To think that people pretend not to understand obesity

[Mezzoprezzo]

After 30 plus years of failed diets I've recently started on mounjaro. Because I've placed an order and spent weeks searching stuff about weight loss medication, my Facebook feed is full of adverts from suppliers, many of which use vlogs from real clients who have lost weight. And the vast majority of comments are along the lines of, couldn't you just eat less, haven't you heard of exercise, why not just stop eating crap etc. Surely people are faking ignorance to have the fun of fat bashing. Obesity is rife! Everyone knows someone who struggles with their weight and who talks openly about it. I and every other obese person I know have tried every diet under the sun. Walk into any gym and you'll see a fair number of larger people trying bloody hard. And I know someone's going to reply to this post by talking about an obese friend who they once saw eating an entire packet of biscuits. Well numerous times I've given in to the overwhelming urge to do that too. And hated myself afterwards. It's part of the horrible condition. People have got eyes and ears and they seriously know full bloody well how hard obese people try to lose weight. They just pretend not to so they can have the fun of hating.

I agree. They also don't seem to understand that the food industry is literally geared up to producing products that tap into and feed addiction.

I had an obese friend who did tell me BMI was not indicative at all and fit men here prefer bigger girls (so they have something to hold onto) so she likes being large. I do think some people don't mind being large which is up to them. I have seen her consume breakfast, then mcdonalds chicken nuggets, Greg's sausage roll and a full packed lunch of noodles all in one sitting, then go onto to eat a full dinner to maintain her weight. She often pats her stomach in satisfaction.

Good luck on your weight loss :)
best thing I’ve done, I’ve loved MJ, I’m down nearly 6st 😳

They aren't pretending, they genuinely believe for a number of reasons. Well done on starting Mj, changed my life

Amazing! Thank you, I'm feeling very positive.

Who is eligible for MJ on the NHS? Do you have to be a certain weight/BMI?

And are people who don’t fit the NHS criteria able to buy it with no questions asked?

Food addiction is real, people are more prone to addiction than others, some people can eat whatever they want and stay slim. Whereas others can't.
I'm down nearly 5 stone after a year on MJ, best decision I ever made

Good luck with your weight loss.

Unfortunately most people are over weight due to denial about what they actually eat and the type of exercise they do.

My best mate was about 3 stone over weight and said she tried every diet, exercises, healthy food etc... after a couple of days helping her out when her DH was away she was right- she did eat healthy food and we did loads of walking, but... she does no cardiovascular exercise and her portion sizes were HUGE. She made us dinner both nights and I ate half what she did.

She has adjusted portion sizes and is about 1 stone down now, aiming to lose the 3 stone over a year.

I'm not obese, but I am overweight by BMI, though steady at that weight. I have to devote a lot of conscious thought to not eating all the things I want to eat, having small portions etc.. I eat pretty healthily and I'm still hungry a lot, to lose weight I'd have to be hungry all the time. I wonder whether other people have more or less willpower on this?

In other areas I do have willpower, eg I find it quite easy to save money. But I know people who find it a lot harder to resist the urge to buy things they don't need for example. Or alcohol - that holds no appeal for me. But food is always on my mind.

💯

Also - The current obesity crisis begins in childhood and is strongly correlated with lower socioeconomic status and single-parent household. So much more likely to be the children of women facing huge social and financial disadvantage.

Obesity in all its “forms” is massively complex and reducing it to “eat less and move more” is both ignorant and futile.

Good luck @Mezzoprezzo I’m rooting for you!

Looking at this objectively I see the big picture - I think our society is now geared towards making people fat. It's so many different factors combined, not just one thing. The availability and convenience of UPFs, the fact that so many people have very sedentary jobs and lives, are two of the main reasons in my mind.

This is exactly the problem. I don’t mean this to get at you mesmerisingmuon but surely you realise most obese people don’t have the ability to just eat smaller portion sizes? That there is deep psychology and addiction in play which affects people’s ability to control what they eat?

The older I get the more I realise that weight is linked to a lot of factors around emotion, stress, etc. I think finding what stops you from losing weight if you want to lose weight and finding a way of dealing with that is the key.

I really don't think people "are faking ignorance to have the fun of fat bashing". It's genuine ignorance: they just don't understand that while eating less and exercising more works for them, it doesn't work for everyone, or some people just can't manage it.

Only a very small number of people. And no, private prescriptions are not 'no questions asked'

It’s not about willpower though.

