Doctors/Nurses/Dietitians/healthcare professionals, what are you real and honest beliefs about the whole weight loss injection moment we are having?

[Banrockmystation]

A genuine thread for me who is too afraid to ask in real life. For context I’m in my 40s with pcos, at least 2.5 stone overweight and despite exercising 4 times a week and calorie tracking etc for the last few years my weight issues continue.
I don’t have an opinion on other people being on the injections. My reason for asking is because despite probably being a candidate for them and knowing how hard I try to control weight, there’s something that stops me.
I worry that there is more to it than what is being shown by the media and that there isn’t enough research done on long term effects etc? Aibu? Is that just fear or an actual possible concern that others in the industry have too?
Despite my weight, I’m heart healthy and fitter than I’ve ever been.
Thanks!

behavioural psychologist here: once you’re off the ozempic have you really set in place habits that help you keep the weight off?

You copy-pasted the wrong post, @pirateshirt .

No, I didn't I copied the post that the poster mocked, as if it was ludicrous to suggest a slightly overweight middleaged woman could lose weight with the boring slow method.

All further posts bled on from that.

Please go and tone-police and scold someone else.

@Dellspoem I guess what you're inferring is that people won't have?

The post I thought was rude wasn't the post you copy-pasted. I think your post - the one quoted above by me - was needlessly unkind and rude to the poster. There are ways to say you have concerns about medications without saying things that can be unnecessarily hurtful to people - patients - about their health issues. I hope you wouldn't say things that way to a patient's face.

I can maintain weight, I just couldn't eat little enough for long enough to successfully lose it in the last 16 years to get to normal BMI as it took way too long. My weight hadn't increased in that time, which between the ages of 33 and 49 is pretty good.

I'll be staying on mounjaro and coming off it gradually when I get to goal, and while I work out what my new maintenance calories are.

Have there been any blind placebo tests for weight loss drugs ( not diabetic medicine)? It would be interesting to know whether the ‘food noise’ phenomenon is totally physiological or has some psychological factor

I believe there have been. When you look at what the medication is and how it works, then you would assume that the result is physiological, however that doesn't mean that the reason for the person gaining weight in the first place, didn't include psychological factors.
One thing I have noticed about weight loss discussions in general, is that there tends to be various factions, those who have never been significantly overweight, those who believe they are significantly overweight, but might just need to lose a couple of stone (like the author of the Human Being Diet book, who went from 10stone to 8.5stone ) and those of us who are really significantly overweight/morbidly obese. I think it can be quite difficult for people who have never experienced being morbidly obese, to adjust their perceptions of weight loss in this group of people ?

@Dellspoem have you any suggestions/tips on how people can achieve in-bedding habits so that they remain long term ?

The gastric slowness is a positive for me so far, seven weeks in. I would have a bowel movement every few hours pteviously, even in the middle of the night, and occasionally, food I had never reacted to before would suddenly go right through me. Now I can go once a day, or every other day, like a normal person. I just don't think my body was absorbing food or nutrients properly, hence I was hungry. People would say protein made them full- only eggs and chicken did for me and carbs with lots of fibre. Obviously if this persists after I stop taking mounjaro I'll have it investigated further.

@Dymaxion
Hands up, ✋️ I'll confess, I'm about 3st overweight, in the obese category. And trying to lose 3 st is easier said than done.

I have no clue how people who have double that or more to lose even start.

In theory I should be able to drop 3st in 9mth at about a pound a week. But I just find it impossible. I'll loose 2-3lb then go for dinner and undo two or three weeks work.

Some people will have, some won’t.
I put on 3 stone 10 years ago after a difficult pregnancy, traumatic birth and botched surgery with complications after birth. As a result I was almost immobile for 18 months. I then maintained that (too high) weight for 8 years. Once I was mobile again I didn’t put any more weight on. However as soon as I tried to lose any weight, ie by burning more calories than I consumed, I genuinely felt ravenously hungry, sick and faint.
I lost 3 stone on Mounjaro, and reached goal weight in September. Tapered off until November, and have been MJ free since then. I am still maintaining my weight. I find consuming the same amount of calories as I burn easy. I find consuming fewer calories than I burn extremely hard.
My BMI was 22 when I stopped MJ in Nov, and is 22 now.

Do you not understand how one thing flows on from and refers to another?

