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!)

@ dieting fool Thanks I do have high cholesterol high bp and diabetes 2 not on any medication for diabetes yet I have tried cutting out everything possible but nothing helps. I’m going as dr if I can buy them. Which is the best?

@ Ova here thank you I have had this problem since starting hrt I am at a loss now just keeps getting bigger no weight going on anywhere else I probably look 9 months pregnant but I’m now at risk of stroke etc with it being so big. I’m just not sure which injection to use. I have heard good things on here for at least 3 did you have a preference. Thanks.

If you’ve health conditions you can get with a bmi if 27. They are not available on the nhs via gp;smfor weight loss. Mounjaro can only be prescribed for diabetes by gp’s.

as you have diabetes you can ask your gp. But if your diabetes is well controlled they may not be willing to prescribe, but it’s worth an ask. If it’s a no, you would go private,

Thanks this was my thinking I just snack a lot how long did it take to see the weight drop off?

Great thread OP I love reading the "why" behind the injections

I'm so tempted, some of side effects are really putting me off but I'm just on 30BMI but at 5'2 I'm a proper little dumpy shape.

I’m five months in and 3 and a half stone/22kg down, a stone away from a 23 bmi.. But it’s different for everyone.

What side effects are worrying you? Something like 80 percent of people have little to no side effects. I’ve been fine apart from a couple of days of nausea on 5mg. Past that nothing.

I started taking Wegovy because I'd managed to lose 6.5 stone without weight loss injections,then I just got stuck,for over a year. Just could not shift more than a pound or two,then as soon as the weather turned cold,my appetite increased and I put them back on again. I still had another 3.5 stone to lose. So I started on Wegovy at the beginning of September last year and so far have lost another 25 lbs.

@Dietingfool I get reflux and indigestion, and it can be quite painful so I'd rather not cause myself pain. I also run a business and have to be well and healthy and worry about having to take sick days just for weight loss.

I've struggled with my weight my whole life and have been on a diet my whole life. Was thin through starving myself in my twenties. Managed to remain overweight rather than obese by doing lots of weight lifting and various regimes such as ketogenic diet and IF. Late 40s, HRT and tipped me into obesity. I wasn't even eating that much in my late forties but still ballooned.

Age 50, I knew I had to get fit for a trek and calorie counted, which made no difference. I began reading the threads on here. Argued with myself a lot but was reluctant to start due to my fears around weight gain when coming off. Bit the bullet in a massive panic to lose weight before the trek. Huge sigh of relief when I realised it was my biology not my lack of will power that caused my obesity.

Lost 3.5 stone very slowly and am so happy and relieved to be free of diet culture/foodnoise/self loathing. I'm now BMI 22 without having to think about it. It's the best decision I've ever made and they will have to prise it from my cold, dead hands.

I’m not suggesting you take them, I simply asked what side effects you were worried about. I’d say these aren’t for you. But there are lots of supportive sub forums on here where you can try other methods to lose the weight. Be it low carb, slimming world, calorie counting etc.

good luck.

Me too, I’m staying on a low dose forever once I hit goal. I don’t want to struggle with being hungry, feeling deprived, obsessing about the scales, or being fat. I want to live my life slim, and healthy, so as the drugs give me this, then I’m all in.

i already feel so healthy and I have rediscovered my vanity, dressing in what I wish not to cover the fat and and I exercise regularly now , which I can see in the way my body looks, toned.

no way I’m giving that up, 😂

I've used Voy throughout along with their personal coaching. They are one of the most expensive so if cost is a big factor for you then I'd shop around. Cost wasn't my main concern and I've enjoyed having a coach but it's not for everyone.

@Pessismistic Just reading back I'm not sure if you were asking about the provider or the drug? If it was the latter it's Wegovy I've used.

Ok thanks @ ova here. I was just going to wait if the dr tells me I can use it I will come back for providers I get the feeling wegovy is very popular on mn.

Really simply - because I have tried everything else and I don't want to be fat forever

I have been diagnosed with diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol recently. I have an underachieve thyroid too, and am four stones overweight. There is no help available for me! I have been offered drugs but that's all. This has shocked me into doing something about it. I know a lot about nutrition and have lost lots of weight many times in the past on my own after pregnancies etc. This time I just haven't been able to do it - mainly because of a lot of stress in my life that has left me feeling exhausted and demoralised.

This diagnosis has really scared me and I'm beginning to lose the weight now. If it doesn't work I will go on weight loss drugs because the alternative is far worse.

I don’t have a history of abuse, I don’t have diabetes, I don’t have any health concerns. I just had a BMI of 31.5 after 15 years of trying to lose weight and keep it off. I haven’t been a healthy BMI since approx 2009. I used to be able to get back to maybe half a stone over a healthy BMI, but the last time I was that low was 2017. I was fed up with myself - lost a lot of weight in 2023 on Fast 800 (down to a BMI of maybe 27.5) but put it all back on almost to the pound after a stressful time at work, an injury and an illness. I wanted a helping hand. I’ve lost 23lb in 3 months on Mounjaro, and I’m not sticking rigidly to low carb/800 calories.

Because I have PCOS, have been obese for about 25 years, and I work for a stroke team. I really, really don't want a stroke in my 50s. My hips and knees were aching, ankles swelling every night, and yes I looked like shit too.

Also I was all set to lose weight one month - again - and felt like it was going well, and gained 2kg in a week, hitting my heaviest ever weight. I'd had enough.

Didn't bother wasting the GP's time as I do have the cash and was happy enough with the evidence I'd read. Straight onto MJ. 2.5 stone down so far, no longer obese, feeling much better.

I'm taking it because it works. I am losing weight. And it's bloody changing my life! What's not to love!

This thread rears its head every so often! 😂

I’ve always wanted to ask the question - why AREN’T you taking a weight loss drug? - as, other than those that are already a healthy weight and those that either cannot afford it (your time will come I am certain!) and those that are medically unable to, why not? 🤷‍♀️

I think one of the motivations to be honest to be really tough with yourself is you are paying a pretty large sum out every month to do this- that tends to focus the minds of many -

I’d tried so many things for so many years and nothing worked.

I was concerned for my general health and wellbeing and risks of developing high blood pressure and diabetes.

I now look and feel better than I’ve done in decades.

I’m surprised more people are not concerned about the side effects.