All my historically fat friends have gone thin this year

[donttellscotty]

Okay maybe not ALL of them, but a few friends/acquaintances who have been very big for years and years, tried everything but could never shift the slightest bit of weight, have all had dramatic transformations and shed many stones over the past year. It’s just becoming expected now whenever I see another formerly large acquaintance or relative pop up on my feed with a super slim selfie.

I (rightly or wrongly) suspect it’s got to be WLIs or similar? Although all are adamant it’s a strict diet only. Just to add there is NOTHING wrong with jabs at all, and I’m aware it’s absolutely none of my business, and I sound mean but I wouldn’t actually discuss this in RL. It just got me thinking that being overweight might be obsolete in a few years?

Anyone else noticing this trend with people they know?

Maybe your friends need support not judgement.

The WLI board has some fantastic support threads for people who are coming to the end of their MJ journey, and advice and encouragement to maintain at a healthy weight.

In addition, several have found that at a healthy BMI some of their metabolic issues have resolved (as expected) and they are finding it very much easier to maintain their new healthy size on lower and lower doses.

What is your evidence that WLI are a temporary fix and a ticking time bomb?

I deliberately lost a lot of weight a decade ago in my 50s - before WLI were around, and for a while my new slimmer face (losing my podgy fat cheeks and double chins) probably made me look old and haggard, but my heart and my blood pressure and my cholesterol and my liver were much healthier.

In my 60's it's been harder to lose the 3rd of the weight that I did put back on, but MJ helped me to do that, to stick to it, to reinforce better eating habits, reduce joint pain so I could exercise more. I've been the same healthy weight now for 11 months. I don't give a damn whether you think I look rough and ill and a decade older.

This is exactly what we were told when my DH was prescribed Mounjaro. He has vascular problems and kidney function issues as well as type two diabetes and is in heart failure. Since Mounjaro everything has improved. His diabetes nurse told us she wishes everyone could be prescribed a low dose of Mounjaro because it improves overall health.

Tone what? You can't tone loose skin. Toning isn't really a thing. You can increase muscle (very difficult in a calorie deficit) and lose fat but you can't tone your skin or your fat to look better.

Idk anyone really doing this although exercise has picked up as dc get older.

It is an absolute game changer though.

I don’t think anyone is fooled by relatively rapid weight loss not being WLI! The giveaway is usually them eating next to nothing at dinner or drinking nothing when you are out. Obviously healthier but a bit dreary as company.

I’ve lost 4 and a half stone this year and I really feel everyone thinks I’m on WLI’s but I’m not and never have been!

I started with a bmi just below the threshold for WLI’s and decided to give it one last go before I sunk a lot of money into the jabs. I started intermittent fasting and here I am nearly a year later! I joined a rather expensive gym too which I love and I could afford because I didn’t have to pay for the injections!

I do know people on the injections but they are open about it. I never ask as I don’t like people asking me, I find weight loss a very personal thing and I’m acutely aware I’ve never managed to keep it off long term before!

If you find sober people dreary that’s your own issue really.

No they aren’t. You can be thin and unhealthy, you can be overweight and healthy. Losing weight doesn't make you healthy on its own. For older people, the overweight category of BMI has better long term health outcomes.

Here hear 👏👏👏👏 If there’s one thing that’s going to cripple the NHS ( in years to come) it’s going to be obesity.

I have, 9 stone gone in 18 months, have been obese since primary school so there are friends I’ve known for 30 years who have never seen me slim and I’m sure it must be an odd thing for them, I hope they’re happy for me.

I am very open about being on Mounjaro, I was diagnosed with T2 diabetes and my levels were atrocious, the nurse told me I needed to get a handle on it quick or I’d be dead, blind or missing limbs before I hit 50. Id been ignoring symptoms for a really long time putting off going to the doctors because they always just fobbed me off telling me to go away and lose weight without even doing any tests. By the time the tests were run in A&E my HbA1C was over double the point where they diagnose diabetes. They put me straight onto insulin and metformin and I cut out all carbs except green veg but it wasn’t enough to bring my sugars into the normal range, adding Mounjaro in was a miracle. Within a couple of weeks I was dropping the insulin and within 4 weeks I was able to stop it altogether, another 6 weeks and I was down to 1 metformin a day, now I’m just on the Mounjaro and plan to take it forever.

It is absolutely amazing at regulating glucose, and it’s made me wonder how many people out there are having such success with it because they have underlying metabolic conditions that have been undiagnosed and fobbed off for years but could be easily solved to the benefit of the individual, the NHS and society as a whole by a simple injection once a week.

It’s not affordability, it’s the fact that it’s widely available for those who are willing to pay if they don’t satisfy NHS requirements. The price has more than doubled and even that hasn’t deterred demand. This makes obtaining supplies for use on the NHS more difficult. This has been confirmed by my DH’s consultant, practice nurse and the pharmacy who supplies it.

