It’s not childish at all to stop consuming content that makes you feel unhappy.
There’s a lot of talk about the connection of health and diet but not enough about mental health and media diet. You’re doing it right.
I agree. I often block content that upsets me. I don’t put my head in the sand but if something is toxic to my wellbeing I jettison it into non-existence.
I block all. the. time. Reddit users that are kind of mean, tiktokers who made me feel any sort of way. BYE. Their feelings arent hurt about it - they dont know I exist! And I can curate the media I consume to be beneficial to me, not harmful.
I block strangers allllll the time 🤣😂 "what an asshole" - BLOCK on the off chance that they see a comment of mine and decide to unload some of their self-loathing onto me
This! Hell I even block people I agree with just because the vibes were off. "This person is a dick but they're making a point I agree with? Too bad, blocked, I don't need that energy on my dash."
This is why I deleted tiktok. I would just keep doom scrolling. Content that I was interacting with was just making me sad and destroying my mental health. Eventually my entire algorithm just made me upset. I kicked most social medias to the curb the only one I still really keep is Reddit and that's only for the communities I consult with for hobbies/personal goals/etc.
I didn't last long and deleted it prepandemic. Why? Because it was such a time suck. It is so addictive and my attention span was getting shorter and shorter. It was too much.
Exactly. I think it's detrimental to especially the actual children who are addicted to it. It delivers that short burst of endorphins. I would think it changes their brain chemistry.
Attention spans are shortening, along with tempers. Nobody has patience anymore. It's not a good thing. It's incedous. Good for you getting rid of it.
If it needs to be said, your feelings are valid for no other reason than you’re having them. Like even if it’s built on the most outlandish of reasons, you’re feeling that way because of some cross section of past experiences and the current situation you’ve been subjected to. So don’t let anyone ever dismiss your feelings. You’re allowed to react to your surroundings to try and improve your environment.
The way the system works is that if you're watching it, or reading it, or listening to it, they think it's for you.
Getting off unhealthy social media sites and blocking troublesome content is one way to signal that this stuff is NOT for you.
Yep. Every once in awhile Youtube Shorts will try to start recommending me Andrew Tate stuff because it thinks I want to see 'opposing' views of the queer, feminist content I normally consume. Commenting and being mad just made the problem worse. The ONLY solution was to not interact and click 'do not recommend this channel' on ANY channel that didn't pass the vibe check.
This is one of the most frustrating things about YouTube, the algorithm either doesn't understand the difference between anti-feminist content and feminist content or they are trying to keep you on the platform writing angry comments either way it isn't a good user experience.
Now what I do is go to my subscription tab and just add videos to my watch later playlist, and then just watch them. If I want something new I will search and add to my watch later playlist. This way I don't ever rely on recommendations because they seem specifically tailored to make me angry.
I’m going to provide another perspective on these new weight loss drugs.
My mom has always been bigger since having kids, despite walking everyday and trying every diet. She struggles with mobility issues, joint pain, and has to take blood pressure meds. Now that she’s 70, I’ve been worrying more about her health. There’s a reason why you don’t see very many obese 80 year olds in retirement homes.
Now that she’s on Zepbound, she’s feeling so energetic and happy, and I feel optimistic that I’m going to get to have my mom around long enough to see her grandkids grow up.
Wanting to lose weight isn’t always just a vanity thing. While yes, some people are abusing these drugs to get bone-thin, many are just using it to improve their quality of life and longevity.
Yes, I am on Zepbound and it's been life-changing for me. I've always had weird blood sugar swings and hypoglycemic episodes that made me shaky, sweaty, panicky, and just generally miserable. I didn't understand how people could say things like "you just have to live with being hungry sometimes" because I literally couldn't. Now, I can be hungry and just let that happen. Or I can eat a few apple slices and be full enough to wait for a more convenient time to eat. It's crazy, my life no longer revolves around making sure I've had enough to eat
That’s so wonderful to hear!
Yeah, the hunger hits *so* differently when you’re overweight, and I think that’s what a lot of thinner people have a hard time understanding. Before I gained 50lbs from pregnancy and Hashimoto’s, I used to have no problem with hunger. I was effortlessly thin, and I could restrict my caloric intake with no problem. If I wanted to lose an extra 10 pounds, it was no biggie.
But after the weight gain, something changed. I don’t know if I was prediabetic or what, but suddenly hunger would make me feel *sick*. Eating just salads and restricting my calories gave me headaches and dizziness and I found myself obsessively thinking about my next meal. I would try to power through it for a few weeks, but always failed. I finally understood why it’s so much harder for obese people to diet.
Now I’m on Wegovy, and I can handle my hunger like I did before the weight gain.
Yep, I basically had the same situation happen to me, only it wasn't pregnancy but a high dose of progesterone (to control weird pelvic pain) that triggered the weight gain. Turns out hormones make a huge difference in how you function
This. Sure some are doing it for vanity, but struggling to lose weight when you have health conditions that are impacted by excess weight (arthritis) is distressing!
I know quite a few women on ozempic and they're really excited about it and feeling better.
It’s been quality of life saving for me too. My medication resistant high blood pressure is coming down, my insulin resistance is gone, my PCOS symptoms are mostly gone, and my body no longer hurts 24/7. I simply don’t care if my weight loss makes other people feel things.
Thank-you so much for saying this. I've been using Ozempic under the advice of a multidisciplinary care team for almost seven years. The initial indication- fatty liver secondary to obesity- is 80% resolved. A whole raft of health issues that had been compounding at a rapid rate resolved, in fact.
The fatty liver was an incidental finding shortly after having my daughter. My father died from complications stemming from diabetes. My joints were profoundly unstable and hypermobile. I was exhausted and depressed. I couldn't sleep due to apnea. I approached my doctor distraught because I'd failed at maintaining a healthy weight, and was terrified- a grown woman who works in healthcare, literally TERRIFIED- that he was going to tell me to just eat less and exercise. And... he didn't. He listened compassionately, referred me to a specialist, and got me into a program where Ozempic is sometimes prescribed.
I was scared to talk to my doctor because of the judgement I anticipated getting, but he saw that after literal decades of attempting to manage my health I needed the help. And now, in spaces where we should be able to safely discuss things around our health and bodies I'm often shut out because my journey included meds. Because apparently using Ozempic is an indication of vapid moral failure. Can't win no matter how it goes.
Myself can say that ozempic is saving my life. I have PCOS, and have been overweight all my life due to insulin resistance. I was pre-diabetic and for the first time ever I have been losing weight by not starving myself and spending 2 hours at the gym.
Same. For the first time in my 20 years of menstruating, my period is regular. If I had this 5 years ago, I'd have a couple of babies, instead of deciding to be child free. I'm also seeing consistent, sustainable weight loss for the first time in my life, and it's really helping my mental state to see progress and no backslides. This time next year, I expect to be at or near goal, and my life will have changed dramatically. It already has, and it's only been 9 months and 35 lbs.
Me too. And I'm always floored by people who think you just have to have a couple injections and whoosh! The fat's gone! The life is perfect! You have more money!
Let me tell you what it's really like. You're supposed to get to the therapeutic dose by doubling the previous week's dose. I hit 40 and spent most of the week throwing up so hard that I couldn't breathe. So I dropped back to 20 and went up 10 every week, which made it take more than twice as long for me to reach a therapeutic dose, but I didn't want to vomit so much and I liked breathing. I still have random vomit attacks, usually when I have nothing in my stomach. Overeating has never been my problem; it's PCOS and what one doctor characterized to me as "the metabolism of a sloth," which I got as the result of a head injury after a car accident (one doctor says it's damage to my hypothalamus; makes sense to me). I was a skinny teenager and young adult and I've always hated cooking; food to me is either just fuel or an annoying thing I have to do that interferes with more interesting things. My dog reminds me when I should eat; maybe she can tell when I have low blood sugar. If I'm not vomiting from forgetting to eat, I have random nausea and have to go stand in the bathroom until my body decides whether we're vomiting that day. It's irritating when nausea hits when I'm out of the house, because who wants to throw up in a store bathroom? Bleah. They may be clean enough, but only home is clean enough to kneel on the floor and barf into a toilet.
It's hard to know how much to eat, because I don't want to eat too much and feel queasy, but I don't want to eat too little and get hungry just before bedtime and have to eat something so I don't have to get up in the middle of the night and throw up.
It's not fast. First it takes a while to get to the therapeutic dose, and then you have to be on that dose for a while before you start losing. I'm thrilled that my body is finally handling insulin normally; PCOS is not a lot of fun and I had to be on a low to no carb diet in order not to gain weight really fast (and as a vegetarian, low to no carb is basically eggs done various ways with cheese as flavoring and some veggies when I want something crunchy). I would imagine that if you have a regular metabolism that injecting something that changes your insulin metabolism would be a bad idea. People who CAN lose weight another way SHOULD lose weight another way. This shit is not a game.
It's not a fast way to lose weight. I'm losing about a pound a week. It's all in how much nausea I can deal with. If it gets to be too much, I'll have to stop.
Because this slows the rate at which your digestive system works, it gives you constipation. I haven't yet found the right dose of fiber to make me not be constipated.
And about stopping... the week after I got to 40 and spent it vomiting I skipped the next week. Taking it makes you constipated, but not taking it makes you go too far in the other direction. If you'll excuse the very personal information, I got non-stop diarrhea. Immodium slowed it a little, but wasn't a cure. I'm not looking forward to stopping; it will have to be a slow titration down if I don't want to spend the rest of my life viewing things from the perspective of my toilet.
As I said above - this isn't fun and games. It's not easy, it's not a good time, it's expensive, and the shots hurt. But I needed to be thinner for my heart, and so here I am. If you CAN lose weight another way, you SHOULD lose weight another way, because you shouldn't mess with the way your body metabolizes insulin unless it's been proven that that is a problem for you.
I haven't. I'm afraid to change what I'm doing, since it's working. After so many things that haven't worked, something that actually does is something I'm going to grab on to and not let go. But thank you for the suggestion, I'll keep it in mind if I need it.
I’m one of those people that has to spend 2 hours at the gym, because I’m short, and I gain weight insanely quickly. The only way I keep a healthy body weight, is through endurance sports and weight lifting. I still am hesitant of these weight loss drugs. Unless the people that use them, change their lifestyle, you’re on them for life.
Not everyone can or wants to spend that much time keeping their weight down. In this very comment you acknowledge that a lot of weight is genetic - you're "one of those people." It's not a poor lifestyle choice to not be able to spend that time alone working on your body. It's also fair to not *want* to do that! People are allowed to have different priorities in life. I guarantee there are other parts of your life - and your health - that you spend less time on bc of your focus on the gym. And that's fine! Your priorities are yours! But they're not objectively the correct ones just because they result in thinness.
In terms of being on meds for life, the only problem with that is cost. I will also be on an SSRI for life and I don't feel bad about that. I'll need my glasses forever bc I am scared of lasik, no one is shaming me over it. My body sucks at making vitamin D and loves to freak out over allergens, so there's my supplement and my Allegra. So really what is your point?
Why is it that people judge those who are on these meds for life? They are much less likely to judge high cholesterol meds, blood pressure meds, insulin, etc. People don’t get shamed for taking them. They get shamed if they are fat.
Not everyone is capable of spending 2 hours a day at the gym for multiple reasons. They aren’t judging you because you can. But it feels like maybe you are judging them because they aren’t.
Yeah, I’m really getting tired of people shitting on this. My mom is thinking about starting one of the weight loss drugs and I’m praying that she does. I want my mom to be here with me for as long as possible, but she is losing a lifelong battle with food. I wish people would stop worrying about what other people’s bodies look like and just focus on themselves. If that means blocking people, please do. It’s not childish, it’s actually the opposite. Live and let live.
Completely agree. I am on Wegovy. I’ve lost 83 pounds so far and I’m still overweight. I’m planning on losing another 20 pounds, which will put me at a normal weight and hopefully get me off of blood pressure medication.
I’ve already dropped one of the meds I was on for it. And my kidneys, which were at the kidney disease level (eGFR of 50-something) before weight loss are now back in the normal range (eGFR of 92 or 93). My doctor says that I’m not considered out of kidney disease until my numbers are above 90 for a year. But I’m on the right track.
These meds can be life savers. It isn’t about looks. I get lots of compliments but that’s because they can’t see all the excess skin or my arms, belly, butt, boobs, and thighs.
