Anyone else a bit sick of every single weight loss discussion immediately turning into “Have you tried Mounjaro?”

[toonoisie]

Before anyone says it, no, I don’t qualify for it, and even if I did, I personally wouldn’t take it. I completely accept that these medications have been genuinely life changing and incredibly helpful for a lot of people, and I’m not denying that at all.

But sometimes it feels like the idea of losing weight the old fashioned way, changing habits, eating differently, exercising, being consistent, is almost treated as outdated now. As if nobody wants to even attempt it anymore without medication being suggested within five seconds.

Surely not every conversation about weight loss has to involve injections?

How is it different from “have you tried slimming world?”

Us fatties have tried everything, slimming work, weight watchers, 5:2, some of us even become marathon runners (put weight on training).

i was a skinny child but even then food dominated my thoughts. As soon as one meal was eaten, I was thinking about the next one. I ate my lunch at school, midway through the morning because the three sweetens I’d had for breakfast didn’t last me. It was only in my 30’s I got fat and I got fatter with every diet.

Mounjaro has been amazing for me but it does look like I’ll be on it long term.

I know what you mean @toonoisie - it does feel like every weight loss thread descends into an infomercial for WLI. I get that people are having great success with them, but either you have to be half dead to get them on the NHS or have a decent disposable income - it’s not helpful to constantly recommend things that are out of reach for a lot of people.

I also notice no one talks about the side effects - only the weight loss ….. and I’m not sure how WLI look in the longer term, it seems people more often than not gain most of the weight back when they stop. So it’s not the panacea it is evangelised as.

Before you start getting angry about the NHS paying for WLI, you might want to consider the amount of money the NHS currently spends treating conditions caused by obesity.

It’s not a trivial amount of money. I think I read somewhere that the cost of treating type 2 diabetes is around 10% of NHS spending.

If treating patients with WLI improves their health so that they have fewer complications from type 2 diabetes and other obesity related health conditions, then those patients will end up costing the NHS less money in the long run. So overall prescribing WLI is likely to save the NHS money in the long run.

And given the upward trends in obesity over the last few decades, I think we can say that alternative approaches to reducing obesity and improving health haven’t been working very well for the nation as a whole.

For some people eating little enough to lose weight is very very difficult. I need to only have 1000 calories a day to lose, I gain weight on 1500. It's bloody hard to eat that little consistently.

I gained the weight due to menopause. I was eating the same, exercising 5 times a week yet was putting on 2lbs a week.

I don't talk about side effects because for me there haven't been any. Hope that helps.

Big Pharma is extremely powerful. Try to think for yourselves people.

Agree with this.

I decided to lose weight with MJ. Didn't tell anyone. I'd lost about 15kg before anyone said anything and I stopped taking it when I'd lost 20kg. Anyone who has mentioned it since has been told that that's what I did but all finished now. Conversation tends to stop there.

I’ve got a friend of a friend who’s gone from a size 16 to size 10 recently. Hadn’t seen her for a few months. Assumed it was a diet or WLI. I asked her and it was indeed Ozempic. But she looks good on it.

Do people really have lots of ‘weight loss discussions’? I’m overweight. I can’t even think about a conversation I’ve had any time in recent memory about losing weight. I certainly have never talked to anyone about weight loss injections and no one has ever suggested them to me. As far as I know, I only know one person who has used them (no one else seems to have suddenly lost weight), and that’s just a guess because she used to be like 300lbs and now suddenly is an almost normal weight a year later. She’s never mentioned it, but I’m assuming. Perhaps I don’t have a social circle that is particularly obsessed with weight though.

Obesity is a disease though. It has been proven in lots of studies recently if you Google it.

Modern medicine treats lots of conditions but nobody tells people on statins for example that they are 'pumping their bodies full of chemicals'. Or erectile disfunction- don't take Viagra it's chemicals.

Obesity is a killer, it causes many cancers.

