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!

I was on GLP-1 from June 2023 until May 2025 with a break of 4 months from around Dec 2024.

I took it as I have PCOS, and despite me trying my whole adult life to lose weight, I really struggled due to the hormonal imbalance. I had been trying to get pregnant and nothing was happening, doctors said ‘you need to lose weight’ but with no actual support on how to lose weight, despite me being in a calorie deficit the weight was not coming off. I had been referred for IVF however needed my micro be below 30 to be eligible on the NHS. I lost 4 stone, and my bmi dropped from 35.5 to 26 by the time I came off. At which point I fell pregnant naturally the cycle before I was due to start IVF.

what I will say is that the drug was life changing to me. I was not expecting so many positive side effects from the drug, and I’m a firm advocate for it. I am planning on going back on it once I’ve had baby/stopped breast feeding if I’m struggling to lose the weight again. It is expensive, and has increased in price since I was last on it, but honestly, the difference it made was unbelievable.

This is social media myth. Do people not research, Same as the long term effect poster, what’s long term is over 40 years not enough? Not think that by now of the well over 50 million people in them we’d have more than 200 deaths, not one directly attributed to the drugs, all due to incorrect usage or fake stuff?

muscle loss is due to dieting without strength training and not consuming enough protein. There is no part of the drug that targets muscle and destroys it.

Isn't like 2% of the population on weightloss meds or something?

Another one chiming in to say its perfectly possible to go from seriously obese to a size 10.

I did. 20/22 to 10 in nine months, losing over 90lbs.

Here's the other bit - it was easy. Within hours of the first injection, something in my brain and body flipped over to not wanting junk, or too much, or sugar or.... It also corrected a load of symptoms of an auto-immune disorder, including letting me eat foods I'd been intolerant to for years.

From struggling walking round a museum to climbing a glacier in a year. Genuinely. The potential impact for society is immense.

The bad news for me - I've responded so well, and it's treated the other things so effectively, that I'll likely be on an intermittent low dose for life, which at the moment is an expensive paid (albeit one I can afford)

I worry that a size 14 will soon become almost obsolete in the shops because people are no longer requiring larger sizes

Highly unlikely.

I looked into the history of this and when women were that thin nutrition was not great. Particularly during and just after the war. And many women smoked. So those super thin waist sizes were not based on healthy sizes. Also a greater percentage of women wore size 16, which today is something like a 12, even a 10. The average size of women's hips and boobs has increased and dress sizes were often based on hip and bust measurements.

So looking at that isn't necessarily a good comparison for women today.

I think it puts pressure on slim people to be even skinnier. There has been a big rise in skinny influencers since the drug was released and a size 8 no longer feels acceptable.

In my view it’s much more likely we start seeing the negative health impacts of weight loss jabs and big lawsuits than anything else! Everyone I know who is taking it looks emaciated, slightly yellow tinged and barely eats. I saw a friend the other day and thought he was going to tell me he was terminally ill! But no he was delighted to be ‘back to the weight I was at 25’ aged 50! Bananas!

These medications have been in place for decades 🙄

😂

New future fat adults are being born everyday, not to mention the girls that are alive now that will grow up to be fat. I doubt they will all get on the injection. You’re safe OP

I share your concerns OP. I think people who use it sensibly do well on it, and of course losing weight has health benefits for those that need to.
but I know someone (family member) who chooses to eat absolute crap because she knows she won't put on weight - 4 mini rolls in one evening, a huge pastry nearly as big as her face the other day while we were out shopping. She does not see the point in exercise, does none, and scoffs at me for going to the gym. "Why would you want to go to the gym?". She doesn't have much education and doesn't really understand though. She genuinely thinks calories in versus calories out and it's that simple.
I imagine her cholesterol is sky high though, despite her "healthy" weight!! So how much has it really helped? She hasn't learnt any healthy eating habits. She just takes the drug and stays slim.

I don't think it should be available without mandatory education and even monitoring around healthy eating, exercise and lifestyle.
Otherwise, I think it really can put pressure on those of us that are overweight but either don't qualify or don't want to take it, because we see people eating whatever they want and staying slim. I have young daughters and I do worry about how weight and body image will be viewed when they get older, and the pressure it might put on them. They are fit and healthy and active - but I'm sure like plenty others will be easily influenced.

Well done! I was a size 20/22 (I think - I wore those one-size floaty things from garden centre concessions), BMI was 39. Am now BMI25 and a size 10 too. Changed my life, really, as the menopausal weight gain during lockdown had been brutal.

