What opinion about WLI would you not normally admit to?

[LittleMissContrari]

Do you have an unpopular or unpalatable opinion?

Mine is that if you can't do the maths, you probably shouldn't be messing about with the dosage.

The bit in the beginning where you realise it's working blows your mind. The extra mind-blowing bit is where you hit a plateau or a bit of a stall and where you would usually think 'what's the point' and throw in the the towel.... you keep going and it keeps working.

I think that's one of my annoyances as well - I totally get frustrated if I have a no loss or week where I gain but I know a man who is a bit dramatic if he doesn't lose 3-4lb every week. I think some expectations are a bit unreasonable, and I think those expectations come from people with very significant amounts of weight to lose having success with it. Even those people will have ups and downs with it though, probably especially women, but we maybe don't hear about that as much. But I think this man when he stops taking it will really struggle as he seems to be relying heavily on going up the doses to have strong appetite suppression.

Agree, 5 stone in a year sounds like loads to me!

My completely uninformed opinion is that you should stay on the lowest dose that you possibly can and that going up doses too quickly isnt good for you and makes it harder to keep the weight off when you come off.

I think it fucks with your brain a bit, so better to have some small cravings and food noise and learn to deal with it safely while very slowly losing weight

Unless you are dangerously obese and need to get the first stones off very quickly.

I think there a concerning number of people lying to get it.

When people post asking for places that do not inform GPs or require photos I assume 100% they are one of these people.

If it’s true that you are obese but the idea of uploading a photo of your clothed body that a random GP will see causes you so much anxiety that you couldn’t possible do it, then it’s tough and you simply can’t get WLI until you get over it or can get it prescribed in person.

I think any post asking or hinting at trying to get around safeguards for prescribers like
this should be deleted and treated as if people were posting trying to get any other drugs illegally.

My provider recently made it so that you have to upload photos every time holding a piece of paper with the most recent order number with your face in it as well as ID. I think it’s an excellent idea and I’m in support of checks as stringent as possible.

And also maybe not controversial but any time someone posts that they’re eating very little but not losing weight people assume they’re underestimating their calories or lying or not trying hard enough.

I think it’s a weirdly black and white view and is worth considering there’s something like a thyroid issue going on. It was unbelievable how hard my underactive thyroid made it to lose weight and I felt like I was going mad in the face of the “calories in calories out” blind narrative. Like yes obviously it is true in the sense that I would t be immune to starving to death, but metabolism really impacts how easy or hard it is to lose it.

I think all prescribers should have to speak to a persons GP so that they actually know that they are not being lied to about what conditions someone has , this is obviously unworkable because it would be too much of a workload for GPs but perhaps you should have to pay your GP to send in some kind of medical report . I think there are way too many people telling lies to get access to this medication . I also think if you are paying and with the above condition in place it should be available to everyone , irrespective of your BMI as lots of people at the top end of a normal BMI could then benefit .

I think 5 stone in a year is an incredible loss. I think it's easy to forget that 1-2lb a week is a recommended healthy loss and more likely to be sustainable.

I've lost 3 stone since Feb - the first stone took a month, the second took until the middle of May, and the third took roughly from the middle of May until last week. So each stone is taking progressively longer and I've still got 3 to lose. I don't think I'll even hit 5 stone by next Feb even if I am able to keep taking Mounjaro. But I feel healthier, healthier than I think I've ever felt in my life.

I’m on a Facebook group where just the other day I saw someone talking about how they hadn’t eaten for 24 hours and they thought this was great.

I genuinely didn’t realise there were so many people with low intelligence until Mounjaro. They ask the most basic of questions, clearly haven’t read the leaflet of instructions it comes with. They take fuck knows what dosage, they eat absolute crap and wonder why they have horrific side effects and they have zero understanding of what they are doing. It’s actually terrifying how this medication is being used.

As someone who has stuck on 2.5mg for months in order to support healthy diet choices it terrifies me to see what some people are doing to their bodies. It’s also worrying that this behaviour might make it harder for the genuine, sensible users to be able to get their prescriptions in the future.

Read the fucking leaflet, follow the bastard instructions.

3-7lbs PER MONTH!!!! Not week. And even then 7lbs was a rarity. It took me 13 /14 months ish

My weight loss was much more in line @Madickenxx
2lbs in a week doesnt happen now but was cause for much excitement last year when it did... I do feel much better overall though

Thank you. I know that's true really. I never would take it unless I genuinely was overweight.

Mine is a spelling one - difference between lose and loose. Ie As you lose weight your clothes become loose.
Irks me when people say they are loosing weight.

I agree with those who say it's need stricter controls. I think it should only be available from pharmacies and in person so people can be more closely monitored. You see people on here talk about holding a weight behind them or wearing clothes that are too small to look bigger than you are. It is concerning.

I have concerns about long term use. Are there studies about use over 10/15/20 years? on maintenance doses when you're no longer obese? Or maintenance doses when you're no longer overweight but a healthy bmi?

i saw someone post the other day about results from standard/traditional weight loss techniques vs WLI. Traditional was most people put the weight back on after 5 years but on WLIs 87% kept it off after 3 years. I just look at that and think that doesn't tell us anything. It's not a direct comparison is one is based on 3 years and one is based on 5.

