If you are on weight loss injections, what do you make of this article?

[IwishIwasacaterpillar]

If you have come off them, have you gained weight very quickly?

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/jan/07/weight-loss-jabs-regain-two-years-health-study

Which may not continue if they come off the injection because their hunger will return? 🤷‍♀️ it’s more a will they just revert back to how they were before because of the very few changes they’ve made

Oh wait no I wasn't. I was responding to someone else agreeing with them. You did say it was horrible, that's a direct quote

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii if they were morbidly obese then their health will be in absolutely dire straits. They are not going to miraculously transform into healthy individuals immediately. Losing weight by eating less and smaller portions is a great start. It is not the end. The whole point of the paper published today was to generate discussion about how people could be better supported when they reach their weightloss goal.

It is not an admission that the WLI don't work to say that you may regain weight if you come off them, it is an admission that we have a tragically poor approach to the treatment of the chronic condition of obesity that is now a global epidemic.

How do you think your family members could be better supported to be successful?

Unfortunately, not always so with private providers.

Yeah, this is just not true though. Most people myself included absolutely still want to eat. I have an appetite, I get hungry. I have to make choices about what I eat. If you think WLI just remove people's desire to eat you've misunderstood badly.

I lost 20kg on mounjaro over 6 months last year before coming off. I’ve maintained for 6 months until putting on 2kg over Christmas. Back low carbing now but feel positive. 2kg should be easy compared to 20!

It affects different patients in different ways.

By taking more responsibility for their own health to some degree? The morbidly obese family member did not help themselves before the jabs, eating many takeaways, drinking to excess in alcohol, they work very part time on the side, drive their kids to school despite the school being around the corner etc, so to me the jabs in isolation are not the answer for this person,

Well done 😊

Well, maybe let them lose the weight and then share your concerns.

Ok, so your daughter's MIL sounds like she was unsupported and chose not to inform herself, despite being given all of the information - although to be fair you don't actually know that, you are speculating.

Despite all of that, she has been successful losing the weight and now has some decisions to make about how to maintain her weightloss.

Your husband is clearly very fortunate to be one of the lucky few who is receiving GLP medications via the NHS. The medication is the same, as it will be via an online provider though, so what is your concern for your morbidly obese friend?

How do you think your MIL and your morbidly obese friend could be better supported? That was afterall, the main point of the paper published this week, to consider how better we could do this.

to be honest it makes not a jot of difference to me I’m just interested in how it will all work out longer term at such a high expense to them, yes it may become cheaper but both family members are already in precarious financial situations to be hanging it all on those

I'm sure you don't mean to be so judgemental, but it sounds like you have nothing nice to say about your family member! How do you think that they could be better supported - or do you not want them to be successful. I can't tell from the way you are posting.

I think the problem is more that it's a medical condition that doesn't magically go away just because you've got thin now.

We wouldn't expect that of any other chronic illness. No-one tells type-1 diabetics 'well, you've been on the insulin for a year now, your blood sugar is under control, I'm sure it'll be fine if we stop it'

I think we need to accept that not all fat people are fat because of poor habits. Some are fat because that's how their body likes them to be - just like some people are skinny or muscled or any of 100 other varieties of human body shape. For people fighting against a body that wants to be fat, the jabs work, as long as you keep taking them. This is in contrast to people who are fat perhaps because of immobility, or other medications, or psychological issues, where losing the weight with the jabs, as long as you fix the other problems, would be more likely to keep it off.

It doesn’t, does it? So maybe just leave them to lose weight 👍🏻

Certainly my friend could be better supported by being prescribed by her NHS practice! To no do so on budgetary grounds is incredibly short-sighted. She is already pre-diabetic. Was put on a liquid diet a year ago - which had its issues - but lost a great deal of weight and all of her stats improved significantly. A year later, it’s all back and more unfortunately. To deny her WLI is just kicking the financial burden down the road.

I think that unfortunately quite a lot of people are so desperate to lose weight that they will do the equivalent of ticking the T&Cs without reading them. The same level of support should be given to overweight and o see people as to those trying to stop smoking.

I am judgemental and have been for some time of how they live their life but that’s up to them and I don’t get involved as they’re not really approachable in that sense but when I found out they were shelling out so much for the injections I’m just interested to know how it will work long term really and be involved in the discussion here but you’re right nothing to do with me

I have been on 5mg mounjaro for 6 months and lost 2.5 stone - losing slowly has been better for me and side effects minimal on a lower dose
When I get to my target weight I will try to reduce to 2.5mg and see how that goes before considering stopping altogether - I am prepared to stay on them long term if needed but hope they’ll get cheaper in time

I agree about staying slim. I hope people on my medication can benefit from GLP-1s in the future to stay slim.

However, regarding muscle mass I think it is pretty well known that with any weight loss plan you need to eat protein and do resistance exercise to maintain your muscle mass. My provider is big on this and provides advice, recipes and exercise videos in order to help people maintain their muscle mass and hopefully increase it too.

I didn’t start them a year ago because I knew deep down once I stopped using them I would regain some if not all the weight. This article has confirmed I made the right choice for me. My whole diet needed to change, exercise needed starting and I had to be honest with myself. I have lost three stone through calorie counting and will have to continue this for the rest of my life probably, but it has allowed me change my lifestyle hopefully for good without a £200-£300 bill per month alongside it. Pharmacies are now making a fortune and people are hooked on WLI so it’s a win win for them.
I have no doubt it has changed peoples lives ( I don’t know anyone on them to my knowledge) but I worry what that looks like for the re weight gain and mentally if they need to come off them and we do need to look at supporting people to maintain

if you're eating less, drinking less alcohol, not eating out, not getting takeaways, for many people the injections become affordable. And you have absolutely no right to anyone's financial information.

@AlaskaThunderfuckHiiiiiiiii I didn't say it had nothing to do with you, I asked how you think they could be better supported to be successful. I think obesity has something to do with all of us. Obesity related conditions are estimated to cost the NHS billions of pounds every year.

There needs to be more discussion about how best to deploy WLI and how to support people to succeed long term. That's what these threads should be about and that's why I asked how you thought your family members could be better supported.

The problem I have is I can't stop taking the medication that is causing my obesity. So if at all possible I will have to keep on the WL medication.

@socks1107 It's great that you've been successful so far with weight loss without using WLI. The thing is, I have never been able to diet for long enough to lose the weight that I needed to lose which is what WLI has helped with. It's brilliant that you don't need that help. Others do. That doesn't mean they are "hooked" on them! That's really emotive and strong language to use.

I think you have as much need to consider and manage maintenance as people who have used WLI to lose the weight, given what we know about regain. What support do you need alongside what you're doing, so that you can maintain your weight loss long term?