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.

I have friends who eat till full and they stop. I don’t. I’m not full. I would love the feeling you have in feeling full or not hungry. I’m really pleased they worked for you and appreciate your post!

WLI probably would work for you for a while, but based on friends who lost weight on them, the hunger cravings just come back as soon as you stop taking it. So would you really want to be taking WLIs for life? (some people are ok with that but personally I wouldn't be).

The fact is - it's normal to get hungry between meals. It's normal to crave unhealthy but tasty food like sweet food or comfort foods.

I don't think it's an illness to have a love of food. I'm a foodie and have to work hard to eat low calorie or healthy food most of the time now I'm on a diet. It's boring and takes a little joy out of life but it's for health reasons so I'm trying.

Obesity has caused virtually non-existent diseases to dramatically accelerate, and has turned ancient or rare conditions into an epidemic of non-communicable diseases.

You are so right. The mental load of always counting calories, weighing every teaspoon or less of oil or butter, the constant logging and succeeding then failing in a constant loop. It’s miserable,

It must be absolutely liberating to eat and then be full. Just like that. I don’t know why so many people still call us obese people lazy - it’s a project and a half counting every morsel of food. No wonder we yo-yo.

For me my obesity arose as a result of a metabolic disorder or illness. I gained weight if I exceeded 1350 calories a day, which is far less than the average person.

The only way for me to lose weight has been Mounjaro. I am on a long term maintenance dose and can keep my calorie intake at that level.

Well yes, if I have some sort of imbalance why would I not keep treating that for life? Because yes I absolutely know if I stopped my body and brain would revert.

I take statins. Cholesterol. I stopped a while ago- guess what, cholesterol went back up. So I take statins to keep that under control.

I don’t dispute this. But still doesn’t explain why you think obesity isn’t an illness. That’s what I was hoping you would expand on.

I think it can be. I am obese. I don’t have food noise. I don’t eat over 1400 calories a day. I do 10000 steps every day. I can’t help thinking there is something wrong with me.

IMO it’s not an illness… another way that we are all being encouraged to lose our personal agency.

I personally think condition would be a better word, it is caused by multiple factors and should be treated as more a mental issue as well and yes I'm talking from personal experience.

I am male and 11 years ago was touching 30 stone having struggled with weight all my life, I had no off switch when it came to food and could just eat and eat, I couldn't buy clothes in shops as nothing would fit and my back was in pain walking. My ex wife had an affair because I was so big and had no interest in anything and I don't blame her in that aspect, she felt unloved and felt lacking as even sex was impossible because of my size so I accept my part in why she did it.

Despite all that when I looked in the mirror I saw a thin person. That's why I say it's a condition.

I can't honestly say there was a light bulb moment that made me realise I had to do something

Fast forward now I have lost 12 stone through diet and exercise, I feel so much better and I have a life again, only last week I was Majorca with my lovely fiancee and went swimming in the sea and stood on the beach with no t-shirt on, something that I couldn't have dreamt of 11 years ago.

So OP my point is yes disease, illness, condition whatever you want to call it it is that. It's also complex and not easy, if anyone here is struggling please feel free to message me for support as I have been there..

Sorry for the long post

I don't believe I lose any personal agency in recognising that my body doesn't work correctly and taking a medication for that. I take Mounjaro and eat healthy food in moderate quantities and engage in resistance training, pilates, swimming and walking. The injections are the key to everything else working successfully. I pay for the prescription, I work hard, I manage the condition successfully that I have not been able to manage for the previous forty years of my life. Having medication to help doesn't take away my agency anymore than taking HRT or ADHD medication or statins or any other medication takes away the agency of those who take them.

The fact is - it's normal to get hungry between meals. It's normal to crave unhealthy but tasty food like sweet food or comfort foods

What @Ffiohna and I have experienced isn't normal.
It's not "craving unhealthy food", it's an ongoing gnawing hunger. Hungry, full, or asleep. Never the in-between state of Not Hungry.

I'm a foodie too. Food is my main hobby, whether it's growing it, preserving it, cooking or baking it, researching new cuisines.

Being a foodie and experiencing the sort of hunger we're talking about are not remotely the same.

It’s addiction.

