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.

Losing weight feels a bit like stretching elastic, if you only have to stretch it a bit then it takes work but having to stretch it a lot then it's more work and each of us has a different snapping point. Out biology fights to keep us at the biggest we have been, making that stretch even harder.

We only know how it feels like for us, we don't know how that stretch feels for anyone else.

Hmm, I have no skin in this particular game having been slender all my life, but I think it's somewhat disingenuous to compare nicotine or alcohol addiction to food addiction.

You know how difficult it was to give up smoking, but the ultimate solution was to not smoke. A person can't not eat, so a person with a compulsion to overeat is faced with their addiction multiple times a day. You can't avoid food as you can with alcohol or nicotine, so I imagine it's a much tougher nut to crack.

Well numerous times I've given in to the overwhelming urge to do that too. And hated myself afterwards.

The problem with this is that for a lot of people the hatred (or bad feelings) come beforehand, and then become the displacement feeling. As is dieting, a displacement activity or “punishment” for not being who/what you want to be.

Of course it is super easy to solve other people’s problems, but if you ask yourself why do you overeat, what’s that about? You will know that the answer is not about food.
BTW, there’s no need to answer that to anyone here.
If you deal with the root cause then surprisingly quickly you will find your eating habits change, because you aren’t trying to hold back the tide.

People aren’t saying that exercise doesn’t help with depression, just like people know that eating less will help to lose weight. Just knowing these things to be true isn’t enough for many people to actually be able to do it though. In the throes of depression, just going out for a walk around the block feels like too much, similarly at the peak of obesity skipping one chocolate bar isn’t going to immediately lose 5 stone so “might as well eat and enjoy it…” and so the mentality goes. It’s hard to break the cycle.

I would say I have a chemical and emotional connection to food. Plenty of other factors come into it also.

I understand that people can’t just stop eating, but they can just stop eating sugary and/or fatty food can’t they?

They are still in control of what food they choose to eat?

Or do people on MJ still make poor food choices, or eat that kind of food because they're addicted to it, but they just
eat less of it because their appetite is suppressed? And so as they eat less of it their addiction eases?

I’m just interested in how MJ addresses the addiction or psychological side of obesity? As surely if that’s not addressed then the person will stall want/need to eat the type of food they say they’re addicted to whether they’re on MJ or not?

private prescriptions are not 'no questions asked'

Not entirely, but claiming your BMI is <30 and sending a couple of photos is far from rigorous.

As always if you have the money you can access far more treatments.

I agree somewhat with your point but there is plenty food out there which is healthy. And they can still have the willpower to reduce their portion sizes. A lot of people gave up smoking when society's view of smoking changed (eg not being allowed to smoke indoors in public) and people realised it was so bad for you. It forced the change in people. That's why we have to be careful about body positivity when obese. Do we want to go down the route of telling people it's fine to be obese. Given the known health implications.

Another example of money widening the health gap between the rich and the poor.

I want to be clear, I am NOT talking about someone being deep in depression, that’s not what I said.

Obesity is a disease.

We wouldn’t tell someone with asthma to just breathe properly, which is so simple.

It’s fine to recommend stopping smoking or increasing exercise to help with the asthma symptoms but you wouldn’t tell an asthmatic to just simply breathe in and out and then you wouldn’t be asthmatic.

There is more judgment around obese people than there are alcoholics, drug addicts, gamblers, shopping addicts etc.

Our bodies need to eat to survive and we are programmed to store food as fat. So it’s not as simple as just reducing food intake.

I think the injections sound incredible but I’ve read a lot of posts about people planning to stay on them long term, which I don’t think is sustainable or possible (we know that the supply of medicines can fluctuate).

I think they should be used as tool to get help you regain control over your body and mind, get the weight down so exercise is easier and reset the way you eat.

Yep and obesity affects poor people more than it does the rich.

For me it allows me to just have the nourishing food because while I get hungry it has stopped my brain focusing on the energy-dense processed foods to the extent that I have mindless eaten the junk while I am making the family meal and now I am so full of rubbish I either can't eat the good stuff or I have to force it in to eat with the family.

@Middleagedstriker i fully agree with this, and the conspiracy theorist in me can’t help but think there’s a link between the food industry spending years pushing processed, sugary, shite food onto us, and the pharmaceutical companies coming along with the magic cure all fix with injections. Some very rich people are laughing all the way to the bank.

you wouldn’t tell an asthmatic to just simply breathe in and out and then you wouldn’t be asthmatic.

You must have missed the recent disability benefit threads 😂

Yeah people would be kidding themselves if they didn't see the link between more people being obese these days and the way our diet and lifestyles have changed. Interesting point about the big pharma companies!

I have learnt a lot from.somethingnquite ridiculous. I got two rescue cats a couple of years ago. They are different builds. They eat exactly the same amounts - in fact one scoffs more than the other and nicks the other's food given half a chance.

One is a skinny Minnie, the other is very round. One is 4.5kilos, the other is 5.05 kilos.

I have concluded that one is an ectomorph and the other an endomorph. One eats what she likes and stays slim, the other piles on the pounds.

I live in Spain and was chatting to some Spanish friends on Friday who’d never heard of weight loss drugs. They looked totally confused about the idea!

I don’t see that many really over weight people here apart from tourists, so maybe it’s to do with Britain having much more processed food available? There’s very little here in supermarkets, and most people cook proper meals having bought veggies etc from the local markets.

Obvious your friend massively over ate but you are making it sound very simplistic to say she's reduced portion size and is losing weight. Sure she's needed to change her mindset and psychology around food too? Recommending reducing portion size only to lose weight is a bit like telling an anorexic person to, "Just eat more and you'll gain weight".

So what happens in this scenario when you stop taking the MJ?

Surely you will just go back to the eating behaviour of having the energy-dense foods whilst cooking if it’s a true addiction?

Or does the addictive side of eating stop once the MJ has done its job of making someone lose huge amounts of weight?

Maybe I can't stop, or maybe after a couple of years I can - only time and testing will show, sadly.

Food addiction seems to be an illness that’s only inflicted upon the British and Americans I think.

It’s a very interesting point though as to why obesity is so rife over here and so rare elsewhere.

I imagine every country in the world (apart from third world obviously) has processed food, sweets and crisps and take-out options, so why isn’t obesity a world-wide issue as opposed to being so localised to certain countries?

I really hope it works for you 🤞

Over eating to the point of obesity is an emotional issue. Sticking a needle into your arm won’t fix this (unless it’s a lifelong plan of course).
Diets don’t work, you’re usually just replacing one disordered set of eating habits with another.
The cold hard fact is that eating too much, whilst not exercising, causes weight gain. There is no magic diet, injection, or surgical intervention on the planet that will change this.
Eat less, move more. Costs nothing in monthly subscriptions and it’s the only healthy option.