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AIBU?

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Original poster

To think Serena Williams being on a GLP-1 isn’t that big a deal?

88 replies

SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 08:37

I know a lot of people have issues with her advertising it, but that is just the American drug market. They advertise everything single drug going.

I personally think it’s quite nice to see someone so athletic be open with her struggles, and show that even with the most disciplined diet and exercise regime, it’s not always that simple

OP posts:
Truetoself · 25/08/2025 08:38

Agree. Would love for Adele to own up to the same

Original poster
SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 08:40

Truetoself · 25/08/2025 08:38

Agree. Would love for Adele to own up to the same

To be fair I think Adele lost a LOT of her weight before these drugs were really on the market didn’t she? It was after her divorce

OP posts:
MidnightPatrol · 25/08/2025 08:40

I agree - who cares. Works for her, she’s happy, great.

Half the population seem to be on it - I have met quite a few people recently who seem to have lost 20-30kg in a year or two.

They all seem very happy, I can’t really see what there is to be upset about.

BabyCatFace · 25/08/2025 08:41

Yeah I've changed my views on WLI over the past 6 months or so - I used to think it was too risky for just overweight people to take them but now I tend to think they are very safe so why not? I think that's the way the trend is heading and before too long they will be licenced for BMI 26. She's probably approaching peri, a very large built woman which while is mostly muscle will be harder to maintain at her age and with less exercise, so why not? She's obviously done it the right way continuing to work her muscles and maintain mass. Good on her, why not.

BallerinaRadio · 25/08/2025 08:41

Truetoself · 25/08/2025 08:38

Agree. Would love for Adele to own up to the same

Why should she have to 'own up' to anything? It's absolutely none of your business

Original poster
SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 08:43

BabyCatFace · 25/08/2025 08:41

Yeah I've changed my views on WLI over the past 6 months or so - I used to think it was too risky for just overweight people to take them but now I tend to think they are very safe so why not? I think that's the way the trend is heading and before too long they will be licenced for BMI 26. She's probably approaching peri, a very large built woman which while is mostly muscle will be harder to maintain at her age and with less exercise, so why not? She's obviously done it the right way continuing to work her muscles and maintain mass. Good on her, why not.

As someone on them it really made me smile (which I know is odd), because it’s really nice to see that even the healthiest, most athletic people can need a helping hand

OP posts:
MasterOfOne · 25/08/2025 08:43

I don't think its the fact she is on wli thats the issue - if it works for her good for her.

I think its because it feels like a stealth advertisement for a company her husband is a shareholder/on the board for.

So it seems its fallout for lack of transparency.

Original poster
SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 08:46

MasterOfOne · 25/08/2025 08:43

I don't think its the fact she is on wli thats the issue - if it works for her good for her.

I think its because it feels like a stealth advertisement for a company her husband is a shareholder/on the board for.

So it seems its fallout for lack of transparency.

That’s quite publicly available information though, no? I think that’s an argument a lot of people are hiding behind to criticise her choice to be honest

OP posts:
EatMoreChocolate44 · 25/08/2025 08:46

I think it's terrible. How are normal people supposed to be body positive and accept their shape and size if super fit athletes are promoting weight loss drugs. Weight loss drugs should be for people who are clinical obese and have health issues. People who truly need help when nothing else has worked. It's bringing back skinny culture and the need to be thin to be beautiful which is rubbish. We had so much body positivity, embracing your curves, accepting our bodies, loving our bodies for what they can do, to now being made to feel bad about ourselves. We have regressed back to the 90s when being skinny was desired. I think it's depressing. Like I said, great if you genuinely need it for your health, you are struggling with your size and you've went through a medical professional otherwise it's shaming normal people and poor people who can't afford to 'keep' up with this new standard of 'health' and 'body size'.

BeverleyHofstadter · 25/08/2025 08:48

Of course it is no big deal.

Serena Williams can do what she wants. Her body has always been her income, why shouldn’t it continue to be?

