Why are you taking a weight loss drug?

[ObsidianTree]

After reading the thread on weight loss chat about why people were not taking a weight loss drug, I thought I would create a post to ask why you decided to start on a weight loss drug.

So, why did you decide to take a weight loss drug?

I'll post my reason as a reply (with some back story!)

• I've been losing and gaining the weight for years using every method known to man...you name it, I've tried it. Veteran dieters will recognise all the acronyms: VLCD, OMAD, 5:2, 16:8, low-carb, keto, whole30, cambridge, ideal protein, WW, SW, MFP tracking, personal trainer, gyms, HIIT, lifting heavy, lifting light, pilates, barre, bootcamp...
• When I was younger I could gain and lose enough to get back to my baseline, but since having the DCs I haven't been able to lose more than 3-4kg before falling off the wagon and even that was getting harder and harder each time, and I was just getting bigger and bigger
• I was told I have high cholesterol and need to make changes ASAP or I was going to be put on statins
• I needed to take action on my snoring for DH's sake
• I stepped on the scales for the first time in years and was over 10kg more than I was telling myself I weighed
• I didn't want to take ozempic/wegovy from what I had read about it causing shortages for diabetics, so waited for a medication which isn't affecting supply for diabetics ie. mounjaro

I've lost almost 10kg since mid-July and I just feel so much better in myself. Still a long way to go to get into a healthy BMI range but for the first time I'm actually seeing progress beyond that initial 3kg.

After 4DC, my weight slowly crept up. It got to the point where I felt I didn't have the right to eat in public anymore.

A friend had bariatric surgery and I thought about it, but DH said no.

So, I asked my GP for help, and I received it. Am not in the UK, so it is covered by my health insurance. I am now under the care of an endocrinologist, as well as my GP.

Wegovy has helped me tackle so many things. I am now alcohol and caffeine free, and no desire to reengage, which is a revelation. Blood pressure is lower. I will only take food I really desire. I feel better in myself. Am slowly incorporating exercise into my life as well.

I was exercising more trying to eat less, being 45 it seemed like the scales just kept going up and up, but the main thing was dangerous blood pressure and raising cholesterol, I had to do something and I didn't want to go on statins and blood pressure tablets again (I lost weight over 10 years ago and it was back with a vengeance) - So I thought sod it, I'll take my chance with this... 2 stone lighter and happier, I'm currently glad I did.

Sounds like a similar situation to mine @cloudymumma - the choice being drugs to get the weight off for good, or drugs for cholesterol and high BP.

For me at the moment there isn't an option for no drugs (or no option that has worked yet, and god knows I've tried!!) People can say till they're blue in the face eat less move more but if it was that easy we'd all be doing it.

Your post has resonated with me. What app are you using?

@Ishouldstopgoogling I am using MyNetDiary.

Most people 'do' weight loss wrong. You hear a lot about 'eat less than maintenance, and you'll lose weight'.

I honestly thought the same, and I basically starved myself. I lost down to a threshold and then it stopped because my metabolism plummeted to a level that was at the point of what I was consuming.

The trick is to still eat, and eat regularly, but REALLY calorie count (including all those hidden calories like sugar in coffee, dressings, etc). Do about 20 minutes of incline walking a day and that will get your metabolism working. It fell off for me once i did that.

I started taking it to learn Mandarim Chinese.

I am waiting for my first pen to arrive.

I could, right now, show you a chart of my weight, every single month since I was 15. Almost 30 years of data.

And if you looked at that chart you would see the line go up, then down, then up further, then down further, then up even further - and so on. Over and over and over again.

I have fought this fight alone for decades and I cannot do it. I need help.

I know how to lose weight - I've done it enough times. But sooner or later, that voice inside of me to eat more grows so loud and so demanding that I cannot withstand it any more.

I need help and from reading all of your stories on here, this might be it. I am prepared to do the work as well. I can eat better, move more. I am also considering behavioural therapy to support me a bit further down the line - maybe if it works as well as I am hoping. I just need something to help tip the scales (ha!) in my favour a bit more.

