People who think weight loss injections are cheating

[AuntieDote]

I've seen this viewpoint over multiple threads recently, and I'm just really curious to understand it a bit more because it makes no sense to me whatsoever.

What do you think people using the injections are cheating at?

As in - what's the competition and who are they gaining an unfair advantage over? What do you think the rules of being allowed to lose weight are/ should be?

Is it more important to you that overweight people/ those struggling with obesity lose the weight, become healthier, reduce the burden on the NHS, stop taking up more than their allocated amount of space in the world, or just stop doing whatever it is that upsets people so much about the existence of fat people -- or is it more important that they struggle and suffer whilst doing so?

Or would you secretly prefer them to remain fat so you can feel superior?

Is it that you feel you've worked really hard to either lose weight, keep it off or never put it on in the first place, so nobody else should be allowed to achieve this without the same amount of struggle?

What do you think the weight loss injections actually do, and do you not recognise that those on them are also doing all the usual things people who are trying to lose weight e.g. modify their eating, exercise etc? Does it not count that they're doing these things because it's made easier in some ways by the drug?

What types of weight loss support or tools are not 'cheating'? e.g. I used hypnosis once and it worked for a bit, to the point that I felt pretty much the same way I do with the injections i.e. reduction in food noise and compulsion to snack etc. It didn't last anything like as long, but it worked for a time - was that cheating?

Would it still be cheating if they weren't as effective as they are?

FWIW, I really couldn't care less if people think I'm cheating - who cares? Who does it impact only me and my bank balance? If someone said here, press this button and you'll be a healthy BMI overnight and stay there forever I'd press it with both hands and not give a shit about how anyone felt about it.

But it's just the logic of it that baffles me - I've never seen it as a competition and have never felt like getting to or being a healthy weight only counts if it's done in a certain way - I suppose I'm not much interested in what size anyone else is or what they do to get that way, so I can't imagine for a second ever thinking another person was 'cheating' - only ever being happy for them if they're happy and hopefully healthy too.

I’m guessing you’re not on them, as this isn’t true. Have you read it someplace,misunderstood, used some hyperbole and thus posted nonsense?

Haha! You got straight to the point of my polite waffling!

I only had side effects in the first few months, usually about 48 hours after each dose or if I increased dose, though granted I may have been lucky. Have (very rarely) had an upset stomach/felt a bit queasy since if I’ve had something very rich or ignore the fact I am full and eaten more than I am used to (only a couple of times to be polite, big mistake).

Obviously I have maintained a calorie deficit and increased exercise - but the fact is I was doing that before and a) was not losing the weight and b) thinking about food/hungry all the time. So yes, diet and exercise are essential along side the medication, but I can - and do - pretty much eat anything I fancy now. I just don’t necessarily fancy the same things I used to.

I do get a bit of vague nausea for the first couple of days after injecting. That only started at the higher doses. I get diarrhea when I eat certain things, but that's because i have IBS and it happened even before I started the injections. The only noticeable side effects for me really are the sulphur burps. Sometimes it's only for a couple of days. Sometimes it last for the whole week.

I know some people just can not tolerate this treatment, but for most it isn't a bad experience. It isn't necessary to try to convince others that people on the injections are suffering horribly as a way to "justify" using this WL method.

Sure, it was just that you said 'anyone' drinking caffeine/eating refined food suffers terrible side effects, and that does misrepresent the jabs for most people. I'm quite concerned that people who suffer so badly on them might struggle to be able to stay on the medication or to manage coming off it - the sweet spot is when it helps the user to live in a normal, manageable and balanced way without illness so that they can either continue without the meds or maintain a reasonable and happy, healthy life still taking them long term. If they worked for the majority by causing nausea and diarrhea when a person eats anything that isn't lean protein or vegetables then that wouldn't be sustainable or sensible on or off the meds.

I totally agree that the jabs require effort and change from users, and I wish that everyone did understand this. But I'd hate for people to think that taking them would mean they can't even drink a coffee - I think if side effects are that severe, it's an indication that someone is taking too high a dose.

