Why are we not being vocal about the miracle of weight loss jabs. ?

[AboutVattime]

I started Mountjaro in April at 15 stone 10
I am now 11 stone . Which is my goal weight for my 5'10 frame. I have maintained that for 2 months having started regular exercise that I really enjoy - as well as ZOE healthy eating /cooking which I enjoy equally.

When people say to me 'Wow ! You look amazing (I'm not daft - they mean you don't look fat anymore) .. how have you done it . I am truthful and say 'fat jabs' .. and expand if they don't understand.

However , I have noticed on all the gazillion threads in here about weight loss injections, people are reticent to be honest . .. "my DH knows but haven't told anyone else " .. is a common remark . But WHY ???

Obesity is a life threatening condition. Like Dementia , cancer , liver failure etc etc .. if anyone had one of those conditions and found a drug to help , would they keep quiet or shout it from the bloody roof tops . ?

Or is the old adage true . Fat is a feminist (female) issue ? and we need to pretend it isn't ?

They bloody are. I'm sick of reading and hearing about these poxy weight loss jabs. I have hidden several pages on here - including the 'weight loss jabs' one, coz I am SICK of seeing the word mounjaro on here! And now the subject of 'weight loss jabs' is popping up on here FFS!

Hiding this thread now.

.

People are sure as hell vocal about it on here. I've watched with alarm as the number of threads about buying powerful prescription medication online (with minimal doctor checks that many posters seem to want to work around) goes up and up and up.

You do realise you have a choice in what you read? Begs the question why you’re choosing to read something that’s perplexing you so much?

Are they all used for diabetes?

I don't know enough about them really. However the long term cost of someone being on them for life is a lot for the NHS to bear. However the cost of obesity linked problems is probably higher.

Almost everyone on them in the UK is paying for them via private prescription.

We'll miss you. You didn't hide it early enough - we had to read your important opinion first.

The diabetes gotchas are weird, the body utilises them differently and the risk of diabetes is generally much greater than the risk of side effects. Same for morbidly obese people, the risks are worth it because the risk of being severely overweight is a lot worse. Like anything, as long as used responsibly by people that actually need it (ie not people just wanting to lose a few lbs for holiday) then they're brilliant. That said someone I work with is on them and talks about them constantly, it's so tedious, as are people that talk at length about the gym or food to be fair.

It's because there is such societal ignorance about the causes of obesity, and people genuinely believe it's just a lifestyle choice, and that injections are "cheating" and "the lazy way" to lose weight. So there's a stigma that leads to people feeling shame and hiding their treatment to avoid judgement.

It's all nonsense of course. The evidence is clear that obesity is largely a genetic disease. There are over 1100 different genes that have been identified so far that are linked to obesity, most of which affect appetite, food seeking behaviours, satiety after eating and compulsion to eat. Naturally slim people who don't have an obesogenic genetic makeup are often ignorant of what it is like for those who do, and imagine that it's a level playing field where obese people are just making worse choices than they are and are to blame for their obesity. In reality people with a significantly obesogenic genetic makeup can feel insatiably hungry, obsessive about food with an overwhelming compulsion to eat. The degree of self control required to continually override that is simply beyond what most people are capable of sustaining in the long term, and so obesity (in an environment where access to food is unlimited) is more or less inevitable. Naturally slim people do not generally have better self control than naturally obese people- they just simply don't need it, as their desire to eat and appetite are normal.
Because of these powerful genetic factors, in the context of unlimited access to food in our society, the success rates of diet and exercise interventions alone for long term weight loss are abysmal. These injections down regulate appetite and compulsion to eat to normal, controllable levels that makes sustainable weight loss possible for people for whom it has never been within reach before.

I am very lucky to naturally tend towards being a normal, healthy weight, but I am very aware that if I had just a few different genes I would be obese. I am a doctor and have seen how utterly life changing these treatments can be for patients. So many of them marvel at the loss of the "food noise" that that previously plagued them every waking moment, and even besides the weight loss, that alone can have a massive positive impact on their quality of life. Sadly right now there is very little nhs availability so mostly only patients who can afford to pay have access. I hope this changes with time as the huge health benefits of weight loss in terms of cardiovascular disease and diabetes reduction will surely make these treatments cost effective.

For me the issue is that they're being prescribed under questionable circumstances, by somebody online with no access to your medical history. The side effects can be incredibly serious, and are not properly reviewed because people are lying in order to get the jabs.

Then what happens? Do you use them forever? What are the risks to your health in doing so? And if not, how do you prevent the weight from going back on. You can't continue eating in the same way as your appetite will no longer be suppressed.

