Why are you NOT on injections?

[Froum]

Just curious why other people have chosen not to go down the glp 1 route.

For me I have just heard one too many horror stories. I am extremely grateful to be in a healthy (albeit overweight) body that I just can’t take the risk. I have a random phobia of vomit/nausea. Genuinely couldn’t think of much worse in terms of side effects.

Also, I have lost significant amounts of weight in the past. And once I get going I don’t find it too difficult. So I know I don’t really need the medication. I can keep it off too as long as I don’t use food as a crutch when going through a difficult time. The weight I’m losing right now al came on during my divorce process. I lived off lasagna and cheese boards. Just to cheer myself up. Luckily I am in a better place

And id rather have the money each month (thinking of treating myself to a cosmetic treatment and it’s more justifiable in my head if I think I’ve saved money from not spending it on wl jabs).

I really dont think poorly of people who choose medication. Just thought I should say that.

From restriction, losing hair is a sign your body is having to prioritise where it expends energy.

i was so so so close to doing it, contacted a private company weighed in just tipping into the obese category and paid up the med was in the mail (i refused delivery).
but i don't have food noise, i don't suffer from hunger and even with the meds i'd still have to make better food choices.
i simply like certain foods and am prone to eat bigger portions than my body/metabolism needs.
so for the past 2 months i've been simply saying no to the big portions, saying no to snacks, and s l o w l y the weight is coming back down (been there and done this many times). I wouldn't qualify today.

the idea of being on a med for life was very off putting and i wasn't sure how i would feel mentally if i failed on the meds (and still ate more than i should for someone 5'2" and nearing 70 years).

I’ve had friends on monjaro and then as soon as they’ve stopped the weight is going straight back on. They’re hungrier than they were before they started.

My understanding is that they work by reducing your appetite (or 'food noise') so you eat less - I couldn't eat less than I do now without literal starvation. I regrettably seem to be programmed to hang onto weight.

It was so bad. I only lost a stone and a half over 4 months, so very steadily. The hair loss started 2 months after I started and is only just slowing down now. I started it in June last year and have been off it now for 6 months.

Because I know the second I stopped (and I would want to stop eventually, not be taking it for the rest if my life) it would all go back on and then some.

Also, because I know the reasons I overeat have very little to do with hunger, I dont believe appetite suppression would work for me. I eat because I'm upset, bored or on the verge of a melt down, very rarely because I'm actually hungry.

Cost.
I eat because I'm emotional rather than because I'm hungry, so it wouldn't tackle that.
It can affect the absorption of medications and I am struggling to get my epilepsy under control as it is so I don't need anything else to mess with that.

I'd like to use it. My BMI hovers between 29 and 30 and I'd really love to lose a stone, but Ive had surgery that removed my gall bladder and half of my pancreas so I don't think there are any online sources that would prescribe it.

-Hearing of other people having kidney pain/infections quite soon after starting it
-I don’t want nausea
-cost
-can do it myself
-people seem to lose muscle mass and fat in places where they need it and end up looking older

This.

Because I was terrified of the side effects. I have a job that requires a fair commute and is active all
day, feeling sick and tired doesn’t git with that.
it did spur me onto loosing weight though as I don’t want to be the last overweight one standing and have lost 21lbs with another 30 to go. I’ve changed my eating habits and that’s needed to happen which I’m not sure with the injection would have

I think it's potentially the lack of iron. I've lost 5 stone in ten months and I'm at the lower end of a healthy BMI.
I've had migraines and swollen glands. I'm just run down really.
I came off them for two months over Christmas and piled a lot of weight on.
They're certainly not a magic bullet and I wish I'd done it differently. I'm too scared to come off them now, although prescribers are getting stricter.
I want to believe that I've learned lessons from all of my exercise and healthier eating however, I have a lot going on in life right now and I know myself well enough to know that I'd comfort eat.
I went into the obese range by putting on 3 stone from trauma. I wish I could just get back to that healthy medium sensibly.

TLTR: I wouldn't recommend them.

I'm really surprised to read this! I'm sorry to hear it too. It may actually be the injections themselves then! I know a lot of people have experienced hair loss.
Hopefully our hair will go back to normal soon 🍀

I think many are losing now but there’ll be a time that most will put the weight back on once they stop. Either through cost or not wanting to tolerate the meds forever.

I’m surprised with the hair thing. I crashed dieted for my wedding many years ago (after I had a baby). Was convinced eating 800 calories for 12 weeks was going to leave me with hair loss and saggy skin. Never happened. Not recommending crash diets at all though!

