Is being Obese an illness?

[agel]

Yes or No
Im really not trying to start an argument. I want to understand what people actually think/know/believe about this.

I am obese and am trying to gain some sort of control over my eating through therapy at the moment. I’ve tried diets and exercising that do work but long term I don’t seem to be able to change my lifestyle enough to keep the weight off. I hate living like this and how people treat me differently because of my size. My family don’t understand at all. My partner is not understanding and it’s seriously affecting our relationship in many ways. It seems unfair because I don’t feel I have much control over this. It’s actually very lonely being in this situation. I rarely mention the topic of my health or weight to others because pardon the pun it’s always the elephant in the room! But you can almost hear what people are thinking. I hate the judgemental looks and comments. I rarely go out now because of anxiety and panic attacks brought on by this situation.

huh?

firstly on the correct dose you get hungry for meals. And you feel full after a healthy portion. Not a “tiny” amount,

and I don’t get your point on normality, if thay normality causes weight gain and ill health.

So i threw together an infographic on GLP1s just in case anyone else is as curious as I am about how they work.

You don't have a normal appetite, they literally work by suppressing your appetite.

Yes, that’s the whole point of them, what point are yoy making?

@Twiglets1 my “normal” appetite was basically to constantly graze, to over eat at mealtimes, prefer all the high carb/high fat foods and generally eat far too much. When taking a GLP1 my appetite is reduced, thank goodness, and I can eat a normal amount of calories or a reduced amount of calories to maintain a long term calorie deficit. It’s not my “normal” appetite, but my normal appetite lead me to be morbidly obese.

I think a normal appetite means eating enough to maintain a healthy weight and feeling satisfied. Of course, you get hungry before meals or between them, but eating something should satisfy that hunger.

What doesn’t seem normal is eating enough but still feeling miserably hungry.
The people I know doing well on WLI tend to be like me. They can cook, understand nutrition and enjoy their food. They still get hungry at mealtimes but feel satisfied and stop when they’re full, having eaten a reasonable number of calories for their individual needs and enjoyed their meal.

Its literally the point of WLIs

@SilenceInside you have described so well on this thread, I relate so much x

I was responding to a poster who said when you start taking WLIs you realise what normal eating feels like including the full signal.

My point is that there's nothing normal about feeling full after a small portion.

The "full signal" after a few bites is not normal.

I understand that and why people choose to use WLIs to reduce their appetite. What I disagree with is people saying the lack of hunger you experience on WLIs is what a normal appetite is.

I should probably say at this point that I did briefly use WLIs in the past.

The lack of hunger I felt was definitely not normal, I've never been so disinterested in food in my life.

It's a tool to lose weight and a good one for some people. But I don't think it is doing anything to teach most people about normal relationship with food. Most people will regain the weight if they stop taking WLIs. In that way it is no different to all the other diets out there, albeit it does help people lose weight quicker and more easily than traditional forms of dieting.

What I meant was the lack of a signal that I am full, and constant feeling of hunger, when my logic mind says I cannot possibly be as I’ve just eaten. The people I know on WLIs who I’ve eaten out with eat the same portion and same food as me, eg in a cafe, but the difference is they feel satisfied and I don’t. They tell me that they used to be like me, and now they are not.

Your personal experience is interesting thanks for sharing.

I think many of us yoyo dieters know what healthy relationships with food look like. And how to lose weight. To track what goes in. To eat a balanced diet. The unhealthy relationship with food I have is I ask, why does this food, which is perfectly balanced, home cooked, full of the spicy and other flavours I love, full of fabulous protein that I also love, is not enough. That’s it. If I were in WLI, I would hope to eat exactly the same amounts (as I am in a small deficit), but to feel much more - if not perfectly as after all I’d be in a deficit still - satisfied. Not miserable. Then when I reach my quite reasonable goal, to maintain with the same diet. Pie in the sky as I am unlikely time soon to be able to try them. I appreciate that this is just my take and respect yours was different

I respect your experiences too - I've sometimes yo yo dieted also. At other points I've just given up caring about gaining weight. Currently I'm trying to change my attitude to food (in particular snacking which is my downfall) in a slow but steady way.

I think people get defensive who are on WLIs and take every comment as negative if it isn't 100% they are the best thing since sliced bread. Not aiming this comment at you, more a general observation.

I don't mean to be overly negative about WLIs. I see their positives as well as their negatives. But they do have their drawbacks and one is that it's not the real world to have a small appetite forever. Appreciate it may work for people that intend to stay on them forever (assuming the suppression lasts forever) but not everyone wants or can do that due to cost.

I think that obesity is very often an illness. There are times when you have someone who is obese because they are a bon viveur who simply enjoys eating and drinking too much and they get fat. However, more often than not there are complex reasons behind obesity, which in my opinion make it an illness. There are also clear-cut cases where a person has PCOS, insulin resistance, T2 diabetes or hypothyroidism where there are obviously hormonal issues contributing to the obesity.

I've been on the WLI threads since 2024 and my observation would be that people are obese or overweight for many, many, many different reasons.

