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!

Oh goodness, why? I hope the opposite because isn’t that better for all involved?

Can someone explain how loosing weight causes bones to thin?
It's not something I've heard of. And I'm trying to understand the physics of what's happening

This is just my logic, heavier people have denser bones because of the pressure they are putting their skeleton under constantly?
Right?

So they loose weight and the body doesn't need such dense bones so doesn't renew the cells ????

So if someone is say 9st never been heavier than that? How dense will their bones be compared to someone at say 13st?

If the 13st person drops to 9st how much less dense will their bones become than that person who's only ever been 9st?

Can someone point me in the right direction for some science behind this?

@Galwaygirlxxx why would I need to see my GP if I am well? What would they think they might need to do or check? What issues with my kidneys would a GLP-1 cause specifically?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/news.liverpool.ac.uk/2025/01/02/weight-loss-drugs-help-with-fat-loss-but-they-cause-bone-and-muscle-loss-too/amp/

Why is this?

I don't disapprove of these at all, used carefully they are a great tool however they are being given out on mass with very little checks and clearly to people who don't know about the potential problems of being in a significant and prolonged calorie deficit.

If there is an emotional cause then mounjaro may not work because emotional issues will make you eat when you are full anyway.

What a lot of people seem to be finding on mounjaro is that the food noise and hunger pains were in fact physical and real and not emotional, hence they are successfully losing weight on it.

It doesn't have to be drastic. I'm having 300 calories a day less and have lost a stone in 7 weeks.

"The dose makes the poison".

Use in diabetics, where risks probably are outweighed by benefits, at a different dosing amount has been well studied over many years.

Use for weightloss is relatively recent and there are no longterm studies. People are ending up with lifelong stomach paralysis and vision loss, etc etc.

There are studies showing regain of most of the weight, once WLI are stopped, which happens after most diet plans, but then most ordinary, boring, slow dieting does not leave you with the risk of stomach paralysis, etc etc etc.

At BMI 29 aged 49 I was starting to get sore knees when I ran, lifted weights, or walked longer distances - being overweight is a risk for osteoarthitis and I feared I was already getting it. Lifting weights and other exercise helps to prevent osteoporosis, but being heavier was starting to impede my exercise routine even though I was ostensibly fit. Already that pain has gone now I am down to BMI 26. In a short while I'll be on maintenance calories - I don't believe eating a healthy balanced diet and being a healthy weight, and being able to take exercise more easily is a big risk for osteoporosis and considerably decreases the risk of early osteoarthritis.

Moat ordinary, slow, boring weight loss I'd been doing for 15 years and was leaving me with all the risks associated with being overweight in middle age and old age as it wasn't working.

Totally with you on this OP. This response encapsulates the line everyone who takes them spouts online. Does it say it inside the packet?
Completely side stepping any concerns.
It’s not the same as paracetamol!
It’s nuts.

That's a shame you were not able to address your issues by embracing a healthy diet.

It does seem fairly likely that there will be fall out. It’s very disturbing.

I did embrace a healthy diet and lots of exercise. I just couldn't embrace eating 1400 calories a day which is what I need to lose 1-2lbs a week without feeling terribly hungry.

As a woman gets older, it is better to accept a slower level of weight loss. I'm not really into calorie counting. I am into conserving my major organs, though.

Same. I eat 1400 cals per day, which is actually more calories than I was eating when I followed weight watchers.

The difference is now I'm on MJ, I'm actually losing 1-2lbs per week. Since peri, I haven't been able to lose anything no matter what I did. And no, I wasn't cheating.
I honestly don't recognise some of the comments on this thread. If I starved myself over a long period, I'm certain I would end up with health problems, but that isn't my experience on MJ.

I'm quite into not having a heart attack soon or developing diabetes or osteoarthritis which were becoming real risks for me going into menopause, plus PCOS and endometrosis affecting my organs already including womb, bowel and bladder since the age of 39, and the higher risk of further complications including endometrial cancer from being overweight. I've been trying to get back to normal BMI since DD2 was born and she is 16 now. 16 years to try and fail to lose two and a half stone is slow enough and there are higher risks for me in not losing the weight now.

@SharpOpalNewt are you sure your calorie deficit is only 300 a day?
Or have you upped your exercise too?
Have you noticed much muscle/ bone loss?

I'm similar age with bmi 31, and like you I've been trying to lose weight for a decade. I've lost the same half stone a dozen times.
At 20 I was 9st,
by 25 I'd bought a car and was 10st
At 30 I'd lived in a hotel 4 nights a week 11st
At 35 I got back down to 10st - I lived alone, tons of time to run, swim, & pilates
At 36 working away again 11st
By 42 Baby's & fertility treatment 12.5st.
50 and struggling to get it down.

I'm seriously tempted, I'd love to be between 9 and 10 st again.

I'm not sure why you're ranting at me.

These threads always go the same way - people getting really angry with anyone suggesting caution, as if their religion was being threatened.

There are hundreds, perhaps thousands, of threads to wave your pompoms on in the board created for these injections.

I'd say eating 300 calories less a day than I was previously trying to lose weight means the actual deficit is 3000+ calories a week between what I eat and what I burn off.

FitBit says I burn off about 2500 a day which I don't think is accurate. None of the calorie calculators worked for me.

I also think I can't always accurately track what I'm eating so have to estimate (and calories are never that accurate anyway)- so if I go over a bit with a lower calorie target it gives me more wriggle room than with one which says I will lose 1-2lbs a week - if you weigh and measure everything, which is unrealistic for me.

I haven't upped exercise as I was already doing two yoga classes, two weights/cardio sessions and one cardio only session a week and already fit from that.

Sorry I'm in emergency medicine was just replying to this generally.

A lot of people have gone about this the wrong way and not consulted their GP first.

Do bloods to see how you are just routine bloods and a FBC.

If you have renal or liver disease I'd consultant with your renal / nephrology consultant first.

Although saying that my sister did have a patient on it who is doing well and he has one kidney. It really depends on the person.

Talk to your GP they'd know a lot more than me ! I've been on mat leave since it really took off with the general public !

I'm not ranting at you. HTH.

It's well known that significant and prolonged calorie deficit causes muscle loss and impacts bone mass.

I have heard of this with people who have eating disorders such as anorexia. Is there evidence that bone mass is impacted if you reduce from morbidly obese to a healthy weight ?

What we've found over the years is that weight gain and weight loss are multifactorial. For some people, medication is a useful tool to use in conjunction with a healthy diet, as it can target some of the other factors.

Most of the people I've met who are prescribed these medications were already eating healthy diets or had tried years of dieting which had been unsuccessful. Many of them have had underlying hormonal factors contributing to weight issues, physical health issues impairing their mobility, medication side effects contributing to weight gain, etc.

I've seen dramatic changes for some people, subtler progress for others, and it has generally led to positive individual and service outcomes: individuals experience improvements in their physical and mental health which can be sustained and reduce their risk of life-limiting or life-threatening health issues such as diabetes and heart attacks; and our hospitals and GP surgeries are seeing a reduction in these people needing medical or surgical care, and people who needed surgeries for which they were too high risk are now able to have them.

At a time when the NHS is really struggling, these medications have the potential to free up a lot of clinical resources.