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

I lost 45kgs in 13 mths on Wegovy (never got about the 1mg dose) and stopped 3 months ago when I reached goal.

I’m the same weight I was when I stopped (just before I went on holiday for 3 weeks) and im
pretty confident I can keep the weight off.

I’ve totally changed how I eat and increased my exercise to give me the best chance of being successful.

A poster on another thread who'd read the BMJ review note that the average WLI taker was still lighter at the end of the studied period than those who'd used diet, which was interesting. Because they lost more weight in the first place.

@Passingthrough123 I didn't see that one (will look it up now) but read an article last year about changes the food industry implemented in the 1970s. It was based on the US but they said it came into Europe just slightly later.

Increase of artificial flavourings, reduction of real food in the product and addition of corn syrup/sugar. More processing as it was cheaper to produce.

Add colourful advertising via TVs and magazines, promotions and so-called "health benefits" like all the zero fat products which are just sugar ladden stuff.

The graphs regarding weight gain they showed were staggering, it wasn't just one part of the population, it was across the board. And that has to have a reason which is more than just laziness or overeating.

Since I am on WLJ I have to be careful what I eat, ultra processed food causes nausea. So you start reading the ingredient lists of stuff a lot more careful and I knew it was bad but I got shocked how bad everyday items are.

Registered and licensed ones yes. Dodgy under the counter no, but they cannot be used as an argument against these unless you want to use people who share log ins as a reason to ban Netflix. There will always be people who try to abuse a system. Doesn't mean the system is wrong.

Yes, the sudden increase in advertising was shocking – and so much of it aimed at kids.

The thing that annoyed me about the programme though is that it blamed women in the 1970s for the explosion in processed food because more went out to work and families needed convenience meals. Without any extrapolation about why more women had to join the workforce.😡

I've not seen the programme. Did they mention the smoking rates in the 70s and how they've steadily declined since?

I lost 3st on Mounjaro, going from 12st 8lbs down to 9st 8lbs. Since last July I've been maintaining on 5mg.

I intend to take MJ for the long term, not just for weight maintenance, but because of all its other health benefits and protections. Yes, it's expensive but it's still much cheaper than a monthly membership at our local, fancy day spa.

I just see it as a gold standard standard investment in my current and future health. Health is wealth.

No mention of cigarettes.

The programme's probably available on catch up. The clothing was the biggest eye opener for me, because of how high street vanity sizing has normalised obesity. I'm a 16 now but would have been a 20 in the Seventies.

Wow, that's quite an omission if they're talking about the rise in obesity rates. Half the adult population were on an appetite suppressant drug during the period! If they made enough time to blame women and talk about clothes sizes, there was room for a few sentences on that.

Years ago Sue Perkins did a food history progamm about the 1920s and it was said that the reason the women were so slim was mainly because their diet was of black coffee, water and appetite suppressant.

Hardly a healthy diet either. So controlling weight is not new and while I am sure the easily availability of sweets, convenience food and lack of manual work has plenty to do with obesity, there is so much more to it.

And now you are causing issues for Greggs - shame on you! that would be Greggs with their high fat/salt content but now you are looking to eat less or eat more protein and fibre. Strange greggs and others can do that now

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c20g11y4dywo

Exactly this.

Basically, even in the UK as one of the first societies to broadly eliminate the risk of mass starvation, everyone having enough to eat is still a very new thing. The last few decades are actually the only time in our history when we didn't have a food insecure population and the numbers of us consuming nicotine were low.

Obviously the food industry and obesogenic society both play a role, but the truth is we don't actually have any evidence that it's possible to have a society that combines sufficient food with low smoking rates and doesn't pile on the weight. There are no examples of this. Even Japan's obesity rate is increasing.

They focused more on how active people were - women did about 40 hours of manual labour with housework before washing machines and hoovers were ubiquitous.

Just because you dont gain weight, doesn't mean it is healthy for you.
Look up Fat Inside Skinny Outside. Fat build up on your organs isnt noticeable but it is really bad.

Yeah that makes sense. Another thing that kept some of us thinner that I'd still rather not go back to on balance!

I think there is a real reluctance to talk about the fact that nicotine is an appetite suppressant because of a fear that it will actually encourage its use. People hardly ever mention it as a reason that teenagers vape, either.

Interesting point. You could well be right.

As an ex smoker I’d say it’s limited at best in terms of appetite suppresant and not the reasons teens vape, and plenty of fat smokers and vapers.

having done them all, smoking, and vapong is probably about one millionth of the effect of the drugs. They don’t talk about it because it’s over hyped in the media and very insignificant in reality for most people unless you’re on 60 a day.