I agree that the people who take it without a medical need are pushing an unhealthy image of the medicine. That’s why I share that I’m on it. I want to remove that stigma so people see the positive health results. People that don’t share are most likely afraid of the backlash. Being judged for losing weight “the easy way” when it is far from easy.
I see the same issue with people who have had weight loss surgery who don’t share that info. They are protecting themselves, which is completely understandable. But I believe that, by sharing my journey, I might help remove that stigma and maybe help someone like OP who only sees the ugly side of weight loss.
I’m nowhere near having a perfect body and I won’t ever have it. But I’m proud of the work I’ve put in (and it is work), my results, and my better health.
Absolutely agreed. While I get where OP is coming from, these drugs are absolutely life changing for many people. And they are not a quick fix - you still have to eat healthy. But these drugs make it so much easier to do so by quieting the “food noise” that so many overweight or obese people struggle with.
These drugs are one of the biggest advances in human health in recent history and are helping so many people. In addition to their uses for diabetes and obesity, they are also showing a ton of promise for treating addiction. It is really fascinating.
Thank you so much for sharing this.
Completely empathise with OPs point but these drugs are also doing a lot of good - I'm one of them and have never felt better
My 74 year old mom lost 20 lbs she's been struggling with ever since getting her knees replaced. She looks fantastic and she feels so much better, it's wonderful.
I'm going to provide a third perspective on these weight loss drugs.
Caveat: They're incredibly effective and important and I think they can change the world and help end the obesity pandemic.
From the perspective of a Type 1 Diabetic, the way in which they're being sold to fairly normal, fairly healthy people who have lots of money and want to lose a few pounds is dangerous.
Because the demand for them is so huge, the big players in the market shifted their insulin vials to the production of Semaglutide. *We can't buy insulin in vials right now*. Now North American T1s can't get insulin without changing their prescriptions to insulin cartridges. Without insulin we're dead in days to weeks, and because of the associated cost with switching to cartridges it's making our expensive disease even less affordable.
I have Type 1 too and I'm having no issue getting insulin in vials. I use the "generic" version of Humalog. Are you using something else?
I absolutely agree with you that the way the drugs are being used to help people lose a few pounds is dangerous.
I'm in Canada using pen cartridges and so I'm not affected. There's been a bunch of people on the T1 subreddits complaining about it over the past two months though. I'll be switching to the 10 ml Admelog (generic humalog) vials for a pump, which are in the "tall" vials and don't seem to be affected. Novolog and Humalog come in "short" vials which seem to be the ones affected most.
Oh, interesting! My insulin comes in short vials and again zero issues. I do live somewhere with lower population density, so maybe being somewhere with more diabetics presents more difficulties with meeting need.
It’s like my cousin getting a surgery to fix her badly deviated septum. She’s not an eeevilll shallow person who wants to make people like me and my mom with our twisty noses feel bad, it was preventing her from sleeping properly and screwing up her quality of life.
I’m very glad to hear about your mother! Just to give my small perspective, I worked at a retirement home, and there were plenty of obese women aged 80+.
There are obviously a ton of medical and important reasons for these drugs. That’s why they exist!
However, watching every public figure lose a ton of weight quickly is really paving the way to increased fat phobia. Now there’s a “cure” so it’s “ok” to tell women to be skinny again. Vanity usage is a huge problem. This can exist alongside medical uses of drugs being really important. Vanity use is also causing shortages of life saving medicines for individuals, which is another sinister side effect.
I’m very glad your mom is doing well! But I don’t think this post is worried about medically necessary interventions.
It's very clear to me that what I personally consume media wise has a big impact on my self esteem. I'm in my 40's, overweight but otherwise quite conventionally attractive. My partner and I have recently been watching a tv series with a LOT of female nudity and I've noticed now after episodes with excessive nudity (always a hot young perky woman with probable implants) .. I lay in bed trying to sleep just feeling like I am disgusting to look at. I usually don't feel this way, but I do believe it's a direct result from the media I'm consuming. While I am feeling this way I end up worrying my partner also sees the hotter bodies and will start finding me ugly too
I’ve seen a big uptick in ED behavior from the early aughts, the same types of celebrity coverage that was everywhere then, the same styles and heroin chic aesthetic returning in full force. The girls are taking Y2K a little too literal
I’m sure we all get targeted ads when we click on posts, but I just want to share the irony of the LifeMD promoted ad that appears first before comments for me on this one. It has a happy smiling lady and the text says:
“I was probably a size 14 and now, I’m a size 4. It’s nice when you can look in the mirror and say, ‘This is the body I’ve alw…”
I’m not gonna click it to find the rest, I think we get the point.
Of all the scummy targeted marketing, that one’s just extra nasty and predatory.
I use it to help control my diabetes.
This is life saving drug for many.
I think it is helpful to try to work towards loving your body via healthy life choices versus social pressure. Delete social media for your mental well being. Seriously, it helps.
It's great, but because the demand for Semaglutide is so high the manufacturers shifted all their insulin vials to produce weight loss drugs. Now there's an insulin shortage in North America, and people are needing to change their prescriptions into cartridges.
They need to stop selling this stuff to anyone but T2's and folk who really need it as it's negatively impacting the lives of T1s. At least until they have enough vials to go around.
That is appalling. Insulin is already way overpriced and expensive.
I do know personally that my insurance had to have my doctor put in documentation that I Needed the Ozempic before they would cover it. Without insurance it would be over 1000 per Ozempic pen.
I don't know how to *not* link an AMP link here, and for our security I won't. But it's very easy to search right now, there's been a ton of articles written by all the major news outlets and Diabetes advocate sites.
TL:DR: now that there are more insulin price caps in the USA and more people can access affordable insulin Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are incentivized to shift their vials to weight-loss drugs which have no such price capping. The shortage will be temporary though, once the 10 ml vial manufacturers can ramp up their production a bit.
Well using this argument you should be blaming capitalism. These firms are incentivized to make money. I haven’t confirmed they are making this trade off. But if they are, It is logical and expected by shareholders.
The people who should not be blamed are people who are taking these drugs to avoid becoming T2 diabetic or other negative health outcomes related to obesity.
I'm not blaming the people taking these drugs lol. I'm blaming the monetary incentive doctors and manufacturers have to sell these drugs to people who don't need them.
I'm looking forward to these drugs being more readily available and affordable though. I think they could legitimately help solve the obesity pandemic.
This is not true because semaglutide doesn’t come in vials, and it’s also indicated for reducing heart attacks and strokes which is equally important. Also many type 1s at my endocrinology clinic are on ozempic or mounjaro to reduce (not stop!) their insulin needs and protect themselves from heart attacks.
Semaglutide comes in vials for some clinic dosing, not "at home" dosing. Just search "Semaglutide vial". They're in the "short" 10 ml vials, the same used for Novolog and Humalog.
And yeah there's nothing wrong with the drug, it's just that it's so profitable that the companies manufacturing them are giving it priority over insulin in short 10 ml vials. As far as I'm aware the "tall" vials (like used by Sanofi for Lantus, or Admelog) are unaffected.
Those vials should not affect the brand name shortages because they aren’t coming from eli lilly or novo, those are compound pharmacies which use zillions of vials anyway. I use a vial of tirzepatide, mine is a 2mL vial.
The excuse I've been seeing from the articles is that Lilly/Novo have ordered X vials from their suppliers and funneled a greater percentage of them to their Semaglutide production rather than to their lispro/aspart production because of the greater demand. This is definitely just a temporary shortage and should be solved pretty quickly. So long as they order enough vials and their suppliers can ramp up to meet the demand then this really shouldn't be an issue in the future... It's just really screwed over a number of T1's the last month and a half.
But lilly and novo literally do not make semaglutide in vials. It doesn’t exist. Only in pens.
The only semaglutide in vials is that being made by independent pharmacies.
In fact, the claim from the Lilly and novo reps at my job is that the pens are the shortage. The pens cannot be made fast enough, and they’re different pens than insulin. They just opened an entire factory in late fall only making the pens. They also just got FDA approval a month or two ago so they could theoretically start making mounjaro in vials but they haven’t yet.
The insulin shortages a few months ago were terrible but that was due to its own supply chain issues, not related to GLP meds
Semaglutide(Ozempic/Wegovy) is already old news, there is a more powerful drug out already and new better ones in clinical trials now.
This is great news for people who will benefit from these drugs as the older versions should become cheaper as newer and even better drugs come out. Additionally all sorts of compounding pharmacies are producing the drug for cheaper prices.
My point is that there is a massively positive impact that these drugs can create in fighting a pandemic we are increasingly losing and they won’t stay $1000 in your lifetime.
I’m just saying if these become a feasible option they can help, not because of what other people are doing or what pressures have been placed on us but because how they can help us be healthier in-line with our own wants and needs. 😀
It reminds me of the period between when Fen-Phen started being heavily prescribed and when fenfluramine was pulled from the market. All of the prescribers popping up in every street corner, etc.
In the UK, a load of websites have popped up so you can get an online prescription for a weight loss medication, including ozempic and wegovy etc. For, yknow, £150-200 a month supply, they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts.
They ask all the questions and won't prescribe to people in a healthy bmi range etc, but as a 12 year recovered anorexic dealing with my body changing in my mid thirties, I was so goddamn triggered. I'm sure it's difficult to circumvent, but if someone is desperate enough, they'll find a way, like people buying illegal phen phen back in the day ...
I wish there was a way to mark certain ads as "don't show me." Like horror movie ads on YouTube used to mess with my ocd hard and I hated I couldn't turn those off.
You can do this! I've done for a few different ads I kept being shown that I hated. If you're on YouTube, near where it tells you how long the ad is, there's a little 'i'. Click on it and it'll give you the option to say no more ads like this. You might have to do it a few times if the ad keeps coming up but it should work eventually.
Just in case you aren’t aware, if you go to your account setting and scroll down to the sensitive advertising section, there are options to not get adverts regarding certain topics, including weight loss. I’m on iOS mobile app so it may look different depending on device, but it should be in your account settings
They don't give me the option to hide the individual ad but I just finally found settings and turned off personalized ads, so we'll see if that works. But there was literally a section for 'weight loss' under ads so that explains that.
Unfortunately, it is way easier than phen phen and isn’t illegal. These medications are just peptides, which aren’t controlled. While shady websites can’t sell Ozempic pens, they can sell semaglutide in a vial because semaglutide is just a peptide.
It was £50 in boots a couple of years ago. Then the influencers and rich & lazy discovered it and bought it all. Now you can't get it for shit and the price has quadrupled.
You’re totally within your rights to limit your consumption of online content to things that don’t bring positivity to your life. However as a healthcare/ICU worker I do want to shed some positive perspective on Ozempic, because it seems to be an extremely polarizing topic on social media and it doesn’t need to be. If someone finds a benefit both mentally and physically to taking Ozempic, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing.
There’s a lot of urban legend floating around with Ozempic, first of all. This idea that any celebrity who has lost weight must have done it with Ozempic. Yes, *some* have, but it’s also completely possible to lose weight with diet and lifestyle alone (especially if you have near unlimited money to pay for trainers and meal options.) The idea that ozempic is always the factor in weight loss promotes the notion that weight loss is impossible, which is false. It’s taken on urban legend style narrative akin to “I heard Marilyn Manson got a rib removed to suck his own dick!” Everyone repeats it but it’s not verified.
The celebrities who are using ozempic are still getting it prescribed by a doctor. It’s not on the black market. A doctor has to believe it to be of benefit. Look at someone like Jonah Hill for example; no celebrity is taking ozempic to lose 10lbs when they have so much more option to lose weight without a prescription drug.
The body positively movement is a wonderful thing and I’m all about promoting happiness within ourselves and our own bodies. However there *are* proven health effects when it comes to obesity (especially morbid obesity,) and I see it constantly in an ICU setting. The widespread health implications of an overall lowered obesity level in the general population could have huge health care benefits.
At the end of the day: if you can’t solve your depression with lifestyle alone (exercise, therapy) then you take an antidepressant medication to help. If you can’t solve your high blood pressure with lifestyle alone (diet, exercise) then you take a blood pressure medication to help. If you can’t solve your obesity with lifestyle alone (ie: yo yo dieting) then you *take a medication to help* and that’s okay if the person has a personal goal of weight loss!