Food addiction, is like other addictions, smoking, alcoholism, heroin etc. All those addicts need drug support. The bit that puts me off WLI is the lifelong need to take them. They show that eating less and moving more works. So those who need them, or they'll stay obese, are like other failed addicts.
I wonder at the 1% figure. My DP (59) started the gym during rehab (cardiac), there's more than 1% who have sorted their weight out.

Obesity was only classed as a disease so that billions could be made in treating it.

The obesity and cancer isn't clear cut, it's lifestyle and cancer. If you take WLI and eat a pizza a day, it doesn't matter that you have lowered your body weight, your risk will be the same. Likewise if you haven't stopped drinking, or aren't moving at all. Both I've seen once people start WLI.

Gosh so many conspiracy theorists, it’s a disease as it meets the criteria for a disease. They don’t need to class it as such to create a med to treat it, don’t be silly, we have an obesity crisis. It’s not pretend.

That’s not correct, and it is clear cut. Howver it doesn’t mean other cancer risks don’t exist.

Obesity is a risk factor for disease. Cancer, heart disease, etc can all exist without obesity.

Yes let’s just dismiss it as a conspiracy theory shall we.

Yes, I discuss weight with my female friends and family. I knew I’d gained weight, I knew I’d become obese, to a bmi 32, I also knew the risk to my health due to it, so yes, I discussed it, also with my doctor. It wasn’t a secret. You just had to look at me, to see I was over weight. Why would I not discuss it.

Of course they can, no one said it was the sole cause of Illness, how could you misinterpret to think thays whay was being said.

factually obesity is the number one cause of cancer in non smokers. The second in smokers. This does not mean you can’t get cancer for other reasons. Thays not what is being said.

what is being said is its the leading cause of preventable cancers. You can google it if you didn’t know.

How else can you explain your view that obesity being a disease is only to make money?

It’s not a conspiracy theory, it been reported my medical journals. Classifying it as ‘a disease’ is all about getting research funding.

However, it’s problematic in a lot of ways as it turns people into victims and takes away sense of control.

It's possibly better (possibly, because there is increasing data about the other benefits of WLI) IF it works. If you can 'just' eat less and move move and lose substantial weight and keep it off, yes that does sound best. But for 90% of people it's been shown that that doesn't work and something that doesn't actually work isn't the best approach. That kind of failure rate for anything else wouldn't see it touted as the obvious answer. Driving to work with a 90% chance of a crash? Perhaps walking sounds better!
Given the epic failure rate of 'just eat less and move more' for vast numbers of people, treating it like a disease, instead of as a mental or moral failure, and medicating the problem sounds eminently sensible. I could 'just' try harder to see better, or I could wear my contacts. My friend could 'just' try to be happier and not take anti depressants. WLI are another incredibly helpful tool to help achieve that goal or not walking into people/ feeling able to leave the house/ lose weight in a sustained way.
Are they for everyone? No. Should people push them? No. Is pointing out that they might be a great help to someone who is struggling a good idea? Yes.
OP, you asked if losing without using WLI is outdated now and I think it is. The same as giving birth 'the natural way' isn't necessarily better for the mum or baby that an epidural or a c section. The same as struggling through bad menopause symptoms without HRT isn't usually better. If we have tools at our disposal to make us happier and healthier, it's sensible to at least consider them. It doesn't mean they're right for everyone but how lucky are we to live in a time when those options are available to us.

Can you link to that then. Thay the medical industry simply defined it as a disease for money and medical journals say that. I’m sure we are all waiting with baited breath.

Why do you need the drugs then if you have to do all the work anyway? Both physically and phycologically? Seems like a right rip off!!

Because it’s impossible to do it without. As said, obesity is a relapse disease. If people could do it without and maintain we’d not need the drugs.

they don’t melt the fat off. They are a tool that enables you to do th3 work required, by controlling blood sugar, controlling insulin, and curbing appetite, thus allowing you to not just go on a healthy diet, but to maintain it.

they don’t make you lose weight, or even lose weight fast, they enable you to do it consistently over a long period.

and for anyone who has struggled with their weight, it is literally a life saving medication,