I was a reasonable weight until I caught Lyme disease and that combined with the massive amounts of.antibiotics I took over a month did something to me. I still don’t understand exactly what or how. But I gained18kg rapidly and continued to gain slowly and steadily. We eat home made healthy food but I could not lose. I felt quite well with IF but didn’t lose. Followed keto strictly for 3 months and lost nothing, not a gram. Friends I did it with went off on holiday in itty bitty tops, having lost what they needed to. I went to a doc and got flipped off with derision. Not even a blood test offered. So I have taken control over my own health.

I am always concerns about regaining weight when stopping but that applies to any weight loss approach. At least with this, it works and is manageable to persist with without becoming an obsessive controlling thing, like I find traditional dieting alone tends to do to me.

The media keeps giving examples of people taking these medications on a whim but I suspect most people are like me, tried every which way to lose weight and succeed for a short while then put it all back on and more. I also suspect most of us that take the jabs have underlying issues, mine are PCOS and insulin resistance, possibly leptin and ghrelin imbalance too.
I worked in a large office and the women I knew that were very big and not just overweight ALL had underlying issues, several PCOS some thyroid etc. I firmly believe that not all obesity is through sheer greed and that if there are underlying issues then these jabs should be on the NHS

Sod off with your advertising @Jonh1

@Retiredearly61 I agree with you about the underlying issues and I would also add that the people (not just women) I know who are morbidly obese are also likely to have had significant trauma or adverse childhood/life events. I can think of three dear friends who all put on significant (and I mean, BMI well over 50 kind of levels) of weight after tragic events like the loss of a child or being orphaned in childhood. It's so evident that obesity is multi-factor and therefore getting out of its clutches is not as simple as just exercising willpower.

One of the reasons I'm paying a little extra for Voy (other services are available!!) is because I wanted the coaching/counselling aspects of the service alongside MJ - I don't just want to lose weight, I want to retrain my brain and my relationship with food forever so I don't ever go back to that yo-yo pattern that I recognise so well from @ShiftAMountain 's description.

Actually weight watchers are now doing a deal to rebrand a glp-1 to their brand and have already launched a glp 1 program without the drug to support folks, they have jumped right on.

slimming world however are doing the whole it’s not a magic bullet, you need to focus on syns shite.

This is such an interesting question.
For me it's that there wasn't one single part of my life that wasn't going to be improved by it. I'm out of breath walking to the shops, I'm wearing the small section of my wardrobe that fits, I'm actively avoiding making plans or seeing people as I'm so embarrassed about how I look, I'm struggling to put my shoes on as there's so much tummy in the way.
I heard about the jabs and thought well that sounds like brilliant witchcraft but for a few reasons I'm not good with injections. Then I saw the size of the pens/ needles on This Morning and it felt like something I could cope with.
So far it has been brilliant witchcraft. My meals have always been pretty healthy but I have huge problems with binging sugary snacks. From day one I've just had no interest. I'll have the odd chocolate and enjoy it but I don't want a giant 'share' bag every night. For me it's taken all the fuckery in my brain related to food away and for the first time since my teens I'm 'thinking about food like a thin person' and not thinking like a fat person trying to be a thin person.

I'm taking it because I've been fat my whole life and quite frankly I'm exhausted of fighting myself. It feels like it evens the playing field - I still have to put the effort in and play the game but at least I'm not going uphill.

Hi can anyone tell me do these injections help with meno belly? My overall weight isn’t that bad but stomach is huge. Thanks.

Yes. This was my issue, most of my weight was on my stomach - in that looking about 7 months pregnant sort of way! I started in September and have lost about 3.5 stone with a good bit of that coming off my belly. I don't have a totally flat stomach but it looks normal now and I have a defined waistline.

You can’t get the drugs unless you are 30 bmi or 27 with health conditions like high Bp.