I think because for a lot of other health conditions eg cancer , drugs are the only option.
Being overweight is often a choice and people can control it with diet and exercise. Not saying it's easy and people that fit the criteria of obesity clearly have some mental health issues that need addressing and treating rather than weight loss jabs.
But I think they do have their place. But everyone wants a quick fix this is the thing.
How sustainable is it long term?

I think it is talked about quite a lot.

I think they absolutely have their place but to be effective long term they need to be continued for life and I think that is the issue for the NHS/ NICE. The cost of providing medication for a proportion of the adult population (approx 26%) in the UK is not what they perceive as sustainable. You could argue that avoiding obesity related diseases could actually provide a greater saving overall but I’ve not done the maths but I’m sure there are studies that have?

I do think there is also a potential for them to be abused by people who do not need them.

For me the issue is that they're being prescribed under questionable circumstances, by somebody online with no access to your medical history.

Once you wrote this, the rest of your post is invalid. Incorrect statements stated as facts.

For many people, talking of weight loss is quite boring really. They don't want to talk about it and they really don't need to.

I think threads like this are actually doing a disservice, OP, because you - forgive me - sound like a fanatic. Not just you, everyone who expounds the values of it.

I say good for you, jab yourself, find your tribe but there's no need to din it into everyone else's heads and if you do you'll find push-back. Is that really what you want?

Don't make this into a 'thing' because the next thing that will definitely happen is there will be a league table of weightloss - those who needed chemical help - and those who managed it without, with the latter being 'alpha'.

Nobody needs that. Obesity is horrendously challenging so however somebody does it, hats off to them. There's no need to bang on though, just celebrate what you've achieved and leave others to do what they want.

I've seen other posters talk about ways to 'get around' BMI, reporting to GP and so on so that poster isn't incorrect. It is all about the money and that's hard to argue against.

I do think there is also a potential for them to be abused by people who do not need them.

True, just like every other medication and everything else.

It isn't incorrect at all. 2 of my close friends are doing just that. One is a size 12 and the other is a size 14. Both have lied about their BMI in order to get these jabs and have staged photos to make themselves look bigger to upload to the online doctor.

And a cursory browse of posts about weight loss jabs shows an awful lot of people doing similar.

Did you lose weight once you'd stopped taking it because 12.6 is the top end of a healthy weight for your height and I thought once you got down to that you couldn't get the injections any more?

My mum and dad are both type 2 diabetic and morbidly obese, they’ve both been on ozempic injections which have been great for stabilising their blood sugars but they haven’t lost any weight. I presume this is because it’s a small dose.

However in the last 12 months they’ve had frequent issues actually getting the medication from the pharmacy as it is often out of stock.

My mum has now been taken off it and put on a different medication because of this and her Bm’s are now high. I think the increase in prescribing these drugs for weight loss has led to issues with supply for people who need it to maintain their health and reduce future complications.

(a) it’s private medical information and so I don’t feel comfortable divulging it to everyone. Same as my alcohol abuse issues. I kept that to a circle of people I knew would get it
(b) you only need to look through a few mumsnet threads to see ill informed judgmental bollocks dressed up as faux concern and if people IRL react the same it’s hardly surprising people choose to keep it private

This place is packed to the rafters with unimportant opinions that posters have the right to give.

I don't know why you're so angry with that poster, this thread is disingenuous. There's not a day goes past that there's not somebody starting one about weight loss jabs - and there's a whole board for weight loss but they just have to post in AIBU.

These few people you all know are people doing the wrong thing (I do question people who seem to know and are friends with people who do all the bad things that are being discussed in each thread. Show me your friends and I'll tell you who you are...). That doesn't mean the medication itself is bad or wrong or that those who're going about it the legal and approved way are doing something wrong.

By that logic, so many things should be questioned and condemned because there will always be chancers and "friends" trying to defraud someone or get something they're not meant to.

I don't know why you're so hostile at me voicing my own opinion when it actually had nothing to do with you. Why so angry?

I think the increase in prescribing these drugs for weight loss has led to issues with supply for people who need it to maintain their health and reduce future complications

but obese people are using it for the same reasons

just celebrate what you've achieved and leave others to do what they want.

This is not a jab at you (no pun intended), but injecting yourself with chemicals to lose weight is not an achievement.

I’m on a diet. I need to lose 10kg. I’ve lost 3 in 3 weeks through really hard work; eating less, really healthy and exercising like a demon. When I get to goal weight that’ll be an achievement. But sticking a needle in my arm instead of the serious hard graft I’ve put in….isn’t.

Another huge issue is the lack of support for those taking this medication. People loosing weight need to ensure they are maintaining muscle mass, there is no easy way to know if the weight you are loosing is fat or muscle- while body composition measurement tools can help, they are not without their faults.

Users of weighloss injections need to be supported by HCPs throughout the process and that is categorically NOT happening for a majority right now.