For the last time, please stop scolding me and accusing me. I find you needlessly unkind, rude, badgering, and weirdly obsessed with policing what you imagine is my intent - based on assumptions that are largely incorrect.

Thank you, that is interesting

This is my take on Mounjaro.

Both myself and DH have been on it since mid Jan. Neither of us have any medical issues and we are both early 60's, and recently retired. We travel a lot.

I have lost 2 stone and DH 18 lbs. I absolutely love being thinner, but hated the side effects. DH was the same.
I have just stopped taking it, but still have some suppression. DH has also stopped and is back to normal now, but still eating wisely.

I have never,ever, been so tired, but it seemed to help me sleep.
I was almost unable to eat and never 'fancied' anything, so I ate to keep me alive. I always thought I would love to be in the camp that was able to do that, but I hated it.
I haven't enjoyed a meal since mid Jan.
I haven't enjoyed an alcoholic drink since mid Dec and have very little desire to drink anything, again, I hate that. Everything in moderation.
We now hate to eat out, as we feel it is a waste of time and money.We are keeping all our friends at arm's length so that they don't try to organise meals out!!

Prior to taking the drug we were the life and soul of the party, with meals out, coffee meet ups and lunches out forming the core of our social life. Now, we don't do any of that. I feel like I have had a personality transplant!!

We both paid for our prescriptions, although our GP's were informed. What we have saved in not eating out has more than covered the amount we have paid for the doses.

My question to myself is was it worth it?
I really don't know the answer to that. Would I do it again, if my weight creeps back up?
Honestly, and very sadly, I would have to say, yes.

It is a tool and one that I was sceptical of, and a little scared by, but it has worked. I have hated every minute of it, but the results are clear.

Am I waiting to have my appetite kick back in and enjoy and look forward to a lovely meal out, with wine? Absolutely!!

@CheltenhamLady I totally get you , which is why I’m doing the month on this as I’ve bought it but then going to have a month on herbal appetite suppressants to see the difference- I’ve got good willpower portion wise and don’t get heavy food noise -so may work ok for me and you can take as and when without it lingering around all week - I may not lose , but I may do as I’ve kicked good habits back in but personally I feel sick most of the time and a lot of burping and acid reflux even on a low dose and it’s making me miserable - even though losing weight albeit slowly - and I love food and am a good cook but anything except incredibly bland food sets it off for me whilst using WLI . I’ve lost weight at this pace before if being very careful on portions and no snacking, regardless of what I ate, but without the nasty add ons- clearly many get very little SEs , so great for them

I have no qualms about being on Mounjaro for life. For me it's been life changing outside of weight loss.

Good to know. Do you think she meant she can’t wait in a sympathetic way?

She obviously meant she can’t wait for the fall out so that she can sympathise and support people through it! Silly us for misreading her intentions.

Not scolding, accusing, badgering or obsessed. Simply observing and hoping you wouldn't speak to a patient like that in real life.

What the fuck is wrong with you

@CheltenhamLady that’s so sad.
i hope you’re able to enjoy meals again one day without feeling that you’ve undone your weight loss. I totally respect people who want to change their body for their own reasons (although society’s reasons are dubious) but I think when people say it gets rid of the food noise that for some of us that sounds like an utterly joyless existence.
I love enjoying food, planning meals, cooking, eating out. I’m not overweight but curvy so wouldn’t qualify for the jabs but I’d rather have a wobbly bum and bit of a mum tum but with a life full of joyful experiences. Also I’m heavily into exercise and the focus there is on fuelling not restricting. Can understand the trade off isn’t the same for others though.

I still really enjoy food when I eat it, I wouldn't be able to take mounjaro if I didn't.

I’m enjoying food more tbh. It doesn’t have the horrible undercurrent of guilt and fear of overeating and lack of control that it used to have when I was obese. In the first couple of months while I was adjusting, perhaps. But after that, and now I am on a maintenance dose, I really enjoy cooking from scratch, I eat cake from time to time, I just really enjoy food and trying new things, because I don’t have that fear of not having enough and being hungry or guilt of eating too much! It feels freeing really, to eat a small or standard portion of something really nice and be satisfied with it. So I think it’s just one of things that is different for everyone.

This is exactly how it was for me. I enjoyed food a lot more without the agonising guilt of eating too much.