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!

Why do you just dismiss it as "bullshit"?

I have definitely thought people were ill who are using it.

But I do think at a size 14 there isn't so much work to be done that thoughtful dietary adjustment and some good walking shoes wouldn't deal with it.

But clothes sizes aren't remotely standard and height is a variable. Are you talking about a 5 foot tall M and S size 14 in elasticated trousers, or a 5 foot 7 Primark one in jeans? Because they're unlikely to have the same BMI! Good chance the former is obese and that being the case, there's no evidence that diet and exercise will get her to a healthy BMI and keep her there.

Side effects exist and no one has ever said they don't exist, though statistically there will be far more people who don't experience side effects than those that do. What on earth do you mean by the legitimacy of using the drug? Are you under the misapprehension that this isn't a licensed medication, because unless you are I can't fathom what on earth you could mean.

Yes. I'm size 10-12 and have perfectly normal human teeth (ie. too straight to have got braces as a child but not completely uniform and white-ish but not gleaming), my own hair (ie a bit frizzy, fine and a a bit grey), my own fingernails (short), my own boobs (what's left of them after BF) and my own face (no fillers / botox etc).

I think I'm an average-to-silghtly-above-average looking unaltered human, but the fact I don't do any of the extras probably lands me in the bottom half of the accepted beauty standard these days. My choice - I could choose to give time and money to those things, but I don't. I think weight is now going to be part of that - where it's almost expected and starts to feel odd if you have a larger body.

It does piss me off a bit that women are expected to do all this stuff just to reach the baseline these days. I opt out of it, but I guess I'm lucky that I have a husband who finds the more plastic look off-putting and I really don't like the look myself. I also grew up with a mother who was miserably looks-obsessed, so my "rebellion" was to care about other things more.

Were they ill or were you wrong?

I was totally wrong. They were taking the injections.

Who gives a fuck what you think people who are using it look like? I might look 10 years older having lost 7 stone - I probably do. But my body is healthier than it’s ever been. Honestly, do fuck off. I’ve worked my ass off to better my health, how fucking dare you judge someone’s outward appearance because they’ve lost weight and lengthened their life span.

Exactly! You were wrong so it appears that your judgement is off rather than anything else being at play.

It’s a cracker isn’t it, I laughed at ‘slightly yellowed tinged’.

Mmm, it does seem to be rather a pattern that when someone makes an obviously ridiculous or evidence free claim about WLI and is pulled up on it, they immediately start strawmanning about how nobody is allowed to say anything.

Well if you don't care, don't act like you do.

I think for people like yourself who have genuinely moved their weight to a more healthy zone it's something worth doing.

But its the people using it to drop from a healthy weight to a lighter weight that I cannot understand.

ETA If its for vanity, it gets a bit silly when it makes them look less good. If it's for health, that's something quite different.

I don’t know how it can help you make long term changes when it is a powerful appetite supressant. The appetite isn’t suppressed by the person but by the drug. It doesn’t change the appetite so if they come off it the appetite will return but they have not learned how to manage their appetite. If they have been eating very little then the appetite might feel even more ravenous without the drug.

So it makes sense that for those who are morbidly obese this is going to be a medication of lifelong use.

Ah yes your as yet unidentified people who are taking it when not clinically indicated. As was pointed out to you earlier, people taking it where it isn't clinically indicated are abusing drugs same as those taking opioids or any other drugs. People abusing drugs don't tend to look that good on the whole.

I do care that people like you say unpleasant things about the outward appearance of people who have finally lost weight after years of trying. Why do you think your judgement on their looks is appropriate?

People who are using the medication to drop from a 12 to an 8 aren’t using the drug legitimately. Inappropriate use happens with lots of medications, unfortunately, but isn’t a reason for that medication not to be available for those who have a genuine need for it.

I agree they are abusing drugs.

The people I have noticed it on were not using it to drop a lot of weight.
I can't help but wonder if the body of a lower body-weight person responds differently.

I've said time and again on here, I think the drugs are an important tool for people who genuinely need it. But I do think the absurdity of people taking it for vanity only to end up looking ill is worth pointing out.

Not everybody taking ti is in the same boat.

I was morbidly obese. I won’t, hopefully, need to go back onto WLI (although I will if I need to). One of the reason for that is when I was very fat, struggling to lose weight for years, I could never, ever see a time when I’d be slim. It seemed insurmountable because any diets I’d been on had worked for a while and I’d lost a bit of weight but then it’d had gone to shit. Slim was something that wasn’t attainable for me. I’m slim now. A size 8-10. I never, ever want to be fat again, and I know what I need to do to prevent that. I know how much I weigh for the first time in my adult life. I know how many calories I need to eat. I know how many calories are in the foods I eat. I exercise and weight train. I do feel hungry - just as I did on WLI when I was due a meal. But I know what to eat to satiate myself without adding unnecessary calories.

