To be fed up with the barrage of weight loss drug content I am exposed to

[pinkpeonytuesday]

I am on Instagram and Facebook and am constantly bombarded with weight loss drug content. I followed a great influencer who I never thought was overweight and now have seen her post she can fit into a size 8 in Zara and her life is infinitely better, I read post after post that these drugs not only made people lose weight - they cured heart disease, IBS etc etc! I see it everywhere, women are just turning into clones of each other - Botox, fillers, the same beige legging combo and now super skinny. How has this drug been allowed to be advertised so widely without any consideration to the damage this is doing to women and young girl’s mental health? Surely people are only being cured of these conditions because they’re not eating all the unhealthy stuff (which can only be a good thing) but this lifetime living in a state of malnutrition (the post I read the other day had user after user saying how they felt dizzy when they stood up) is not healthy! Even if you do exercise - you won’t be getting nutrients. Or is it all sunbeams and moonbeams and should I think about going on it to lose the last stone I want (the fact I am a size 12 and wouldn’t be allowed to go on it because my BMI is normal yet a friend used it to loose weight and now will stay on it until to maintain her size 6-8 frame seems wild. Yet I would love to be a size 8 and I wouldn’t be allowed it) the whole thing seems a joke to me. Am I unreasonable? Is it the unicorn of drugs? And if it’s that safe why can’t I go on it?

@AnnaQuayRulesmight need some after reading some of the responses to my post haha!!

@Instructionsi personally just don’t think they should be advertised full stop! I’d love to take them to lose the pesky stone I’ve been trying to shed! If you have to pay for them then medically you don’t need them, so weird why it should be sold! I’m just really bitter I can’t access them. 😭

Tbf I think the frustration is not that people who have a clinical need can have them. Its that people who initially have a clinical need can use them beyond the point of having a clinical need, to get to a fashionable/desirable 'look'.

I must admit I don't understand why people are allowed to keep continuing on them once they're at a healthy weight, other than a maintenance dose. Why would the risk of side effects/balance against health risks be any different for them at a BMI of say, 24-27? Obviously regaining weight would be a risk, but if they can remain at the lower weight on maintenance surely that would be the less risky option rather than carrying on losing?

@Idontjetwashthefuckernope! I’m bashing the constant promotion of them - but thanks to Mumsnetters I’m just bitter and have serious mental health issues! 😁

I agree with you, partly. I hate the way that social media puts pressure on women to look identical; thin, gym gear, botoxed to fuck, fillers, extensions, whitened teeth. It loses all personality.

On a population level, these drugs are incredible and I genuinely believe they'll have an absolutely generational impact . Obesity and its complications kill millions each year, through heart disease, hypertension, strokes, diabetes etc . If this helps people lose weight and avoid those then the knock on benefit is huge. Using them excessively / inappropriately will result in adverse consequences, but from a public health pov it's all about the balance.

@Birdsongisangrytotally! You’re much more eloquent than me! I don’t understand why I can have access to them - if someone my weight can and can continue to lose because they used to be clinically obese! Where is the stop button?

In the UK medically if you need them you have to pay for them. It's not right but its how it is for now at least. (Apart from a very tiny % of NHS prescriptions in very specific circs) GPs will recommend people get private prescriptions, they can't prescribe on NHS.

@ChrisTheBastardi totally agree with you and have never said people who are clinically obese shouldn’t take them. They’ve improved so many people’s lives! It’s the fact that everyone is using them - those that don’t need to! as I said earlier I really struggle to know what a normal face or body of a woman looks like anymore!

Well items i have read about weight loss drugs have reported their role in a number of deaths, the fact that they are known to interfere with certain contraception methods, interfere with the effectiveness of other medications and that a high percentage of people gain a significant amount of weight when they stop taking them.
To me, even if as you say they are strictly monitored for adverse side effects, there are enough negativities about them to me to make me not want to embark on taking them.
I admit that I don't like taking ANY medications unless strictly necessary and the thought of embarking on taking a drug that I would possibly have to continue taking for the rest of my life, when I don't view it as necessary to maintain a healthy weight, is an anathema to me.

Every pharmacy has a BMI below which they won't continue to prescribe. For some it's BMI 23, for some it's 22, others will allow down to 19 on an individual basis. BMI categories depend on ethnicity, so for some people a BMI of 23 or higher would still be considered overweight.

You can only continue on a maintenance dose if the pharmacy is satisfied that you are not losing further weight and heading into the lower end of healthy or underweight.

An ‘instahun’ I have as of today unfollowed was hawking them this morning. Funny thing is she openly admits she personally hasn’t used them but knows folk who has so that’s a good enough reason for her to promote. Fuck off Jen.

Oh bless… if only it were that easy!

doing nothing but jabbing? Pah!

you have to eat less than what you’re currently eating to lose weight. Our portion sizes are too big and need to be reduced. You also need to do a lot more exercise.

the jabs are literally like the patches to give up smoking. They help with the cravings.

there are additional benefits like a it inflammatory qualities too, and it helps in compulsive habits bizarrely

if you’re not obese, you don’t need them. Obesity isn’t cosmetic, it has serious consequences on the health of the person who is in the obese category. You CAN shift this weight. You really can, but nothing’s going to change without you changing things you’re doing

That's the thing though. They're generally not prescribed to people under a BMI of 30 for obesity, and 27 if they have a weight related health issue, because (as I understand it) above these, the health risk of the extra weight is greater than the risk of side effects.