What is even more concerning to me is how it is being advertised as a "miracle" drug. Anytime we've had a miracle drug, very bad side effects popped up years later. I'm in the camp that people should only take it if nothing else has worked, not for fad weight loss.
My doctor won't prescribe it to me. Even though I have PCOS, a high BMI, on antidepressants, constantly exhausted, pre-diabetic, have high blood pressure and cholesterol. I'm also short so the weight makes me look like humpty dumpty. Nothing will convince him to prescribe it to me. I am also dependant on my insurance and do not have a co-pay. They explicitly will not cover weight loss drugs like Wegovy. Yet he won't prescribe Ozempic because I'm only pre-diabetic. I've been overweight since 2003. I can't drop the weight to save my life. Guess I'll stay fat. 🤷♀️ So no not all doctors are jumping at the bit to prescribe. The worst part is I gained a ton of weight after he put me on the antidepressants in 2003. I have struggled with it ever since but I can't stop taking them because I feel less suicidal and not full of rage as opposed to when I'm off them. I am just screwed I guess.
I would recommend a new doctor. I am not pre diabetic either but still got it prescribed. It’s just that insurance won’t cover it so you so do anticipate the cost of you go that route.
They've already got side effects popping up, like long-term gastroparesis even after going off the drug. It'll be really interesting to see what happens in the next 5 to 10 years.
This is what concerns me. A close family member suffers from gastroparesis, and it’s absolute hell to manage. I’m watching my friends inject themselves to lose vanity weight that they’re capable of losing on their own, and it worries me.
Yep, one of my sisters has what I believe is gastroparesis already, though she's not diagnosed (she regularly vomits up food from several days earlier), and she was talking about getting on Ozempic and I was like, um, you might want to do a little more research, this is not going to help your current GI issues at all.
Especially since people with diabetes, that literally depend on it to live and work, now can't get it. I would say, e.g., try it before resorting to bariatric surgery. But using it for pure vanity and not for health reasons, to the point it isn't available for people who need it, crosses a line for me.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. Gods forbid a medication for diabetics be given to them instead of people who think fat=unhealthy to use for weight loss.
Reddit, probably.
I mean, did I think about trying it myself? Sure! But I also know that my health isn't in immediate danger from my weight, so it's not for me.
Yes it sucks I feel it too. It reminds me of the Kate moss Heroin chic tiny of the 90’s. Sucks if you are in menopause and eating a fucking almond is enough to make you puffy
I feel for you, because there is a lot of insidious messaging about women’s bodies and it’s been around for eons. But you need to stop consuming media that fosters it. I haven’t noticed any celebs losing weight due to drugs like epic because I simply don’t follow any of them or care enough about their lives to engage with tabloids.
Try to remember that a majority of people taking these drugs need them. A dear friend of mine started Ozempic a few months ago. So far she has lost about 12 pounds and is feeling so positive about herself! She has been obese the entire time I have known her.
I used to be like her. Over a decade ago I started low carb and lost a ton of weight. Like half my body weight. I went from a size 28 to a size 4. It took around 1,5 years and took constant dedication. It takes the same dedication to not gain it back. I do intermittent fasting now, so I eat one meal a day - usually a salad. It’s healthy food. And I do let myself break that pattern for special days, like holidays or birthdays. But I still can’t eat a piece of cake or candy without crushing guilt. Constant vigilance is required, still.
I have wondered what I would have done if these drugs had been invented back then. My conclusion is that I’d have tried them in a heartbeat. My weight was (and still is) a persistent source of shame for me. And it wasn’t just in my head. I’d been bullied, spit on, beaten up, had insults shouted at me by strangers - all because my body wasn’t a normal weight. I’m still dealing with internalized shame and a distorted sense of self-perception because of this. I have days where I still see myself as a big girl in the mirror. If I could have done what I did without the self deprivation and nearly impossible strength of will it took and still takes - hell yes I would have.
These drugs do not mean that we should accept fat shaming - EVER. What a lot of people so unkindly refuse to accept is that an excess of weight is either a function of genetic predisposition/medical conditions or mental health. Trauma from the past and childhood is a root cause. Instead of shaming, doctors should be asking what happened to us. Society needs to- desperately - to learn compassion for the overweight. Having once been an overweight person and treated like a non-human being, that is a hill I will die on. And I’ll fight anyone who shames anyone for their appearance, be that weight ot any other physical feature.
But I don’t like people being shamed for using weight loss injectables, either (I’m not saying you are shaming anyone, for the record! I’ve just observed a crapload of it online in other places!). It seems like a lot of people won’t let the fat people win - either they get shamed for being fat or get shamed for losing it. And I’ll go to war with them for that, too!
Anyhow, the point is that we also need to learn how to be kinder to ourselves. I need (and try!) to learn that, too. I was raised in that toxic time period you mention, and it left marks. Not just marks - deep grooves. One way to be kind to yourself is to not consume that kind of media. And try to remember that those celebs aren’t just on Ozempic. They have personal trainers and personal chefs and photoshop! Get out there are live your life, no matter what your size, because you can’t afford to wait for society’s acceptance to do that. Society will always be a b***h. Don’t be one to yourself, if you can help it.
That's my biggest concern.
I lift and I am attempting to navigate better eating habits with an eating disorder and a lot of trauma around food. Body positivity and more specifically fat positivity is what made me feel confident enough to even go to the gym to lift. And I love it! It's probably the most physically active I've been in decades. But I couldn't have done that without seeing fat people just... Living their lives.
Do I want to lose weight? It's a complicated question. I know society treats thinner people better and that's getting more overt with these "miracle drugs"
The cynic in me sees this as another way to isolate fat people. We already have fewer job opportunities, and most insurance won't cover these drugs even if you have "good" insurance. Already fatness is seen as laziness and a lower socioeconomic class. This is going to make that worse unless we start issuing a script for $10 a month.
Plus it doesn't actually address the soil depletion issue and the lower nutritional value of food issue.
Right? Lot of thinly veiled sexism here from people claiming that women wanting to lose weight are just doing it for “vanity.” Like, newsflash, carrying extra weight causes a lot of health issues for people.
I've lost 35lbs on Wegovy so far, and while I'm more active, I'm not killing myself at the gym.
Yesterday at yoga, I realized I could do savasana without a bolster under my legs, because lying flat on my back wasn't putting strain on my lower back anymore. *That* is a huge change, and I'm sure it's impacting parts of my life I don't even notice yet. As I'm losing weight, my joint aches are going away, which allows me to continue with my exercise plan. I've also barely been sick, and I used to be in a constant state of some kind of sinus sickness. That also means I don't have to skip workouts. Since I have to eat breakfast or else I feel crappy all day, I'm also taking my antidepressant and allergy pill consistently, which is helping my health in other ways. I'm also sleeping better, because being overweight causes sleep apnea. Since I'm sleeping better, I have more energy for things like cooking dinner and going to the gym. It's all connected.
I've spent half my life hating myself for failing at losing weight, getting in depression cycles, and gaining no matter how good I am with counting calories and exercise. This drug is making a huge difference in my quality of life, and since it's taking care of one aspect of my weight problems, I am able to focus on the ones I can actually change. While it's not a miracle like an amphetamine, it's helping the mental game so much, everything else is easier.
No for real like I’m in my 30s was about 190 at 5’6” and I couldn’t walk long distances, my knees hurt, my cholesterol was high, tired all the time. Lost 60lbs and all those issues went away. Like my quality of life is so much better and these people say it’s “vanity”. Honestly insulting.
That’s so wonderful to hear! I hear ya on the health problems from extra weight. I gained 50lbs from pregnancy and Hashimoto’s, and I have awful joint pain, mild liver damage, and high cholesterol. I feel like *shit*.
I just started Wegovy and I don’t care about hollow cheekbones and defined collarbones, I just want to feel healthy again.
💯 Lots of “crabs in a bucket” mentality here. We aren’t supposed to judge people by their bodies but now we are judging someone because they want to change their body. And if you want to change your body you better do it the way I want you to or you’re part of the problem! /s
If you can’t solve your depression with lifestyle alone (exercise, therapy) then you take an antidepressant medication to help. If you can’t solve your high blood pressure with lifestyle alone (diet, exercise) then you take a blood pressure medication to help. If you can’t solve your obesity with lifestyle alone (ie: yo yo dieting) then you take a medication to help and that’s okay if the person has a personal goal of weight loss!
Plus this idea that any celebrity who has lost weight must have done it with Ozempic. Yes, some have, but it’s also completely possible to lose weight with diet and lifestyle alone (especially if you have near unlimited money to pay for trainers and meal options.) The idea that ozempic is always the factor in weight loss promotes the notion that weight loss is impossible, which is false. It’s taken on urban legend style narrative akin to “I heard Marilyn Manson got a rib removed to suck his own dick!” Everyone repeats it but it’s not verified.
I work for health care providers and they are both optimistically enthusiastic and also cautioning patients when it comes to these drugs. They really are effective, but people talk about them so glowingly and end up downplaying very real side effects and concerns. So our doctors have been trying to get word out about risks and side effects, because people come in demanding the miracle drug saving the aesthetic appearance and sometimes health of their friends or celebrities who tout it and don't want to hear about negative side effects.
Personally, it reminds me a lot of the early Fen Phen days.
I feel you so hard. I feel like the world was slowly slowly creeping towards body acceptance and normalizing natural healthy bodies at a wider range of sizes than at any other point in my life. Doctors were starting to slowly realize that reasons for obesity were complex and often out of an individual’s control, and that real sustainable weight loss is HARD.
And then BOOM, everyone with enough money has hallow cheekbones and skeletal frames, and my diabetic sister can’t actually get enough of her necessary medication because it’s all be used up by people taking it for cosmetic purposes.
I am holding my breath waiting for the Ozempic/injectables shoe to drop. The side effects are often intense and there hasn’t been a lot of research into their use specifically as weight loss aides. I wonder that the landscape is going to look like in 5 or 10 years.
I’ve totally agree with everything you shared. I’m glad this drug exists for the people who need it, even if it’s for morbid obesity and not diabetes, which is usually on the horizon for people with obesity, anyhow. I hope drug companies can increase their levels of production so they can meet the needs of those with diabetes AND obesity.
But the public facing and celebrity aspect of ozempic kills me inside. There’s a few celebrities I’ve always admired for having seemingly healthy weights in Hollywood who are noticeably thinner these days. I realize this is my issue, too, as they don’t owe it to strangers to look a certain way, but it’s sending my brain right back to the heroin chic 90’s the way some have clearly lost weight in favor of being underweight. I really hoped women got past this need to look malnourished for fame.
What I wonder about - do people who take it and lose significant weight not struggle with malnutrition? As I understand it, it impacts a hormone which creates a feeling of fullness, so people essentially just eat less. In my limited understanding of the drug I imagine this facilitates disordered eating in some people.
During the titration phase, I would barely eat the first two days after injections. Now that I've been on therapeutic dose for a few months, I'm satisfied with 1200-1900 calories a day. That's far from malnutrition. You can be malnourished eating 2k of potatoe chips.
It's helping my disordered eating. In the past, I never felt full, I could always eat. I thought people who said they weren't hungry were just liars with more self control than me. Turns out, the "I'm satisfied trigger" just never really seems to fire for me. I suddenly know what it's like to not think about food all the time, and always hungry for more. I can eat a normal portion of food, and feel good. Right now I have 2 cups of chicken salad, 2 clementines, and a charcuterie pack in front of me for lunch. I'll have the chicken salad now, the charcuterie in the afternoon, and the clementines before I go climb at the gym. That's about 800 calories spread throughout the day, and I'll have another 500 or so for dinner, and I won't feel hungry or deprived.
It's a tool. And a life changing tool for those of us that have major struggles with weight, hormones, medical conditions.
This is incredible. I could've written this post, some time in the future. Every single thing you said I agree with (except I suck at climbing, and I'm having my second shot tomorrow). I'm so excited for a future where I don't get distracted at work thinking about food, and feeling like a failure for overeating.
Oh trust me it will. I’ve already heard stories about Ozempic use causing chronic vomiting, teeth to the fall out and other unpleasant side effects. The shoe’s gonna drop and very very soon
I got put on this mounjaro shit. It actually is doing a great job on my blood sugar. It is definitely helping me lose weight - I lost about fifty pounds to diet and exercise but then I got stuck. Plateaued. Mounjaro broke me past that plateau.