It’s not really worth pointing out. Those people are using it illegitimately 🤷🏻‍♀️ Why do we need to talk about those people when discussing the appropriate use of WLI? Those people are idiots…

Size 14 will not disappear as lots of people will still have BMIs of around 27 or so. I think it will be increasingly harder to find sizes 20 plus. Vanity sizing might disappear from some stores - size 14 in Hobbs is not necessarily the same as size 14 in White Stuff or Marks or Sweaty Betty or Sainsbury’s or Primark.

GLPs are not a fat melting bullet and lots will put on weight again and then go back onto GLPs - so some people may go up and down, some maybe on GLPs for life, some will be able to maintain because they have change their habits. For some people they may only have six months on GLPs because of the cost. They are expensive and the NHS is not going to be dishing them out like sweets.

Well the people who are taking it as clinically indicated, that is between them and their doctor/prescriber and people taking it for whom it isn't clinically indicated are abusing drugs as you acknowledge. I am not sure why you think either of those things require comment from you or in fact impact you in any way. Certainly neither situation requires pointing out. Because whether you intend to or not your posts give the impression that you believe that somehow you are some sort of arbiter of who should or shouldn't be taking WLI

Costs of GLP 1 is prohibitive.
In my family i have 5 people including me that have been on it.
Prior to these drugs meds for weight loss were non existent/ineffective. Weight loss surgery not an option for many due to risks and funding it privately. People trying to get healthier shdnt be an issue.
The evidence also suggests that a significant proportion of people put the weight back on when they stop.
I did what I hope is my last injection last week. I have lost about 70 pounds since 18th Jan (date I started). I have a 5mg pen in the fridge just in case. I personally hope i have learnt enough in the last year that means I won't regain the weight but lifelong obesity means I won't beat myself up if I do.

Gosh have we moved on now from the pointless life long discussion or the who knows the long term effect nonsense to those taking black market stuff or not taking it legitamatly, the last vestige of the nonsense.

sigh,

all I can say is I went from an 18 to an 8 - 10
im fit healthy and have excellent muscle mass
my blood test results are all excellent.
my sleep apnea, high blood pressure and high cholesterol have now gone.
im no longer on the brutal blood pressure meds, i take a low maintence dose on mounjaro weekly, 5mg, that’s it, no other meds.
my appetite is controlled, im happy and healthy. Mental health is also very important, I don’t struggle with my weight, feel deprived etc.

i did it for health, 100 percent. Health. but the resulting change in my appearance, the vanity element is the cherry on top. I like the way i look again, I enjoy clothes again. That also helps improve mental health.

do i care about some jealous resentful women on line spitefully posting faux concern and daft debates, as they can’t get them and want them,, nope.
do i care about those who use black market stuff, or lie to get it, not any more than I do other drug abusers to be honest. Be it opioids they lie to get on prescription or ketamine from a local dealer.

Will I stay on long term. Absolutely. I chose healthy and happy and yes, slim; my money, my body, my choice.

I totally agree about the issue being one for the individual and their doctor.

As for the rest of your comments, I think you are being unfair/overly defensive. The op posted about whether size 14 will vanish from shop shelves. So the whole thread has really been about lower end weight loss on the drugs, in which case the GP usually won't have been involved, and I don't see what's wrong with people discussing opinions on that. The NHS are saying its only for above a certain BMI for a reason I presume.

I'm in favour of them if needed and prescribed and I think you will find I have expressly said that.

The reason is cost, they have hardly been shy in saying it. Even the prime minister said it its cost. The mhra who set the guidelines for prescribing said 27 and 30 bmi. The nhs is 40 and 4 co morbidities, as they can’t afford it.

and everyone knows a size 14 isn’t going to disappear, it’s laughable to even discuss it like it’s possible. 😂

@Calliopespa you still seem to think or to be implying that people getting legitimate private prescriptions might be “lower end” of weight, as in not obese or not overweight. That is not the case. Private prescribers are meant to check and not prescribe to people who are less than BMI 30 or 27 in certain circs.

My BMI was 50 when I started, morbidly obese. My GP has had nothing to do with my prescription or weight loss. The NHS criteria of BMI above 40 and 4 out of 5 specific health conditions is for a reason, but that reason is practical about cost and logistics, combined with those with the greatest need. Nothing to do with whether it’s clinically appropriate to prescribe.