The rise of the trend of GLP-1 and the pressure it brings?

[PiriPiriMenopause]

First of all I just want to say I have nothing against the choice people make for the injections at all, I think they’re great and they obviously work for people who need them! I totally get why someone would want to take it, and it really is transforming lives.

But I worry about the pressure this is bringing so the it. I’m a size 14 and pretty normal. At the moment I don’t have trouble buying clothes or getting stuff to fit. My BMI is about 26 which yes is higher than the recommended but not massively so.

So many people I know are on this drug! Honestly, in my normal every day life, I know of at least 15 people who are taking it. It’s working brilliantly and the results are fantastic they’re happy and it’s great, I love seeing how their confidence has turned on a sixpence. Some of the women were larger than me some were not that much larger than me or the same size.

I’m not sure if my experience is a reflection of what’s going on country wide or not. But AIBU to worry about the knock on effect this will have moving forward. I worry that a size 14 will soon become almost obsolete in the shops because people are no longer requiring larger sizes, I worry about the knock on pressure this will bring to those of us who can’t afford to take it or simply don’t want to or can’t take it. I worry about it becoming a culture for people of my daughter’s age and what it means for their confidence in future.

I’m just interested to see if I’m just being paranoid or if this is something other people worry about. There’s always been a massive pressure on women in particular with their size and appearance but this is the first time I’ve ever really felt it so extreme!

Many drugs have been repurposed. Extensive trials were carried out. If the WHO says they’ve looked at the long term impacts for obesity and all the global health authories and say it is good, then I will take their word for it. Not someone who has no clue.

Accidental double post

@Eyeshadow research shows that people put most or all of the weight back on whatever weight loss method they use, traditional dieting or dieting with WLI. That should not be a reason not to attempt to lose the weight.

It is also true that if you don’t maintain long term changes from any weight loss method then the weight will go back on. That’s not unique to WLI.

I have been on Mounjaro for 18 months, I’m not on the highest dose and likely won’t need to be. I also have not “got used” to the medication, it is working as it always does and the weight keeps dropping. I haven’t started to over eat.

Im also not going to suddenly stop. No one has to, you can continue taking it or drop down dose/s gradually and then stop. Or any combination.

I also don’t need therapy, thanks, nutrition advice or any other kind of support that you imagine I might need. I am doing fine on my own!

The vast majority can’t afford it? I would disagree. I’m on wegovy and it’s £120 a month, that’s £4 a day, and offset by the cost of food.

Myself, my gp and the global health authorities disagree with you, so once again, some random posting uninformed views is irrelevant.

You can diagree but 13.5 million people live in households which are too cold because they can’t afford the heating. I know I’m privillaged to be able to afford MJ.

I’d bet good money that most of these posters going on about long term effects and other such nonsense would be first in the queue with their hands out if they became either eligible/ affordable or both.

That's not quite correct. WHO actually issued a word of caution about long-term use because the data is limited. This is from WHO announcement on 1 Dec.

• GLP-1 therapies may be used by adults, but excluding pregnant women, for the long-term treatment of obesity. While the efficacy of these therapies in treating obesity and improving metabolic and other outcomes was evident, the recommendation is conditional due to limited data on their long-term efficacy and safety, maintenance and discontinuation, their current costs, inadequate health-system preparedness, and potential equity implications.

Why are you so triggered that some people might not agree that WLI are the wonder cure for obesity?

I'm sorry @Eyeshadow but what you have typed is very ill informed in many places.

Do you not think that the majority of people taking WLI have not been dieting for years? Nearly all diets work, everyone knows that. They work because you restrict intake and consume less than your body needs and so you lose weight. The diet doesn't fail. However, unless you then maintain the loss, you gain the weight back again. Pretty much every single poster on the WLI threads has gone around this loop more times than they care too. So, it is utter nonsense that dieting without WLI is likely to lead to more sustained long term loss than without. Pretty much every user of WLI will testify to this!

Do you not also think that years eating food that humans have only recently starting consuming in the quantities that they do now, may have messed with people's metabolisms and delicate internal homonal balances so that they are no longer functioning properly. They have become insulin resistant or the feedback loops to their hypothalamus has been blunted and therefore no amount of dieting, other than actual starvation is going to make them lose weight. Do you not also think that menopause might impact some women adversely, so that once again their hormonal set up means that they also have to reduce intake to unsustainably low amounts to lose weight?

There are PLENTY of people managing to get down to a healthy weight using WLI and then maintain that.

@HereforonedayonlytoavoidStrangerThingsspoilers GLPs are not for Type1 diabetics! They were and are used for T2. Most obese people end up with T2 diabetes. It is very much all related.