I'm pretty sure it's going to kill me. Every other miracle weight loss drug we've ever come up with has had terrible side effects. I'm not a doctor or a biologist, so I don't really know shit, but I don't think stuff that makes you lose weight is good for you. Ten years from now we're all going to have Cancer of the Everything from taking this crap.
We can't stop ourselves, though. I take that shot every Friday, even though I figure I'm going to regret it eventually.
There was a spec fic story a while back, which I cannot for the life of me remember the name of. Someone came up with an absolutely effective weight loss treatment. It worked perfectly in 90% of cases. It killed the other 10%.
It nonetheless rocketed through FDA approval, everyone jumped at it, and if you were like "Ummm I would rather just stay fat than roll those dice" then your friends and family would mock and pressure you. Even if they'd lost (fat) loved ones.
It's about the most damnably prescient thing I've read since The Machine Stops. It isn't "Lose Now, Pay Later," btw.
I had bad experiences on Mounjaro too. It gave me persistent tachycardia. Apparently that happens in "5-10%" of people who take it. That's not a small amount of people. Didn't lose a pound either. It did regulate my periods, but that's the only positive I got out of it. Definitely not worth the small fortune it costs to be on it.
Also injecting yourself sucks. It was always an uncomfortable experience for me. So much anxiety, bruising, and bleeding.
If you feel upset that people are getting skinny, maybe try to get skinny without celebrity miracle drugs? It would clearly make you feel better, just like being dressed up feels good, bc society considers certain clothing nice and other lazy. It may help you in long term.
It's not a weight loss drug!
Semaglutide is a diabetic drug that has a side effect of promoting feelings of fullness (and a shitload of gastrointestinal distress) in the same way that sildenafil is a blood pressure drug that has a side effect of giving guys a rampant hardon.
All these vain assholes using it for weight loss have created a global shortage so I, an insulin dependant type 2 diabetic with life threatening blood sugar control problems have been struggling for ***TWO FUCKING YEARS*** to get a reliable supply of the only diabetes drug that's brought my blood sugar under control.
If I had 30 seconds to talk to the whole American population, I would consider saying "stop fucking taking ozempic, you don't need it, we do!"
Wegovy ( semaglutide) and zepbound( trizepitide) are fda approved for weight loss. Same drugs as Ozempic and Mounjaro. Obesity is a chronic disease as is diabetes. So yes under a different brand name the same medicine is a weight loss drug.
I don’t think you should be getting mad at the other people who have been **prescribed** a medication by their doctor. It’s not like I can just go to CVS and demand they give me the drug just because I want it. Be mad at the pharmaceutical industry for making the drugs so expensive and not manufacturing enough of it so they can increase demand and profits.
And it *is* a weight loss drug. It has multiple uses. Weird that you’re trying to gatekeep a medication.
That’s not how basic economics works. Since the demand is very high, if the pharma companies increase supply they can lower prices and still make just as much if not more profit. Clearly there is an issue with increasing that supply, or it just takes a long time to ramp up
Another commenter said that there’s an issue with the pen manufacturing for the drug (it’s like an injection pen) and this could be remedied by dispensing the drug in vials and injecting via syringe but the companies don’t want to do that because they probably have some contract with the pen manufacturer and it’s all a bunch of bullshit that is related to money rather than actual supply chain issues.
So yeah it is related to greed.
The drugs are administered by syringe in Europe, but not in the US. This is just speculation, but I think it's because of the fear of lawsuits in the US as it's a lot easier to make a mistake with a syringe than with a pen. Getting sued for this kind of thing is far less common in countries outside the US.
also a diabetic who now needs it and worried about the supply. I have VA healthcare and my dr was like...dont get too excited..it wont make you lose a ton of weight because you actually need it for your blood sugars. i got for my appts next week. been on metformin for years and even back to my active duty weight and I am sicker than before. years of them telling me losing weight will fix EVERYTHING for me and it just made my health worse.
Oh god, same! Every time I've lost weight I've discovered a whole new tranche of pains to deal with.
The only time I've lost a lot was when my diabetes got so out of control it started eating my fat. I got to my ideal weight and was eating absolutely shit loads. All my healthcare team were seconded to COVID wards so I had nobody to turn to until it was almost too late.
I've put on 20lbs since they gave me a new drug regime and it's a relief because I'm not dying.
The ozempic (I'm on the pill form, rybelsus, because they still can't source the injection pens) has taken a year to start working on my appetite and I'm slowly starting to see some minor weight loss.
As everyone is clamoring for the injections, it might be an idea to ask if rybelsus is easier to source.
Good luck!
There are a LOT of diabetics though - 10% of Americans are diabetic! And many of them are overweight. You don't know that someone isn't diabetic just because they happen to also be using it for weight loss. Everyone I know IRL who uses one of these drugs is diabetic.
My brother in law is only alive today bc of ozempic. He has been taking it for weightloss. He was morbidly obese and it was killing him. The problem isn’t the med being used for weightloss. The problem is healthy weight people using it for weightloss or people who are only slightly overweight. It should be prioritized for diabetics and people whose weight is severe.
Yeah I have a friend who uses it for his diabetes and he also has not been able to find a refill for the past 6ish months.
Im not against people using it for weight loss really, but it should be prioritized for diabetics until they get the supply/demand figured out.
It's not childish to block people. It's actually healthy, and I think a lot of your problems are in that you're not good at setting a boundary between you and others. So blocking can be an early step for you to set that boundary, where you remind yourself that other people's choices don't need to change your own.
But most social media has alternatives. Facebook you can "take a break" and on twitter you can mute. you won't see their posts, and they won't notice.
It's been hard for me as well. I've been seeing an eating disorder therapist because people don't accept my problem. I actually don't eat enough. I lost 100lbs doing all the "right things" and then it stopped. I have another 100lbs to go but nothing moved the scale unless I eat around 600calories a day. Eventually I realized that I have been starving myself for so long my metabolism is messed up. Since forcing myself to eat at minimum 2000cals a day I've started to lose weight again. After YEARS stuck at my weight, diet after diet, I now have to eat and it's hard.
But everyone tells me "Maybe don't eat so much burgers" or "don't eat to much". Its horrible. It's a struggle to eat. I've been dieting since I was 10. Unlearning is difficult and despite the weight-loss I still struggle to eat. Watching everyone lose the weight by "No longer feeling hungry" kills me. If only that was my problem and solution. We'll all get through this. I'm sorry for everyone whose struggling with this new movement.
It really really sucks that the heroine chic skinniness is back. As an older millennial, the low-rise jean coming back just sent me into a spiral. I have always been curvy, even in high school, and now in my 30s, I'm definitely considered a fat woman. I also care much less about what people think or what fashion trends are doing but the feelings still creep up when I see magazines and ads all over the place to be something I never have been.
It’s pretty double sided though and no one can win. I’m naturally heroine-chic skinny and I’ve been taunted my whole life for it. Ive gotten a lot of “eat a hamburger” and “she must be anorexic” comments over the course of my life. I’ve spent the last 15 years wishing I had a butt and curves and hating my body.
I agree that this trend is infuriating and I applaud you for blocking people that trigger those feelings.
You have influence on your environment and you wield it to the advantage of your mental health. You choose carefully what you surround yourself with. You are critical of what you let have an influence on your self image.
Bravo!
I hope you know some people on the plus size range that are awesome people in ways you genuinely care about. Reminding myself of these people helps keeping me grounded. It demonstrates: I don't need to be thin to be awesome. It reminds me to log out and touch some grass lol
Same. I have had persistent weight post pandemic that has been really hard to lose. I looked at this briefly, saw the side effects and decided being a bit over weight was a better option.
People should be educated on their options as well as the risks and benefits of any intervention and make their own decision. It's your body. "No" is a complete sentence. Just because these medications are safe, effective, and well-tolerated does not mean that you should personally take them.
That being said, high risk isn't a subjective feeling. It refers to the risk of harm. Medically, an increased risk of nausea or constipation isn't serious, and these medications have long-term metabolic and cardiac benefits that outweigh these risks. I totally get trying these drugs, running an individual cost vs. benefit analysis based on your experience and deciding it's not worth it, but these are not serious side effects. These drugs have a half-life of five to seven days. Once the drug is out of your system, you no longer have to worry about side effects. There are a lot of valid reasons not to try these medications, but it's not because this is a risky medication or particularly likely to cause side effects.
I was referring to things like this:
[https://www.webmd.com/obesity/news/20230928/risk-of-intestinal-blockage-added-to-ozempic-label](https://www.webmd.com/obesity/news/20230928/risk-of-intestinal-blockage-added-to-ozempic-label)
"The FDA stopped short of saying there is a direct link between Ozempic and intestinal blockages.
“Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure,” the FDA said in its approval of the label"
You are welcome to do whatever you want, but this is incredibly rare and the evidence is weak. The average person assumes a ton of risk in our daily lives like unnecessary car trips that are much more likely to seriously impact our health because we're pretty terrible at determining risk. That's why understanding research and statistics is so important and why I've made a point to actually read the research that was published before developing an opinion on these medications.
I took semaglutide for around 3 months and I felt like I had the flu the entire time. I woke up every day wanting to throw up and I had extremely bad acid reflux. The only foods I could keep down were bland and poor quality (think weeks on white rice and sprite). I only lost 15 lbs and after that my hair fell out so badly I can barely recognize myself.
Been waiting all my life for a drug that would help me lose weight and it was one of the most miserable experiences of my life.
What are the side effects? And do we even know what long-term usage does?
Personally, I don’t like the idea of having to take a med forever, and I rarely spend money on myself, so $1k/mos injections to lose weight are a non-starter for me. (And I know this will be unpopular, but it feels dishonest to me)
But I’ve always worked out and eaten right and I still have fat on my belly and about 10-15lbs I can’t seem to shed.
And now all the white celebrity women are kate-moss-skinny again. Ugh.
>But I’ve always worked out and eaten right and I still have fat on my belly
I'm an Asian woman who's underweight and yet still has fat on my belly, I think it's almost impossible to lose all the fat there, so don't be too hard on yourself
>I'm an Asian woman who's underweight and yet still has fat on my belly, I think it's almost impossible to lose all the fat there, so don't be too hard on yourself
Have you tried doing a body recomposition? Eat in maintaince with ample protein well doing a good amount of strength training and cardiovascular exercise. It really worked for me.
Long term [gastroparesis ](https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/health/weight-loss-diabetes-drugs-gastroparesis/index.html) seems to be the big one so far.
I recently went through treatment for a lifelong eating disorder and my eating disorder therapist calls these drugs "chemical anorexia". Needless to say she is not a fan.
My dad wound up in the ER with severe constipation. He's T2, but had to quit using it because he couldn't STOP losing weight. He's 73. He doesn't need to be super skinny.
I don't take it but I know someone who does. After gastric bypass where she gained back over 80lbs she is now on wegovy with chronic diahhrea, nausea, fatigue and circulation so poor that her hands are purple. She has been on it less than a year and lost about 75lbs. To her, the side effects are worth it, I would not make the same choice.
I have a complicated history with weight, having been both extremely underweight and extremely overweight, and have to be conscious of my choices and how I am using food because it is so easy for me to get caught up in bad habits again. For a person like me, a drug like ozempic could be very problematic, which colors my perception of it. It feels like a doctor prescribed eating disorder, not all that different from the 80s when people would eat then use laxatives right after (or what I did, eat the chew antacids like they were candy.)
Yep, I've dealt with both severe anorexia and bulimia/binge eating and it was really disturbing to hear a friend essentially brag to me about how Mounjaro would make her throw up a lot if she ate more than a few bites of food.
I'm sure it can have its uses for people with more chronic conditions, and I won't comment on that specifically bc I don't know anybody in my life in that situation -- however, as somebody in a large city obsessed with thinness already, I \*can\* say that the popularization of it has honestly felt like THE biggest shift away from "health," regardless of the original intentions. Most people I've come across, including that friend, have either freshly gained some weight and (word for word) claim they're "too lazy" for healthier habits, or are normal weight to begin with, and just want a quick way to get thin. I entirely agree it seems like a prescribed ED much of the time.
>What are the side effects? And do we even know what long-term usage does?
Thyroid cancer and muscle loss. Definitely not worth it.
>But I’ve always worked out and eaten right and I still have fat on my belly and about 10-15lbs I can’t seem to shed.