Disclaimer - I’m a problem drinker and have massively researched the impact of alcohol on the brain including motivational and pleasure pathways. Food is similar to alcohol in this respect in many ways. “Pleasure” neurotransmitters come into play with all substances/addictions in a physical way - it’s not just an emotional reaction. It’s literally the way addictive “things” are produced and marketed to be.

So saving money will not give the same “rush” as spending money/gambling for example, because it doesn’t have the same effect on dopamine, for example. No one gets a “rush” eating lettuce because it doesn’t contain the chemicals which stimulate the reward systems in the brain the way fats and sugars do.

And yes, some people will appear “addicted” to healthy eating but that is more likely to be linked to body image issues than simply enjoying salad. Exercise addiction is also well researched for similar reasons.

I have a friend who is an endocrinologist. We have talked a great deal about obesity as we both struggle with weight gain/losing weight. She told me that research suggests that obesity is an endocrinological disorder in that same way that diabetes is. Some people are just predisposed to gain weight and have issues losing it. Medication like Mounjaro etc is now available to combat this issue.

So do people with this problem have to stay on MJ for life because if they stop the food addiction will begin again?

Thank you 👍

But willpower does come into it to a certain extent. I could so easily eat rubbish all day long but I dont because I dont want to get fat or have health issues. But I could very easily enjoy takeaways and fast food and chocolate all the time! I have to make a conscious effort not to.

I am not overweight but have battled with food all of my life. I lost stones of weight through calorie counting around 20 years and kept it off but it was very psychological and the ways to lose the weight and keep it off were all mental. In theory, it's a case of calories in and calories out but in reality, there is a reason why some people struggle to have less coming in than they have going out. I feel, having been through it in the past, that it is a kind of eating disorder; where food goes through some kind emotional process in the brain and the body comes to expect and tolerate that level of calories and sort of mindless eating. The lens through which you view food, and yourself has to have a massive shift. I'm slim now but the good noise is always there. I think about food all the time but just about managed to not be overpowered and because I am slim, the sense of being helpless and overhwlemed by already being overweight doesn't have a grip over me (as it was when I was overweight).

There are a lot of factors. I live abroad in a place where obesity isn't an issue in the same way as it is in the UK. The availability of junk food isnt as prolific as it is in the UK and going to the beach every weekend is very much part of the culture; it certainly does create a motivation not to feel uncomfortable in your swimsuit on the Saturday. I don't know the answer. In my case, I did lose weight the 'old fashioned way' but I remember having to really hold on and the urge to eat was like psychological warfare that I was constantly battling. I remember having a breakthrough, mentally, and having a light bulb moment and that seemed to blow away a lot of the sense of powerlessness to the pull of food, but it was hard.

I'm so glad that medication is available to turn that noise off. The thought of food can be like a demon tormenting you day and night. I get it. It's very difficult.

Which is why she is doing it SLOWLY over a year to gradually reduce the portion size rather than cutting them to a normal size straight away.

It is an addiction but there is always still a choice. Some people are just not good at helping themselves.

Either you are over eating or genuinely dieting. Diets do work. They fail because people cannot stick to them due to food addiction.

It's like any addiction. It takes effort to beat them. Mine was with nicotine. I had to WANT to stop to be successful and would make excuses why I needed another. I've had that battle with my head and won. Eventually.

When you WANT to do something you will.

Do heroin addicts stay on methadone for life or can they eventually come off it? Do alcoholics always have the threat of relapse in the back of their minds no matter how many years it has been? Do gambling addicts ever manage to walk past a bookies without getting that little twitch? I would say Mounjaro users would hope to come off after using it as a treatment pathway to reach their healthy goals and heal their relationship with food hoping they can move forward but the threat of relapse is always there just like any other addiction.

I think what I said about willpower came out a bit wrong, sorry. I mean maybe some of those people who say "just eat less" (or words to that effect) have a lot less "food noise" and need a lot less willpower. So we're not all on an even playing field when it comes to wanting to eat all day long (or not). I know there is more to it than just willpower, but I think for those who don't really think about food, it's easy to discount how invasive food thoughts can be.

I think a lot of this shows how important it is to start kids on the right path

because it’s not as simple as saying sone people are predisposed- there is way more than that happening which is why obesity is rising over the last 40 years

if you have a fussy eater let them be fussy unless they are unhealthy thin and losing weight - and in that case just feed more of anything good they will eat - don’t add in crap

avoid junk and sugar when breastfeeding. Treats are a yearly event not a daily one.

give the kids a fighting chance because you don’t want them to grow up unhealthy and staring at a life of medication