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.

This. 100% all of this! That’s my whole point. It’s more than making people feel full or reducing hunger. I never binged in my life because I didn’t feel full or I was hungry.

Yes I also suffer from BED and MJ has meant I haven't binged at all while taking it. It isn't just about hunger.

Ok, maybe you need to google and read the research on it? Or start a seperate thread if you can’t be bothered, and ask people to help you?

I didn't know. Blithe didn't name it.

In time, perhaps a modified version - maybe in pill form - will be available to people who aren't obese but are overweight. I'm sure the drug companies will be working on that as it would be hugely profitable
That's a good point. Until now, there's never been a miracle cure to weight loss and weight control. In time, it will either be another failed intervention or such a success, everyone will be slim.

Obesity is multi-faceted and many don't understand how people become so. I think there is also a misunderstanding that slum or slightly overweight people are a different category of people and don't appreciate that without the willpower, they would likely be obese too. That doesn't mean that people are obese because of low willpower.

I think this drug is a revelation and I hope it will prove to be what it is sold to be right now. If I was obese, I would definitely be taking it. It's not cheating because weight loss is not a race. Yet however I can understand how great people feel after they loss the weight and want to shout their happiness, I would say that there is no glory to it either.

It would be for me a 'I'm pleased for you' but not a 'congratulations'.

I’m truly disgusted by you. That was really hard for me to share.

So an old professor of mine said that the drug companies pay about 1 billion to bring a new drug to market. They do all the testing, but in reality the public are then the guinea pigs and that’s how drug companies have always worked.

fir example hydrocortisone. They all believed they’d found the miracle drug and put it out to the public and boom….huge side effects of thin skin brittle bones the lot…

I think it's going to be interesting to watch how attitudes towards weight change with the increasing availability of medical 'solutions' to obesity.

Thinness is so desirable at least in part because it's a status symbol. That used to be true of pale skin, and later tanned skin but not anymore. Similarly, blonde hair lost its aura when anyone could buy two boxes of L'Oreal Preference for £15 in Boots. But thinness was still the one thing that not just anybody could have. Even if it wasn't admitted out loud, being thin is seen as being somehow better, virtuous even. Being fat, by contrast, is a sign of slovenliness and lack of self control. Thinness is revered as something not just anybody can have.

Now, however, maybe it is. Or it will be soon. Just like anyone with a bit of spare cash can have volumnious hair of any colour, pearly white teeth and D cup boobs, so too anyone can be a size 8. It will be very interesting to see what becomes the next holy grail of beauty and 'wellness'.

I’m sorry but I didn’t comment on what you shared, I simply responded on the request?

I’m 4 weeks in today and have lost 1 stone. Oh ya 💃

I couldn’t give 2 hoots what other people think as I am doing this for me and me only.

to Have a healthy bmi I need to lose 8 stone
however that’s not my goal, I have 4 goals….

1. to be able to wipe my arse without putting my back out.
2. When lying in the bath, I want to see my pubes, no idea what it looks like down there.
3. Be able to confidently walk down stairs as when I look down I can’t see the steps, only my body
4. Last but by no means least, I aim to get into sexual positions that I currently can’t get into.

I think everybody would like to be slim healthy and what they deem to be attractive!
I have lost 3 stone doing slimming world I am perimenopausal age 😂 but now very slim !! (I have always been slim before I gained weight due to being inactive when diagnosed with psoriatic arthritis)
Its been hard work but what keep me going was the determination to get myself well and tbh if I wasn’t doing it for that reason I probably would have given up !
And that’s the thing it’s hard to have the willpower to follow a plan for a long length of time but by having the willpower and determination this gives your brain plenty of time to get used to the new habits that your forming !
It’s not a quick fix it’s a lifestyle change that u do for life .
I have nothing against any way of losing weight as long as it’s healthy and if the injections are healthy then do it if it works the only thing I would be concerned about is when the injections stop but I’m guessing there wud be maintenance injections ?
Basically I think people should just be healthy no matter what they choose to do dieting injections it really doesn’t matter what matters do ,we will have a healthier amount of people and less health problems all round it’s a win win let people do what they want ❤️❤️

Hydrocortisone is prescribed all the time. It keeps my child's eczema under control. We use it according to his consultant's guidance to minimise any negative effects but the benefit outweighs the risk. Kind of how these drugs are working - available on prescription to those who meet the medical criteria because the risk of obesity is higher than the risk of the drugs.

