You shouldn't take weight loss drugs. Learn about healthy eating, eat less and exercise more.

[GapTshirtsAreShitQualityTheseDays]

This is like telling an insomniac "don't take tablets, just get more sleep"

I'm 41.
I have tried.

I KNOW all about healthy eating. Probably more than most slim people.
I don't have an emotional/binge eating disorder, I just have a bigger appetite than most people. I can only control it so long via willpower or low-carb diets. The drive to eat is the most powerful instinct known to man (except maybe breathing)

It's the weight loss medication that takes the edge of said appetite and ALLOWS me the space to make sensible decisions on food.

I've gone from 15 stone to 9 stone (I'm short). If these drugs had been invented 20 years ago, my life would have been much better.

And no, I didn't steal the drugs off a diabetic. I got private prescriptions for Wegovy and then Mounjaro which are only marketed for weightloss.

And yes I am quite prepared to take the drug forever if necessary.

And no, I don't care about the "potential unknown long term side effects" because they can hardly be worse than what I was facing with obesity.

And although exercise is beneficial for many reasons, it is a fairly trivial factor in weightloss.

Do you feel the same about people with depression who take anti depressants? Shouldn't they just face up to it, and educate themselves? Go through a daily battle to get better?

Or should they take the drugs that help them?

@AllstarFacilier you wouldn't fancy the pizza or you would only eat a small amount. But TBH doesn't sounds like you need the drugs. You just need to decide whether you prefer pizza or fitting into jeans. You'd probs be miserable on the drugs because they remove some of your ability to enjoy food. Which, it appears, is more important to you than losing weight. (Which is fair enough, I don't get the impression that you are obese and/or have struggled for years to a point where you'd give ANYTHING to have the madness of yoyo dieting and permanent hunger removed)

How do you know it's bullcrap for OP?

The best diet is the one you can stick to, whether that is a GLP 1 inhibitor, the Mediterranean diet, Weight Watchers, or Atkins. They all work the same, they all control the amount of calories you are eating by restricting different food groups/overall food intake, but if you cannot stick to it, it's not going to work.

If you are feeling hungry when I’m fact you are not and binge eating I’m sorry, but you do have emotional issues. Probably self esteem issues too which is making you think you are not ‘good enough’ There are some absolutely fantastic people out there who do online support courses and literally rewire you entire thinking around yourself, your life, why you eat, how to feel hungry only when you are hungry and unpack the whole issue. It can transform your life, without the need for drugs.
You won’t get the drugs when you are normal size and the problem is they are a sticking plaster over the issue. You won’t have tackeled the root cause of why you overeat - it will still be there.

But it really isn’t! Scientific data has caught up a lot and you’d be hard pressed to find any expert who believes this.

But you can’t stick to drugs forever- once you are normal weight you would come off them and the issues would still be there? It’s just a sticking plaster.

Yeah, but if those people are fat because of BED, or bulimia, then they’re second class citizens and deserve no sympathy or support. (According to a lot of people on here, not you!). 🙄

Fat people are responsible for the downfall of the NHS too because we cost so much money. (Often forgetting that fat people are often not treated for conditions until much later than their thin counterparts with the same conditions, so more treatment may be needed and is therefore more costly).

For me, and I can only speak for me, but I've lost any desire for a lot of sugary food. I haven't eaten any chocolate or sweets at all since I've been on MJ, just because when I think about eating it, it doesn't feel that appealing and it feels sort of pointless to do. We make our own pizzas but I still enjoyed eating that, but was satisfied after much less.

It's hard to explain but it's like I just don't feel the urge to eat that stuff, and it feels like it would be a chore to do so in a way. So naturally I think I've gravitated to healthier stuff anyway. I think as well because I'm eating less, I'm thinking a lot more about what is going on in terms of making sure I have enough to fuel my body, whereas before I didn't really worry about that as much. It's easier to be more mindful when you aren't hungry and unsatisfied all the time by the healthy stuff.

Honestly, I think some ppl just will NEVER get it. I suppose if you've never experienced "food noise", why would you. If you're lucky enough to eat 3 meals a day, enjoy a bit of exercise and otherwise never give it a second thought, it must seem alien to you that people (perfectly intelligent, educated folk with access to money for healthy food) would struggle.

In the same way that some people have a single glass of wine and then put the bottle back in the fridge. And for others, the first glass unleashes a BEAST of compulsion to drink that can never be fully satisfied. Beyond losing your family and job and health. Right into the jaws of insanity and death. Do those people not understand that excess alcohol is dangerous? Of course they fucking do! It's addiction. They can resist and resist and resist but ONE DAY the devil on the shoulder wins.

40% in this country are overweight/obese. They are not all morons who don't understand what a healthy diet is. Most of them have tried and tried and tried.