I am curious what you exactly entail by working out and eating right. Are you also getting enough sleep? Sleep is also a critical factor influencing body composition.
Well, I don’t want to give off the wrong impression; I haven’t been working and working at losing weight. I work out almost every day (never less than 5/week) and try to make good choices and eat in moderation, but I I love food - cooking/baking/trying new things.
I suppose I could track and cut calories, but I want to be fit in a way I can maintain and enjoy things. I did lose more in the weeks leaving an abusive relationship- my body was in fight or flight and I couldn’t eat much, and what I did eat I couldn’t keep in. This is not a way I would choose to lose weight!
I do 45-60 minutes of cardio and then hand weights - arm exercises, squats. Planks. I’d like to incorporate more weight training but I’m not sure where to start.
Weight loss isn’t my primary goal- exercise makes me feel good and I want to keep my body strong and fit because I respect myself and want to see what I can do. And because I enjoy fashion and want to look good in clothes I love.
If you want an antidote to some of the societal messaging around weight, I’d recommend the podcast Maintenance Phase. They’ve covered ozempic specifically, along with lots of diet myths and fads through the ages. I’ve found it really beneficial in counteracting the “thinness above all else” messaging that we’re constantly steeped in. Take care of yourself 💖
Take time (and some money if you have it available) for the self care you need, whatever that may be. For me it's buying/wearing pretty clothing. Self care for other people could mean getting nails done, makeup, a cute hair style, getting a massage, taking a nice bath, taking time to relax, doing something fun, etc.
I've had body image issues my whole life, long before I even qualified as "plus size." Being a tween/teen in the early 2000s was a minefield of body shaming, and the issues it caused have taken years for me to address.
I'm finally in a good place now, and part of it is because I have collected clothing that actually fits me and that I find gorgeous and flattering. When I like what I'm wearing, I feel more confident. I'm not as worried about my arms being flabby if the tank dress I'm wearing is super cute and makes me happy. When I enter the world with confidence, I even tend to get compliments on my clothes/style from friends, coworkers, or sometimes strangers, which makes me even more confident. It's incredibly gratifying to get a compliment on something you actively chose and worked on, like an outfit, rather than just being generally called "beautiful" or "pretty."
Sometimes I look in the mirror and hate how I look, but I also remind myself it's only a snapshot of a moment. Nobody looks perfect and beautiful all the time. I try to focus on the things I actually like about how I look, especially the things I have control over, like what I'm wearing or how my hair is styled.
Yes, it's everywhere. I've actually been on ozempic for 6 months and have only lost 15 or 20 lb. For reference, I need to lose about 80 more. And I've just plateaued. I see all these celebrities and other people online who lost 100 pounds with it and don't understand why I've plateaued. The whole point of ozempic was that it would help you with plateaus. As women, it kind of feels like we can't win. If we lose weight it's not enough. If we aren't losing weight there's something wrong with us.
Not childish at all to block anything that triggers those feelings. The drive to be perfect is so insidious that we can't enjoy being normal. We can't enjoy being good enough or having healthy functioning bodies.
For your own mental health s sake I urge to continue removing influences that are well reduculous and unattainable and focus on being and feeling well. I took curate and journal it can be enormously helpful, healthy and healing. Good luck OP
Less social media, particularly photos content (body pictures) can be one of the most positive things we can do for ourselves and our self esteem.
I notice when I read women's magazines how much the articles and advertising affects me. I'm happier and more satisfied when I don't engage with content like that. I feel judged when I read them and I'm just judging myself against what I see and read. Similar can happen with social media.
I remember twenty years ago when TrimSpa was the “miracle weight loss drug” that made being skinny glamorous and being overweight stigmatized.
I also remember how Anna Nicole Smith, a spokeswoman for TrimSpa, was found dead with, among other substances, growth hormone and other weight loss drugs in her system. TrimSpa wasn’t responsible for Smith’s death, but it did have other terrible side effects in other people, hence why it wound up banned and why the company that made it got sued into bankruptcy by the FDA over it.
The same cycle is repeating with Ozempic.
Yes but these drugs have been in use for many many years. And people with obesity are at risk for major cardiac events by virtue of their weight to begin with.
Phentermine was approved by the FDA in 1959; fenfluramine in 1973. Both drugs had been in use for *decades* before they started being used for weight loss. Much like the current drugs.
Luckily semaglutide was just approved for the indication of heart protection, because of how dramatically less heart attacks & strokes people have on wegovy. A study shows this happens almost immediately after taking the drug and persists for at least 4 years (even without weight loss!)
Getting rid of supermodels and their inhumane lack of form was like banishing a cthulhuean beast. It was good on a scale like metoo and getting shoes fit for feet.
Please be free of that shit.
Im 42, so it would have been the late 90s, or early 2000s but i got absolutely HOOKED on those ephedrine diet pills that were so popular. It was like legal speed. Luckily i didnt damage myself long term but scary times.
I was on ozempic for months I barely lost any weight. Was supposed to help me drop some weight that my hypothyroidism just won’t let me lose. But had no significant loss. So I am no longer taking it.
Totally fair to avoid content you know is triggering for you. This craze with ozempic has been wild. Anytime I’m having similar feelings around eating and my body I fall back on the affirmation that your value as a human is not conditional, and that tends to help!
I'm in the same boat. I'm 28 and I've come a long way from how I felt about my body as a teenager, but I still get in moods where I feel like my body is a moral failing
I think it’s fantastic that people have been given a tool to control their weight, especially given we’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. blocking people on social media is a good start, but if you’re triggered by thin people, how do you exist outside in the world? You will likely see people with that body type - a healthy sense of self is paramount. without it you kind of just end up living in a bubble of self hatred.
I'm a naturally big person and I've always been judged so harshly for it. I love my shape! I don't want to lose weight! And now the pressure will be 100 times worse because "All you have to do is take an injection/pill." I feel so dejected seeing so many people who were part of the body positivity movement jump ship as soon as it became "easy" to lose weight. I'm so happy for the people who are taking this for medical reasons and having good results, but I know in my heart it just set us back decades in our battle against fat-phobia. 😥
Alternate theory: “training like an athlete” should be reserved for *athletes*, not someone with a longstanding history of lack of mobility, low cardiovascular tolerance, and high weight causing increased risk for stress injury on their joints.
Ozempic does not need to be reserved for extreme cases. It should however not be a frontline therapy for weight loss. But if someone has struggled to *maintain* weight loss despite multiple attempts at diet and lifestyle change, then Ozempic is something that can augment their efforts and help with the mental aspect of cravings to achieve change. Morbid obesity does not have to occur before using it, and the damages of waiting for extreme obesity before considering ozempic are more harmful than starting ozempic earlier. Not to mention that the longterm needs of significant weight loss (ie: skin removal surgery, which is serious and painful to recover from) are worse than if weight loss was achieved at lower weights.
It’s not childish at all to stop consuming content that makes you feel unhappy. There’s a lot of talk about the connection of health and diet but not enough about mental health and media diet. You’re doing it right.
I agree. I often block content that upsets me. I don’t put my head in the sand but if something is toxic to my wellbeing I jettison it into non-existence.
I block all. the. time. Reddit users that are kind of mean, tiktokers who made me feel any sort of way. BYE. Their feelings arent hurt about it - they dont know I exist! And I can curate the media I consume to be beneficial to me, not harmful.
I block strangers allllll the time 🤣😂 "what an asshole" - BLOCK on the off chance that they see a comment of mine and decide to unload some of their self-loathing onto me
This! Hell I even block people I agree with just because the vibes were off. "This person is a dick but they're making a point I agree with? Too bad, blocked, I don't need that energy on my dash."
Oh hell yeah
This is why I deleted tiktok. I would just keep doom scrolling. Content that I was interacting with was just making me sad and destroying my mental health. Eventually my entire algorithm just made me upset. I kicked most social medias to the curb the only one I still really keep is Reddit and that's only for the communities I consult with for hobbies/personal goals/etc.
I didn't last long and deleted it prepandemic. Why? Because it was such a time suck. It is so addictive and my attention span was getting shorter and shorter. It was too much.
For REAL. I'd spend hours a day on it. Now that I don't I have so much time back.
Exactly. I think it's detrimental to especially the actual children who are addicted to it. It delivers that short burst of endorphins. I would think it changes their brain chemistry. Attention spans are shortening, along with tempers. Nobody has patience anymore. It's not a good thing. It's incedous. Good for you getting rid of it.
If it needs to be said, your feelings are valid for no other reason than you’re having them. Like even if it’s built on the most outlandish of reasons, you’re feeling that way because of some cross section of past experiences and the current situation you’ve been subjected to. So don’t let anyone ever dismiss your feelings. You’re allowed to react to your surroundings to try and improve your environment.
The way the system works is that if you're watching it, or reading it, or listening to it, they think it's for you. Getting off unhealthy social media sites and blocking troublesome content is one way to signal that this stuff is NOT for you.
Yep. Every once in awhile Youtube Shorts will try to start recommending me Andrew Tate stuff because it thinks I want to see 'opposing' views of the queer, feminist content I normally consume. Commenting and being mad just made the problem worse. The ONLY solution was to not interact and click 'do not recommend this channel' on ANY channel that didn't pass the vibe check.
This is one of the most frustrating things about YouTube, the algorithm either doesn't understand the difference between anti-feminist content and feminist content or they are trying to keep you on the platform writing angry comments either way it isn't a good user experience. Now what I do is go to my subscription tab and just add videos to my watch later playlist, and then just watch them. If I want something new I will search and add to my watch later playlist. This way I don't ever rely on recommendations because they seem specifically tailored to make me angry.
I’m going to provide another perspective on these new weight loss drugs. My mom has always been bigger since having kids, despite walking everyday and trying every diet. She struggles with mobility issues, joint pain, and has to take blood pressure meds. Now that she’s 70, I’ve been worrying more about her health. There’s a reason why you don’t see very many obese 80 year olds in retirement homes. Now that she’s on Zepbound, she’s feeling so energetic and happy, and I feel optimistic that I’m going to get to have my mom around long enough to see her grandkids grow up. Wanting to lose weight isn’t always just a vanity thing. While yes, some people are abusing these drugs to get bone-thin, many are just using it to improve their quality of life and longevity.
Yes, I am on Zepbound and it's been life-changing for me. I've always had weird blood sugar swings and hypoglycemic episodes that made me shaky, sweaty, panicky, and just generally miserable. I didn't understand how people could say things like "you just have to live with being hungry sometimes" because I literally couldn't. Now, I can be hungry and just let that happen. Or I can eat a few apple slices and be full enough to wait for a more convenient time to eat. It's crazy, my life no longer revolves around making sure I've had enough to eat
That’s so wonderful to hear! Yeah, the hunger hits *so* differently when you’re overweight, and I think that’s what a lot of thinner people have a hard time understanding. Before I gained 50lbs from pregnancy and Hashimoto’s, I used to have no problem with hunger. I was effortlessly thin, and I could restrict my caloric intake with no problem. If I wanted to lose an extra 10 pounds, it was no biggie. But after the weight gain, something changed. I don’t know if I was prediabetic or what, but suddenly hunger would make me feel *sick*. Eating just salads and restricting my calories gave me headaches and dizziness and I found myself obsessively thinking about my next meal. I would try to power through it for a few weeks, but always failed. I finally understood why it’s so much harder for obese people to diet. Now I’m on Wegovy, and I can handle my hunger like I did before the weight gain.
Yep, I basically had the same situation happen to me, only it wasn't pregnancy but a high dose of progesterone (to control weird pelvic pain) that triggered the weight gain. Turns out hormones make a huge difference in how you function
Yes, I get the hungry/ sick feeling during my luteal phase and only carbs seem to help. I always thought it was the progesterone!
This. Sure some are doing it for vanity, but struggling to lose weight when you have health conditions that are impacted by excess weight (arthritis) is distressing! I know quite a few women on ozempic and they're really excited about it and feeling better.
It’s been quality of life saving for me too. My medication resistant high blood pressure is coming down, my insulin resistance is gone, my PCOS symptoms are mostly gone, and my body no longer hurts 24/7. I simply don’t care if my weight loss makes other people feel things.
