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 think a comparison with WLI and antidepressants stands though.
Of course it's ridiculous to say to someone with depression oh just go for a walk, even though the walk would help. But if the person with depression took medication that lifted them enough they they could consider getting dressed and leaving the house for the walk, then it seems possible. And they could then benefit from the walk, which would help their depression.
WLI are a similar tool for a different disease. They're doing the handholding, hormonally, that allows the obese person to do what they need to do to lose the weight and hopefully move towards better health.
People saying 'just' go for a walk or 'just' eat less are missing that it's really not that simple for a lot of people. That's why it's brilliant that the medication exists to help.

Yeah going back 40 years there was far less obesity, but going back 40 years we did not have the same food around, we did not even have a lot of food on tv: I think there was Delia Smith and The Food Programme, and absolutely no cult of the celebrity chef. We didn't have tons of ingredients that were pretty bad for you really, not mainstream like it is now. If you put a 30 year old in a supermarket in a rural town from the early 80s they'd be shocked at how little there was. Processed food was Findus Crispy Pancakes and Pot Noodles, you didn't find things like popcorn chicken in southern fried batter, you didn't have 3-for-2 offers, big fridges were rare, and you didn't sit around with computer games because they hardly existed. And we for sure ate less, portions were smaller, we didn't eat out a lot and you didn't have takeaways at the press of a button.
There have been so many massive changes all over society, it's impossible to single one out. I think it's that the odds of having a great metabolism AND no confounding factors like depression/ADHD/metabolic factors, AND a decent income and time so you can really prep the food are kind of stacked against us and we barely notice.

Agree, I was overweight, started tracking my calories and exercise. I actually had to have a lot less calories than I was told (probably partly because you can’t track everything accurately and also because no one likes to recommend 1000 calories or less, even for a short amount of time) and did over twice the amount of steps recommended until I started to lose weight, only then did I start losing consistently. Also for me I needed to see good losses straight away otherwise I gave up, I learnt this over a two year weight loss journey. I don’t do running or cardio yet because I find I’m so hungry doing that I eat too much so I’m waiting till I’m my goal weight to reintroduce it, but everyone is different and it takes a while to find out what works for you.

This is it, the amount of food available and the choice of food available is through the roof compared to say just a generation or so ago. Combine that with people being less active- even just something simple like internet shopping not existing before, is it any wonder more people are obese now. I don't see how people can claim its just down to hormones or genetics- humans dont change that quickly! It's the food industry and lack of activity that has changed big time.

Genetics may not change that quickly but that does not mean they don't have an impact. Look into epigenetics. The environment (eg UPF) can absolutely have differing effects on different people on the basis of underlying genetics which have not changed.

I know two people who’ve each lost 5 stone, largely through stopping buying and therefore eating all the snack foods they used to have (chocolate, crisps, biscuits, cakes etc) and exercising a bit more, mostly just walking, nothing hard core.

One of them had also cut out the vast amounts of full fat Coke she used to get through every week.

I think this is definitely part of the reason people have a negative attitude towards weight loss injections.

What they perhaps don’t factor in is that a regular weight person and an obese person have a different starting position in the same race. If you have a high BMI, you will have a higher level of insulin resistance. Insulin resistance messes with your hunger signals, it makes you crave food more. There have been controlled studies done where the same nutritionally balanced food was given to people with normal BMI levels and people with high BMI / obesity. The normal BMI group reported fullness and satisfaction after eating. The high BMI group reported still feeling hungry and craving sweet food after eating the same meal. This is what insulin resistance does. It makes the battle harder.

Mounjaro levels the playing field and gives people with high BMI the chance to resolve their insulin resistance so they can get to the same starting point in the ‘race to maintain a healthy weight’ as everyone with a normal BMI.

I agree - don't have anything against WLI or ADs and in fact ADs have helped me massively. Just got to deal with the very real effect that being menopausal brings, in my case. It is harder! (I'm not a candidate for WLIs for other reasons.)

I don't care what your take on it is and have no interest in defending mine to you. I'm here to express solidarity with the OP.

