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.

Thanks for answering! So would I not fancy anything at all for tea? Or would I crave healthy stuff? Do you have to force yourself to eat something if you don’t fancy anything?

I just think new medication en made isn’t the best route. The foods that have been introduced into our mainstream diets over the past 30 years are diabolical and have caused this obesity crisis. And now rather than tackling the root causes people are just given drugs to solve it all.

Not given, but have to pay for them. It is a win win for the big pharma companies. The losers are the general public who utilize these, no matter what they believe.

Different people react differently I think. And you can react differently at different times.

yesterday I had to force myself to eat. Most of the time, I am just eating smaller meals.

I haven’t craved sugar since I took my first. I have PCOS which makes cravings really difficult. Especially since PCOS can also make you exhausted. Then being over weight makes those symptoms worse. So not having those cravings has been great.

As I know I am going to be eating less I have been making more nutrient dense meals.

I did have a biscuit yesterday and it just didn’t taste the same as it did before. It was fine. But I wasn’t even tempted to have another.

A surprise has been that I usually get very anxious in the days leading to my period and can be very on edge and tearful and my cravings are worse. Never feel not hungry at this time of the year. I haven’t had that this month at all. Will be interesting to see if that continues next month.

‘Big pharma’ wins either way.

Obesity leads to many other diseases. Which, usually, have to be treated with medication.

I would rather pay for this medication, than end up on several others via prescription. Plus there’s the addition of being reducing future costs to the NHS if I am not obese.

Do you think people taking any medication are the ‘losers’? Do you never take medication yourself?

Big industry wins no matter what. Highly industrialised food with heavy marketing fundamentally changing the way people eat, consuming and thus spending more. They then create diet foods high in protein, low fat, whatever the next fad is, also making huge sums of money. As has been stated pharma wins either way.

Unless governments step in to regulate this industry whose primary focus is to make billions, the majority of us lose, as tax payer and consumers. Very few people benefit from this set up, but they benefit with such huge profits they control its survival. But that's capitalism for you really. It's at odds with a society that wants universal healthcare.

@SwiftiesVSLestat No I do not think that in general people who have to take medication are the losers. What I meant by that is, and this is my view, that taking these injections for life, as some people seem determined to, instead of tackling the root causes of why they overeat, is problematic. I have been reading the thread, and it seems to be most posters in agreement that this is the way to go. That is up to them, and has no bearing on my opinion. But to claim that this medication tackles the root cause, is not true imo.

What I meant by that is, and this is my view, that taking these injections for life, as some people seem determined to, instead of tackling the root causes of why they overeat, is problematic.

I agree with this, but I think government's should be tackling it, not individuals. Well I'm not absolving individuals of compete responsibility, but I believe the issue is so intrinsically designed and successful that for some people being able to tackle this issue independently will simply not be possible for all sorts of reasons. Those people can't wait for government's to catch up, if they ever do.

@treeindigo I agree that Governments have been complicit with the food companies, in allowing them to produce these foods over the last few decades, that have been disastrous for peoples health. I have mentioned such, in a post, earlier on this thread. It really is a scandle.

Okay I'll engage. Why shouldn't some people inject for life? If it's a useful tool to support you staying a healthy weight, why not? If it makes it easier to choose healthy foods, why not? If it stops you eating UPFs, why not? If it helps solve our obesity crisis and saves the NHS billions of pounds, why not?

You still haven't explained why we must struggle and suffer to lose weight? Why? And why must we battle every day to maintain a healthy weight? Please explain the validity of deliberately choosing to make your life much harder and more difficult, when it doesn't have to be?

Some people do.

Most have no clue.

I don’t. I was a healthy weight my whole life. I exercised a lot. Despite having PCOS annd (Unknown at the time) ADHD. Until something really traumatic happened. I found myself with PTSD, a single parent, had to take a higher paid but more streets position to get a house and be able to afford to live. Then other things happened like my Mum died and my life well and truly went to the dogs. Over several years I put weight on.

I know how to be slim and healthy but as I got bigger and could exercise less. My PCOS and ADHD symptoms got worse. Despite several huge attempts at recreating old lifestyle, I just can’t. The exhaustion, the cravings, the food fixation.

I am hoping that once I get to a healthy weight, getting back into the habits and being able to build up exercise to get to the level I did before I can get the adhd and PCOS back under control. Which means I won’t need it.

But again, some people will need to. But what’s the issue. Do you have the same feelings about anyone taking lifelong medication?

I found the same regarding the cost and offsetting it against the extra food I bought when not on it. I also found that losing the weight gave me more incentive to exercise and eat healthier. I have come off it and have put weight back on though because of cravings returning and also change of medication I think has had an impact.

@SwiftiesVSLestat I've cut most ultra processed foods from my son's diet and his adhd symptoms are significantly less than they were. I've not done anything else except change his diet. I'm not suggesting that it will cure him because that's not possible but it's made a huge difference. He's not overweight but his classmates with adhd are. I have also cut them from my diet and although I haven't noticed any improvement in my own adhd, perhaps because I wasn't eating the large amounts that ds was, but I feel better generally. If I do eat UPFs I get terrible abdominal pains and feel rubbish. My weight is the most stable it's ever been and it's not taking any effort to maintain the 2 stone I lost.

