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!

GLP-1’s especially the most recent versions - ie retatrutide have been found to be massively beneficial to health ranging from cardiovascular improvements and insulin sensitivity. There’s a reason those that can afford to take it do.

Yes, I agree with this. The meds are intended to tackle the issue of obesity. I know many people do unfortunately misuse the drug, but it is not intended for people who just want a little help to lose a stone (unless they're very short, and a stone would tip them into obesity!). Some people who were obese may well manage to maintain a slim size, others won't, and others still may settle at a more average middle kind of size, like a 14. Many people can't afford to use them, or are not able. I expect there will be always be a range of sizes, but hopefully the people who need the drugs the most will have the means to significantly improve their heath.

I really don’t think you need to worry about clothes sizes such as a 14 becoming extinct?!! You can buy clothes in all sizes quite easily. Is this something that really concerns you, or is it a bit of jealousy that others are losing weight and becoming more healthy?

Not sure why you'd think this? Nothing to stop someone for whom WLI work taking a high enough dose to get them to a size 10 and then a permanent maintenance dose to keep them there. Not that dress sizes are a very scientific measurement anyway! We'd need to know OP mean an M and S 10 or a Primark one.

That’s the rules at my GP surgery. They have a huge sign up telling you this and telling you basically not to waste your time asking the doctor for the injections.

they also have info about what you need to tell the GP and the prescribers if you get the jab privately.

There’s always something we’re doing wrong isn’t there

I think it's a really interesting point. Essentially, as technology progresses, weight loss jabs become normalised, easier to access (like regular access to painkillers- unthinkable in our not so distant past), and you are unusual if you deviate.
The issue then is, does food become functional. Will we derive pleasure from food. What are the impacts on a society that is driven by a will to live if one of the most basic functions (hunger and a need to satisfy it) is essentially removed.. it's interesting to think about

I think a lot of people can’t grasp, or don’t care about the health benefits. For them it’s simply about appearance, being envious of slim people. And there is no way round this. They understand the health issues, but for them it’s about them and how they look.

whereas for the people taking it, yes appearance is the icing on the cake, it’s lovely to be slim, and for people like me on a low maintence dose to know I will stay that, way, but it is primarily about health.

i had high blood pressure, sleep apnea and high cholesterol and increased cortisol due to peri, I was an even waiting to happen, now I have none of these things and all my recent blood tests were excellent, yes it’s lovely to be a size 8-10, but being healthy is the number one factor and it’s the number one reason I’m staying on.

People on the injections still gain pleasure from food, we still eat, we simply eat healthy sized portions. If someone isn’t they are on too high a dose, I still went out for meals, still socialised, still drank, like most people, throughout the weight loss phase, simply I consumed less. I didn’t get less -pleasure as I didn’t get drunk or gorge myself.

I went from a size 22 to a size 4. I have more than halved my body weight. So yes, obese people on the jabs will get to a size 10. I am maintaining very successfully.
Oh and I am not saggy , haggard or wrinkly which is another one that comes up on anti jab bingo.

But on the subject of Size 14s, they wont become rare because the vast majority cannot afford the jabs. Until a full NHS rollout, obesity and its associated problems will overwhelmingly continue to affect poor people.

It’s only touching the tip of the iceberg of the obesit problem.

Back in the.80s and 90s size 14 was the biggest fashion brands like Jigsaw did.
Didn’t do us any harm then. The population has since supersized.

There are a lot of us on WLI who continue to derive a great deal of pleasure from food, sometimes more so now that the noise has been controlled. So I'm not sure it's a huge concern, especially once lots of users are on lower doses for maintenance.

Size 14 is always going to be a fairly basic size. I wouldn’t worry about clothes. Perhaps you move in circles where a larger than average number of people are on it. Lots of tall women eg 6ft+ will be wearing a 14 and still be really trim.

That's good to hear. Some of the people I know on them have no desire to eat and feel nauseated by food.
I guess what I was trying to understand (and I know I have no valid opinion because I haven't experienced it) is what a medicine to reduce appetite does to your psyche. I think as well there are variations in quality of the jab - maybe some work a lot better than others

I think it's quite conceivable the inevitable higher levels of WLI use will have an impact on the collective psyche yes. Just as transitioning to a society where most of us live lives with no worry of starvation did.

