Depressed that I can’t afford WLIs

[Velveteengreen]

I am ‘obese’ according to the BMI calculator.
I’m 5’7 and 16 stone 4.
I have lost about a stone through calorie counting, so was even bigger before.
I am now a size 18/20, instead of 20/22.
But it feels like everything has significantly slowed down and it’s much harder to shift any more of the excess weight.

We are on a very low income and I’m unfortunately in significant debt to my credit card. I have several long term conditions that stop me from working full time.
I do get Pip but that covers the necessity costs for my disabilities.

I have started swimming twice a week as any other exercise is awful for my joint pain - in doing that I do feel physically fitter.

I have spoken to my GP and I don’t fit the criteria for jabs on the NHS.

Just keep on at it with calorie control. Well done on getting a stone off and dropping a size.
Re exercise, have you considered cycling? It's easy on the joints and worked for me and I'm getting on a bit.

I’m sure a lot of people feel as you do. I don’t know many people who have that sort of money to hand every month.

I’ve read people say they’re cost neutral as their food spend has gone by the same amount as the jabs cost but I doubt I know many people who can cut £150/200 a month off their groceries even with one person in the household eating less.

Me either. My medication makes it very easy to gain weight and near impossible to shift it. Can't afford the jabs though.

calorie counting works, so does sw if you do it right with portion controlled carbs and not just a plate of pasta or whatever. My mum has lost 4 stone on sw.

sorry that was meant be slimming world.

Try low carb , I have various health conditions that would make WLI inadvisable and I lost 3 stone low carbing which took my bmi from just under 30 to within normal limits and I’ve maintained it by continuing with this way of eating .

Have you looked into intermittent fasting? Just skipping breakfast and focusing on lunch and dinner can be really helpful.

Keep up with the swimming. Fitness will make everything easier. You're already feeling the results.

Yeah, I think this is mainly people who were spending a lot of money on takeaways/treat foods/alcohol etc, rather than those whose portions are just too big. My share of the monthly food budget is less than £200 altogether so there’s no way I could shave that off my food bill!

I really feel for you. I was nearly 17 stone at 5’2 I lost 8 stone after I very randomly saw on a forum a book called Bright Line Eating. I just thought I’ve not heard of that one! It was written by a neuroscientist about why we struggle losing weight. Anyway I read it and just thought wow this is me, five years later I’m still keeping the weight off. As someone who has struggled all my life and been on all sorts of crazy diets it’s the only thing that worked for me. There is a whole website but the book is enough.

I've feel a bit mean commenting as I have used WLI for 13 months but....what I will say is Nutracheck is bloody amazing for caloroe counting I've used it the whole time and, PS, the jabs don't melt fat you have to eat less and exercise!

Yes this forum is full of people who can afford them but it’s not representative of most people in the uk, most can’t afford to pay that every month. I lost 9 stone cutting carbs and eating lots of protein and veg and fruit, keep going!

It won’t be long before GLP-1s are much cheaper. There’s a glut of new tablets coming out later this year which will flood the market and bring the price down on everything. I’m in the US and the Wegovy tablets are already out (I’m on them) with lots more to follow later on.

In the meantime, you’re doing all the right things, OP.

Eat heaps of protein & you genuinely won’t get hungry. It’s all easier said than done I know. Maybe start with your head.. lots of podcasts/ reading to understand what’s causing you to overeat/ choose bad foods. It’s not your fault. They are designed to be addictive. But honestly, WLI can help- whilst you’re on them.. sounds to me like you’d only put the weight back on anyway as you need to address the root cause. It’s miserable & Im sorry you’re struggling xx

@Velveteengreen hi i didn't fit the criteria either and needed to loose loads for surgery I ended up in debt buying WLI now im struggling to pay back as far as im concerned your doing great by yourself you should be well proud of yourself keep going you'll get there eventually and can say u done this myself 👍🏻

It doesn’t help that I have two close friends on them who have both lost a significant amount of weight (between 5-7 stone each)

I was on them about a year when they were cheaper, and with discounts etc was able to lose about 5 stone on them.

I do have credit card debt now though which I need to repay. I'm in the process of coming off and finding intermittent fasting seems to be helpful. Maybe trying that could help?

I was listening to a doctor the other day talking about the downsides. On balance I'd stick with dietary changes and exercise. You're doing well, maybe visit your GP for some guidance.

Do you work? If not can you claim UC and or ESA? If you do could you up your hours?

Could you motivate yourself financially to lose weight? Like think of how much you'd lose on WLI in a month, and try and get as close to that as possible without spending money? So you could say you've 'saved £350' as well as lost a few lbs?

If you calculate what you can eat in deficit you will lose weight. And can still eat all foods. It might not be as easy as with WLI but it would give you a lot of self belief.

I can’t have the injections as I’m a type 1 diabetic. So calorie counting it is, which works as long as you stick with it!

We8ght loss jabs are great on theory but im not sure about long term outcomes. People have to stay on them forever or need significant behavioural therapy to change eating habits to avoid rapid weight gain

Just keep going as you are doing, it’s slower but you’re still losing weight as well as changing your life style. If you can’t afford it, it’s not advisable to get into debt for this as you’ll simply be replacing one issue with another. My colleague that’s on it can’t afford it but she can’t afford to stop either. Now all she’s complaining about is money. She lost the weight too fast and is not happy with the loose skin either so WLI has not solved everything.
Just know you’re not alone and a large number of the population can’t afford it either so just keep going as you are.

This is what stopped me from going on WLI but recent developments mean GLPs will be available for long-term maintenance and I’m good with that. People take statins, bp tabs for life, this will be no different.

Honestly, if you pay for the jabs you'll probably end up saving a significant proportion of the cost of them by eating less. It might not make them work out 'free' but the cost isn't really the price of the jab. It's the price of the jab minus the amount you would have spent on food that you knock off.

But I'm prob the anomaly here in thinking health absolutely comes first over anything, and that if you can possibly manage to get them you should. Once you're at a healthy weight it's far easier to maintain it than it is to lose it to begin with. I started at BMI 27, got down to BMI 20 and have maintained it for the past six months without using the jabs anymore. Eating at maintenance is easier than eating at a calorie deficit.

Maybe if now isn't possible you can look at more hours or another job to save up? Idk if your LTCs are the type that can be improved by weight loss.

I was like this . Weight loss stalled and calorie deficit didn’t work. I then decided to cut out every single sweet food and sugar except apples and blueberries. I have only savoury food and after 3 months I’d lost 2 stone. My body just can’t handle sugar in any form 1500-1700 calories of savoury food lots of veg etc great if I had the same 1500-1700 with any sugar or sweet foods added I can’t lose weight and gain ??!!

And I only eat the apple and small pack of blueberries daily as lunch dessert