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

Furthermore, it has been shown via the clinical trials and via the judgement of the MHRA that the benefits do outweigh the risks for anyone who is obese, not just morbidly obese. So people with a BMI in the range 30 to 40, not just 40 plus. The benefits also outweigh the risks for people who are significantly overweight (BMI 27 plus) but not yet obese, with a weight related health condition.

There is no health benefit to anyone who is BMI <27 starting to take these medications and no legitimate prescriber would prescribe them WLI for weight loss if they applied legitimately.

There is no difference. I don’t hold them to a different standard.

I think that the WLIs are an excellent development, @DarkForces .
my diabetic husband has been prescribed 2.5mg for a few years now and the benefits have been life changing for us.
I think they should be readily available on the NHS to every obese person who has been struggling with their weight historically. It makes absolute sense. Obesity is responsible for so many health conditions that burden the NHS: with this breakthrough, unnecessarily.
My concern is the private sector, where people who are not obese are easily able to obtain a powerful medication that they will potentially have to take for the rest of their lives without necessarily understanding that. I know from personal acquaintances that it’s basically a tick box exercise. Some people are so desperate to lose weight that they’ll sign up to anything without necessarily thinking through the long term consequences.

'I always get shouted down by those posters screeching'

@PersephonePomegranate

No one is "screeching". Nasty.

I don't really understand your comment them. You state that some people have less capacity than others to consider the long term need for weight loss injections. If you hold all drugs to this standard, what do you think should happen? No long term drugs supplied? I've had far more thorough briefings and appointments with my pharmacist for weight loss injections than for any other drug I've been prescribed.

I'm glad to hear that your husband is benefiting from them. However, contrary to popular belief, there are actually a number of checks you have to go through in the private sector. I'd have thought that your experience would lead you to understand why people would want to reduce their risks of life long medical issues linked to obesity. It's available because the benefits outweigh the risks. If your experience is through an nhs doctor you wouldn't know the level of care you get privately and the challenge of long term maintenance of weight is absolutely shared at the start in very plain language.

Your biology is very strong. Your brain and your hormones can drive you to overeat, and it can be nearly impossible for most people to resist. I think everyone saying that it won't happen to them is being extremely naive! There needs to be a serious discussion and research about how to deal with this in the longer term. WLI really are not the silver bullet people claim that they are!

Well… If you can stay on them, they absolutely are

The difference is the rate of regain is so much more rapid than traditional dieting methods. It's well known that the majority of people who lose weight regain it within five years, but it seems that people are regaining the weight much more rapidly after stopping WLI.

I've wondered this. The body builds tolerance to most things. If you were to take these for five or even ten plus years is there not a risk that they'll stop working entirely?

It will probably be a long-term drug for most people. It will be the magic bullet, new products even more effective than MJ are coming to the market in the next couple of years. This is really all the solution needed

Who is saying it won't happen to them?

I don't know? We haven't been using them long enough to know. I've been on them 18 months and they haven't stopped yet. My DH was on Prozac for ten years and it never stopped working. I'm not sure why it would.

Same! Nobody ever took this level of interest when I was taking the contraceptive pill long term, for example. If the comprehensive initial assessment and briefing, regular appointments and discussions with a pharmacist that my WLI provider offer are a tick box exercise, I dread to think how every other medication I've had would be described..

Possibly it is down to it being a private v NHS thing. Money talks, sadly.

I experienced this happening when I stopped being as careful about my diet. The literal second I relaxed and started eating the odd bit of UPF here, a few sweets there for a pick me up. A Starbucks latte and a croissant instead of a black Americano and a protein bar on a work trip because I'm stressed out and why not. A can of Coke Zero in the afternoon because I'm tired. Not making healthy choices while eating out for work. A drink on a Thursday instead of waiting til Friday evening. Skipping exercise because of Christmas nights out and family obligations.

I was telling myself each time it was just a one off, but the food noise and ravenous hunger returned quite quickly and bang, back to prediabetes and 3kg rapidly regained because all of a sudden I'm ravenous all the time again. I am having to accept that if I want to stay off MJ and stave off diabetes without medication, I can't eat UPF, I can't base my meals on carbs and not protein and veg, I can't drink sweetened drinks and sodas, whether artificial or sugar sweetened. I've returned to the fairly strict diet I was keeping before I hit a period of stress and overwhelm and I feel like I've learned a valuable lesson that there just is no complacency and I can't get away with a few weeks of being lax with my diet and habits if I want my weight kept down, food noise not to rule my life, and not to end up like my dad with uncontrolled Type 2. WLI may be a tool I need in short ish term bursts to ensure I can get back on track if things do fall off and poor blood sugar control starts driving my appetite and metabolism again.