AlwaysBeingMe · 25/08/2025 08:48

Good on her.
Hopefully she didn't use Mounjaro by Eli Lilly who have just shafted their UK users with a massive price hike.

Original poster
SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 08:49

EatMoreChocolate44 · 25/08/2025 08:46

I think it's terrible. How are normal people supposed to be body positive and accept their shape and size if super fit athletes are promoting weight loss drugs. Weight loss drugs should be for people who are clinical obese and have health issues. People who truly need help when nothing else has worked. It's bringing back skinny culture and the need to be thin to be beautiful which is rubbish. We had so much body positivity, embracing your curves, accepting our bodies, loving our bodies for what they can do, to now being made to feel bad about ourselves. We have regressed back to the 90s when being skinny was desired. I think it's depressing. Like I said, great if you genuinely need it for your health, you are struggling with your size and you've went through a medical professional otherwise it's shaming normal people and poor people who can't afford to 'keep' up with this new standard of 'health' and 'body size'.

Body positivity has crossed a line in the last few years though.

it used to be about celebrating health, but it’s now gone beyond that to celebrating genuinely unhealthy bodies.

OP posts:
doodleschnoodle · 25/08/2025 08:52

It’s quite common I believe for elite athletes to struggle with weight management after retiring or reducing activity levels, so I don’t find it that surprising or shocking.

20thcenturygirlwithherhandsonthewheel · 25/08/2025 08:54

whos business is this? Not mine, yours, or anyone else’s but Serena’s and her doctors

MasterOfOne · 25/08/2025 08:54

SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 08:46

That’s quite publicly available information though, no? I think that’s an argument a lot of people are hiding behind to criticise her choice to be honest

Show quote history

I personally don't care what she does. Was simply sharing why the criticism.

Yes its freely available information- but if you are also advertising a product, it should be clear in your statement. She has a beneficial interest in her husbands company to do well.

BabyCatFace · 25/08/2025 08:56

EatMoreChocolate44 · 25/08/2025 08:46

I think it's terrible. How are normal people supposed to be body positive and accept their shape and size if super fit athletes are promoting weight loss drugs. Weight loss drugs should be for people who are clinical obese and have health issues. People who truly need help when nothing else has worked. It's bringing back skinny culture and the need to be thin to be beautiful which is rubbish. We had so much body positivity, embracing your curves, accepting our bodies, loving our bodies for what they can do, to now being made to feel bad about ourselves. We have regressed back to the 90s when being skinny was desired. I think it's depressing. Like I said, great if you genuinely need it for your health, you are struggling with your size and you've went through a medical professional otherwise it's shaming normal people and poor people who can't afford to 'keep' up with this new standard of 'health' and 'body size'.

Weight loss drugs should be for people who are clinical obese and have health issues. People who truly need help when nothing else has worked

Why??

I don't agree at all that 90s skinny culture is back. Being strong and fit is still prized highest. There wouldn't be so much talk about protein and exercise on WLI if skinny was the only goal. And I'm sorry but body positivity is all very well but being a healthy weight is always better than being overweight.

BabyCatFace · 25/08/2025 08:57

EatMoreChocolate44 · 25/08/2025 08:46

I think it's terrible. How are normal people supposed to be body positive and accept their shape and size if super fit athletes are promoting weight loss drugs. Weight loss drugs should be for people who are clinical obese and have health issues. People who truly need help when nothing else has worked. It's bringing back skinny culture and the need to be thin to be beautiful which is rubbish. We had so much body positivity, embracing your curves, accepting our bodies, loving our bodies for what they can do, to now being made to feel bad about ourselves. We have regressed back to the 90s when being skinny was desired. I think it's depressing. Like I said, great if you genuinely need it for your health, you are struggling with your size and you've went through a medical professional otherwise it's shaming normal people and poor people who can't afford to 'keep' up with this new standard of 'health' and 'body size'.

Weight loss drugs should be for people who are clinical obese and have health issues. People who truly need help when nothing else has worked

Why??