Well, I stand corrected. Apparently they are a panacea, and piss easy to lose weight while eating whatevs. 😅 so cheating, basically.

I’m off to buy some…

And that is absolutely NOT what people have said, but carry on trolling.

we should all be having a crack…

It's not about what you eat. It's how much you eat that matters. The injections help people to not overeat. The drug doesn't target certain foods and make you shit your brains out if you eat them. Why would you even think that?!

@HollyKnight honestly I think it varies from person to person. Lots of people do find that high fat foods, sugary foods, coffee or alcohol make them feel very unwell when taking mounjaro. Others seem to be able to eat what they want as long as portions are small.

I ate a half a bacon sandwich in a cafe the other day and felt so ill I thought I was going to throw up on the spot. Had I chosen some soup and sourdough toast instead all would have been well.

I just find that they make it easy to have a healthy diet and stay in a calorie deficit. They have changed some of the foods I like and want to eat, just not to the extreme of not being able to have any caffeine or sugar at all. And they haven't made me violently ill except when I went up a dose once.

You alright there, you’ve gone from one extreme of nonsense to the other.

My GP, who and the information she gave me re one of the treatments. And then some reading and research Indi, including the weight jab threads on here for people actually taking them, and the manufacturers website.
Other than that… nowt

I think you've misunderstood something then. Orlistat/Xenical is the only one you have to avoid eating fat with because its purpose is to stop you absorbing fat. The WLI don't do that. Their purpose is to help control blood sugar and hunger.

I don’t think I have, love.

My experience of the weightloss injections are that if I eat healthily, I lose weight. When eating the same amount of healthy food prior to taking them, I didn’t. Simple as that. I also find it a bit less challenging to stick to eating healthy food on them, because I know it will help me lose weight. There is nothing more demoralising than being strict all week and not losing a pound. This doesn’t happen on the injections.

Just uninformed and wrong then?

I'm really interested in this. Do you think you were eating exactly same amounts, calorie wise using TDEE estimated deficit etc before using these, and still didn't lose weight?

Honestly, yes. I exercise a lot too.

Doesn’t bother me if someone overweight takes it to help - I do however worry when I know my very very slim friends (size 8 sort of thing) starts taking it to be ‘slimmer’.

In my case, yes.

The medication impacts the way insulin works. If you produce too much your body converts many of the calories you eat directly into fat regardless of deficit, making it harder to convert the calories into energy at the point of eating/digesting them.

With low levels of GLP1 (people who are obese have at least 20% less of this hormone than non-obese people indicating that the mechanism for production of it is somehow muted when you are obese/overweight) weight gain is hard to avoid because insulin is not doing its job properly. The [side] effect of GLP1 production is higher satiety/slower food transit through the digestive system. The thought is that the meds are not so much slowing/reducing hunger but re-establishing normal transit and hunger/satiety levels that exist in normal weight persons. Ie it is not giving you an advantage, but returning you to ‘normal’ levels. It is the abnormal levels that cause fat people to get fatter and make weight loss harder for people once they reach a certain level of overweight/obesity.

That’s why many people compare these drugs to antidepressants - which also re-establish the correct uptake levels of serotonin/whichever neurotransmitter they target because the production/uptake mechanism has maladapted (die to stress, trauma, illness etc).

They are -as I understand both - corrective medications allowing the body to recalibrate.

Well yes, as she’s taking it illegally and won’t be from a reputable source, so potentially fake.

@CautiousLurker01 a great post. I wonder if being menopausal/post menopausal also messes with insulin? The amount of overweight/obese friends I have who work hard to lose but endlessly gain/lose the same 3 pounds. In younger years half a stone would shift no prob with effort.

Loads of otherwise slim friends gained weight in the menopause. Like most of our generation we’d messed about with the odd stone of holiday/seasonal weight gain throughout our lives (ie lack of exercise/eating too much) but easily addressed this by going on a brief diet and getting back into the gym. Menopause was a killer, though. It messes with the whole endocrine/hormone system, so I’d be very unsurprised if they eventually discover a link between GLP1 regulation and, say testosterone/oestrogen levels.