Cost

I think you’re right about changing eating habits. Having seen hundreds of tictoks titled “what I ate today on Mounjaro” the drug doesn’t encourage healthy eating just less eating.
Eating less will always lead to weight loss. But once you come off the drug can you still eat half a donut if your appetite is no longer suppressed? Or will you eat two of them because the drugs no longer make you fill full.

I’ve lost a stone in two months by cutting out UPFs and sticking to the calories. I don’t snack but love rich food and fatty food. I am now retired and you would think I’d be piling on the weight. But it’s so much easier to control my diet and I’m determined to get back to my comfortable weight. Ive accepted that I can’t eat what I used to be able. I think that the gradual change in your BMR is why many of us gradually gain weight. But it doesn’t explain the massive increase in obesity in the under 40s. Goodness knows how big some will get as they age. I have put on 3 stone gradually over 4 decades. My starting weight was 10stone and a comfortable size 12 in 1980s sizes ( size6-8 in modern sizes). Hopefully I can get back to sub 11 stone by the end of the year.

But I’m now able to take my time meal planning. I have the time to batch cook and prepare healthier food. I never wait until I’m starving, when I was working and running both a business and house I’d often be eating on the run or find myself eating unhealthy snacks while sat in a freezing car at rugby training, because I had collected DS from school and not actually been home.

I’m actually quite motivated by the obesity gang on tictoc who have lost 4-5 stone but are still much bigger than me. I feel like I have not let myself go too much and that my 3 stone target is well within my reach. I don’t need the drugs and if I succeed I will have retrained my eating habits without the need for diet aids, drinks or plans.

I disagree with them for 2 reasons.

When it all took off, I personally know diabetics who couldn’t get it, and had to go on full insulin. This has a serious impact on their driving and the DVLA. Disgusting.

i also think it’s a ticking time bomb, and that people a) don’t know the long term effects and b) don’t know what will happen when they stop.

Oh and a third reason- people look bloody awful on them.

I don’t want to lose the weight quickly just put it back on straight away. I’m losing weight a lot slower than I’d like - a pound every ten days, but if I stick to it that’s still 36 pounds in a year which would put me in the middle of the ok bmi category. I didn’t know about the hair loss - I haven’t enough to be losing anymore 😁

Keto reduces food noise for me. If it didn’t work I would 100% consider injections.

I have a history of disordered eating and non-purging bulimia. I don't doubt the injections would work and I'd lose weight while on them, but coming off them could be catastrophic – I could easily spiral back into an ED. Not worth the risk.

I don’t quite weigh enough, but if I carry on munching I will soon.

Worried about how it affects the pancreas etc due to familial cancer.
I know one person who took it and needed her pancreas removed, no idea if it was related.
Another is vomiting all the time, can’t each much, can’t drink alcohol and is miserable, but losing weight. She admits she isn’t exercising and likely won’t change her diet (so will have to stay on it forever or intends to have binge breaks then go back on it).
Another was admitted to hospital in agony with gall stones.

I have zero willpower, so I’d lose weight on it, not change my diet and put the weight back on so it’s utterly pointless for me. I’ve started using an exercise bike, drinking lots of water and not eating out so much. Friends are going out less as they’re all bloody on it lol.
I rarely take any medication though, even paracetamol.

I think, basically, I just don't want to

But if I had to make a list

Side effects

Cost

I don't have food noise, so clearly I overeat for other reasons

I've seen plenty of people lose a lot of weight before these things were invented so I think I could do it, I just don't want it enough

I was on other medication for years and I'm happy to be medication free 😊🥳

I have lost some weight on my own.

When I look back at old photos of me, it sounds mad, but I don't look that much better. So I can't really imagine going through all this hassle and what would I really get at the end of it?

I have been Kylie Minogue size, but I don't think it's going to happen again. It's just not that important to me now.

To be honest as I get older, I wonder if that is what makes my face look younger, rather than ethnicity and genes, which is what I thought previously.

When my father was dying, I lost a stone incredibly fast. I was also permanently troughing my face with junk food. Similar happened at other times in life - but I was thin at that stage - I had some really stressful work periods, ate a load of junk food - Lord knows how many calories - and lost weight from the stress hormones.

I think it's a very complicated mix in my case and if I thought medication was going to be easy and side-effect free, I would maybe do it. But from what I read on here, you do all the sacrifice and you have to take a medication as well. And it's incredibly expensive.

I’ve been told they are not suitable for me by my psychiatrist due to my long history of Eating Disorders.

My friend’s on them and she literally shat herself and had to have a day off work everytime she upped the dose. Don’t fancy it!