What do we REALLY think about the weight loss jabs?

[Newbabynewhouse]

I've put this on AIBU rather than weight loss jab because I want a neutral audience rather than people who are all using the jab.
What are peoples thoughts on the jab? I'd love to hear from someone educated in the medical field about whether these are actually safe for people without diabetes.
I'm obese and I have lost a stone so far by dieting although it's taking me a long time! I know if I keep trying hard I can lose what I need to. Lots of people I know have started dropping weight from using the jabs and I am tempted however, can't shake a feeling that there's something not quite right.
What I mean by this is... these jabs have been around for years for diabetic people, so why have they only just been 'released' to people despite obesity effecting the NHS for years?
I know a woman who fainted in work the other day with gallbladder issues, she's on the jab.
Also, I'm going to sound a little conspiracy theorist now, but, isn't it odd these jabs became popular straight after people starting refusing to have more covid jabs..?.. I'd love to hear from people with a bit of background info or medical professionals to tell me whether I'm overthinking or if I'm onto something?

Very sad for both of them - or are you not including the one who had a heart defect?

Considering that the average energy intake in previous years was considerably above what it is now, it's not entirely surprising that attempts to restrict below the 3-4000 kcal mark are difficult for many people. That doesn't mean that the calories in a cooked breakfast, cooked lunch and cooked dinner, plus drinks with sugar and milk and biscuits and cakes were magically less potent because they were being cooked by a housewife in a frock and pinny, it means that the environment that made it possible to match human instincts for satiety with the energy requirements of life has gone - if it ever existed in the first place, bearing in mind that it was possible to buy Benzedrine over the counter from the 1930s and was freely available on prescription along with Dexedrine from the immediate post war period.

You're harking back to an era where medications with far higher risks were freely available.

I think you are supposed to feel cheated!

Rapid weight loss is a risk for gallstones.

Sure, but so is being obese, hence the links. It took me five minutes to google.

3-4k calories??? Who the hell is eating that?!

3-4000 a week, or a day?

It’s absolutely not difficult to eat less than 3000-4000 calories a day.

That’s absolutely not restrictive eating.

It was the average intake in the 1950s. Now it's about 1,900.

Average in what time period? 24 hours? 7 days?

That doesn’t mean it’s difficult to stay below it.

Crucially, I don’t work in a mine, or walk everywhere because I don’t have a car… etc etc.

I’m sure calorie intake was higher years ago, when budgets and food availability allowed, but that’s no reason to struggle with not eating 4k calories now - 76 years later.

I’d never heard this figure and just looked it up. Average daily intake was 2000 cals, men in manual jobs 2900. Agree very doable to stay below that, especially in the more commonly sedentary lives we live now, with cars, and appliances to spin the washing etc.

I assumed as much.

I used to eat two chocolate eclairs as an after lunch dessert, and I still wasn’t hitting 4000 calories.

That’s an absolutely insane number, regardless of how much your food signals are off.

Amazing loss! 😍

Exactly, I said weighr loss and gain was a risk for gallstones, you furiously told me I was wrong, now I’m right?

You said: ‘I don’t see anyone posting about fat people having an increased risk.’

So yes, you were wrong. ‘Fat’ people do have an increased risk.

I may be wrong, but I read the post as saying fat people do have an increased risk but people are less likely to comment on that risk. Ie a remark on double standards.

Good god, I can’t beleive I am actually engaging with you. I said Weight gain and loss leads to gall stones. I don’t see anyone posting about fat people having an increased risk.

and you attacked me and said I was wrong. You then said you’d read up and weight loss didn’t lead to gallstones.

I am not going to respond to you again. I wouldn’t in real life so I will not on here.

Could be, it’s ambiguous. If the poster was less antagonistic I’d be more inclined to give them the benefit of the doubt and/or they’d be willing to clarify.

I can’t believe how aggressive you are and yet how outraged when you get the same energy back. But here we are.

Your statement was incorrect. Fat people are at greater risk, rapid weight loss/cycling appears to be less of a risk.

I would find it really hard to eat as much as 4000 calories a day and I’m overweight and love food. Unless I was an Olympic athlete surely that’s not a normal intake for most people.