Science is now solving a problem it partially created (addictive foods).

Pass the MJ.

Ableism at its best. I can’t exercise as I have ME/CFS.

I'm with you OP. I'm on Mounjaro and 34lb down. Feel do much better and "normal". Plus it enables me to make healthier decisions.

@WhiteLily1 "If you are feeling hungry when I’m fact you are not and binge eating I’m sorry, but you do have emotional issues."

Jesus Christ on a fucking bike. Am I speaking Swahili or something? I just need a lot of food not to feel hungry. And if you restrict me, I will just binge. It's nothing to do with emotions. It's raw powerful animal HUNGER!

And I don't think the physiological feeling of being hungry is necessarily anything to do with 'emotional issues'. From all the research and reading I did about people's experiences on MJ, it's clear that one of the most revelatory things about it is that feeling of not being hungry all the time as a physical sensation. It wouldn't surprise me if there are massive variations in how people process and experience hunger and it's not necessarily to do with having emotional issues or disordered eating but a physical difference in response.

@kkloo I appreciate that once obese that things change. The question is why are people getting obese in the first place? Why is there no off switch? Some people gain a few pounds and know to rein it in and do so. What makes others not? Disabilities aside.

What is the obsession with "tackling the root cause"?

The root cause is a big appetite and an obesogenic culture. Nothing can realistically be done about the latter without dismantling Western culture.

The drug solves a big part of the problem. (Hunger and cravings)

So take the drug.

Why can I not stay on the drugs forever?

@PrincessPeache But it really isn’t! Scientific data has caught up a lot and you’d be hard pressed to find any expert who believes this.

That's fine that you believe that, feel free to post a peer reviewed article that categorically states that a reduction in calories for a morbidly obese person, however that is achieved, be it surgery where the physical ability to consume is reduced, weight loss injections which regulate appetite so that less calories are consumed, or simply eating less calories over a prolonged period of time is not one of the primary reasons for weight reduction, and I will believe you.

But what exactly is the inherent virtue in having to 'battle' every day and really struggle? Why take on a daily fight if you don't have to? Or at least, why not take a medicine that tips the scales (excuse the pun) more in your favour and makes the battle easier?

After 2 c sections buggered up my stomach wall muscles and left me with a 4" separation, yes I could have slaved and sweated trying to repair my stomach through intense exercise for months and months. But I just didn't see the validity in punishing myself like that when I could just have an extended tummy tuck + a bit of liposuction. A few hours in the operating theatre and my stomach went from a permanently swollen, saggy size 14/16 to a trim, flat size 12.

And I simply cannot muster up any feelings of guilt or shame about taking the 'easy' option.

And what I've learned too is that far from a lot of obese people lacking willpower, they actually have had to work harder than a lot of other people with regards to willpower in terms of fighting against their own body. There seems to be this misconception that fat people are lazy and have no willpower, and sure maybe some are, just like anyone, but I think that some naturally slim people would be shocked at how much willpower and discomfort some obese people have to endure to eat the same amount of food as them and feel satisfied and how much it can take out of them mentally constantly battling against their own body to do so.

UPFs have a lot to do with it. And genetics/epigenetics.

Babies born to women who restricted their calorie intake during pregnancy tend to struggle with obesity more than children born to women who did not - even children born to the same mother in different pregnancies.

And you find a peer reviewed article that categorically states that weight loss isn’t affected by other factors external to just calorie consumption and exercise, and I’ll believe you.

There was some evidence a few years ago that obesity might be caused by a virus. Sounds batshit but who knows!

It makes me so sad that as a child I was told I was bad and greedy. I wasn't. I was genuinely hungry. Esp because I was taught that I should be full til lunchtime on 30g of cornflakes!

It's amazing how science moves on. When I was young, the wisdom was, as I say, to eat cornflakes for breakfast at 7/8am to be slim. When in fact, you'd be better off fasting until noon and then having something like eggs and bacon.

I'm sorry for being so abrupt in my earlier post it was rude and unnecessary.

To answer your question there's huge amounts of recent research into how your gut biome affects your appetite and ability to digest food. Also, there's real science behind how so many foods now are being chemically engineered to be addictive to humans. I can't remember the percentages but apparently there's a specific ratio of sugar + fats + salts known among food scientists as 'the sweet spot' (ironically). And this specific ratio makes food far more addictive than they were, say, 30 years ago.

Of course, weight loss is affected by external things eg access to healthy foods, the physical ability to move around, motivation, and food preferences...

But that does not change the fact the mechanism of weight loss is 100% calories in vs calories out. If you consume less energy than you expend you will lose weight. It doesn't matter if that energy is coming solely from raw broccoli or from plates of UPF laden chicken nuggets.

OP sounds unhinged… therapy rather than drugs might be a better long term solution.