To wonder if there will be any fall out from skinny jabs?

[TheLemonGuide]

Everyone I know is now suddenly very slim. Okay, im exaggerating slightly, but genuinely, most of my friends who were previously overweight are all now slim thanks to skinny jabs. I am delighted for them! It seems unbelievable to think that a jab can cure this obesity crisis, but I am so pleased my friends and a couple of family members are able to live a healthier life thanks to this.

My only slight concern is, is this something that is going to be too good to be true? Do you think there will be any long term repercussions, or are we right to just celebrate this medication as a cure for something that so many have been battling for so long?

Yes, the issue arises when people start universalising MH related obesity and overeating. That does exist, but there's also a tendency to pathologise the extremely normal, evolutionarily selected for human behaviour of wanting to eat more than you burn off.

Worth pointing out as well that such people were not being well looked after or helped pre WLIs either. The pp was right about the need to look more deeply at why eg a person with no self esteem uses food to feel better. But we were in no way doing that previously, and there was bugger all indication that was going to change.

They haven't been massively rushed to the market. They have been used for diabetes for around 20 years.

Why do you think she needs protein and vitamin supplements? I have literally never eaten better in my whole life than since starting WLI and I now get everything I need from food.

Yes I agree. I know the NHS probably isn’t the main conduit for them right now. But I do really worry the NHS are really bad with things like this, it’s a sticking plaster, quick fix, and not getting to the root of the problem (although just to say I am thrilled they are here and think it’s mostly a good thing they are).

I think it’s a national issue that needs a legislative angle, I’m one of those tin foil hatters who think capitalism and the food industry are one of the biggest drivers behind this. And we can’t fix it without state intervention.

I think its one thing to have concerns about whether or not to use them for yourself. That's the same as any other medication and completely reasonable. The thing which makes me roll my eyes is the concern for others and opinions about what others should do.

Why are people trying to shut this discussion down? It’s incredibly naive and defensive to not even discuss the elephant in the room, which is that weight loss injections are yet another plaster to a much bigger issue.

You're losing muscle as well as fat on them, which will have its own metabolic impact, but the minute you come off them, you’ll regain the weight plus some, this time with less muscle. Yo yo weight loss and gain is very bad for the body. Unless you plan to be on them for the next 40 years.

You're not wrong OP - the injections aren’t a fix all and they’re not a long term solution for many users. Unfortunately it’s another way of pharmaceuticals making profits.

People can do as they please and WLI are amazing for some people who without them can’t live healthily. But surely we live in a world where people want to have their eyes open and not blindly walk into another problem.

I just hope those who are taking the injections are also trying to instill healthy lifestyles and eating on their children. Childhood obesity is still increasing and unless you want you own kids to have to inject themselves weekly to stay a lower weight, you need to change their thinking. Problem is, you’re a role model so they’ll see you inject and hardly eat, so they’re not seeing what a healthy lifestyles looks like.

You can't blame the food industry for wanting people to eat their food! And it's not the job of the NHS to legislate against the food industry.

Let’s just clarify one thing, I have been on WLI for 18 months and apart from the very early days I have eaten food full balanced meals every day. Where do you get the idea people will jab in front of children and ‘hardly eat’? This isn’t something I would share with children or impressionable teens even and I absolutely do eat. I eat around 1500/1600 calories a day, sometimes more, rarely less and have done for almost a year and a half. I have never eaten so well.

The needles are comically tiny, you barely feel them. I was discharged from both C sections with blood-thinning injections to do at home and no one was bothered about supervising me then.

I lost about 5.5 stone on MJ, I’ve been off for a year now and have maintained. I had existing gallstones (discovered during pregnancy) that were dormant but did eventually get woken up by the weight loss, and I’ve subsequently had my gallbladder out.

I still don’t regret MJ, it gave me my life back. I no longer hurt getting out of bed in the morning, I’m a runner, I am fit, I enjoy food because I used the time on MJ to totally change what I eat and it taught me how little my body does actually need to survive on, and that I won’t drop dead from feeling hungry for a few hours. It’s also made me a more active parent and I feel happier knowing my girls will grow up with two parents who are active and a healthy weight.