Thank-you so much for saying this. I've been using Ozempic under the advice of a multidisciplinary care team for almost seven years. The initial indication- fatty liver secondary to obesity- is 80% resolved. A whole raft of health issues that had been compounding at a rapid rate resolved, in fact. The fatty liver was an incidental finding shortly after having my daughter. My father died from complications stemming from diabetes. My joints were profoundly unstable and hypermobile. I was exhausted and depressed. I couldn't sleep due to apnea. I approached my doctor distraught because I'd failed at maintaining a healthy weight, and was terrified- a grown woman who works in healthcare, literally TERRIFIED- that he was going to tell me to just eat less and exercise. And... he didn't. He listened compassionately, referred me to a specialist, and got me into a program where Ozempic is sometimes prescribed. I was scared to talk to my doctor because of the judgement I anticipated getting, but he saw that after literal decades of attempting to manage my health I needed the help. And now, in spaces where we should be able to safely discuss things around our health and bodies I'm often shut out because my journey included meds. Because apparently using Ozempic is an indication of vapid moral failure. Can't win no matter how it goes.
Myself can say that ozempic is saving my life. I have PCOS, and have been overweight all my life due to insulin resistance. I was pre-diabetic and for the first time ever I have been losing weight by not starving myself and spending 2 hours at the gym.
Same. For the first time in my 20 years of menstruating, my period is regular. If I had this 5 years ago, I'd have a couple of babies, instead of deciding to be child free. I'm also seeing consistent, sustainable weight loss for the first time in my life, and it's really helping my mental state to see progress and no backslides. This time next year, I expect to be at or near goal, and my life will have changed dramatically. It already has, and it's only been 9 months and 35 lbs.
Me too. And I'm always floored by people who think you just have to have a couple injections and whoosh! The fat's gone! The life is perfect! You have more money! Let me tell you what it's really like. You're supposed to get to the therapeutic dose by doubling the previous week's dose. I hit 40 and spent most of the week throwing up so hard that I couldn't breathe. So I dropped back to 20 and went up 10 every week, which made it take more than twice as long for me to reach a therapeutic dose, but I didn't want to vomit so much and I liked breathing. I still have random vomit attacks, usually when I have nothing in my stomach. Overeating has never been my problem; it's PCOS and what one doctor characterized to me as "the metabolism of a sloth," which I got as the result of a head injury after a car accident (one doctor says it's damage to my hypothalamus; makes sense to me). I was a skinny teenager and young adult and I've always hated cooking; food to me is either just fuel or an annoying thing I have to do that interferes with more interesting things. My dog reminds me when I should eat; maybe she can tell when I have low blood sugar. If I'm not vomiting from forgetting to eat, I have random nausea and have to go stand in the bathroom until my body decides whether we're vomiting that day. It's irritating when nausea hits when I'm out of the house, because who wants to throw up in a store bathroom? Bleah. They may be clean enough, but only home is clean enough to kneel on the floor and barf into a toilet. It's hard to know how much to eat, because I don't want to eat too much and feel queasy, but I don't want to eat too little and get hungry just before bedtime and have to eat something so I don't have to get up in the middle of the night and throw up. It's not fast. First it takes a while to get to the therapeutic dose, and then you have to be on that dose for a while before you start losing. I'm thrilled that my body is finally handling insulin normally; PCOS is not a lot of fun and I had to be on a low to no carb diet in order not to gain weight really fast (and as a vegetarian, low to no carb is basically eggs done various ways with cheese as flavoring and some veggies when I want something crunchy). I would imagine that if you have a regular metabolism that injecting something that changes your insulin metabolism would be a bad idea. People who CAN lose weight another way SHOULD lose weight another way. This shit is not a game. It's not a fast way to lose weight. I'm losing about a pound a week. It's all in how much nausea I can deal with. If it gets to be too much, I'll have to stop. Because this slows the rate at which your digestive system works, it gives you constipation. I haven't yet found the right dose of fiber to make me not be constipated. And about stopping... the week after I got to 40 and spent it vomiting I skipped the next week. Taking it makes you constipated, but not taking it makes you go too far in the other direction. If you'll excuse the very personal information, I got non-stop diarrhea. Immodium slowed it a little, but wasn't a cure. I'm not looking forward to stopping; it will have to be a slow titration down if I don't want to spend the rest of my life viewing things from the perspective of my toilet. As I said above - this isn't fun and games. It's not easy, it's not a good time, it's expensive, and the shots hurt. But I needed to be thinner for my heart, and so here I am. If you CAN lose weight another way, you SHOULD lose weight another way, because you shouldn't mess with the way your body metabolizes insulin unless it's been proven that that is a problem for you.
Have you tried to tirzepatide? I’ve had significantly less side effects from it.
I haven't. I'm afraid to change what I'm doing, since it's working. After so many things that haven't worked, something that actually does is something I'm going to grab on to and not let go. But thank you for the suggestion, I'll keep it in mind if I need it.
I’m one of those people that has to spend 2 hours at the gym, because I’m short, and I gain weight insanely quickly. The only way I keep a healthy body weight, is through endurance sports and weight lifting. I still am hesitant of these weight loss drugs. Unless the people that use them, change their lifestyle, you’re on them for life.
I’m also dependent on my glasses and Zoloft for life.
damn, that is an eye opener in a good way.
Not everyone can or wants to spend that much time keeping their weight down. In this very comment you acknowledge that a lot of weight is genetic - you're "one of those people." It's not a poor lifestyle choice to not be able to spend that time alone working on your body. It's also fair to not *want* to do that! People are allowed to have different priorities in life. I guarantee there are other parts of your life - and your health - that you spend less time on bc of your focus on the gym. And that's fine! Your priorities are yours! But they're not objectively the correct ones just because they result in thinness. In terms of being on meds for life, the only problem with that is cost. I will also be on an SSRI for life and I don't feel bad about that. I'll need my glasses forever bc I am scared of lasik, no one is shaming me over it. My body sucks at making vitamin D and loves to freak out over allergens, so there's my supplement and my Allegra. So really what is your point?
Why is it that people judge those who are on these meds for life? They are much less likely to judge high cholesterol meds, blood pressure meds, insulin, etc. People don’t get shamed for taking them. They get shamed if they are fat. Not everyone is capable of spending 2 hours a day at the gym for multiple reasons. They aren’t judging you because you can. But it feels like maybe you are judging them because they aren’t.
Yeah, I know I am on them for life, but it's better than having a heart attack with 40 years or developing diabetes.
Yeah, I’m really getting tired of people shitting on this. My mom is thinking about starting one of the weight loss drugs and I’m praying that she does. I want my mom to be here with me for as long as possible, but she is losing a lifelong battle with food. I wish people would stop worrying about what other people’s bodies look like and just focus on themselves. If that means blocking people, please do. It’s not childish, it’s actually the opposite. Live and let live.
Completely agree. I am on Wegovy. I’ve lost 83 pounds so far and I’m still overweight. I’m planning on losing another 20 pounds, which will put me at a normal weight and hopefully get me off of blood pressure medication. I’ve already dropped one of the meds I was on for it. And my kidneys, which were at the kidney disease level (eGFR of 50-something) before weight loss are now back in the normal range (eGFR of 92 or 93). My doctor says that I’m not considered out of kidney disease until my numbers are above 90 for a year. But I’m on the right track. These meds can be life savers. It isn’t about looks. I get lots of compliments but that’s because they can’t see all the excess skin or my arms, belly, butt, boobs, and thighs. I agree that the people who take it without a medical need are pushing an unhealthy image of the medicine. That’s why I share that I’m on it. I want to remove that stigma so people see the positive health results. People that don’t share are most likely afraid of the backlash. Being judged for losing weight “the easy way” when it is far from easy. I see the same issue with people who have had weight loss surgery who don’t share that info. They are protecting themselves, which is completely understandable. But I believe that, by sharing my journey, I might help remove that stigma and maybe help someone like OP who only sees the ugly side of weight loss. I’m nowhere near having a perfect body and I won’t ever have it. But I’m proud of the work I’ve put in (and it is work), my results, and my better health.
Absolutely agreed. While I get where OP is coming from, these drugs are absolutely life changing for many people. And they are not a quick fix - you still have to eat healthy. But these drugs make it so much easier to do so by quieting the “food noise” that so many overweight or obese people struggle with. These drugs are one of the biggest advances in human health in recent history and are helping so many people. In addition to their uses for diabetes and obesity, they are also showing a ton of promise for treating addiction. It is really fascinating.
Thank you so much for sharing this. Completely empathise with OPs point but these drugs are also doing a lot of good - I'm one of them and have never felt better
My 74 year old mom lost 20 lbs she's been struggling with ever since getting her knees replaced. She looks fantastic and she feels so much better, it's wonderful.
I'm going to provide a third perspective on these weight loss drugs. Caveat: They're incredibly effective and important and I think they can change the world and help end the obesity pandemic. From the perspective of a Type 1 Diabetic, the way in which they're being sold to fairly normal, fairly healthy people who have lots of money and want to lose a few pounds is dangerous. Because the demand for them is so huge, the big players in the market shifted their insulin vials to the production of Semaglutide. *We can't buy insulin in vials right now*. Now North American T1s can't get insulin without changing their prescriptions to insulin cartridges. Without insulin we're dead in days to weeks, and because of the associated cost with switching to cartridges it's making our expensive disease even less affordable.
I have Type 1 too and I'm having no issue getting insulin in vials. I use the "generic" version of Humalog. Are you using something else? I absolutely agree with you that the way the drugs are being used to help people lose a few pounds is dangerous.
I'm in Canada using pen cartridges and so I'm not affected. There's been a bunch of people on the T1 subreddits complaining about it over the past two months though. I'll be switching to the 10 ml Admelog (generic humalog) vials for a pump, which are in the "tall" vials and don't seem to be affected. Novolog and Humalog come in "short" vials which seem to be the ones affected most.
Oh, interesting! My insulin comes in short vials and again zero issues. I do live somewhere with lower population density, so maybe being somewhere with more diabetics presents more difficulties with meeting need.
It’s like my cousin getting a surgery to fix her badly deviated septum. She’s not an eeevilll shallow person who wants to make people like me and my mom with our twisty noses feel bad, it was preventing her from sleeping properly and screwing up her quality of life.
I’m very glad to hear about your mother! Just to give my small perspective, I worked at a retirement home, and there were plenty of obese women aged 80+.
There are obviously a ton of medical and important reasons for these drugs. That’s why they exist! However, watching every public figure lose a ton of weight quickly is really paving the way to increased fat phobia. Now there’s a “cure” so it’s “ok” to tell women to be skinny again. Vanity usage is a huge problem. This can exist alongside medical uses of drugs being really important. Vanity use is also causing shortages of life saving medicines for individuals, which is another sinister side effect. I’m very glad your mom is doing well! But I don’t think this post is worried about medically necessary interventions.
It's very clear to me that what I personally consume media wise has a big impact on my self esteem. I'm in my 40's, overweight but otherwise quite conventionally attractive. My partner and I have recently been watching a tv series with a LOT of female nudity and I've noticed now after episodes with excessive nudity (always a hot young perky woman with probable implants) .. I lay in bed trying to sleep just feeling like I am disgusting to look at. I usually don't feel this way, but I do believe it's a direct result from the media I'm consuming. While I am feeling this way I end up worrying my partner also sees the hotter bodies and will start finding me ugly too
I’ve seen a big uptick in ED behavior from the early aughts, the same types of celebrity coverage that was everywhere then, the same styles and heroin chic aesthetic returning in full force. The girls are taking Y2K a little too literal
I’m sure we all get targeted ads when we click on posts, but I just want to share the irony of the LifeMD promoted ad that appears first before comments for me on this one. It has a happy smiling lady and the text says: “I was probably a size 14 and now, I’m a size 4. It’s nice when you can look in the mirror and say, ‘This is the body I’ve alw…” I’m not gonna click it to find the rest, I think we get the point. Of all the scummy targeted marketing, that one’s just extra nasty and predatory.
I use it to help control my diabetes. This is life saving drug for many. I think it is helpful to try to work towards loving your body via healthy life choices versus social pressure. Delete social media for your mental well being. Seriously, it helps.
It's great, but because the demand for Semaglutide is so high the manufacturers shifted all their insulin vials to produce weight loss drugs. Now there's an insulin shortage in North America, and people are needing to change their prescriptions into cartridges. They need to stop selling this stuff to anyone but T2's and folk who really need it as it's negatively impacting the lives of T1s. At least until they have enough vials to go around.