What not just say "I think you are talking pish" 🤣

Which they probably are, or taking personal experience as wider fact or have taken it from a tabloid post somewhere. But even if gallbladder operation waiting lists have "sky rocketed" 🤔 it is meaningless data without being balanced with improvements elsewhere to get a full assessment of benefits vs risk which no one has studied globally!

It is interesting because Rishi Sunak (not that I’m a fan!) does a 24 hour fast each week. I’m not saying the person on FB was doing it for the right reasons but there does seem to be some accepted wisdom that there are benefits of extended fasting.

i absolutely agree that this should be about sustainable lifestyle changes.

i think there is a huge difference between a knowledgable person actively fasting and someone who has no idea what they are doing being pleased because they have not eaten for 24 hours doe to this new magic medicine.

For me it is the posters that ask “how do I get it, how do I take it, how many doses per pen” etc etc.
This is a serious medication for a serious health condition.
Have the intelligence to do proper research, not blindly asking a chat forum.
Research first. Then come to a chat forum for further support.

@BroccoliPizzas and others, oh, I can well imagine that there are people in the situation you describe - not able to afford it, having money in the family but not being able to access it, having another health condition that makes it unsuitable, having tried and had dreadful side-effects. And I know that I wouldn't know these things about that person.

But, this was a thread for opinions you wouldn't usually admit, and that's mine. I realize it isn't kind and probably isn't fair.

But, like @minuette1, I know women in my social circle who have lots of money, and speak a lot about how they think weight-loss injections are dangerous and are cheating. And yet, at the same time, they try one crazy diet after another (the person I speak of in my original post, who has really piled on weight, has mentioned Fast800, cabbage soup diet, slimming world). These diets seem much more dangerous and unhealthy to me.

I am probably biased by the fact that using weight loss injections and losing 75 lbs has been one of the easiest things I've ever done. I used to be fat, and now I'm not. I realize that my eating used to be disordered, and now it's not. I used to think about food non-stop (if there was a packet of chocolate biscuits in the cupboard, I couldn't think of anything else until I had eaten the whole lot. I would regularly eat a whole 12 pack multi-pack of crisps - I just couldn't stop, even though I felt sick as I was doing it and awful, both physically and mentally, afterwards). I just can't understand why (if you can - exceptions listed above exempted), you wouldn't try it. And why you would see your "not trying" as a sign of moral superiority, as my colleague does, when really, you just seem fat and exhausted.

That was the point I was, perhaps cackhandedly, trying to make. I agree with you.

Another one -

Those who think it needs face to face prescribing are simplifying a complex issue way too much and not considering the substantial access barriers that would impose on the very people who need access desperately, ignoring the realities of patient need.

Completely agree. Junk science & food lobbyists from the 1950's onwards have a hell of a lot to answer for.

I changed my eating habits 5 years ago, it's the first time I've ever maintained any significant loss. All down to carb restriction & finally learning what they do to my body. So yes I'm that 'carbs are the devil' person, but because it's worked for me & so many others, where nothing else has.

WLI is helping me now as menopause had stopped any loss for 2 years, but I'd been able to maintain over that time, so I'm hopeful WLI can get me where I need to be, & i can then continue to maintain with my current eating habits.

I must say going keto gave me similar results to WLI. My cholesterol shot up though which I am assuming was all the fat.

I am following the NHS diabetes prevention program after just touching the prediabetic bracket. I think that in an ideal world WLI would be prescribed to go along with a program like the diabetes prevention program where people are coached in diet improvement and increased exercise alongside the injections. People need to change their lifestyle as well as use the drugs. I see so many posts on social media where WLI users are eating pretty badly but losing weight rapidly. And 80% of other posters would copy them because they lost weight quickly rather than eating well. A lot of people just want quick results and to stay on it forever so they don’t have to address their issues. If someone on these threads posts a big loss or a rapid stone off you can guarantee there will be “oh that’s amazing, how did you do that!” posts quoting it. You never get people asking how the 1-2lb a week losers have done it! People are hoping this is just a quick fix.

@Stinby which provider is this with the most recent order number please? How does it work if you are switching to them for the first time?

I think that weight loss injections are an important and very significant breakthrough.
I also think that we should tackle the underlying problem, that being the ubiquity of junk food, edible food like substances created to be as addictive as possible designed to make people obese. Although thinking about it I suppose they are designed to maximise the profits of the food industry and the rumination of our health is just collateral damage 🤷🏻‍♀️

The evidence is there. There have been studies on taking maintenance medication which have shown great benefit when it comes to keeping the weight off, and these studies recommend continuing on a maintenance dose. For example, the SURMOUNT-4 trial looked at participants who had reached goal after 36 weeks and then went onto a maintenance dose for a further 52 weeks.
The outcome of the trial was that continuing on maintenance was recommended for at least that period of time.

Mine is that people whinging about losing 1-2lbs a week are nuts. When’s the last time you consistently lost 1-2lbs a week for months on end?! I’ve averaged 1.66lb loss a week and I’m 4 stone down and so happy and grateful that I’ve had this opportunity and seen this success.