You can actually minimise it with exercise and slow weight loss as opposed to v rapid one.

I think you know full well that nobody is expecting to sweat off skin.

I dont know one person who has lost loads of weight and actually kept it off. I know lots of people who go up and down with their weight. A colleague of mine lost alot of her hair on WLI and spent a fortune on them. She regrets it now and all the weight has gone back on.
I think a healthy and active lifestyle is key here.

Oh lord this again? No, Mounjaro was not developed as a diabetes drug. It was specifically designed for weight loss and production has been scaled accordingly. Ozempic suffered from shortages in 2023 but by mid 2024 there were no significant supply issues in the UK. Your husband's medication issues have been impacted not at all by the existence of Mounjaro.

I have a friend who I had to tell in the sense that she talks about the jabs a lot and so it felt like I was lying by omission. She had a bad reaction to them so is negative about it, I feel defensive and awkward. I have another friend who I told for a similar reason and feel uncomfortable now as she makes jokes about whether I’ve got ‘ozempic neck yet, haha!’ Ergh.

Then there’s threads like this and you just know the judgement is everywhere. I mean whatever but, there’s also definitely the naturally slim people that thought it was something special about them (not all slim people, obviously) and are now upset they’ve lost their defining factor, like when Twitter gave blue ticks to anyone that asked 😂

I’m like that at the moment- it’s down to my thyroid. I’m still fat though.

The jabs don’t have to stop. And yes, just as if you stop taking a statin your cholesterol will go back up, if you stop taking a GLP -1 your body will try to re-establish its set weight

Sre you implying that your DH is more worthy/deserving of mounjaro than someone using it for weight loss?

Yes and it’s ridiculous when people lie about it we all know.

Yep. I can’t exercise very much because I’m mostly in a wheelchair, but slow weight loss over about 15 months meant that excess skin wasn’t a problem.

Not the Mounjaro or Wegovy branded product. If your husband is trying to get this for diabetes then that’s the issue… Vice versa, weight loss patients can’t get ‘ozempic’ etc.

One of my sisters has lost around 10 stone but that's over approximately a 10 year period. Most of it was through Slimming World but when she'd lost about 7.5 stone she had bariatric surgery and has only managed to lose 2.5 stone in the last 2 years.

One of my SIL's saw here last year at a party in my house and regularly asks me if my sister lost the weight with the WLIs and I can see she doesn't believe me when I say she hasn't. I haven't told her about the bariatric surgery as my sister doesn't want people knowing about it. I tell my SIL my sister has lost about a stone a year. They live opposite sides of the country so don't see each other that often.

I have another sister who has lost 6 stone in the last 18 months to 2 years but she's done it with the help of a personal trainer and she's exercising and walking miles every day plus following a diet. She still has a bit to go. Another sister has lost a lot of weight but we strongly suspect it's with the help of WLIs.

I think its fantastic that all. those who have struggled with their weight, suffered being treated as second class citizens, laughed at , mocked, have finally been given a lifeline.

Anything that improves their health, life and that of their families , should be welcomed

I too was obese, I was totally miserable , I hated being fat but because of I was fat I stopped socialising, stopped keeping friendships , spiralled into depression - and ate more

Then a family wedding, one that I had to attend as it was our sons - I avoided all parties, weddings christenings etc for years. And suddenly it was time to book the flights and I had to face it, I had to shift the weight - even enough that I could sit in a plane seat.

This was a year before the WLI exploded onto the world, so yes I had to do it the old fashioned way - calories in, calories out , but if WLI had been around Id have taken them - WTAF wouldn't ?

By time they became available, my BMI was too low so I had had to carry on with the way I was doing it

Got into a 14 ( with shape wear ) for the wedding, Im now a 8/10

I have to meal plan. I have to avoid my trigger foods, I have to portion control to maintain - exactly the same as those that are on WLI and I have to exercise - same as they do

I do not begrudge anyone using the tools available to them to get to where they need to be

And its nothing to do with anyone how they get there

My life is 1000 times better then it was three years ago and Im living a life again, not just surviving , going through the motions - everyone deserves that

Food noise, I didnt know not everyone had it, I didnt even know it was a thing, but I know now I have it - still. Sometimes it breaks through, but Ive had such good support getting to where I am, and my huge need to be staying where I am helps me ignore it - mostly . I manage it by meal planning , knowing what's on the menu, that I have the healthier choices to reach - just the same as someone on WLI has too

People really need to understand that the WLI doesnt mean a stone just drops off every time you inject, it blocks the food noise somewhat and if you are lucky you get food suppression . Still have to change the habits of a lifetime

The price went up due to international tarrifs, nothing to do with supply and demand, except for a very short period when the fothcoming price hike was notified.

I must be very unusual in that I don’t know a single person who has noticeably dropped weight over the last year or so. None of my friends, no work colleagues, not a single relative, or acquaintance.