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!

If you can find me the threads relating to those topics and particularly the posts from people weighing on on whether they think these cancer and alzheimer breakthroughs are a good thing or not I would be interested to read them. Because I don't think I have ever seen a thread where people feel the need to make judgements about what medication others are taking other than with regards to WLI and IVF. As a general topic of newsworthy discussion yes but the tone re WLI and IVF is quite specific.

Again. Why do you think people can’t be on them for life?

I kind of see where you're coming from, but your post does feel a bit like : if everyone loses weight, then I'll be the "fat" one.

I wonder whether average size will drop - similar to in the 50s, 60s, 70s "everyone" was thin. I also wonder about kids who can't take WLI still being overweight and the pressure they might face.

But I don't think these are valid reasons for people not to take WLI if they want.

a lot of discussion about vintage sizing seems to miss the fact that people were smaller IN GENERAL back then. shorter and with smaller skeletons. generally due to less sufficient nutrition in pregnancy and childhood, smoking and smoking earlier in life, things like that. if you're an average adult woman now, with a larger skeleton with larger rib circumference, you're never going to fit into a vintage size 10 with 22 inch waist no matter how little fat you have. so clothing sizes shifted, yes due to so-called vanity or "flattering the customer" but also because the average woman or the middle of the road size 10 is just bigger now.

Because the op had posted saying she worries that size 14 will become obsolete.

I was saying that I think a lot of people who are those kinds of sizes (and the op's bmi of 26) won't take them so they will stay exactly that size and the sizes won't disappear off the shelves. In other words, I was directly answering the op's question about the risks of mid range sizes disappearing. There will be people who take it to move from mid sizes down to small, but not everyone.

And people DO take weight loss drugs for a condition they don't have: that has been mentioned on this very thread. People are using them just to drop sizes even if they don't need to. That was under discussion.

People don't take blood pressure meds unless there is something wrong with their blood pressure. that is different from weight loss drugs which people DO take even though their weight is objectively ok, hence the discussion/contemplation of that. I'm not sure what's so very confusing?

Oh, I meant discussions in real life, in response to you challenging that other poster about them pontificating on medical issues you apparently think they have no right to comment on.

People join discussions about WLI because they have been headlines news for most of 2025! What you see as judgement I see as posters having a debate about the long-term use of them.

I was confused as to why you were commenting on whether you would hypothetically take drugs for a condition you don't have. Indeed you said yourself it was completely hypothetical, it seems an odd thing to do.

You also seem to have access to a dataset that is not in the public domain that suggests that an as yet undefined number of 'people' are taking these drugs when they are not clinically indicated. This would be of course similar to opioids for example so I am not sure what the relevance is unless of course you also feel the need to publically comment that you wouldn't take opioids for pain were they prescribed.

@Calliopespa people who don’t need to lose weight aren’t legitimately accessing prescription obesity medication, they are either accessing it fraudulently or buying things off the black market. That’s a different discussion than talking about the use of these medications in general for people for whom they have been appropriately prescribed.

Fair enough, I think we may have been at cross purposes!

This is very interesting and is something people overlook when they say "thin looks better." At certain times in history, and in certain cultures, very fleshy bodies have been seen as desirable - usually when that is hard to achieve within that society.

It is hard for people today in our society to look at very thin people and see a risk of illness and death because, well there is always a pot noodle round the corner, or hospital drips etc.

Only, having seen death from an ED, some of us do have that association.

Yes I understand they aren't accessing it legimately, but surely it is at least some of those people whom op is talking about in saying size 14 might disappear. Only a very short person would be eligible on the NHS at size 14. A typical size 14 (to the extent that exists) might be around 170cm tall with a bmi of 25.

But, as you will see in my posts above, I am in favour of them being prescribed to people who qualify.

It is true. For me.

We are all different. I am telling my story. Your story is different. It doesn't mean that what I said isn't true for me and others. I find that an adequate amount of protein in my diet has a game changing effect on satiety.

85% drop out rate on the studies looking into its efficacy....it's a (ahem 🤦‍♀️) wait and see for me.

I do hate it is undoing some of the progress to accept that people come in a variety of shapes and sizes

It sounds like you may well have an emotional aspect to your eating and that the 'brain reprogramming' that another posted would be what is required for you, in which case it sounds like WLI may not be appropriate for you anyway. A conclusion which you also appear to have reached yourself. The fact that you say that your 'food noise' can be controlled without medication suggests again that you would not be a good candidate for WLI.

No. I see a difference in my brain when my diet is protein based with fibre and a small amount of complex carbs. When I have a diet like this I can even manage emotional events, but if I stop then it all goes haywire and then the emotional eating happens.

I don't want it. So it's neither here nor there if I am a "good" candidate for it or not. The idea of being a "good" candidate is weird quite frankly.

I'm pleased for you, genuinely. I was just making the point that for some of us, it's not that easy.

I can’t grasp the point of a debate on life long usage, they are approved foe life long usage, the horse has long bolted and millions of people will use them for life long usage, others will chose not to, it is a decision based on invidual need and choice, with their prescriber.

they aren’t going to stop being approved for life time usage. And randoms with very little knowledge trying to debate it on line and often coming at it from a position of envy or resentment won’t change it one bit.

people struggling with the concept we can now get slim and stay slim, when they can’t, are going to have to get over it. These meds aren’t going anywhere and the prescribing guidelines from the global health authorities won’t change. If anything it will be more prevalent. So if you’re in the chubby and miserable cohort you need take a deep breath, as posting faux concern as you don’t like it won’t change it.

WLI are prohibitly expensive for a lot of people. The list of comorbids and the bmi of (40?) On the nhs aren't to be envied either. Imagine having a bmi of 40, high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes? I don't think that group are going to bounce into a size 10 lifestyle in all likelihood. It's not people who are size 14 qualifying for private WLI either.

That is exactly my point, when eating a balanced diet you don't have food noise, that indicates that you don't require medication in order to help you manage it. Your posts suggests that your weight gain was down to what you term emotional eating, accompanied by, I assume, based on your posts poor dietary choices, hence you not being a good candidate for WLI. On the other hand the other poster states that despite having a balanced diet it was the volume of food that led to her obesity and that this was only quelled by the WLI, hence them working so effectively for her.

Not everyone who is overweight will be a good candidate for WLI as demonstrated by these two contrasting situations.

The other poster was vegan so I wonder if it was something to do with that. I find that it has to be animal protein, unfortunately.

That's incorrect. No regulatory body anywhere in the world has approved them for lifelong use. WHO recommending continuous or long-term use is not the same thing.

I reckon that those in the "chubby" bracket will have access soon enough because it's a money spinner, so it's only a matter of time before it goes on sale to whoever wants it.

@Calliopespa no one wearing a dress size 14, no matter how short, is getting WLI on the NHS for weight loss only. You need a BMI of 40. That’s morbidly obese, not a dress size 14. Anyone you see of that size (14) is getting a private prescription. And there will not be anywhere near enough of them to make a dress size 14 disappear from the shops!

it’s fascinating what new worries people can find about WLI and the people using them. Now we’re to blame for dress sizes shortly to be disappearing from shops, as well as all the other things that regularly get thrown at us!

If the starting point for prescription is a BMI of 40 doesn't that mean that there will be quite a few people requiring surgery for loose skin?

Anyone having to deal with that?