Good luck to her on her quest.

like many I have spent thousands on therapy to try and understand the “why” and I have learnt a lot about myself in the process, but the behaviour has continued.

i now believe the “why” in my case is primarily physiological, (also part sensory seeking), but essentially a hormone imbalance in simple terms which the mounjaro corrects.

I think of it as my anti binge eating medication. I’m not dieting, I am losing weight slowly because I’m not bingeing and over eating.

I don't see it as cheating. If it works and is safe thats all good.

But I am skeptical about some companies and medica practitioners offering magical weight loss treatments which normalise obesity and do not require the patient to address their calorie intake.

In some cases the consumers are being scammed for proffit, because of missinformation based on pseudo-science.

If you look up Anna O'brien on SM You will get what I mean. She is 600 Lbs and has been convinced that she does not need to reduce her calorie intake. This is abject nonsense. But unfortunately she wants to believe it. She is undergoing lypodema surgery privately which she seems to believe will fix things.

The eat less move more trope has now been debunked. I would suggest you watch Chris Van Tulleken's Irresistible documentary. It's absolutely horrifying. https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0025gqs

From what I've read on here, lots of people seem to think they're "magic" injections that allow you to eat whatever you want while still losing weight 🙄

Personally, and this is just me, I feel a tiny bit jealous of people who can afford the injections. My best friend is on them and is paying around £150-£200 a month - I'd absolutely love to follow suit but I can't justify spending that much as our family finances are very tight. I don't think she's cheating - I'm made up that she's lost a lot of the weight she wanted to, and I just wish that I could too.

I don't see it as cheating at all, but there is a small part of me that thinks it's an elite answer to weight loss as you have to be able to afford the medication.

What about the bigger picture - that our modern processed food is making people ill, that supermarkets are a race to the bottom for healthy food that is a sensible and fair price; and that the food manufacturing industry has everyone over a barrel? I think the injections aren’t worth talking about on a personal/individual level but actually the bigger picture is that again we can buy another product for a need that is probably, on the whole, a result of modern economics and the western modern lifestyle. Allowing us to all carry on working for a few people at the top who would love us all to be healthy enough to work more. The rest of the chatter about morals etc for me is petty.

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?

I've spent the last year running three times a week, and eating keto. I've lost a lot of weight and feel much better. It was hard.

I don't begrudge the people using injections at all. Keto stops food noise for me, so that's 'cheating' as well. It's just cheating in a different way!

It's also important for people to realise that everyone is running a different race. Low-thyroid woman upthread, I have one of those (not diagnosed until later) AND ADHD (ditto), which means I am compulsive and seek dopamine. And late diagnoses mean that I was just fat and lazy before I knew.

I do think the horror of people, well women, suddenly getting thin status is one of the main issues. To a lesser extent, tans went the same way. They were posh when you needed to go on holiday to get one, and holidays were expensive. Now cheap breaks, tanning beds and fake tan have made them déclassé and everyone 'euwwwwwww's at them. It's going to be an interesting social experiment!

I think the psychology of this is so interesting. It's going to be a total game changer when there are no more fat people and a huge contingent of people are going to be furious about it.

The poster who spoke about the moral superiority of thinness has it spot on. It will absolutely fuck with that world view and be extremely triggering.

I say this as someone who lost 6 stone over COVID through diet and exercise and kept it off in the main.

I think you've partly hit the nail on the head. I think there is a bit of a mindset of "well, if they REALLY needed it they could get it on the NHS", and so those paying for it privately are dismissed. I know when talking about it, I always feel the need to say "I get it on the NHS" as if that makes me more deserving or something!

On every thread about this you get people who think you can eat loads of rubbish and lose weight on the injections. No, you can't. You still have to diet/ count calories this just makes it possible.

I've lost 3 and a half stone in a year but I have only eaten 1000 calories a day. Sadly that's my metabolism. I put on a lot of the weight trying to lose weight by eating 1600 calories a day!

Without this drug I would have been fat forever as 1000 calories is very hard to do for a month let alone a year.

I think they're a lazy way to lose weight.

Calorie deficit, high protein eating along side 30 min five times a week weight training and you'll lose weight.

However, that requires far more effort from people than simply stabbing themselves with a needle.

Do you have these reservations about all drugs on the market or do you save your reservations for ones which help fat people?

I also have under active thyroid so I do follow the slimming world but I don’t eat potato rice or pasta so I guess I cheat in my own way as well !
like u say we are all living a difference race !!

I also think there is something in this, and not just from fat people resentful as they can’t afford it, or thin people resentful that being thin is now “buyable”, but I think as it’s available via private prescription people Don’t see it as medication to cure a very serious health condition, but see it more like Botox or fillers,