So why wouldn't these thresholds also be the point of stopping or switching to maintenance? Why do they encourage people to go so much lower, and wouldn't that mean they're exposing them to more risk? It doesn't make sense that it's too risky/no clinical need for one person with a BMI of 25, and not the case for another at the same BMI but who has lost weight by taking WLI (assuming other factors like ethnicity are accounted for)

@SilenceInsidesee you’re shining a spotlight on my ignorance. I assumed you got the drug and just kept getting it. I didn’t realise you had to keep sending details in! And weird you’d have to be on maintaince for the rest of your life technically!

You are seeing it because you are engaging with it. If you are reacting to, or even reading posts, you will keep being fed that content. If you want it to stop, you need to stop. Its awful, but that's the way social media works unfortunately. I am seeing absolutely zero content along those lines.

YANBU to be frustrated by it. It seems unfair that some people are able to ‘cheat’ their way to a ‘dream size’ while others don’t qualify.
However I think you should stop engaging with the content on SM and do all the usual boring things if being Zara size 8 really appeals to you, more so than carrying on as you are, exercise, food and drink wise.
Many people in beige leggings look naked from a distance which is not something I aspire to in public.
A friend who has done a course of the drugs found she was suffering from hair loss so has stopped. If they turn out to be a panacea for a multitude of conditions I’m sure we’ll all be able to get them cheaply at some point but if you don’t have a problem with overeating, I don’t think you actually need them.

@Birdsongisangry There are some providers who will prescribe off-licence for those with a BMI between 25 and 27 (or adjusted lower for ethnicity), as well as private clinics that will prescribe "microdoses" to people with lower BMIs than that.

That's not really relevant though. The entire point of obesity treatment is to move the patient from an obese (or overweight with a weight related health condition) to a healthy weight. And then ideally keep them there long term, as rapid regain is a serious risk to health. People moving to below BMI 25 from being obese/overweight aren't exposed to more risk. I am not sure why you would think that? Being a healthy weight is less risk than remaining overweight. As also mentioned, avoiding regain is important. Moving to well below the BMI 25 boundary is helpful to avoid tipping back into overweight if maintaining weight loss is difficult, which we know it is.

If your starting BMI is already in the healthy range, there is no health benefit to losing weight. You can if you want to of course, but starting to take a prescription medication to do so is not justified in those circumstances. It is not the same, as described above, as someone who has been on WLI for a while and has just moved into the healthy range. They will have all the issues for their system that obesity has caused, plus the issues of metabolism challenges due to having been in a calorie deficit for a length of time, etc etc.

I'm on them
But I think it's a huge risk ,it took me a year to make the decision that I was that desperate with my weight,I'm was willing to risk the side effects from these drugs .
But ..my weight at the time was 27 stone ,and I didn't have a life
Had I of only needed to loose a couple of stone I wouldn't of touched them with a barge pole
Once I'm not overweight I will be coming of them as soon as I can .
I think for people like me who were at at very high weights they are life-saving...they have definitely saved my life ..but I'm not so sure for lower starting weights they are worth the risk .

Agreed, you can do it, OP.
I was feeling the same as you just a month ago. Not overweight exactly, but overweight for me , I'd gone up to 10st 4lb and was in size 10-12. I've lost half a stone just from eating less, no exercising involved. I've just been watching my calories so I've been in a deficit, but eating healthy (overall) so not lacking nutrients. There's been days I've eaten mcdonalds or half a tub of ben and Jerry's, but been careful with calories for the rest of the day, so I'm not exactly depriving myself either. I look completely different already, I've lost my love handles and my waist is back in sight lol. It's doable.

But that is exactly what is available, you can have a maintence dose at a healthy weight, as long as within a healthy bmi. A healthy bmi is 18,5 to 24.9. Most won’t let you go below 19, 20 for many.

are yoh saying you want people to stop before yoh personally feel they look too good?

But if you don’t have cravings for food, I’m sorry then it is quite easy! As someone who exercises A LOT I find food is the biggest hurdle! The whole thing is so contradictory as so many people who aren’t obese are on them!

and by your logic, we could also say to obese people ‘nothing is going to change unless you change your habits’! I see many people on these drugs eating the most horrendous diets but just much smaller portions!

@Velvetandleatherso I can go and get a maintenace dose?

@Needtoscreamtotally and I hope they are really helping

Surely that’s a you problem? If you’re that readily influenced by adverts maybe social media just isn’t for you.

What do you mean?you appear to be taking issue with people looking too good for your liking,

what would your cut off be, we all have to send pics in and my supplier it’s a Live Photo app, there is no way to manipulate it. My body looks fit and healthy I’m a bmi 20 have been maintaning for over 14 months on a low dose.

what risk ar eyou talking about? My blood test results are all excellent, I’m healthier than I have been in years. Why would I want to gain weight and maintain at a heavier one. That makes no sense.