I don't agree at all that 90s skinny culture is back. Being strong and fit is still prized highest. There wouldn't be so much talk about protein and exercise on WLI if skinny was the only goal. And I'm sorry but body positivity is all very well but being a healthy weight is always better than being overweight.

Ivenoname · 25/08/2025 08:59

Her H apparently has shares in the company and she is being paid to promote the drug. So she is hardly being altruistic by talking about her struggle to lose weight.
I see it a a real negative that she is promoting an idea people can't lose weight without using these drugs.

Original poster
SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 09:02

Ivenoname · 25/08/2025 08:59

Her H apparently has shares in the company and she is being paid to promote the drug. So she is hardly being altruistic by talking about her struggle to lose weight.
I see it a a real negative that she is promoting an idea people can't lose weight without using these drugs.

Edited

The thing is for a lot of people it is a genuine struggle to lose weight without them

OP posts:
Agix · 25/08/2025 09:03

SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 08:49

Body positivity has crossed a line in the last few years though.

it used to be about celebrating health, but it’s now gone beyond that to celebrating genuinely unhealthy bodies.

Show quote history

But the weightloss drugs are creating genuinely unhealthy bodies, which we are celebrating.

The drugs themselves may be safe, but they enable people to eat very little - and that's what people are doing. That's how the dramatic weightloss happens. I was diagnosed with an eating disorder due to eating that little, and sent to hospital. But apparently it's fine to do it when you pay for it?

Eating so little that the weight falls off you, as is what often happens with the WLIs, is very bad for you.

If health is your concern, you should be concerned about the WLIs.

I'm not concerned by health, which is why Im back to severely restricting my food intake to lose this stupid "recovery" weight I gained from hospital. So I'm not concerned bout the WLIs either. My thought are, if eating so little is fine for them, it's fine for me. The only difference is I can do it for free.

Eating very little will always lead to weightloss, you don't need a I ejection to do that. It just helps you do that.

But saying body positivity is bad because it got unhealthy whilst also taking weight loss injections and applauding them is absolutely laughable. A naturally chubby person, ie they got that way due to a few excess calories, is always going to be healthier than someone in WLIs who is dropping weight due to very low intake (and healthier than me too, of course).

For WLIs to be the healthy choice, they need to be reserved for people who are very large. Unable to walk. Who cannot control their eating habits at all.

Instead just "kinda fat" people are all over them... And now athletes. That's insane.

phoenixrosehere · 25/08/2025 09:04

EatMoreChocolate44 · 25/08/2025 08:46

I think it's terrible. How are normal people supposed to be body positive and accept their shape and size if super fit athletes are promoting weight loss drugs. Weight loss drugs should be for people who are clinical obese and have health issues. People who truly need help when nothing else has worked. It's bringing back skinny culture and the need to be thin to be beautiful which is rubbish. We had so much body positivity, embracing your curves, accepting our bodies, loving our bodies for what they can do, to now being made to feel bad about ourselves. We have regressed back to the 90s when being skinny was desired. I think it's depressing. Like I said, great if you genuinely need it for your health, you are struggling with your size and you've went through a medical professional otherwise it's shaming normal people and poor people who can't afford to 'keep' up with this new standard of 'health' and 'body size'.

She has Sjögren's Syndrome, and has said she has struggled to lose weight despite being active and eating well.

Plenty of people who are a normal BMI and overweight have had this issue where they have struggled to lose weight despite doing all the things that is said to do to lose weight.

It’s also not shaming people by others being able to afford things and plenty of people are happy with their size and wouldn’t take it anyway.

People talk about the trends of the past but ignore that many people also ignored them, didn’t participate and/or mocked them. How many times has the lip fillers come up on AIBU with many saying how horrendous it looks despite it being a trend, same with BBL, Botox, and how horrible some look after taking weight loss drugs.

Original poster
SaltAirAndTheRust · 25/08/2025 09:06

Agix · 25/08/2025 09:03

But the weightloss drugs are creating genuinely unhealthy bodies, which we are celebrating.