@LegoTherapy my son has ADHD and we've recently tried to cut down UPF. I noticed a huge shift in his behaviour when he had a week of eating some of the UPFs he used to have. It was really quite startling.

You sound like you are trying to compare penicillin with weight loss drugs which to me is like comparing the American army to a small tribe in Africa but ok.
Good luck on the weight loss drugs, I hope they work for you. I’m very sceptical that they will get rid of self loathing in the longer term even when the weight is gone but time will tell I guess

Yes I imagine it does help.

Thats why I am on the injections. Because I have PCOS and ADHD. Trying to get one (only) under control is almost impossible.

PCOS symptoms often mean horrific cravings. And exhaustion meaning the cravings, for sugar, to get through the day get worse and end up kore exhausted. The lack of exercise plus eating so much sugar makes adhd worse.

Great! You did it all on your own. I can’t.

Mounjaro, however, has helped both very very quickly. Giving me the brain space to get back into my healthy habits and less exhaustion so I can exercise.

Good on you OP. MJ has changed my life and I will be forever grateful for it and my ability to afford it.

Don't let the negative Nellie's bring you down. They will never know what we have been through and how our lives have been changed due to these amazing drugs.

Lots of things about my life could be easier if I wanted them to be but the flip side is risk so I don’t.
My son throws an all mighty tantrum when asked to wear his helmet on his scooter. I could just say don’t wear it then but the risk is him ending up with a head injury. Same goes for what the kids eat. Yes I could buy them junk food and fizzy drink every day like they want and my life would be far far easier than persuading them for hours to eat healthy food. I could save myself weeks of fear I feel going to the dentist (I am phobic) and not go at all which would make my life every 6 months much easier. You could say that about hundreds of things.
What I think is wrong is people turning to injections and drugs to lose weight when they could lose that naturally with the right support.
Yes there may be some people who have tried everything for years and it’s not worked - I’m not really talking about them. What I find disturbing is this growing trend to think oh well, I don’t even need to try to lose weight naturally - just eat what I want and the injections will sort it out. Which is what will happen IMO if these drugs become more and more mainstream.
I mean, I am at the top of my BMI and would love to lose a couple of stone. Like the vast majority of people I get cravings and find it hard to lose weight. Should I try to source these drugs? Seems like a good fix without having to do much hard work / excercise and put any thought into actually eating healthily.

Self loathing?

You really don’t sound very happy.

As for

“I mean, I am at the top of my BMI and would love to lose a couple of stone. Like the vast majority of people I get cravings and find it hard to lose weight. Should I try to source these drugs? Seems like a good fix without having to do much hard work / excercise and put any thought into actually eating healthily.”

So much bitterness. Life really doesn’t have to be so hard

Well i no longer hate myself for being fat. I've accepted it since i stopped yoyo dieting and realised that just because I'm fat doesn't mean I'm unworthy of self love and self compassion. My weight doesn't really cross my mind anymore, but it would be nice to lose some. You know because of all the previously mentioned education around nutrition and weight. So the self loathing for me personally isn't an issue anymore.

And yes I'm absolutely comparing penicillin to weight loss drugs. I'm sure there was plenty of people like you back in the day when it was discovered who would have said you shouldn't need drugs if your body is strong enough to fight it off and if you die, well, you should have tried harder to get better. It's all about willpower and dedication, isn't it.

Not me. The person I quoted said they had self hatred and that was what I was referring to.

Think she was talking about my post where i said I've hated myself for years for being fat and hating myself didn't make me any thinner.

I could save myself weeks of fear I feel going to the dentist (I am phobic) and not go at all which would make my life every 6 months much easier.

You could take a beta blocker, which would help with the anxiety. But you don't believe in drugs.

No. 🙈 One is a human condition which can be solved- put someone in a place they can’t access unhealthy food for a few months and boom. They are ‘cured’
Put someone with a large gash on their leg or appendicitis in a room and they will die. Millions of men women and children died without antibiotics throughout all of human history and you are trying to compare it will a drug that makes you lose your appetite.
Just makes you look silly.

Honestly, what is wrong with you?

Not they won’t be cured. Unless you want them to live in a hole the rest of their lives.

Millions of people have died and are dying of obesity related diseases.

Since cancer have a lot of lifestyle factors, do you believe people shouldn’t be treated for that either?

Again @WhiteLily1 people that criticise others perfectly valid choices are usually jealous. Those that are happy and fulfilled don’t put down others.

You are working overtime trying to prove your way is the right way. Thats not the hallmark of a happy person.

put someone in a place they can’t access unhealthy food for a few months and boom. They are ‘cured’

No, they’re really not. Did you watch that video I posted earlier that explains why that’s not the case. It’s biology.