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

You think a weight loss band is a better solution than WLI? Why??

To be fair about the muscle mass thing - it would be a bit bloody weird if I had kept the muscle mass required to move 106kg me around the place once I was 80kg...

I know from my apple watch, that my sedentary calorie burn has dropped by 1/3rd (which tallies with what I eat/when I feel full) - which can also contribute a lot to putting the weight back on once you lose the fullness feedback that you get from the jabs.

Good question. Surgery is a major risk if a person is morbidly obese.

But you don't have any experience of it! Why are you even part of the discussion when you've never taken them? It's just weird. I don't know if my body is storing up some long term issues due to WLI but in the here and now there are ZERO drawbacks for me other than cost. That's just a fact.

Weight is hugely related to lifestyle and the best cure is prevention. We should be starting with kids.
Id love to see the government pour money into healthy fit lifestyles rather than funding medication:

• nutritious school meals that actually provide enough healthy calories that they don't need to be bulked out with desserts as is the case at most schools
• far more accessible, publically subsidised leisure facilities. In my area swimming pools are increasingly less accessible, there aren't enough, there are very few sessions actually open to kids because the private providers don't want to pay enough life guards or heat the pools properly.
• providing fresh vegetables, cooking equipment & guidance & energy vouchers/cards to help low income families access better food.
• tax incentives for employers who offer subsidised healthy lunches in work cafeterias
• tax incentives for enployers to offer gym memberships etc as part of employment
• funding for school kitchens and cooking facilities - more cooking & home economics in schools
• funding for schools to offer free after school sports clubs
• safe cycle lanes

Yes it all costs money but it pays back in reduced healthcare costs

Haven't read the full thread but I can imagine the gist.

I came off December 2024 after dropping 3 stone. Since then, I have maintained and actually lost another half a stone - without trying. Because I used the time on MJ to adjust my eating habits and build an exercise habit. I drink wine, eat what I want - if I want a McDonalds I'll have one - and my exercise is generally just walking and so far, 12 months of maintenance has been fine. No RAGING hunger, no weight piling back on. I know, that's very disappointing for a lot of people!

Years ago when I wanted to stop smoking many people had taken up vaping as a way to help them, as it was so much better for you than tobacco smoke.

This was when vaping was relatively new but loads of people had great success with stopping smoking.

However, there were lots of honest opinions on the negatives in the research and individuals experiences too.

These balanced responses were way better for me to make an informed decision.

Myself and other posters who are pointing out their individual experiences or research, are not jealous or speaking from our childhood trauma etc.
We are saying that these are great for some people but they’re not perfect.

They are not suitable for everyone.
They alone are not going to make you lose weight and keep it off.

I don’t understand why certain posters struggle to hear a balanced opinion.

Why do you think people don't know this already?? That's what is getting people's backs up. We KNOW. We aren't stupid.

It’s the equivalent of mansplaining, isn’t it.

Surgery offers long term solution, whereas the WLI’s are medically classed as temporary solutions.

I actually think a combination of both are ideal and should be free to those of a certain bmi.

For some people who cannot move around easily due to their weight, surgery can be quite dangerous but if they were offered injections first then they may be able to reduce it enough to make surgery safer.

@Peridoteage I don't think the govt is pouring money into WLI at the moment. The prescribing on the NHS for weight loss alone is very limited. The vast majority of the millions on WLI are paying for it themselves privately. I totally agree with you about prevention and creating an environment where individuals are less likely to become obese. But you do have an existing adult population who are currently obese and will be experiencing the health consequences of that now and in the near future. So that definitely needs addressing in addition to prevention of future issues.

There are multiple threads of posters asking about WLI’s and whether they should start taking them.

YOU might know everything there is to know but this thread wasn’t created with just you in mind was it.

@Eyeshadow I genuinely don't think people struggle with balanced opinions. The problem comes when people state their opinions as though they were facts.

There is much to be discussed around obesity and WLI and the paper published in the BMJ on Wednesday is trying to stimulate that discussion. If we all stuck to discussing options and looking at ways to tackle the obesity epidemic and consider how best to deploy WLI in ways that do enable people to have long term success, then it would probably be much more beneficial for all of us! IMHO!

@Peridoteage agree with all your suggestions for a healthier start in life and promoting healthy lifestyles. I'd love to see all those things too. However, at the moment the Government isn't pouring money into WLI, it is pouring billions & billions of pounds every year into tackling the health issues caused by obesity.

I mean, the thread title directly asks people who are on WLIs what they think. And no one is struggling with balanced opinions; people are pushing back against posters stating opinion as fact eg your assertion that people cannot take WLIs long term and that they must come off them when goal weight is achieved. It's possible that people may not be able to stay on them long term, and it's possible that they will. People can plan to take these for life and adapt their plans if that changes. That's a balanced opinion. Your initial post was not balanced.