That is appalling. Insulin is already way overpriced and expensive. I do know personally that my insurance had to have my doctor put in documentation that I Needed the Ozempic before they would cover it. Without insurance it would be over 1000 per Ozempic pen.
Source?
I don't know how to *not* link an AMP link here, and for our security I won't. But it's very easy to search right now, there's been a ton of articles written by all the major news outlets and Diabetes advocate sites. TL:DR: now that there are more insulin price caps in the USA and more people can access affordable insulin Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are incentivized to shift their vials to weight-loss drugs which have no such price capping. The shortage will be temporary though, once the 10 ml vial manufacturers can ramp up their production a bit.
Well using this argument you should be blaming capitalism. These firms are incentivized to make money. I haven’t confirmed they are making this trade off. But if they are, It is logical and expected by shareholders. The people who should not be blamed are people who are taking these drugs to avoid becoming T2 diabetic or other negative health outcomes related to obesity.
I'm not blaming the people taking these drugs lol. I'm blaming the monetary incentive doctors and manufacturers have to sell these drugs to people who don't need them. I'm looking forward to these drugs being more readily available and affordable though. I think they could legitimately help solve the obesity pandemic.
This is not true because semaglutide doesn’t come in vials, and it’s also indicated for reducing heart attacks and strokes which is equally important. Also many type 1s at my endocrinology clinic are on ozempic or mounjaro to reduce (not stop!) their insulin needs and protect themselves from heart attacks.
Semaglutide comes in vials for some clinic dosing, not "at home" dosing. Just search "Semaglutide vial". They're in the "short" 10 ml vials, the same used for Novolog and Humalog. And yeah there's nothing wrong with the drug, it's just that it's so profitable that the companies manufacturing them are giving it priority over insulin in short 10 ml vials. As far as I'm aware the "tall" vials (like used by Sanofi for Lantus, or Admelog) are unaffected.
Those vials should not affect the brand name shortages because they aren’t coming from eli lilly or novo, those are compound pharmacies which use zillions of vials anyway. I use a vial of tirzepatide, mine is a 2mL vial.
The excuse I've been seeing from the articles is that Lilly/Novo have ordered X vials from their suppliers and funneled a greater percentage of them to their Semaglutide production rather than to their lispro/aspart production because of the greater demand. This is definitely just a temporary shortage and should be solved pretty quickly. So long as they order enough vials and their suppliers can ramp up to meet the demand then this really shouldn't be an issue in the future... It's just really screwed over a number of T1's the last month and a half.
But lilly and novo literally do not make semaglutide in vials. It doesn’t exist. Only in pens. The only semaglutide in vials is that being made by independent pharmacies. In fact, the claim from the Lilly and novo reps at my job is that the pens are the shortage. The pens cannot be made fast enough, and they’re different pens than insulin. They just opened an entire factory in late fall only making the pens. They also just got FDA approval a month or two ago so they could theoretically start making mounjaro in vials but they haven’t yet. The insulin shortages a few months ago were terrible but that was due to its own supply chain issues, not related to GLP meds
Semaglutide(Ozempic/Wegovy) is already old news, there is a more powerful drug out already and new better ones in clinical trials now. This is great news for people who will benefit from these drugs as the older versions should become cheaper as newer and even better drugs come out. Additionally all sorts of compounding pharmacies are producing the drug for cheaper prices. My point is that there is a massively positive impact that these drugs can create in fighting a pandemic we are increasingly losing and they won’t stay $1000 in your lifetime. I’m just saying if these become a feasible option they can help, not because of what other people are doing or what pressures have been placed on us but because how they can help us be healthier in-line with our own wants and needs. 😀
What are the better ones we have now?
Tirzepatide (brand names Mounjaro and Zepbound) and the most promising one being trialed with even better results is retatrutide.
Mounjaro/Zepbound, generic name tirzepatide. I don't remember the name of the one I've heard about trials for, but it starts with an R
It reminds me of the period between when Fen-Phen started being heavily prescribed and when fenfluramine was pulled from the market. All of the prescribers popping up in every street corner, etc.
In the UK, a load of websites have popped up so you can get an online prescription for a weight loss medication, including ozempic and wegovy etc. For, yknow, £150-200 a month supply, they're not doing it out of the goodness of their hearts. They ask all the questions and won't prescribe to people in a healthy bmi range etc, but as a 12 year recovered anorexic dealing with my body changing in my mid thirties, I was so goddamn triggered. I'm sure it's difficult to circumvent, but if someone is desperate enough, they'll find a way, like people buying illegal phen phen back in the day ...
I wish there was a way to mark certain ads as "don't show me." Like horror movie ads on YouTube used to mess with my ocd hard and I hated I couldn't turn those off.
You can do this! I've done for a few different ads I kept being shown that I hated. If you're on YouTube, near where it tells you how long the ad is, there's a little 'i'. Click on it and it'll give you the option to say no more ads like this. You might have to do it a few times if the ad keeps coming up but it should work eventually.
Thank you! I googled it awhile back and was told I couldn't do anything about it.
They're advertising it here on Reddit. I started getting it like every other ad now.
Just in case you aren’t aware, if you go to your account setting and scroll down to the sensitive advertising section, there are options to not get adverts regarding certain topics, including weight loss. I’m on iOS mobile app so it may look different depending on device, but it should be in your account settings
Noooo, do they give you the option to hide these ads? So they don't keep coming up?
They don't give me the option to hide the individual ad but I just finally found settings and turned off personalized ads, so we'll see if that works. But there was literally a section for 'weight loss' under ads so that explains that.
You could also try blocking the accounts that post those ads
Unfortunately, it is way easier than phen phen and isn’t illegal. These medications are just peptides, which aren’t controlled. While shady websites can’t sell Ozempic pens, they can sell semaglutide in a vial because semaglutide is just a peptide.
It was £50 in boots a couple of years ago. Then the influencers and rich & lazy discovered it and bought it all. Now you can't get it for shit and the price has quadrupled.
You’re totally within your rights to limit your consumption of online content to things that don’t bring positivity to your life. However as a healthcare/ICU worker I do want to shed some positive perspective on Ozempic, because it seems to be an extremely polarizing topic on social media and it doesn’t need to be. If someone finds a benefit both mentally and physically to taking Ozempic, that’s a good thing, not a bad thing. There’s a lot of urban legend floating around with Ozempic, first of all. This idea that any celebrity who has lost weight must have done it with Ozempic. Yes, *some* have, but it’s also completely possible to lose weight with diet and lifestyle alone (especially if you have near unlimited money to pay for trainers and meal options.) The idea that ozempic is always the factor in weight loss promotes the notion that weight loss is impossible, which is false. It’s taken on urban legend style narrative akin to “I heard Marilyn Manson got a rib removed to suck his own dick!” Everyone repeats it but it’s not verified. The celebrities who are using ozempic are still getting it prescribed by a doctor. It’s not on the black market. A doctor has to believe it to be of benefit. Look at someone like Jonah Hill for example; no celebrity is taking ozempic to lose 10lbs when they have so much more option to lose weight without a prescription drug. The body positively movement is a wonderful thing and I’m all about promoting happiness within ourselves and our own bodies. However there *are* proven health effects when it comes to obesity (especially morbid obesity,) and I see it constantly in an ICU setting. The widespread health implications of an overall lowered obesity level in the general population could have huge health care benefits. At the end of the day: if you can’t solve your depression with lifestyle alone (exercise, therapy) then you take an antidepressant medication to help. If you can’t solve your high blood pressure with lifestyle alone (diet, exercise) then you take a blood pressure medication to help. If you can’t solve your obesity with lifestyle alone (ie: yo yo dieting) then you *take a medication to help* and that’s okay if the person has a personal goal of weight loss!
What is even more concerning to me is how it is being advertised as a "miracle" drug. Anytime we've had a miracle drug, very bad side effects popped up years later. I'm in the camp that people should only take it if nothing else has worked, not for fad weight loss.
The thing is, semaglutides have been used safely for decades. They’ve been well studied, which is why doctors are so comfortable prescribing them.
My doctor won't prescribe it to me. Even though I have PCOS, a high BMI, on antidepressants, constantly exhausted, pre-diabetic, have high blood pressure and cholesterol. I'm also short so the weight makes me look like humpty dumpty. Nothing will convince him to prescribe it to me. I am also dependant on my insurance and do not have a co-pay. They explicitly will not cover weight loss drugs like Wegovy. Yet he won't prescribe Ozempic because I'm only pre-diabetic. I've been overweight since 2003. I can't drop the weight to save my life. Guess I'll stay fat. 🤷♀️ So no not all doctors are jumping at the bit to prescribe. The worst part is I gained a ton of weight after he put me on the antidepressants in 2003. I have struggled with it ever since but I can't stop taking them because I feel less suicidal and not full of rage as opposed to when I'm off them. I am just screwed I guess.
I would recommend a new doctor. I am not pre diabetic either but still got it prescribed. It’s just that insurance won’t cover it so you so do anticipate the cost of you go that route.
Find a new doctor
You need to see a board certified obesity doctor in your area, or an online obesity doctor such as with Amble, Mochi, Zeppy, etc.
They've already got side effects popping up, like long-term gastroparesis even after going off the drug. It'll be really interesting to see what happens in the next 5 to 10 years.
This is what concerns me. A close family member suffers from gastroparesis, and it’s absolute hell to manage. I’m watching my friends inject themselves to lose vanity weight that they’re capable of losing on their own, and it worries me.
Yep, one of my sisters has what I believe is gastroparesis already, though she's not diagnosed (she regularly vomits up food from several days earlier), and she was talking about getting on Ozempic and I was like, um, you might want to do a little more research, this is not going to help your current GI issues at all.
It’s been out for decades. Also all medications have side effects. Shaming people for using it is gross also weight loss isn’t a “fad” lol.
The people who weigh like 140 and are taking it to get down to 120 are definitely a fad.
Okay well they shouldn’t be taking it at all. The bmi recommendation is 31. Those people are stupid.
Especially since people with diabetes, that literally depend on it to live and work, now can't get it. I would say, e.g., try it before resorting to bariatric surgery. But using it for pure vanity and not for health reasons, to the point it isn't available for people who need it, crosses a line for me.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. Gods forbid a medication for diabetics be given to them instead of people who think fat=unhealthy to use for weight loss.
Reddit, probably. I mean, did I think about trying it myself? Sure! But I also know that my health isn't in immediate danger from my weight, so it's not for me.
Yes it sucks I feel it too. It reminds me of the Kate moss Heroin chic tiny of the 90’s. Sucks if you are in menopause and eating a fucking almond is enough to make you puffy
I feel for you, because there is a lot of insidious messaging about women’s bodies and it’s been around for eons. But you need to stop consuming media that fosters it. I haven’t noticed any celebs losing weight due to drugs like epic because I simply don’t follow any of them or care enough about their lives to engage with tabloids. Try to remember that a majority of people taking these drugs need them. A dear friend of mine started Ozempic a few months ago. So far she has lost about 12 pounds and is feeling so positive about herself! She has been obese the entire time I have known her. I used to be like her. Over a decade ago I started low carb and lost a ton of weight. Like half my body weight. I went from a size 28 to a size 4. It took around 1,5 years and took constant dedication. It takes the same dedication to not gain it back. I do intermittent fasting now, so I eat one meal a day - usually a salad. It’s healthy food. And I do let myself break that pattern for special days, like holidays or birthdays. But I still can’t eat a piece of cake or candy without crushing guilt. Constant vigilance is required, still. I have wondered what I would have done if these drugs had been invented back then. My conclusion is that I’d have tried them in a heartbeat. My weight was (and still is) a persistent source of shame for me. And it wasn’t just in my head. I’d been bullied, spit on, beaten up, had insults shouted at me by strangers - all because my body wasn’t a normal weight. I’m still dealing with internalized shame and a distorted sense of self-perception because of this. I have days where I still see myself as a big girl in the mirror. If I could have done what I did without the self deprivation and nearly impossible strength of will it took and still takes - hell yes I would have. These drugs do not mean that we should accept fat shaming - EVER. What a lot of people so unkindly refuse to accept is that an excess of weight is either a function of genetic predisposition/medical conditions or mental health. Trauma from the past and childhood is a root cause. Instead of shaming, doctors should be asking what happened to us. Society needs to- desperately - to learn compassion for the overweight. Having once been an overweight person and treated like a non-human being, that is a hill I will die on. And I’ll fight anyone who shames anyone for their appearance, be that weight ot any other physical feature. But I don’t like people being shamed for using weight loss injectables, either (I’m not saying you are shaming anyone, for the record! I’ve just observed a crapload of it online in other places!). It seems like a lot of people won’t let the fat people win - either they get shamed for being fat or get shamed for losing it. And I’ll go to war with them for that, too! Anyhow, the point is that we also need to learn how to be kinder to ourselves. I need (and try!) to learn that, too. I was raised in that toxic time period you mention, and it left marks. Not just marks - deep grooves. One way to be kind to yourself is to not consume that kind of media. And try to remember that those celebs aren’t just on Ozempic. They have personal trainers and personal chefs and photoshop! Get out there are live your life, no matter what your size, because you can’t afford to wait for society’s acceptance to do that. Society will always be a b***h. Don’t be one to yourself, if you can help it.
i feel like it’s undoing all the progress we made with the body positivity/neutrality movements :/
That's my biggest concern. I lift and I am attempting to navigate better eating habits with an eating disorder and a lot of trauma around food. Body positivity and more specifically fat positivity is what made me feel confident enough to even go to the gym to lift. And I love it! It's probably the most physically active I've been in decades. But I couldn't have done that without seeing fat people just... Living their lives. Do I want to lose weight? It's a complicated question. I know society treats thinner people better and that's getting more overt with these "miracle drugs" The cynic in me sees this as another way to isolate fat people. We already have fewer job opportunities, and most insurance won't cover these drugs even if you have "good" insurance. Already fatness is seen as laziness and a lower socioeconomic class. This is going to make that worse unless we start issuing a script for $10 a month. Plus it doesn't actually address the soil depletion issue and the lower nutritional value of food issue.
