OK I'm convinced, weight-loss drugs are Incredible and will change the world

[AliceAbsolum]

DH has been on them for a couple of months and they've changed our lives for the better. He's an over eater/ mild binger and generally quite obsessed with food. Never managed to keep weight off.

Now he's happy, calm, doesn't think about food, eats like a 'normal person' and it's freed up so much space and joy in our lives.

Apparently in the future it'll be a pill you can either take that day or not, e.g. Most days but not Christmas day. Incredible!

Yes I know people get side effects and they don't work for everyone, etc. But I'm very impressed.
Apparently they also help alcoholics and other addicts as they work on the reward centre's of the brain. Amazing.

It seems GPs are dragging their feet over this. They don't like the idea of an easy solution to obesity. In the long run it will cost the NHS a lot more than simply prescribing this drug for everyone.

£150 is a lot of money for a monthly spend.

Novo Nordisk, the Danish company that makes Wegovy is valued at more than all of Denmark. Or so I have read.

It's not the drug companies decision. It's up to the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency that regulates medicines, medical devices and blood components for transfusion in the UK.

Hi
Yeah I needed to lose around a stone and after a month on mounjaro I've done that, I've also made lifestyle changes as in my food and going to the gym. Just ordered a second month and will probably get a third month but hoping by then the lifestyle changes will be my new normal and I'll be able to maintain the weight loss.

Watch this space 😂

It’s not gp’s. It’s the nhs, and it’s not jus6 due to cost, but they simply don’t have the infrastructure right now to deal with millions of people. They’d need extra staff, space,everything.

I think they are a game-changer too @AliceAbsolum .

As you showed an interest @Bakedpotatoes , @UncharteredWaters and @Garlicwest I am an emotional eater. TBH, I hadn't realised how much my eating was related to my emotions until I started taking MJ. I'd been dieting on and off since I was first put on one when I was 11 by my mother who insisted I was fat. Although when I look at the photos of myself from then, I don't even look chubby, let alone fat. I'm just not stick thin.

Roll on 40 years and my eating has become entirely entwinned with my emotions and I have spent a huge amount of those 40 years on and off diets with varying degrees of success. I have also thought about food obsessively for 40 years. Following on from some counselling about 8 years ago for abuse, I stopped binge eating but I was still unaware that I ate to push down all the negative emotions and self soothe

I start taking MJ in August and all of a sudden I didn't want to eat randomly anymore and I was confronted with my emotions instead. This has actually been the hardest bit for me over the last 4 months but also the most rewarding. For the first time, probably since infancy, I am actually feeling things properly, having to acknowledge them and not push them all down with a few squares of chocolate or some toast and jam.

I was overweight (top end, not just a little bit), rather than obese, but qualified for MJ because I have 3 different types of arthritis. After the initial loss, I have mostly lost weight at a steady 1lb a week and will continue to do so for another 2 months, by which stage I will have reached my target weight, well within a healthy BMI. Already my joints are thanking me for weighing less and because I'm not eating sugary crap to soothe myself, my inflammatory responses have diminished. The weight loss itself has been achieved by eating food as a form of fuel for my body, not some kind of fucked up reward system or self-medication.

I will have taken MJ for six months by the time I finish and I am hoping that this will have given me time to find new ways to deal with old habits. If I struggle, then I will look at a maintenance programme or more counselling.

Wow, that’s great, and that information is super helpful…hmmm. @JC50 may I be cheeky and ask your age range? I’m really trying to figure out if this would be helpful for the dreaded menopot around the belly.

Wrong! I have diabetes and ADHD and they prescribed it to me without a second thought. I'm on the overweight side, but not obese. Bmi less than 30.

What Happens When You’ve Been on Ozempic for 20 Years? - The Atlantic

This is an interesting article about this subject. They don't know the long term effects.

A lifelong emotional/ binge eater, I had given up on trying to control my weight or food intake as it was just too darn difficult. After a month on MJ it's like a miracle, I now understand how naturally slim people manage to be naturally slim. I used to binge unstoppably after my evening meal, now I don't have anything. I even left my advent chocolate for dec 2nd untouched last night... unprecedented.

I'm on MJ for diabetes, so free on the NHS and intend to stay on it forever. The health benefits of having controlled diabetes far far exceed any health risks from the drug.

I've cut down massively on carbs. That's helped a lot in losing surplus weight.

I'm early 50's and menopausal. It's definitely helped with my pot belly although sadly I think only the dreaded core exercises will get it to where I want it to be - but that's all part of the longer goal. No pain no gain and all that jazz (and boy does core class cause pain 😂)

@TheSilkWorm's dh has a bmi that's the low end of healthy. Currently he wouldn't qualify for a prescription. Your bmi must be over 27 under current rules

@IDontHateRainbows but you have diabetes, that will be the main factor in prescribing it. They aren't prescribing it just for adhd at the moment. It will be interesting to see if they do in time. What effects it will have on the weight of those with a normal bmi though is unknown and I'd hate to lose the muscle mass I have which is good due to the amount of exercise I do.

Yawn

I have ADHD, lifelong bingebeater I didn't realise was due to ADHD till I received a diagnosis in my 40s.
I am overweight, BMI 29 point something so not technically obese yet, size 14-16 which is not much above average. I am so keen to try GLP1 meds to help quiet my mind. I take stimulant meds, they help, I have maintained employment with the same employer for 3 years now, but they do not quiet the mind, nor curb my appetite like some experience.
So glad it is working out for your husband and by extension improving your life.

Thank you for replying. Really helpful. I walk several miles a day, do somatic exercises daily for flexibility, and do yoga to build the core, so I get it about the no pain no gain! Hmmm, maybe I can get rid of this annoying tube around my middle.

I agree @AliceAbsolum
Two months ago I was an obese 50-something with pre diabetes. I’ve spent the last few years struggling and failing to keep weight off, scared about my long term health but feeling powerless to change anything.
Then I started Mounjaro (privately but with my GP’s blessing). I’ve already lost 25 lbs and am no longer obese. My blood sugars are normalising. I feel so much lighter in myself as well as my body. I feel capable and positive. And this has got me back into the gym because I know I can do this now. I’m starting to feel proud of myself rather than embarrassed and ashamed.

So, can I ask, if ear less move more is the solution and we can all do it, why are you fat?

If you're menopausal then it's probably worth adding in some strength training which is recommended for us women of a certain age. That's definitely made a difference for me.

I have a BMI of 24, but have diabetes in my family and stubborn belly fat. Eat a great diet and have recently begun weights plus walk over 10 k steps daily.
If none of that works in a year, I wonder if I should explore injections.

You will not be approved, they are for the obese people.

That's what I thought, but I saw in the Times that Daisy Goodwin got it as she has certain genetic conditions. And a few pp upthread say the same. My family is full of slim diabetics ( Asian) with insulin resistance.

I won't take it unless a GP gives it to me. Just thinking out loud. Off to the gym now again!

Please read my posts properly. The pp who mentioned wanting it to be prescribed for ADHD has a BMI of 21. I then talked about my DH who has a BMI 'on the low end of healthy'. I was specifically talking about the prospect of mj being prescribed for ADHD in people of healthy weight. Further, you have diabetes! That's far more risky than being underweight would be, and you haven't been prescribed mj for ADHD, it's just a coincidental condition that you have.

HOWEVER I would be really interested to know if you don't mind, has mj made any difference to your ADHD symptoms?