve their weight problem. It's just so utterly simplistic to reduce a complex problem down to berating people to eat less and move more, or be damned as lazy and irresponsible. That doesn't work, hasn't worked, won't work, never will work.

There’s many different options around.

Where I get it from I can have video appointments with the prescriber. Some offer a full support package.

I have another condition to usually see a nurse or a doctor once a month, who are aware I am on it and they supportive of it. Though I would say the nurse is far more knowledgeable on it than the doctor.

I get no medical support with buying it privately, so it's up to me to do things like be vigilant about my vision, heart rate, digestion, etc. However my tier 3 clinic have said they can offer advice, but to be honest I've found the advice here on the weigh loss threads to be more helpful than the clinic.

But I agree that it is a magic bullet, and the NHS need to pull their finger out. It'll save them £££££ very quickly.

I'll also add my pre-diabetes reading has gone from 1 point away from type 2 to 1 point away from normal while I've been on Mounjaro - win win!

If they gave the jab to people with a normal BMI (and above) and prediabetes they could probably, in a single stroke, cure / delay diabetes. For prediabetes even going from a BMI of 24 to 22 can delay Diabetes. That’s where it would be most beneficial - to prevent normal people from slipping into the overweight category

The moral thing is a red herring, there's nothing moral or immoral about it, but you need to do some mental work about seeing the scale go up sometimes regardless. Everybody's weight fluctuates within a few pounds. Overweight, underweight, normal weight, everybody. It's mostly water, and somewhat dependent on the contents of your digestive system. There is no drug on earth that will make you see a loss everytime you get on the scale. What matters is the moving average, over months really.

You won’t get it prescribed. Honestly just pay for it it’s not £200 a month more around £150ish. I’m on it and have easily saved that a month on food.

I can't afford that. We spend 120-150 a week as a family of 4 on food. I have autistic duaghters who don't eat the same as each other.

We have no space in our budget at all 😭.

I am sorry but consistency is the key, you need to track everything that goes in your mouth everything.

Minimum of 10 000 steps, strict calorie counting and portion control.
Its not an easy way of life, but you need to commit to it, absolutely no point having weight loss jabs if you don't address the underlying problem, which is too much in and not enough out!

Sorry to be blunt but that is the crux of it. Eat better, do more.

I am saying this as someone who is bordering on a 18!

Or maybe people should be a bit more responsible for their health and exercise and stop expecting magic fixes - if you don't address the underlying cause then its pointless

@Lanzarotelady "Absolutely no point in having weight loss jabs if you don't address the underlying problem, which is too much in and not enough out!"

This displays a fundamental misunderstanding of what weight loss injections actually do. They change how your body responds to eating and hunger, enabling you to easily reduce portion size, stop snacking and eat more healthily. They help people to do the very thing you are exhorting them to do.

The underlying cause is eating too much

The medication helps people eat less

Its much easier to maintain a healthier weight than to try to get to a healthier weight by losing 5 stone.

Humans have evolved to cope with food scarcity not food abundance and certainly not sugar (or other addictive consumables) abundance. Our bodies want us to eat when food is plenty and our bodies want to store the reserves as fat. Our bodies want to keep the reserves. Because for most of human history that was necessary. But we live now and here.

People living in the UK and most of the developed world are faced with food abundance. Pimped out by a food industry that promotes its most addictive products daily and repeatedly on tv, radio, SM and anywhere else it can.

And it doesn’t take an awful lot to start laying down fat. Over eat by 100 calories, which is a slice of bread, each day and you will put on 10lbs in a year. Add in a few celebrations and that is a stone.

This needs repeating, I think I might have given the calculation earlier in the thread or on another similar thread running at the moment

The calorie equivalent to put on a stone a year, is a couple of biscuits a day in excess of your requirement. That is all. Around 130/150cals a day, that is all, or lets say an excess of 50 cals a day and a few holidays as you say.

Then that is difficult to shift and the pattern continues, then its harder to be as active so you slow down more meaning those extra calories count more

Its incredibly easy, not lazy, not particularly greedy to put on a fair amount of weight and maintain that weight.

These medications just help the food regulation you consume in a country where we dont experience food scarcity.

So unless you sort out the underlying cause, people will still eat too much!

Stop the medication, the weight will pile on

The stats show a success rate higher than othe rweight loss methods (apart from surgery)

Its the best we have

Humans overeat where there is the possibility to do so. Being overweight and obese means its harder to make a dent it

The 'underlying cause' is overeating, so medication to treat this is the treatment, just like treatment for many other disorders where the primary symptom is treated.

Perhaps people may need a maintenance dose, so what?

People who have had success on slimming world for example, stick to the regime for life, if it works for them, thats great. No one cricitises slimming world or WW or CICO and says 'oh but if you dont do that when you're at target weight the weight will pile back on' as a reason to be dismissive of it. It doesnt make any sense

The medication is a tool, just like other weight loss and weight management tools.

As with any weight loss programme. Should people not try to lose the weight, if it all will go back on anyway?

Are you under an endocrinology clinic for your hormones? If so, speak to them. I have it prescribed by my endocrine consultant.

Hi OP have a look at this - I have asked the GP to refer me and they said they would.

https://oviva.com/uk/en/

OP if you are going to speak to them you might as well ask about a referral, perhaps Oviva? you might be surprised- mine were really positive!

Thank you

Noooo sadly I couldn't get any help with my hormones, I was sterilised when I was 26 and so came off birth control/pill, then for 1 week a month the week before my period regular as clockwork I became suicidally depressed, I knew it was my hormones and I literally had no control, everytime I ended up in hospital suicide attempts, not cries for help, I should be dead after a couple of days my period would come. I begged for help, begged for the pill, the mini pill, depo. Anything but all I ever got back was "you've been sterilised the NHS won't give you birth control now so no"

I've recently gone through the menopause and now I no longer want to kill myself every 21 days, but I could rage at the world. I used to be 'tell me to jump and I'll ask how high' now I take no prisoners, tell me to jump and I'm fuck off you first, but can I get HRT or help with the hot flushes or the itching? nope!, too fat

For 30 odd years I didn't give a rats arse about myself, didn't care if I died tomorrow so why would I care about my weight. Stay fat die sooner.

My mindset has changed from all that, I look in the mirror and think 'omg what have you done to yourself' I've reached out, tried to get help, but fat chance .... oh well

If the underlying cause is leptin resistance and insulin resistance caused by yo yo dieting and/or metabolic changes that happen due to obesity then losing weight is addressing some of the underlying cause.

You, like many others commenting on this topic, don’t recognise that the steps needed to prevent obesity in the first place are not always effective in addressing obesity once it has happened.

Giving up smoking may prevent lung cancer but it doesn’t cure it.

Research is increasingly showing that being obese alters your metabolism and disrupts the feedback mechanisms your body has to balance body weight. Diet and exercise matter but if you have leptin resistance so your appetite never really switches off dietary changes are hard to sustain. The medication helps by changing your appetite both in terms of hunger levels and what you want to eat.