Alcoholics would say the same thing - they’re always thinking about alcohol and however much they drink they always want more.

It’s not actual hunger though is it as in you haven’t eaten food for a week and you’re actively starving - it’s a kind of fake hunger. Similar to the hunger any addict has for their drug of choice.

Ime the more you eat the more hungry you feel because your GI tract is working harder. When eat less you feel less hungry.

I would not call it an illness.
But it can be a symptom for example of medicines where a person ‘may gain weight’. How often does actual medicine make people overweight ? I gained two stone on some medication. When I raised a concern I was told at least it wasn’t five !
Some people become fat due to a problem with their bodies elsewhere. The obesity is not the illness, but symptomatic of a problem somewhere else.
Some people are overweight because of the food eaten, promoted, manufactured and sold. It is easier to be fat if you are hard up.
Some people are fatter because they have lost the plot with dietary guidance and advice which changes with every new study that comes out. One minute overall calories matter, then fat is evil, then it is sugar, then it is carbs. Ask ten people what a healthy diet is and you will probably get ten different answers.

It is a symptom of problems, rather an independent illness I think.

Ok that’s you and fair enough it’s your opinion.

I wouldn’t want to be taking expensive drugs for life. WLI also have negative side effects for some people.

But mainly I would say it’s a financial disadvantage to take them for life, even assuming there are no negative side effects.

Obesity is the cause of many diseases. It’s not a disease in itself.

Labelling a massive portion of the population as "diseased" promotes patient passivity and places an unsustainable burden on the NHS.

My view is that it's a weight category using the BMI. The one with higher weights than overweight but less than morbidly obese. There are mamy different factors which contribute to a person's obesity which range from what sort of food and the attitudes around food they experienced and learned when growing up, the time available to them to prepare nutritious meals, socioeconomic level, knowledge they have about eating healthily, what availability of food they have around them - for instance there are situations where people live in 'food deserts' away from supermarkets and they have limited resources to reach those nearest and so are forced to buy what they can afford from nearby convenience stores which is often UPFs.
It is also about the food environment we exist in now as a society generally with the influx of junk food advertising and availability for eating and drinking out. To eat healthily requires quite a bit of discernment and saying no.
With all that said there may be pockets of control that you do have that are blindspots currently. What is it that is making you feel the situation of your weight is out of your control?

I understand the link between obesity and other diseases. I don’t understand why you’re saying it’s not a disease.

WHO disagrees with you www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight

It really doesn't promote passivity. For me, trying and failing to manage a healthy weight my entire life left me feeling demoralised and hopeless in a world intent on telling me it was my fault for not trying hard enough. To have understanding that there is something awry with how my body is functioning is empowering. Taking Mounjaro to fix the problem means that cooking, eating and exercising become positive and enjoyable parts of my life instead of sources of despair and anguish. I am far less passive now that I can see that I am not a pathetic and shameful person because of obesity, but that it's a problem I can successfully manage now I have access to medication. I had certainly reached the point of giving up, forty years into an endless struggle of every possible diet and intervention imaginable. There hasn't been a day in my life since I was around seven years old that I haven't thought about my weight. There isn't a single diet or exercise program or lifestyle change or therapy that I haven't tried. I have spent enormous amount of money, time and effort all of my life and failed every time to get and keep the weight off. I was becoming passive and fatalistic, but recognising obesity as a disease with a medication to address it has absolutely transformed my life and health. On the Mounjaro threads on here you will see women actively taking control because we are enabled to do it now.

No it is a lifestyle choice for 99% of people

99% that's high. What's your source for this claim?

I think so - I would class it as an addiction, actually. Food addiction. I think food companies get off the hook for designing addictive products - ie. specifically created to make you crave them, even though they are not nutritious

Absolutely. In fact there is a substantial and increasingly well-documented historical connection between Philip Morris, the tobacco industry, and the development of potentially addictive ultra-processed foods (UPFs). PM acquired Kraft Foods in 1988 and the rest as they say, is history.

@OrangeBlaze thank you for your most recent post, you have articulated exactly how I feel about my weight and the recent availability of Mounjaro. Our stories are very very similar. I have gone from morbidly obese to a healthy weight over the last 2 years thanks to Mounjaro and the last thing I feel about my weight now is passive!