The drugs themselves may be safe, but they enable people to eat very little - and that's what people are doing. That's how the dramatic weightloss happens. I was diagnosed with an eating disorder due to eating that little, and sent to hospital. But apparently it's fine to do it when you pay for it?

Eating so little that the weight falls off you, as is what often happens with the WLIs, is very bad for you.

If health is your concern, you should be concerned about the WLIs.

I'm not concerned by health, which is why Im back to severely restricting my food intake to lose this stupid "recovery" weight I gained from hospital. So I'm not concerned bout the WLIs either. My thought are, if eating so little is fine for them, it's fine for me. The only difference is I can do it for free.

Eating very little will always lead to weightloss, you don't need a I ejection to do that. It just helps you do that.

But saying body positivity is bad because it got unhealthy whilst also taking weight loss injections and applauding them is absolutely laughable. A naturally chubby person, ie they got that way due to a few excess calories, is always going to be healthier than someone in WLIs who is dropping weight due to very low intake (and healthier than me too, of course).

For WLIs to be the healthy choice, they need to be reserved for people who are very large. Unable to walk. Who cannot control their eating habits at all.

Instead just "kinda fat" people are all over them... And now athletes. That's insane.

Show quote history

I’m very sorry you’ve struggled with an eating disorder.

But I don’t think that that’s a reason to stop people using WLI. Yes some people do use them irresponsibly. But people use every drug on the market irresponsibly. The vast majority of people on these injections want to lose weight healthily.

The alternative for me was getting bigger and bigger from 25 stone, how is that healthier than using the WLI to be in a safe deficit and lose weight?

OP posts:
FlappyFish · 25/08/2025 09:06

Good for her and thank God someone who clearly was fit as heck said she needed help after tennis retirement. After the birth of her first she did gain a lot - some articles have comparison photos.

Exercise makes you hungry as heck. As the saying goes “you can’t out train a bad diet.”

GleisZwei · 25/08/2025 09:08

I think she can take whatever medication she likes, if a medical professional approves it and she can afford it.
I don't think any celebrities should be actively promoting any medication though, or gaining financially from it.

BabyCatFace · 25/08/2025 09:09

Agix · 25/08/2025 09:03

But the weightloss drugs are creating genuinely unhealthy bodies, which we are celebrating.

The drugs themselves may be safe, but they enable people to eat very little - and that's what people are doing. That's how the dramatic weightloss happens. I was diagnosed with an eating disorder due to eating that little, and sent to hospital. But apparently it's fine to do it when you pay for it?

Eating so little that the weight falls off you, as is what often happens with the WLIs, is very bad for you.

If health is your concern, you should be concerned about the WLIs.

I'm not concerned by health, which is why Im back to severely restricting my food intake to lose this stupid "recovery" weight I gained from hospital. So I'm not concerned bout the WLIs either. My thought are, if eating so little is fine for them, it's fine for me. The only difference is I can do it for free.

Eating very little will always lead to weightloss, you don't need a I ejection to do that. It just helps you do that.

But saying body positivity is bad because it got unhealthy whilst also taking weight loss injections and applauding them is absolutely laughable. A naturally chubby person, ie they got that way due to a few excess calories, is always going to be healthier than someone in WLIs who is dropping weight due to very low intake (and healthier than me too, of course).

For WLIs to be the healthy choice, they need to be reserved for people who are very large. Unable to walk. Who cannot control their eating habits at all.

Instead just "kinda fat" people are all over them... And now athletes. That's insane.

Show quote history

This is just more anti WLI myths being trotted out by someone who has no real idea what they are talking about.
A small % of people on WLI are eating very little and losing weight at unhealthy rates. They are people who are uninformed about health both the impacts of too much food and too little. Most people on WLI are eating in a moderate calorie deficit over a long period of time and focusing on macros and exercise. Personally I've lost 3 stone eating 1800-2000 calories a day consistently. I work out and my body goal is muscled and toned, not skinny. I'm pretty typical of a WLI user. You have a weird take on it that smacks of resentment TBH.