Judgement from others...

[AlwaysTimeForWine]

I had an interesting experience at work today. Eating lunch with my colleagues, one of whom commented on my recent weight loss - they know I have been 'dieting' as I've been losing weight since September. They don't know I have been on Mounjaro since November (8 weeks) - I have lost 16 lbs on MJ, and an additional 7 lbs before I started. But they see me eating healthily at lunch and know I pay sport.

Two of the colleagues are very slim and probably always have been - I only mention this because weight-loss injections and the associated information isn't really on their radar.

One of them suddenly said "OMG, one of my friends has started taking Ozempic, I don't know how I feel about that". I asked in what way, and she said she was worried about the side effects, and what would happen when she comes off it. At this stage I should have just got my bingo card out and kept silent.....

Obviously that wasn't going to happen. So I ended up in a situation of trying to defend weight-loss injections, putting them straight on some misconceptions, all the while still pretending that I wasn't on them and didn't really know much. 😂

I asked whether she had ever expressed worry about the side effects of her friend being over-weight? Like increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure etc.. because no one had ever worried about that with me. And that you can put weight on after any diet, but no one seems to worry about that if they go to Weight Watchers, or lose weight another way. You would have all been very proud of me!!

She said that she had seen an awful documentary where people were dying from taking them, and that people are getting them on the black market etc.

I was so surprised that this is still the perception out there. I had to explain that they are fully approved for use for weight-loss in the country, it's just that the NHS can only prescribe over a certain weight, and the majority of people aren't getting them on the black market.

Luckily I have a friend also on them so I used her as an example and said that she had 'told' me stuff about them etc. But it was so tricky and I am sure I outed myself - well I will have done if any of them read this!!

They just think I am losing weight without help as it has been quite slow and steady, and actually there's only been a few people who have noticed. I keep saying that I've been losing weight for 4 months and it's just that no one has noticed yet!

I find myself wondering if I should have just told them, as it will only come up again as I lose more weight. But I don't want to. As there was still a quite high level of judgement and lack of understanding from them all which I wasn't expecting. They just kept quoting the news headlines and awful stuff they hear about, and didn't have many positive things to say about them at all.

Has anyone else found this and still managed to keep quiet?!

Thank you MNHQ for deleting the above comments, appreciate it 🙂

The vast majority of people will only glean the most superficial of information from news reports and the like and have no interest in educating themselves any further. There are still people who think that the MMR vaccine needs to be treated with caution. Unless they have needed the drugs themselves, most people only have a vague awareness that e.g. chemotherapy will make you lose your hair or that steroids will give you a fat face. Perceptions are incredibly difficult to unpick and I'm not at all sure that there is much point trying except with the people whose opinions really matter to you.

I suppose if people don’t need to lose weight they don’t feel the need to read into weight loss injections in more detail so they are more likely to have seen the scare stories than be looking for the positives.

Yes, there are potential side effects of ozempic etc but there are also proven side effects to obesity. Where the injections are taken as intended (ie only by people who are actually overweight and where possible combined with exercise and dietary changes) I think they are brilliant. Once they have been around a bit longer and can be made by other companies, the prices will drop and that could help so many people.

Disclaimer, I have never had a BMI higher than 27 and was able to reduce that back to a ‘healthy weight’ with diet and exercise but I would have no qualms taking ozempic if I was overweight and I felt it could help. DH is rather overweight and the doctor is currently monitoring to see if he needs statins for his cholesterol and medication for high blood pressure. He is exercising and eating better but not much change yet. I’ve started gently suggesting that if he gets to the point of taking two medications for weight related conditions then perhaps it would be better to try weight loss injections instead. If he chose to do that I would be very supportive, equally if he doesn’t want to then that is fine too.

I’m taking it, had some horrible side effects initially but I wasn’t being sensible and actually eating/hydrating. I’m a bit embarrassed and have only told one person (who is outside of most of my circles, think work friend from an old job type thing.)

People, especially people who have no experience of being overweight and/or broken relationship with food, seem to have VERY strong opinions about how it’s somehow “cheating”. The same way elective c sections get called “cheating”.

Might just be me, but these highly charged conversations always seem to be between women. Smells of internalised misogyny to me…if we aren’t suffering, we aren’t deserving.

Women’s bodies are always a battleground - everyone entitled to an opinion, to pass judgement, and frame it as concern about health risks when it’s actually just contempt.

The comparison with an elective c section is interesting. I agree. But I guess you can't really keep that quiet and this you can. I didn't care what people thought about my chosen birth method though, but for some reason I am keeping quiet about MJ (only DH knows, and he knows better than to question my decisions! He did say the obligatory 'you don't need to, you look great as you are' and the 'more of you to love' comments, but i countered him with the health benefits and he stopped).

I was a heavy drinker and have given up booze at the same time as going on MJ so people will probably think that is the reason for any weight loss.

Why the hell would I want my sister to put the weight back on? I love her and I hope it works long term because it wonderful to see her losing weight and happy, her mood has improved so much. You can have concerns about long term effectiveness without even a shadow of gloating or jealousy. That comment says a lot more about you than me.

I think it was the aggressive judgey tone in your post.