The USA has already seen their obesity rates start to reverse, and all developed countries, which is nearly all, offering this will see the same. There are 8 more drugs in final testing, obesity likely in the next decade will go back to being the exception rather than the rule. I’m in my fifties, and at school, or out of school fat people were the exception, most were a healthy weight, now it’s the norm, with two thirds of ghe population overweight or obese.

and that obesity as said, is the most lethal health issue we face as a society, so reversing this will change the dynamics of our health care system, when you drastically reduce cancer, heart attack, stroke, diabetes etc in your population you reduce the cost to serve that and free up the funds to improve for other health issues.

it always dismays me when someone is so utterly shallow and self absorbed it’s all about dress size for them.

There are only two, wegovy is cheaper, but still very effective and mounjaro, which is more expensive and more effective.

if you look at any of the threads on here, inc the what I ate one, or go on Reddit, you will see 80 percent of people have no side effects and eat clean and healthy diets with healthy portion sizes. You seem to have an unusual cohort.

I think you're being a bit silly. Size 14 is a perfectly normal size for a woman, especially as we get older. Not everyone is going to be able to afford or want to take GLP-1s, and even if they did not everyone will get down to a small size. There were size 16s in Topshop in the 90s (granted smaller than they are now), so I don't think size 14 is going anywhere.

I've been on Mounjaro for three weeks. My BMI was 41 and I felt my health was very much being negatively affected by it. I gained a lot of weight during Covid and just couldn't seem to lose it - I was constantly hungry. This drug is amazing. Not only do I have a normal appetite again, I don't fancy ultra-processed food. I'm eating lovely healthy meals, no cravings for junk, and can't manage large portions (very much like my naturally slim best mate). I feel like it truly has fixed something that wasn't working properly in me. I have no plans to get skinny - I just want to lose this unhealthy weight I've been carrying around, and get back to my 'normal' BMI of around 27/28, where I felt fit and healthy. I'll probably be about a size 14!

But food isn’t purely functional for people who aren’t obese? Loads of people of a healthy weight get pleasure and enjoyment from food.

I really don’t feel jealousy towards anyone losing weight this way at all, I think this thread shows some incredible results for people’s health which is what everyone knows the drug is for. If it means an end to people having to have bariatric surgery then that’s only a good thing. A size 22 to a size 4 is amazing!

My point is the pressure to feel as one poster put it “there’s no excuse now”. And as another put it how people who can’t afford it will become even more divided in society.

Hopefully the price goes down and NHS availability becomes greater, and we manage to outrun the social division that way.

OP I agree with you. I'm the same size as you. I'm 5 ft 7. In truth I'd secretly love to be a size or two smaller, I seem unable to shift weight in menopause.

However I never really say this out loud as I am trying to live and breathe self acceptance and model change towards attitude with ageing etc. I'm also extremely fit and nutritionally focused.

However I recently visited a friend for a weekend who after a lifetime of obesity is slim on weightloss drugs. She feels and looks fantastic, is going to the gym regularly and seems really energised and positive about life. I was absolutely delighted to see it.

Unfortunately I came home after three days in her company feeling very deflated. She (quite an opinionated and forthright person) was very vocal about why I should be on Ozempic, she kept pointing at my body and saying things like "look I'm not being a c* but you'll look and feel so much better when you sort this out". I had said nothing about my weight at all prior to this. I had actually discussed my weight at a doctor's appointment and been told that I didn't meet the threshold BMI wise for medication so would have to lose it the traditional way if it was that important to me. My friend frowned looked me up and down and said "how can that be?" I honestly felt like an insecure teenager again, totally humiliated.

People need to realise it's medicine and to be used when weight is posing a health risk and that's all.

That was very rude of her. Though I don't think its your size that made it the problem, she also shouldn't have behaved like that even if you were obese. I wouldn't have been happy to be treated that way back when I had a 30 BMI.

Weight creep has been a thing for decades and now unhealthy weights are normalised. I’m all for pressure to lose weight as the health implications are significant both for individuals but also for society having to fund them. A societal shift is needed and this may just help that.

I dont even know where to start with this but yes shops will have size 14 in stock in 2035.