When I was in hospital with my gallbladder, a lady came into the ward with a twisted bowel. She was morbidly obese with a raft of related health problems and the doctors had to have a very difficult conversation with her around the fact that the surgery was extremely high risk and there was a chance she a) might not wake up or b) might never get back to her former state of health. That really hit home to me how important being a healthy weight is.

I find it interesting when people talk about the side effects because there’s such cognitive dissonance in the fact that by being obese we are risking worse every day and damaging their body. One of the biggest causes of cancer? Obesity. I didn’t fully appreciate the harm I was doing to my body until I lost the weight and realised how much better I felt day to day, so god knows what else was going on under the surface.

Given these medications are not new, I think it’s unlikely that suddenly they are going to be found to cause everyone to die of cancer or anything like that (in fact they’ve been shown to be protective against certain cancers) but the fact is that we know how harmful obesity is for health, we have statistics coming out of our ears about it, yet weight loss medication seems to be more concerning to people over side effects than being obese.

I totally agree. Obviously it would be better to be able to keep weight down with diet and exercise but if people can't do that the benefits of these jabs are likely to far outweigh the risks. That is why the NHS is paying for them.

sooooooo many assumptions. I have nothing to be defensive about, don't use WLI's and so far as i know, never will. I do see defensiveness on these threads but it seems to be mainly among the "people shouldn't do this" team

Oh please, most of it isn’t food. Look at companies like Nestle and Coca Cola and some of their tactics particularly in poorer countries and see how benevolent they are. These industries need regulating.

I said the state not NHS, of course it isn’t the NHS’s job. It’s the government’s.

This will go as well as the other hundreds of threads about the same subject.

Are people not allowed to be curious about a medication that is literally changing society and completely transforming people’s bodies and lives, without constantly being accused of “faux concern”, told they’re jealous and it’s none of their business?? (Especially as people OP cares about are on it). God MN is such an annoying and predictable place sometimes. None of us have ever seen a medication like this in our lives, it’s completely normal to be curious and maybe even worry about the long-term effects. It’d be no different if she had lots of male bald friends & family and a new drug came along that made bald people suddenly grow a full head of hair back, and everyone was talking about this wonder drug and bald men everywhere where growing big bushy heads of hair…It’d be completely normal to wonder whether it was too good to be true but I’d bet anything no one would accuse her of “faux concern” 🙄

@FasterMichelin

WLI are a solution for the individual to tackle their own weight right now, rather than wait for a societal shift towards a generally healthier lifestyle, which may or may not ever actually happen. I don't characterise that as a "plaster", rather it's a pragmatic choice in the current context.

I won't regain all the weight plus some more the minute I stop taking WLI. Mainly because I won't stop taking them if regain starts to happen. They are a tool which can be used exactly to avoid the kind of yo-yo-ing that you describe.

I find the comments about children to be odd. My children don't see me inject for goodness sake, they have no idea I'm taking a weight loss medication. Just because I am obese doesn't mean they are, and I have instilled healthy eating and lifestyle into them since they were babies, despite being obese.

I think you are trying to make a point about WLI not being the whole solution to obesity, and that societal change is needed as well. I would agree with that point, but unfortunately there seems to be no real interest in changing our culture to be healthier overall.

I didn't say they were benevolent.

@FasterMichelin I forgot to add that the defensiveness seen in these threads usually comes from people who are sick fed of of the assumptions made about them (yours in particular got my back up with the idea that we might do this in front of children then barely eat). The more shite I read about what others think makes me more determined to say ‘well no, actually that’s now what’s happening’ and I don’t see much wrong with that. If I came along and made judgements incorrectly about something you do in your life I’m quite sure you would be the same.

Sure have the discussions but listen to the people. Am I worried about long term effects, no, not really. My prognosis before WLI was horrendous though so if there are longer term consequences I will just have to deal with them when the time comes. A lot of people seem to be concerned about my bones but they never gave a shit about my diabetes, hypertension, shortness of breath, constant pain, serious depression etc etc. They just want to post about how terrible WLI are with no real evidence and no thoughts given to the benefits of these for many.