You didn't say that people should be denied them, you said that you found people losing weight on them triggering. I was making the point that your triggers are not a reason for others not to lose weight.

Yes, the reality is that the currently most sustainable weight loss model for obese people is ongoing WLIs. Traditional methods don't work, on a population level. Exceptions exist but focusing on them makes bad policy.

There is value in talking about what happens on cessation, since not everyone wants to or will keep taking them permanently. But it can't ever be assumed that someone currently using WLIs will stop.

That’s a subsection, what I said was correct. Of course there is more nuance, around diet etc to go with it, but the who have recommended these for long term use to treat obesity,

www.who.int/news/item/01-12-2025-who-issues-global-guideline-on-the-use-of-glp-1-medicines-in-treating-obesity

Again, where did I say I wanted people to stop losing weight because I can't take them?

@HereforonedayonlytoavoidStrangerThingsspoilers again, you didn't.

You said you found other people's weight loss triggering! My point is that your triggers have nothing to do with other people's desire to lose weight in whichever way they choose to.

So overweight people don’t need them to get to healthy BMI? But obese people DO need them to get to healthy BMI?

Triggering for me but that doesn't mean I think people should stop losing weight on them or lose weight any other way! Stop making assumptions and projecting about what I actually think.

It's hard to say.

I haven't got a weight issue, so it's much easier for me to say I'd be very cautious about ever taking them.

I do have enormous sympathy for people who struggle with their weight, because I think it tends to be complicated and is often far from simply sitting gorging down on food that causes the gain. It can be all sorts of combinations of circumstances, and not all within their easy control, even though people like to act as though it is, so to that extent I think it is a good thing that people who really need them - who legitimately need to lose weight urgently - have that support.

But I don't think I would be first in the queue just for a bit of competitive/cosmetic weight loss to drop from, say a 14 to 12 or 12 to 10. I really don't. I could afford it, so that isn't a factor in me saying that.

ETA I mean I get nervous about eating food past it's use by date so I'm not ever going to be first in line for something going into my body without a good long term view of the consequences. If i had a very high BMI - well over 30 - or health issues related to weight, then obviously I would do, to the best of my ability, an overall risk assessment, and that might look different. But I'd far rather be a size 12 or even 14 than consider them.

Your BMI is 26 so you don't need it.
I wss size 14 and my BMI wss 30.5 so medically obese, ans i started Mounjaro. My BMI is now 6 and im planning how to reduce doses and come off.
So YABU each person is different and even if you dont look so big you can still have a high BMI.

Myself, I respect people who can be honest about feeling personally bothered but also accepting that this shouldn't impact on anyone else. On balance, probably better that this is shared?

What’s your height?

@PuppyKeep the more overweight people with secondary health conditions can access WLI. I suspect as WLI are used for longer and come in different formats they will become increasingly accessible.

Currently, they have been tested on those who are obese or more severely overweight. In those categories the health benefits of losing weight using WLI are deemed to outweigh the potential side effects that some people may suffer from.

It isn't "need" related.

@HereforonedayonlytoavoidStrangerThingsspoilers I have not assumed anything at all. I said I was sympathetic to all those with eating disorders but didn't see that this was relevant to those who were obese or overweight using WLI to lose weight. What is it that you think I am projecting? What do you actually think?

In those categories the health benefits of losing weight using WLI are deemed to outweigh the potential side effects that some people may suffer from.

What side effects please?

@PuppyKeep you can google search side effects of WLI. They are well documented.

You’re only doing fine because you’re on the medication.

And as I said other methods will also cause weight gain if people do not make life changes, even surgery where half their stomach is removed.

The difference between the injections and any other form of weight loss treatment or dieting is that there is no conscious life style change or brain reprogramming, which is why the injections have a much higher chance of weight gain after use.

It’s literally common sense.

Which is why I think they should be offered on the NHS alongside the nutritional advice and support.

I’m not sure why you seem offended by me saying they should be offered alongside additional support - it’s almost like you’re in denial and truly believe that they’re a miracle cure and you won’t ever put weight on again.

I understand what you mean. I know three people on it, two have lost 60kg each! One other probably did not have a high enough BMI for it but got it directly from her pharmacist and has lost that 15kg she never could before.
I am overweight but as I have type 1 diabetes I can’t go in it. I am losing weight by calorie counting (18kg since September), but I have begun to wonder if so many overweight people now lose the weight whether that will further stigmatise others who can’t/wont take them. I mean it’s great - everyone should try and be the healthiest they can, but prejudice exists and it increase??