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!

How on earth is it fat shaming when someone says they are obese to say they are obese. You said you’re obese, thus I assume you are, and a long way from maintenance, never mind being in a position to give people who are now a healthy weight, your tips on how to maintain when you’ve not done it yourself.

How long have you been maintaining?

@AbbaCadaBra in one of her previous posts @Daisywhatsyouranswer told you she had been maintaining for 8 months.

Thanks Margo, good to see someone reading the fhread, yes 8 months now, nearly 9.

On second thoughts please don't answer. I am exhausted by this "conversation". You do you and I will do me. Just different choices. I will start another thread to discuss mine.

That's not that long. Before the current weight gain (due to a couple of bereavements and caring commitments when I took my eye off the ball and stopped looking after myself) I maintained for 8 years. But this is not a competition and I don't want to continue with this conversation. I am sure that you have better things to do too.

So did I, hence why I know my own body well enough to know that given time the weight will come back on. Like it did with you. And you more than took your eye off the ball if you became obese.

The difference here is I am now maintaining I am educated in my decisions, I am supported by my gp in that decision, to stay on.

You are on here giving if how easy it will be to maintain,when you’re still obese today. I genuinely hope you do find it as easy as you say, and I wish you the best of luck, but once again, we are all individuals. I chose staying on, I will not regain or struggle to maintain my weight and I want the health benefits. You are breathing a sigh of relief as you are so fortunate you don’t need the drugs and will be so successful without. We get it. We hear you.

And you more than took your eye off the ball if you became obese.

Weight loss isn't a straightforward line of upward progress. I have been underweight and I have got a few pounds into the obesity range. Everyone is so different and the reasons for the weight gain (or loss) can be many and varied. I don't want to take medication. You have made it clear that it is the only option for you. I don't see a problem with that, but it isn't the only option for everyone.

It is easier to become obese than I ever imagined. Some of my friends became obese after having children, some after bereavements or other life struggles. Surely you, as someone who was once also obese, understand that?

Many people who take medication are happy after just a few weeks because they experience the loss of appetite and a quietening of the food noise. What I posted was that I am experiencing the same after a long period of relapse and I am very very happy to be here again. You are trying to make me feel bad about gaining to the point of obesity, but I don't feel bad about it and neither should anybody in the same predicament.

Praise be

I spoke too soon and see @AbbaCadaBra has not, in fact, left the thread. Honestly, the number of people I see who allege to be “body confident” creating conflict and competition positioning yourself as the voice of reason because you’re not on WLIs and others choose to be. No one is shoving WLIs down your throat and people on them are happy so what is the issue exactly?

You keep meandering in your argument. And no one is trying to fat shame you or make you feel bad for becoming obese. You are on the weight loss injection thread, most of us have been where you are now.

you asked why we would stay on long term. We told you with very valid reasons. In stead of simply accepting our reasons you started going on about how we should try diet to maintain, how yours was so easy, completing ignoring we are not stupid women who don’t know. And refusing to accept or acknowledge our reasons,

it then turns out you are still obese and it appears barely into your diet if you only got a few pounds into obese and are only off of being overweight, but you declare how easy it is to maintain on your diet, when you’re barely into your own diet, and still obese.

when this was pointed out to you, you declared you were on the weight loss injection thread trying to get the message out to us all we could all be like you are repeatedly told us how relieved you were you could it with diet alone and didn’t need medication like us.

We are adults, we fully understand our bodies, we are at liberty to make our own decisions on our own bodies. I will not come off, I have been clear why, whuch you’ve totally ignored, instead you made the daft comment that 8 months wasn’t long, totally ignoring fhe fact I am medicated, I do not over eat, I will not regain, I am healthier than I have been in decades, my mental health is so much better, I like my appearance, I have no daily struggles over my weight, and I want the additional health benefits of the drugs, and plenty are making rhe same decision as me.

you have made your decision, you’re covered in happiness, all relieved your not like us and have to take medication as you will be so successful without, that’s great, you won life’s lottery as said, we didn’t, and we are relieved we can stay on the mediation, can afford it, and proceed to enjoy our lives, not having to worry about our weight.

you do you, we will do us.

You keep using the word obese as though it is some kind of moral failure. Perhaps when you were obese people could reduce you to a withering shell just by saying it, but that isn't me. I can tell that you must have had a really hard time when you were fat and that's a shame.

You pooh-poohed my idea about life struggles causing weight gain which suggests that you think that fat people are just greedy. Which isn't true and you know it.

As I said, If people on drugs are allowed to say (within mere weeks of using them and at the beginning of their weight loss journey) that they feel happy to have their appetite reduced then I am allowed to say the same. I don't understand why you take that as a judgement on you.