Why do people get so worked up about this, arguing so passionately about a drug they don't need themselves and berating people who do need it?

The argument against statins exists but I don't think I've ever seen a 24 page thread on that.

I agree.

All medication has side effects.

The thing with weight and obesity is that society has turned it into a moral issue. Those who can control their weight on their own are seen as fundamentally better, more moral people. Those who struggle their weight are lazy, lack willpower and are morally inferior. Therefore why should they have help?

I am quite disturbed by this thread.

I’m lucky that weight has never been an issue for me so I’ve never been on a diet or not eat what I want to or had to be concerned about this. However, my brother is very overweight and hugely overeats. He and his wife so and encourage each other that this is normal, eating three or four times normal adult portions. I am very worried about his health and I know he’s considering these drugs as a way to deal with it, despite having made good progress with losing weight when he has actually cut his portion sizes down (even if not to standard levels) and done more exercise. So it is very worrying to hear of the potentially lifechanging side effects. Even if they’re rare, obviously it’s better to not risk it unless it is absolutely medically necessary and I think that’s where the boundary should lie in terms of prescribing being permitted as for all medications: widescale data on usage compared to side effects and the personal and financial healthcare and economic costs of those needs to be collected so that the appropriate boundary can be determined regarding at what level of weight/ BMI the risks outweigh the costs, like with all other medications. Now that so many people are taking them it should be possible to collect largescale data to establish where that borderline at which the cost/ benefit tips is located and draw the line there.

I am very disturbed that, as someone who has obviously had no reason to look into this in detail previously, I have seen on this thread very partisan views posted rather than rational, scientific ones. Even those who are taking this medication and claim have claimed they have “researched this in detail” seem to be ignoring medical evidence others have posted which contradicts their narrative that the risks are minimal/ zero, so their posts don’t seem motivated by science and objectivity rather wanted to “defend” their position, especially when accommpanied by insults to others who have asked perfectly legitimate questions/ expressed concerns and even backed these up with scientific studies from the BMJ earlier this year and others.

It’s undoubtedly the case that these drugs are amazing for many people and help many of the morbidly obese who have very limited other options, or even just those who are in the obese category, on average it seems like the benefits outweigh the risks for most. But for those who are simply overweight, it looks like there are significant benefits AND significant risks so it is legitimate to question whether it’s a sensible idea when ultimately the effectiveness of the drugs for weight loss by suppressing appetite proves that in cases where there is NOT an underlying separate metabolic issue etc simply by eating less without the drugs, and that this WOULD result in weight loss for those overweight people without other conditions/ medications which negatively impact their weight.

I had hoped this would be an informative discussion with sensible and nuanced points made backed up by facts but sadly it seemed to descend into cherry picking of data supporting posters’ established viewpoints, many insulting others and claiming they are jealous (!?!?) of people who are using the drugs to lose weight (even if they are people like me who are naturally slim and just concerned for a family member and looking for unbiased information and discussion!), anecdata which tells nobody anything, inane comments that “medication has side effects” when obviously the important point is the prevalence and severity of those for different groups of patients in comparison to the benefits for each group of patients, etc.

Some of these posts are just insane. Average calorie intake for an adult woman should be 1600-1900 per day when not trying to lose weight. And obviously not at the higher end of that unless you happen to be very tall, very active, or a very young adult with a fast metabolism. The idea it would be hard to “restrict” yourself to 2-2.5 times the normal intake is bizarre.

I think I’d re read the thread and do so carefully there is a lot of outdated and misinformation on here, and I’m bemused by the view point you’re taking that those correcting it are in some way willfully ignoring it.

the safety data is out there, all drugs have side effects. As said earlier 2000 people a year die from taking nurofen.

of the tens of millions on this drug globally, not one death directly linked to the drug, mass clinical studies, over 700k people, now showing no increase in pancreatitis.

and you completely ignore the very well known impacts of obesity , from heart attack, stroke, diabetes to multiple cancers,obesity is the number one cause of cancer in non smokers and number two in smokers,

yet you find the thread disturbing and focus on how greedy your brother and his wife are and the misinformation posted, not the corrections.

As said earlier 2000 people a year die from taking nurofen.

No, they don’t.