You have to tune out to them, OP. You get uneducated dickheads commenting on every topic under the sun - this is no different. “Just eat less, move more”… oh - silly me, I hadn’t realised that, despite being very successful in every other element of my life, that had escaped me, thank you for the info!’

I’m nearly 4 stone down after 6 months on Mounjaro. Coming to the end of the loss I wanted, and will stay on Mounjaro for long term, to maintain.

After 50 years of dieting, overeating & binging, gaining, dieting, over-eating and binging, (since actual appetite suppressants aged 8 in the 1970s 😡) it’s almost a literal miracle to me.

Good luck with it, OP.

Yep. I no longer engage with anyone who hasn't read the easily available and well-established science around why people develop obesity.

Yep it’s looking more and more likely that a maintenance dose will be the way forward.

For some people being naturally slim or having the automatic built in ability to see food as fuel and nothing more gives them a sense of moral high ground, the weight loss medication threatens this. The people who are particularly spiteful towards obese people in my experience are the ones that get validation and self worth by being naturally slim, they wear it as a badge of honour.

I'm enjoying the references to the deserving ("obese due to an actual medical condition") vs undeserving fatties which appear on these threads. The need to judge is really strong in some people apparently!

@NorthernGirl1981- I certainly plan to stay on it long term after reaching a weight I’m happy with.

It’s addressing my insulin issues, improving my blood sugar, and doing wonders for my brain. It seems illogical to stop taking something that is having such a positive effect.

Secret eaters

I agree it's a way of upping your status by showing how good looking and healthy you are both mentally and physically. They are like wealthy people who insist the poor are all feckless layabouts and that we all have the same 24 hours in the day.

Got it in one.

And when there are so many more worthy reasons for humans to feel good about themselves … But some definitely cling to it as a badge of self worth.

I was a very low bmi right up until my last baby, at which point I have moved, still within the “ healthy” category but much higher up it! In hindsight, I feel 18/19 was too low and I was healthier when I gained a bit.

I absolutely know I was no more worthy as a person when in my teeniest sizes - actually probably more self-absorbed if I’m honest. But effort-wise nothing has changed. It’s just hormones from peri.

With respect, understanding obesity means understanding you can’t solve it by dieting.

You solve it by resetting your connection with your hunger signals and satiated signals. You reset it so you no longer crave binging or crap food, but so that your body is in tune with what you want to eat and when.

I used to be a compulsive over-eater/ binge eater and bulimic ( for about a decade) and I conquered it not by focusing on dieting but by setting a long term goal to attune to my hunger and to feelings of being satiated. I did lose weight, but that was a by product and not my goal.

I read an account on here about what MJ has done for the poster ( food no longer on her mind all the time etc), and I thought, ‘that’s exactly what I managed to do myself’ ( prior to MJ existing).

So I do think for many people it is possible without drugs.

People always fill these threads with claims of how the environment/ biology etc makes it impossible for people to lose weight. But it is possible, if you set the right goal, and strategy. It’s just hard. But then all things worth doing are hard.

Well I'm here not to, OP asked a question I'm giving my replies to help answer it. I am one of those people who dont 'understand' it.

Do you feel the same about alcoholics and drug addicts- do you think “just don’t have a drink then” or “just don’t shoot up then”?

No, as I don't believe food to be addictive in the same way as drugs, cigarettes and alcohol.

And for the record I dont judge people based on their size. Its about being healthy not a certain size. Also if someone is happy being bigger then great! But when people openly admit to scoffing whole packets of biscuits etc then also claim to be on a diet, then moan about how hard it is. Sorry no I dont have sympathy. I couldn't tell you the amount of times I've wanted to eat a whole packet of something but I dont because I know the consequences and care about my health.

But can’t you see that it clearly is, or there wouldn’t be (unhappily) obese people?

And of course everyone who is overweight knows for certain whether they're over weight because they are idle pigs stuffing their faces all day or if they have an underlying medical condition that makes losing weight/moving difficult...

Oh wait. They don't. And finding answers/dx is really difficult because you're told it IS just that you're a greedy lazy cake monster.