It's as though you are saying that fat people aren't allowed to comment on how to lose weight if they re-gain which is nonsense because they are the weight loss experts. And if you follow your logic then fat people would be excluded from roles like nutritionists or personal trainers.

I was saying that people won't necessarily regain weight after stopping the drug if they cut out sugar which spikes blood sugar and triggers cravings. Some people have a kind of withdrawal when they abolish sugar from their diet and when they get past that their blood sugar can stabilise. That's all I said.

This really is the last I have to say on the matter.

What on earth are you talking about; at no stage have I indicated being obese is a moral failing, that’s your interpretation, you clearly react badly to the word, for me it’s just a descriptor, like thin or over weight, no one on here will see it as a moral failing, as you’re on the wli sub forum we were or are all obese,

and I never poo pooed the idea of life struggles causing weight gain, that’s a ludicrous comment. As well as accusing me of thinking fat people are greedy, I too was fat.

i am genuinely unsure if you’re the wrong poster, or are making stuff up in a tantrum, but everyone can read my posts.

and we understand your views on what we should do if we chose to stop, no one here is an idiot who doesn’t understand what to do. And I’m agog at you repeatedly telling people what to do when they stop, I they stop, when you’ve never been on the drugs and are still obese yourself, so not even close to a healthy weight and maintaining.

of course your more than welcome to go on any thread and give people advice when you’ve no experience of the subject matter, that’s fine, but don’t be surprised when people tell you they don’t need your advice on the subject matter that they are more expert on than you.

And why is it such a major issue to you that we chose to stay on? What difference does it make to you? You can maintain without and are relieved you’re not like us, that’s great, genuinely.

every single one of us on here is using these drugs as a last resort. Every single one of us has been unable to lose the weight any other way. Every single one of us has tried all the diets, all of them. Why on earth would you think we lack knowledge and need your expertise on maintenance post wli?

I have used WL drugs to lose 5st, phentermine and then mounjaro. 15st to 10st, a third of my body weight gone.

I'll admit to being a cheater and it has been easier to lose this weight with medication help than the decades of failed weekly diets, hypnotherapy, slimming world.

I'm also on HRT to cheat my way through menopause and used vapes to cheat through quitting smoking.

Despite being a dirty little cheater, I have worked hard over the last 2yrs to get healthy routines in place. Small portions of nutritious whole foods and gym 3x a week.

You filthy cheater. Next you'll be telling us you took anti-depressants during a traumatic stage of your life.

While we are confessing; I used chemotherapy to get me through cancer.

There I've said it. Judge away.

That happens in the UK as well. I'm not sure why some posters are denying that.

I'm not necessarily casting judgment on that kind of use; I'm just acknowledging it happens.

Mad posts! I think there is a difference between 40 years and 15 years, for starters. And the 15 odd years of data is for use by type 2 diabetics at a different dose.

No. But many women are falling pregnant while on them. The Danish manufacturer was quoted in an article about this, and admitted they had no idea what future effects there might be for a baby.

Of course they don't because they can't do RCTs on pregnant women. It's the same for many medications. It's unlikely to impact the foetus since it does not cross the placenta. Animal tests reported impacted on foetal growth which makes sense given how it impacts appetite and calorie intake.

On the other hand, we do know the negative impacts of obesity and high blood sguar on maternal and foetal outcomes.

Many many medications which are dangerous or untested during pregnancy are prescribed to women. It's a question of personal responsibility.

PPs point was why would you be concerned about a prescribed medicine you don't need to take and I agree. All drugs have side effects but the majority of the time they fix a medical issue.

The main argument with any WLmed boils down to the fact that being overweight is generally considered a moral failing, it's so easy to judge everyone at first sight and decide if they are undisciplined, unhealthy, lazy, uneducated about health. Obesity is a visible symptom of many conditions, some mental like depression or stress, some medical like cushings or as GLP1s are proving, hormones.

Not all skinny people are healthy and I've seen some unhealthy ways to lose weight which seem more dangerous than medicine.

There's a number of factors that make us fat and I think it's great that there are medications that help to slim us down to healthy weights. The world has gotten healthier since the 80s, pubs shutting down, healthier options when eating out, sugar tax, smoking ban, fewer smokers but still more fat people. Before the injections, obesity was a big issue affecting a lot of people and the NHS.

Before the help was available, the medical advice (and unsolicited judgmental moral advice from a slim person that is better than you, clearly) was Eat less and Move more. Now the injected hormones are helping people in a very big way to eat less and chose nutrition, move more and get fit. The end goal is healthy people, imo that's what is important.

The mind boggles with spme.of thes e comments. On what planet would you test on pregnant women ?? You follow the guidelines and stop.before ttc. It'a the same for many prescription meds. Persona responsibility is a thing! Not testing on pregnant women or foetoeses to.avoid it for God's sake