Also took me forever as I am hypothyroid. Struggling a bit maintaining, now I have titrated down to lowest dose, but I’d rather be battling the same 1/2 stone than the 6.5 stone I was carrying before.

Yes to be taken by people who are obese, not ordinary sized or slightly overweight people. Massively suppressing your appetite to the point you fall dramatically below your natural weight is obviously not healthy, and there will be nutritional deficiencies if nothing else. But as they say ‘more will be revealed’.

Well, I am on them and size 14 is my long-term goal, down from size 24. Currently at about 18, though I have one size 16 top which fits pretty well, and I’ll need size 16 jeans before long.

Not everyone even wants to be skinny.

"because we see people eating whatever they want and staying slim." @Nancylancy oh wow, this is really really not how GLP-1 medications work! You have to be in a calorie deficit to lose weight. You can't eat whatever you want and stay slim!

YABU

The truth is that many people who were very big to start with will never be tiny.

Losing weight is not that difficult (obviously for some it’s more difficult than others), you eat less and move more.
The biggest challenge is the maintaining it.

No one can be on the injections long term, anyone who says they’re planning to are the ones who have done nothing to reprogram their brain and these are the ones that will put all of the weight back on.

For most people on any diet will lose weight and then put some on and then find a middle weight that they maintain.

Even people who have gastric bypass who have literally had their stomachs cut in half, will still put weight on.

These injections are amazing for the 20 stone + people and if we get to a point that we never need size 25+ clothing then I’d be very happy.

There will never be a time when there are no size 14 clothes.

If being overweight was purely down to greed and scoffing cakes and chocolate all day, then it may be a possibility but we know that obesity is a disease and the causes are very complex and unfortunately the injections are not a magic wand and can only help so much.
A bit like nicotine patches for smokers.

What I would like to see is an end to online prescribing which makes it so easy for people to cheat. You could still get your prescription filled by an online supplier, but I think someone needs to see you in person on the scales every time.

No one can be on the injections long term, anyone who says they’re planning to are the ones who have done nothing to reprogram their brain and these are the ones that will put all of the weight back on

Well I’m afraid the fda, the mhra, the WHO, and every other global health authority disagrees with you and the fact you then followed it up by showing you’ve no idea of the physical causes of obesity, would really mean we all have to sort of look the other way out of embarassment for you.

of course you’re free to post your credentials and scientific research showing why all the health authorities do beleive it should be for life for many people are wrong.

otherwise of course everyone knows you’re talking out a hole in your arse.

So just to clarify, you want to place barriers in the way of other people's access to beneficial medication because of how it makes you feel? Fucking hell.

I rather hope you've not thought about the implications of what you wrote here. Because we already have problems filling clinical and pharmaceutical roles, so where you think the people doing the monitoring are going to come from isn't immediately obvious. People would end up staying obese, with all the associated risks (and collective costs in a socialised health system) because of some half baked idea you've come up.

Yes they are being used by people who don’t just want to be a healthy weight, but to be thin to the point that is fashionable/socially acceptable nowadays. It’s not fashionable/socially acceptable to have a BMI of 24 even if you are a healthy weight for your height, build and frame size.

God that's awful and actually scary.

This is what concerns me too, about the future. Especially having daughters.

"If you can afford it, you have absolutely no reason not to be a size 0/2/4/6. Shame on you."

Solving the obesity crisis is great but only one side of it. What is not so great is how far it could go. Will it be as socially unacceptable to be a size 10 or above as it is to be obese now?

I hear you OP. You've had some very defensive replies which have missed the point you're trying to make.

Out of curiousity, is there other life saving prescriptions meds you’re “not a fan of” anti depressants, hiv meds, chemo perhaps? Or is it limited to a medication that makes women slimmer than you?

I live in an area that is statistically one of the healthiest in the country so when I used to do the school run, I felt that pressure to be thin anyway, hanging around with these women who often aren't glamorous or anything but very yoga, Pilates, allergy centric, you get to understand that they basically don't eat. So I don't think you need a drug in that context as the social pressure is enough to make you comply. When I visit my Mum's area hours away I notice there is a very big obesity problem and that pressure just doesn't exist so the appetite suppressor is medical rather than cultural with some of her neighbours anyway. There are definitely risks with both means though.

If you spend any time researching, even reading online posts, very very few people go below a size ten, a few and 8 and that’s about it. Most stay in the 10-14 bracket based on body frame , age and maintence plans. Real world is not the celeb world.