I don’t think it’s an actual appetite suppressant, it is more about giving your hand and mouth something to do other than eat. When I went on mounjaro, it took a couple of months for the desire to smoke to disappear - I have only ever social smoked and then in my 20s (now 50s) but I put it down to just needing the hand to mouth thing to be there. Seriously contemplated it multiple times!

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

Why do certain posters keep on making statements like this? 😂

Some people will take a maintenance dose and keep it off. Some people will keep it off without a maintenance dose.

I’m 4 stone lighter and over one year in and it’s staying off effortlessly.

Even the article posted states:

Wegovy can be prescribed on the NHS for up to two years, while there is no prescription time limit for Mounjaro.

So - even if you’re taking it via the NHS (which the vast majority aren’t - they’re getting it privately) there is NO limit on how long you can take it.

Myself and other posters who are pointing out their individual experiences or research, are not jealous

What individual experience and research? I thought you didn’t take WLI’s?

If you mean the fact that people are likely to regain the weight if they come off it and don’t stick to a calorie restricted diet? Well, yes everyone knows that. It’s common sense. It’s the same whatever diet method you use.

So we are all in agreement:

If you come off the jabs and overeat - you will gain the weight. How quickly you gain the weight depends on how much you overeat and how much exercise you do. The same will happen if you lose weight by another method and then stop doing it and start overeating again.

Yes? We all agree?

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

Nobody struggles to hear a balanced opinion. But we do struggle to let opinions posted as “fact” go unchallenged. ie. “you can’t take them for life”. “You’ll gain weight 4 x faster if you come off”. That’s just a personal opinion, and it’s incorrect. And if someone doesn’t have any experience of WLI’s why should we listen to them? Unless they are a qualified medical professional who specialises in WLI’s?

And honestly? Some posts do come across as sounding like jealousy dressed up as concern. It sounds like some posters can’t/won’t take them for some reason and are a little pissed off or whatever and are trying to put a negative spin on something that is having a life changing effect for many many people.

I have a friend who is morbidly obese and has several health conditions who won’t take WLI’s because she doesn’t want to give up her food addiction, just like an alcoholic or drug addict. She has a real problem with the fact I’m taking Mounjaro and makes snide remarks about scare stories - despite the fact she is losing her eyesight (amongst other things) from being obese. So maybe there’s something like that going on with posters who always pop up on WLI threads and seem to want to put across negative opinions as fact. Or they have a history of ED and the fact there is now a jab people can take in order to be thin throws up a lot of tricky feelings for them. Or they’ve always battled to stay thin and feel they are now losing their “thin privilege” as there will be no way to distinguish who is thin from exercise and a calorie controlled diet alone or from using WLI’s. Or they maybe can’t afford them and don’t fulfil nhs criteria.

I can understand why it must be really maddening for some people.

I think people just don’t get why some posters who have no skin in the game are so bothered? And also have to make stuff up to try and prove their point? People who deal with facts don’t have to make things up.

Even if the link posted were absolutely true and had been proven beyond doubt (which it hasn’t if you read it properly and are capable of understanding what it means - it’s basically just a catchy headline designed for clicks) I’d still carry on taking my maintenance dose. I think everyone on here would.

If at some point in the future I had to come off it bc I developed a side effect or lost all my money well meh…il deal with that at the time.

Let me ask: Those of us on this thread who are taking WLI’s - would you stop now the OP has posted that Guardian article?

ie. Has it made a blind bit of difference to anyone?…

Because from what I can see the OP’s question was If you are on weight loss injections, what do you make of this article?
and everybody who is on them has responded “We don’t really care” and given the reasons why. Mainly that their lives and health have improved tenfold.

Oh - another massive positive! I also gave up smoking within a couple of weeks of taking MJ. Haven’t touched one for a year now and the thought knocks me sick many, many people are reporting the same 😁

I actually wonder if the cigarette companies have anything to do with the scaremongering stories in the press…

What do you think it’s evidence of then?

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

What do I think? Doesn't influence my decision to take or continue to take WLI. I've been on it for over 18 months now, maintaining for nearly a year. I plan to stay on for at least 3 years whilst I am maintaining this lifestyle. I'm not eating in deficit anymore, I work out and lift heavy weights 5 to 6 days a week. I eat 2200 to 2500 calories a day. I'm hoping this means that I won't 'suddenly' be hungry when I come off due to being used to eating so little. I'm on 5mg and may titrate lower but we'll see.

It's evidence that the treatment of the symptoms of obesity stop when the medication stops. No more no less. It evidences nothing at all about people's behaviour while they are on the medication.

I think the envy of these medications is off the scale. I’m not sure I’ve seen anything like it to be honest. This feels like people just want to find something they can cling onto as a pretend issue. You don’t see anyone spaming the slimming world threads going on about how folks will regain. But I guess that’s as no one is jealous of people on slimming world or low carbing.

i don’t know why but the envy has really taken me by surprise, the scale of it.