I was on Mounjaro prior to get pregnant and lost 3 stone . I put in 2.5 pounds back in almost 5 months ( I’m 19 weeks pregnant) so I’m not sure this always happens . This being said I’m not an awful eater , I alway managed to lose weight prior to entering my 40s and used it out of desperation when dieting and exercise where not working as before .

And also inaccessible, quite rightly, to most people with lower end obese BMIs.

Yes, there's something of a pattern on WLI threads of people making claims they can't back up, then when they're asked for proof and don't supply it someone will chime in that you can't say anything about WLIs or similar.

People who feel there's too much pushback against criticism or scepticism about WLIs would do well to acknowledge how much dreck there is posted. If I had a sceptical point to make that was grounded in evidence, I wouldn't want to wade through a load of invention and cope first.

I use WLI and I am now on the higest dose of Mounjaro. I am not far off my target.

The effect really has worn off now, I dont get the supression I used to and its becoming harder and harder to lose weight. In fact I havent lost any real amount since October.

I've been weight training for years so not so relevent for me but the good news is that, for PREVIOUSLY UNTRAINED individuals, body recomposition whereby fat loss and muscle gain occur simultaneously, is absolutely possible. It sounds counterintuitive as by reducing overall calories your body will tend to enter a catabolic (breakdown) state. High protein, essential fats and veg are the answer.

@chipsticksmammy part of the reason it is harder to lose weight when near target is that unless you do something very different, it is hard to create a 500 cal daily deficit for sustained weight loss. Graphs of people's weight loss show this same pattern, the rate of weight loss slows over time. Ways to get out of that plateau include increasing exercise, particularly strength exercises to increase muscle mass, if possible.

But as you’re aware, the recommended length of time from the NHS, marketers of the drugs and NICE was 2 years.

Obviously this may change as research develops (especially for MJ) but how are people planning to take these for life if the guidelines turn around and say they’re not suitable to take long term?.

There were multiple posters panicking about not being able to afford or even order MJ because the price shot up.

As PPs have said, you cannot take it if you get an illness or get pregnant etc

These are outside factors too - most weight gain is caused by other factors like stress, emotional eating etc.

So they’re not a quick fix and should be taken over a decent period of time but it’s narrow minded to not even consider the possibility that they may not be able to be taken for life.

A PP admitted she eats whatever she wants now - even naturally slim people need to have some idea of what they’re putting in their bodies.

I am all for the injections but we need to be honest and say they’re are not a magic wand and they’re not going to make all of your weight problems disappear.

I don’t think you’re atypical though, I got up to a max of 10mg, lost weight consistently to goal, then slowly tirated down to 5mg, which is my maintenance dose and have been on that maintaining for the last 9 months, the effect was the same at 10 and 5 as the increase in cals to maintenance off set the slight increase in hunger, my weight is very stable and deviates by 2lbs.

i think for some people it just doesn’t work very well,for example i could never have went up to 15mg, id have been very unwell, never mind it wearing off.

tne drugs dont stop working, they still control blood sugar etc as they always did, otherwise they’d not be prescribed for diabetes and shortly cardio vascular. But the psychological impact needs to be taken into account, as factually the drugs work as they always did, but diet fatigue sets in and you see the real impact for you personally,

Usually when someone says here that it has to be taken for life they are accused of being jealous, not knowing what they are talking about, « same for any other diet and they don’t come with a warning » etc.

Full transparency, I was looking into WLI for a close family member (long time obese), told them about it, and only later found out about the long term aspect. I shared that with them, not an issue - but I felt that it is quite an important bit of info that is not widely publicised. That’s it.

Thanks @SilenceInside I have a nutrition coach and PT who have been amazing at helping me hit my calories and I am now lifting heavier than ever before. My cardio fitness is also massively improving.

A lot of it is due to the weight loss and the increase in muscle I have seen. It is still tricky to push yourself hard every day while under eating.

There is only so far you can push it I think. I am noticing a massive loss in supression from the WLIs, I could barely look at food 15 months ago on 2.5mg and now I have feelings of hunger and can happily eat large portions at 15mg.

I am thinking of changing to Wegovy to see if it makes any difference or just settling at 15mg is what I need for supression.

This is exactly what I said in my first post.

These injections are an amazing tool but they can only help you lose so much.

They’re not going to continually make you lose weight.
That’s why people who take this medication due to diabetes aren’t dying from starvation.

They say staying on the lowest dose possible whilst still losing weight is the best way to help this and then slowly reducing it further once at your goal weight.