Well the answers are all there in research papers if you wanted to know, but the general public won't want to know and the mainstream media is happy for them not to.

You can use research papers for the truth on a whole range of topics that the mainstream media don't go out of their way to inform you about. It's fascinating and incredibly helpful if you don't want to live in denial about a whole range of issues.

I agree in part about the lack of regulation. I do use them, initially I also was wary of the 'feels too good to be true' aspect but I have a few health concerns that my weight was exacerbating and I've tried all the other diets and just yoyoed. For me the concerns over my health as it was started to outweigh the risks of using the injection.

"You're injecting yourself with no training or real medical supervision."

I had gestational diabetes (so now high risk for type 2 which was also a factor in my decision to use them to lose weight) and the injection process is absolutely no different than it would be for people with diabetes who need to inject insulin. It's extremely straightforward so that in itself wouldn't worry me.

I personally know a few people who made themselves look bigger and lied about their weight to access it which is their business but I completely disagree with that. So there is a question over the regulation process and how easy it is for people who don't actually need it to get around that.

@hopefor2026 "I think they are a slippery slope as people who go on them tend to stay on them, rather than learning healthy habits."

I think it depends on your approach. I've lost a good amount of weight so far but I'm still calorie counting and exercising daily and meal planning and prepping. I can't eat just as much as before but that has actually helped me rethink what a normal portion size compared to what I was eating before. If you're eating rubbish and on the highest dose and relying on just 'not feeling hungry' then yes I'd say you'd be likely to regain when you stop. I also wanted to be able to do things like running and had started prior to starting the injections, but my knees where struggling so if I'm lighter that becomes more realistic with less risk of injury etc.

I think this is fine, as long as it's acknowledged that there isn't actually any evidence humans are capable of living in societies that can feed everyone without there being climbing obesity rates. That's not to say we shouldn't do anything about the worst practices of the food industry. But what we'd still be left with is a species who evolved to live with the ever present starvation, and who will still mostly be able to buy more food than they need to maintain weight. So continuing WLI access has to be a plank of any strategy.

@fastermichelin "I just hope those who are taking the injections are also trying to instill healthy lifestyles and eating on their children. Childhood obesity is still increasing and unless you want you own kids to have to inject themselves weekly to stay a lower weight, you need to change their thinking. Problem is, you’re a role model so they’ll see you inject and hardly eat, so they’re not seeing what a healthy lifestyles looks like."

My son has never seen me inject. Why would he need to? I wait until he's in bed to administer once a week. I'd say he also sees me eating normal sized portions, cooking healthier meals and exercising now. I think there's a lot of assumptions about wlj that really just depend on how you use them. The only major difference is that I'm not snacking on a stupid amount after he goes to bed every night. So in terms of what he sees, I'd say the role modelling is better overall. But then there's plenty of people who are slim and have terrible eating habits but a high metabolism which their kids are watching.

I'm aware of this. My point is that at the moment if someone overweight goes to the doctor with a sore elbow or a headache, they are usually told to lose weight and the actual problem is ignored. If fewer and fewer people are overweight then doctors will have to treat the actual problem, although as someone else pointed out, if that person is a woman then they'll probably just blame hormones or anxiety.

I agree, slim people should also ideally model healthy eating patterns to their kids.

Unfortunately, it’s the kids who suffer when they are fed bad diets. That happens in slim and overweight households, but obviously most adults who are overweight have poor dietary habits which are more likely going to pass down to their children. It doesn’t always look like crazy snacking, it could also be high processed foods and reliance on bread.

It is interesting that people only seem "worried" about long term adverse effects when actually long term the benefits could far outweigh them. I think it could have a huge impact on the health of the nation but in a positive way and that is what interests me.

Well that could be another positive effect of weight loss injections. If people start eating less and more healthily because of them maybe they will pass on the healthy eating habits to their children.