It doesn't feel fair in a way that my biology is this way, others can eat these things blithely with seemingly no consequences, if I have a poor diet and don't exercise as regularly for a few weeks, my body goes bang, makes me overeat, stack on weight and feel awful due to the blood sugar rollercoaster. But I can either give in to that or not. I choose not.

I think so too. I think people really believe that you hand over your money and get sent the drugs in some kind of shady deal. The reality is so different. I've been so well informed and supported and maintained now for 5 months. I know that's thanks to the drug. My pharmacist is supporting my tapering process and monitoring me regularly with live video weigh ins, photographs and questionnaires every time I buy. My hrt was much easier to get!

I think we have to start thinking of WLI’s as a cost effective treatment in relation to the cost to the NHS for treatment of the inevitable health conditions people will develop if they remain obese. If they have to remain on a maintenance dose for life then surely that’s preferable to developing other conditions which may be irreversible.

Its been available for ages in Europe, its Rybelsus-once a day tab. Its licenced in the uk but for some reason nhs opts for injections and dosent let the patients choose?

I'm ex NHS. The NHS is a creaking monolith full of outdated practices, it takes a long time to effect any change, and decisions are largely based on cost, not patient choice. Bean counters often decide, not clinicians. Clinicians are often pretty conservative and anything new is looked at with suspicion just because it's not the established NHS way. Procurement processes are ridiculous, so they probably are looking at how to access the drugs in tablet form, but it will take years to put the supply chain in place. They will always offer the cheapest choice even when they know there are better options available. Leaving patients to either gen up and fight for better care, or languish. It's a right mess.

As a sidebar to the discussion, did anyone watch the Josie Gibson 1970s diet experiment programme last night? It was fascinating - and showed it’s no wonder we have an obesity crisis! I was born in the early 70s so can’t remember much about portion size but they showed a pizza sold for an adult which was the size of a kid’s one today. And a family chocolate bar that was eight sizes smaller than the biggest one available now. Plus the clothes sizing! 😳 A 12-14 dress had a 26in waist - now that’s more like 32.

What was even more depressing is that it’s not our greed that has brought us to the point where WLI are needed. It’s the food industry supersizing and over-processing to the extent we have lost sight of how little our bodies really need. Which makes me even more certain the price of WLI won’t drop as much as we hope so they are more accessible - it will boost both industries’ bottom lines to keep society trapped in a cycle of overeating and medicated loss.

Sorry @ShawnaMacallister, not sure why that quoted you!

Mounjaro is a LOT More effective than rybelsus.

Firstly, the OP hasn’t been back. I often wonder about the motivation for threads like this.

But secondly, if you did the same study of most diets/weightloss methods, you’d probably find the exact same thing. This is why the weightloss industry is booming because they know that statistically, everyone will sooner or later gain and this is a ‘customer for life’. I can think of 6 different people I work with who have all lost significant amounts of weight while on diets ranging from Slimming World to fasting. 6 out of the 7 have all regained and I think the 7th is only doing ok because she remarried and her new husband is a fitness coach.

For me, MJ is different than other plans because it’s helping me to get to a weight I could not have done on my own. The changes I’m seeing in my body and in my life are really lovely and they’re not things I’ve experienced before. I’m completely realistic about the nature of diets and regain but what’s the alternative, stay as I was and just gradually get fatter? At least I’m doing something!

85% of people who lose significany amount of weight "the old fashioned way" regain it within 6 years (50% within two). Usually gaining more fat and less muscle than before. So WLI or not, you're fucked either way if you're obese and losing weight.

There’s more to it than habits-
i calorie counted and did 3 intense gym classes each week for months and months and didn’t loose a pound

I am on WLI 6 months now and through December I slacked off the gym and ate my body weight in chocolate and baileys and I lost a pound.

so it’s definitely not all to do with lifestyle and more to do with blood sugar regulation