Boyfriend thinks WLI are cheating

[Sogfree]

Posting here for traffic, as I think it's been lost in my monthly chat feed:

I've not told my boyfriend of 8 months that I'm on MJ. He's not noticed my weight loss really, as it's gradual. He goes to the gym 5/7 days. I've been running 5k+ 3/7 days for the last 10 years.

WLI were mentioned yesterday in conversation. He said "well those injections are just cheating, aren't they?"

I responded with something like "if it helps people become healthier long term, then surely that's a good thing"

Then moved the conversation on.

Where do I go with this?!

But nobody has claimed the WLI are a replacement for healthy eating. Yes I have heard anecdotes of someone's uncle's colleague on jabs who allegedly sits there stuffing their faces with 5 McD meals for breakfast, but I sure haven't met any. You need to eat in calorie deficit to lose weight, jabs or no jabs. Jabs will not mean that you can eat a family sized chocolate bar and your body will think it's a carrot.

So what’s the point of them then? The weight goes right back on once they stop?

To lose weight.

WLIs are, at minimum, no less likely to result in weight going back on once you stop than traditional dieting. And for plenty of us, the issue of what happens when you stop doesn't arise because we don't/won't. Hence maintenance doses.

so what's the point of diet and exercise without WLI, weight goes right back on once you stop.

People who take WLI still need to eat healthily, exercise and "retrain" their bodies to get used to having smaller portions.

I don't get why some people are so incensed that they call this cheating. Who are they cheating?

Chances are, they will have already tried various methods to lose weight before considering WLI. Surely more obese people taking them to get healthier and slimmer, is better than remaining obese and having to deal with all the health related problems, which will also add burden to NHS.

Willpower. That’s the interesting one I think. It suggests that the difference between overweight people (who don’t want to be) and slim people is that slim people are stronger willed and have more discipline. That overweight people just aren’t trying enough. Maybe that’s sometimes the case but there seems to be growing evidence that physiology is driving the impulses in many cases and that some slim people just don’t feel the same powerful cravings overweight people do. I don’t know, I’m not a doctor, but I certainly think it’s possible rather than just assuming all overweight people are just lazy or don’t try hard enough?

Why should they be a last resort?

@SoManyIdiotsSoLittleWineI’m not saying those negative things about overweight people. If I were to be asked I certainly wouldn’t insinuate that overweight people are any better or worse than people who aren’t overweight.

you may infer that from my very innocuous comments about believing weight loss jabs to be a quick fix, ergo “cheating”

Whilst obviously rejecting the principle, because it's so stupid, I always wonder what this sort of person means by 'last resort' too. Who defines that, and what are their qualifications to do so? Does it look different depending on things specific to the person? Enquiring minds want to know because clearly there's not going to be a sensible answer.

I’m just interested in the idea of it being willpower as the determining factor. Genuinely interested in whether it’s that or a physiological difference in food noise etc. I don’t know the answer but I suspect it’s the latter.

I think it might be hard as a slimmer person to not feel slightly annoyed that it might not be superior discipline etc - it would certainly be a human emotion if not a flattering one.

I guess our very eating habits are our diet, so yes I ate the same as previously but just less and more choosy. What i meant was i never went on a specific weight loss scheme such as keto/sw etc. Losing weight is down to self will, or injection.

I really don’t get the “cheating” or “easy option” mindset. Weight and health is not a competition. If I’m less overweight, it doesn’t impact on you at all. So why is it a bad thing if I lose weight more easily rather than struggling?

There’s two reasons that I can think of. Some people feel there’s a moral aspect to weight, fat people lack willpower or are lazy so deserve to be fat. Or for the gym obsessed it could be because they do see weight and fitness as a competition. It’s not enough to be strong and lean, they want to be stronger and leaner than others and to be admired for it. So for them, me being slimmer does affect them because it takes away from their achievement.

Surely intentionally eating less / smaller portions (albeit of same food) is a diet though. That’s a weight loss diet.

What you refer to eg keto paleo etc are different types of exclusion diets. I’ve never done Sw but I understand it’s a combination of exclusion and restriction of calories. If these lead to a calorie deficit then yes they are also weight loss diets.

Getting constipation, diarrhoea, nausea and vomiting are just some of the side effects that some WLI users have to put up with.

That doesn't sound like it's an "easy option" to me.

I think he's just confirmed that your instincts not to tell him were spot on.

It's no one's business but yours anyway.