I didn't have a huge appetite and still had the sensation of fullness, so that wasn't my problem. I am still not entirely sure what the cause of my over-eating and therefore fatness was, but can only attribute it to "food noise", which was something I never knew I had until I did not have it. The relentless, itchy, noisy, compulsion to eat. OMG, as soon as that stopped, I ate at mealtimes and that was that! I still felt physically hungry and I did still have an appetite, but it was all very manageable.

I came off WLI and after a while the relentless food noise came back. Again, it wasn't anything to do with sensations of fullness or having a large appetite, it was a mental compulsion to eat food. It made me feel like I was a crazy person, because I could sense it in such an acute way - whereas it had just been background noise before. So now I microdose WLI, not to lose weight, but to enjoy mental peace. No idea where that fits on the "illness" spectrum, but that is how it is for me.

Very definitely not the same for very many other former fatties who I've been posting with for over two years.

I don’t get this post, I intend to stay on, my weight has been completely stable foe about 20 months in maintenance, my appetite is for a healthy portion, yes if I came off my appetite would increase, making me struggle to maintain, and thus likely gaining weight and becoming unwell.

80 percent of people who lose weight without using meds regain all the weight within five years, and often more, so I am unsure what point your making other than the drugs don’t work if you don’t take them,

You don't seem to get any of my points so don't see any point us debating the issues any further.

That's how I felt on my first few weeks of WLIs and sometimes on increasing the dose, which I have done very gradually. When I adjusted to the medication, I was and have continued to be eating three healthy sized meals a day and by no means feeling full after a few bites. I also snack once or twice a day. I'm on 7.5mg after two and a half years and losing weight slow and steady. Down from a BMI of 42 to 27 right now. So I have taken care to keep my dosage low, my appetite 'normal' ie not too suppressed and my weight loss fairly gradual. For me the joy of them is being normal, not highly suppressed or ill with side effects or losing muscle. Just being normal for the first time in over forty years.

I'm also more interested in food than ever! Because I'm not compulsively eating things I don't even want. I'm planning meals that I'm excited to cook and I don't eat all the way through making them, so I'm actually hungry when I serve them. I love food now I'm on WLIs and I look forward to it and enjoy it. The picture @Twiglets1 paints of someone on WLIs not caring about food, never feeling hungry and eating a few mouthfuls at a time is the polar opposite of my experience except as I said for the first two or three weeks and then again when I first went up to 5mg a few months later (again for a week or so) where I stayed for over a year until very recently.

It sounds like you are doing everything right.

However you would probably find that your appetite/cravings are still more suppressed than you know. Or maybe you do know it - you are continuing with the WLIs after all, and they aren't cheap.

I think you're exaggerating what I said about appetite suppression. I didn't say people on WLIs never feel hungry, but it's true that their appetite is artificially suppressed.

That's not something I have any problem with, it's literally how the drugs are intended to work. I just don't equate someone's small appetite on WLIs with what a "normal" appetite looks like without them.

@Twiglets1 the thing is, it is so difficult to know what anyone's "normal" appetite looks like. We can only know what our own looks like.

Those of us who have taken WLI do get to experience something different, but only for ourselves. What you experienced on WLI and what someone else experiences may well be very different. I think this is why obesity is such a tough nut to crack because it is so multi-causal.

I just don't equate someone's small appetite on WLIs with what a "normal" appetite looks like without them.

Well, this is where we disagree. They can be used to achieve an abnormally tiny appetite or they can be used to bring an abnormally high appetite down into the normal range.

I don't claim to know what anyone else's normal appetite looks like.
My point was almost the opposite. I originally responded to a poster who felt that her appetite with WLIs was equivalent to a "normal" person's appetite without them.

I'm not so sure about that. I feel it's normal to have cravings, love food and often overindulge. That's why the diet industry is so massive.

Normal for you.

What you did say @Twiglets1 was that you'd never felt so disinterested in food which I interpreted as never feeling hungry. I'm not sure there is a huge distinction between those two things.

You also criticise WLIs as 'not teaching people a healthy relationship with food' which I see coming up often. For me this is why the disease classification is helpful. There is no teaching me a healthy relationship with food. As I have said a few times on the thread, I have more than forty years experience of battling my body on this. I have had all the therapy which people tout as the magic cure, I have tried all the diets and then given up on diets because what you really need is a 'lifestyle change' and 'learning new habits' (which by the way is...dieting by another name). I am so educated about food and nutrition, I am affluent enough to afford WLIs for life so I can also afford good quality food. I know how to cook. I have had personal trainers since I was 16. I really can't imagine what anyone could possibly suggest to me that after all this time and energy and effort could teach me a healthy relationship with food. It's like telling a type 1 diabetic to learn how to have a healthy relationship with insulin. I'm sorry, but it's not achievable!

But having said that, what I experience on WLIs does feel like a healthy relationship with food because it's a positive and nourishing one at last. So I would argue they come closer to teaching me what a healthy relationship with food is better than anything else.

But I won't achieve that healthy relationship with food without WLIs just like my peanut-allergic daughter won't learn a healthy relationship with peanuts. My body won't do it, and I can say with confidence that I know that now and the scientific understanding is starting to fall in line with people's experience of their own bodies. Hence the disease description of obesity. It is a physical dysfunction, not a mental illness or tendency towards gluttony, and it can be brought in line with normal by medication.