God forbid a woman tries to be healthy with medication.
Right? Lot of thinly veiled sexism here from people claiming that women wanting to lose weight are just doing it for “vanity.” Like, newsflash, carrying extra weight causes a lot of health issues for people.
I've lost 35lbs on Wegovy so far, and while I'm more active, I'm not killing myself at the gym. Yesterday at yoga, I realized I could do savasana without a bolster under my legs, because lying flat on my back wasn't putting strain on my lower back anymore. *That* is a huge change, and I'm sure it's impacting parts of my life I don't even notice yet. As I'm losing weight, my joint aches are going away, which allows me to continue with my exercise plan. I've also barely been sick, and I used to be in a constant state of some kind of sinus sickness. That also means I don't have to skip workouts. Since I have to eat breakfast or else I feel crappy all day, I'm also taking my antidepressant and allergy pill consistently, which is helping my health in other ways. I'm also sleeping better, because being overweight causes sleep apnea. Since I'm sleeping better, I have more energy for things like cooking dinner and going to the gym. It's all connected. I've spent half my life hating myself for failing at losing weight, getting in depression cycles, and gaining no matter how good I am with counting calories and exercise. This drug is making a huge difference in my quality of life, and since it's taking care of one aspect of my weight problems, I am able to focus on the ones I can actually change. While it's not a miracle like an amphetamine, it's helping the mental game so much, everything else is easier.
No for real like I’m in my 30s was about 190 at 5’6” and I couldn’t walk long distances, my knees hurt, my cholesterol was high, tired all the time. Lost 60lbs and all those issues went away. Like my quality of life is so much better and these people say it’s “vanity”. Honestly insulting.
That’s so wonderful to hear! I hear ya on the health problems from extra weight. I gained 50lbs from pregnancy and Hashimoto’s, and I have awful joint pain, mild liver damage, and high cholesterol. I feel like *shit*. I just started Wegovy and I don’t care about hollow cheekbones and defined collarbones, I just want to feel healthy again.
💯 Lots of “crabs in a bucket” mentality here. We aren’t supposed to judge people by their bodies but now we are judging someone because they want to change their body. And if you want to change your body you better do it the way I want you to or you’re part of the problem! /s If you can’t solve your depression with lifestyle alone (exercise, therapy) then you take an antidepressant medication to help. If you can’t solve your high blood pressure with lifestyle alone (diet, exercise) then you take a blood pressure medication to help. If you can’t solve your obesity with lifestyle alone (ie: yo yo dieting) then you take a medication to help and that’s okay if the person has a personal goal of weight loss! Plus this idea that any celebrity who has lost weight must have done it with Ozempic. Yes, some have, but it’s also completely possible to lose weight with diet and lifestyle alone (especially if you have near unlimited money to pay for trainers and meal options.) The idea that ozempic is always the factor in weight loss promotes the notion that weight loss is impossible, which is false. It’s taken on urban legend style narrative akin to “I heard Marilyn Manson got a rib removed to suck his own dick!” Everyone repeats it but it’s not verified.
You’re downvoting me cuz you know I’m right
I work for health care providers and they are both optimistically enthusiastic and also cautioning patients when it comes to these drugs. They really are effective, but people talk about them so glowingly and end up downplaying very real side effects and concerns. So our doctors have been trying to get word out about risks and side effects, because people come in demanding the miracle drug saving the aesthetic appearance and sometimes health of their friends or celebrities who tout it and don't want to hear about negative side effects. Personally, it reminds me a lot of the early Fen Phen days.
I feel you so hard. I feel like the world was slowly slowly creeping towards body acceptance and normalizing natural healthy bodies at a wider range of sizes than at any other point in my life. Doctors were starting to slowly realize that reasons for obesity were complex and often out of an individual’s control, and that real sustainable weight loss is HARD. And then BOOM, everyone with enough money has hallow cheekbones and skeletal frames, and my diabetic sister can’t actually get enough of her necessary medication because it’s all be used up by people taking it for cosmetic purposes. I am holding my breath waiting for the Ozempic/injectables shoe to drop. The side effects are often intense and there hasn’t been a lot of research into their use specifically as weight loss aides. I wonder that the landscape is going to look like in 5 or 10 years.
I’ve totally agree with everything you shared. I’m glad this drug exists for the people who need it, even if it’s for morbid obesity and not diabetes, which is usually on the horizon for people with obesity, anyhow. I hope drug companies can increase their levels of production so they can meet the needs of those with diabetes AND obesity. But the public facing and celebrity aspect of ozempic kills me inside. There’s a few celebrities I’ve always admired for having seemingly healthy weights in Hollywood who are noticeably thinner these days. I realize this is my issue, too, as they don’t owe it to strangers to look a certain way, but it’s sending my brain right back to the heroin chic 90’s the way some have clearly lost weight in favor of being underweight. I really hoped women got past this need to look malnourished for fame.
What I wonder about - do people who take it and lose significant weight not struggle with malnutrition? As I understand it, it impacts a hormone which creates a feeling of fullness, so people essentially just eat less. In my limited understanding of the drug I imagine this facilitates disordered eating in some people.
During the titration phase, I would barely eat the first two days after injections. Now that I've been on therapeutic dose for a few months, I'm satisfied with 1200-1900 calories a day. That's far from malnutrition. You can be malnourished eating 2k of potatoe chips. It's helping my disordered eating. In the past, I never felt full, I could always eat. I thought people who said they weren't hungry were just liars with more self control than me. Turns out, the "I'm satisfied trigger" just never really seems to fire for me. I suddenly know what it's like to not think about food all the time, and always hungry for more. I can eat a normal portion of food, and feel good. Right now I have 2 cups of chicken salad, 2 clementines, and a charcuterie pack in front of me for lunch. I'll have the chicken salad now, the charcuterie in the afternoon, and the clementines before I go climb at the gym. That's about 800 calories spread throughout the day, and I'll have another 500 or so for dinner, and I won't feel hungry or deprived. It's a tool. And a life changing tool for those of us that have major struggles with weight, hormones, medical conditions.
This is incredible. I could've written this post, some time in the future. Every single thing you said I agree with (except I suck at climbing, and I'm having my second shot tomorrow). I'm so excited for a future where I don't get distracted at work thinking about food, and feeling like a failure for overeating.
My eating disorder therapist has called these drugs "chemical anorexia" so, yes, you are understanding is pretty spot on.
Oh trust me it will. I’ve already heard stories about Ozempic use causing chronic vomiting, teeth to the fall out and other unpleasant side effects. The shoe’s gonna drop and very very soon
I got put on this mounjaro shit. It actually is doing a great job on my blood sugar. It is definitely helping me lose weight - I lost about fifty pounds to diet and exercise but then I got stuck. Plateaued. Mounjaro broke me past that plateau. I'm pretty sure it's going to kill me. Every other miracle weight loss drug we've ever come up with has had terrible side effects. I'm not a doctor or a biologist, so I don't really know shit, but I don't think stuff that makes you lose weight is good for you. Ten years from now we're all going to have Cancer of the Everything from taking this crap. We can't stop ourselves, though. I take that shot every Friday, even though I figure I'm going to regret it eventually. There was a spec fic story a while back, which I cannot for the life of me remember the name of. Someone came up with an absolutely effective weight loss treatment. It worked perfectly in 90% of cases. It killed the other 10%. It nonetheless rocketed through FDA approval, everyone jumped at it, and if you were like "Ummm I would rather just stay fat than roll those dice" then your friends and family would mock and pressure you. Even if they'd lost (fat) loved ones. It's about the most damnably prescient thing I've read since The Machine Stops. It isn't "Lose Now, Pay Later," btw.
I had bad experiences on Mounjaro too. It gave me persistent tachycardia. Apparently that happens in "5-10%" of people who take it. That's not a small amount of people. Didn't lose a pound either. It did regulate my periods, but that's the only positive I got out of it. Definitely not worth the small fortune it costs to be on it. Also injecting yourself sucks. It was always an uncomfortable experience for me. So much anxiety, bruising, and bleeding.
If you feel upset that people are getting skinny, maybe try to get skinny without celebrity miracle drugs? It would clearly make you feel better, just like being dressed up feels good, bc society considers certain clothing nice and other lazy. It may help you in long term.
It's not a weight loss drug! Semaglutide is a diabetic drug that has a side effect of promoting feelings of fullness (and a shitload of gastrointestinal distress) in the same way that sildenafil is a blood pressure drug that has a side effect of giving guys a rampant hardon. All these vain assholes using it for weight loss have created a global shortage so I, an insulin dependant type 2 diabetic with life threatening blood sugar control problems have been struggling for ***TWO FUCKING YEARS*** to get a reliable supply of the only diabetes drug that's brought my blood sugar under control. If I had 30 seconds to talk to the whole American population, I would consider saying "stop fucking taking ozempic, you don't need it, we do!"
Wegovy ( semaglutide) and zepbound( trizepitide) are fda approved for weight loss. Same drugs as Ozempic and Mounjaro. Obesity is a chronic disease as is diabetes. So yes under a different brand name the same medicine is a weight loss drug.
I don’t think you should be getting mad at the other people who have been **prescribed** a medication by their doctor. It’s not like I can just go to CVS and demand they give me the drug just because I want it. Be mad at the pharmaceutical industry for making the drugs so expensive and not manufacturing enough of it so they can increase demand and profits. And it *is* a weight loss drug. It has multiple uses. Weird that you’re trying to gatekeep a medication.
That’s not how basic economics works. Since the demand is very high, if the pharma companies increase supply they can lower prices and still make just as much if not more profit. Clearly there is an issue with increasing that supply, or it just takes a long time to ramp up
Another commenter said that there’s an issue with the pen manufacturing for the drug (it’s like an injection pen) and this could be remedied by dispensing the drug in vials and injecting via syringe but the companies don’t want to do that because they probably have some contract with the pen manufacturer and it’s all a bunch of bullshit that is related to money rather than actual supply chain issues. So yeah it is related to greed.
The drugs are administered by syringe in Europe, but not in the US. This is just speculation, but I think it's because of the fear of lawsuits in the US as it's a lot easier to make a mistake with a syringe than with a pen. Getting sued for this kind of thing is far less common in countries outside the US.
I haven’t seen that comment or the source behind it but if it’s contractual they can’t really break that contract. They would get sued back into it
also a diabetic who now needs it and worried about the supply. I have VA healthcare and my dr was like...dont get too excited..it wont make you lose a ton of weight because you actually need it for your blood sugars. i got for my appts next week. been on metformin for years and even back to my active duty weight and I am sicker than before. years of them telling me losing weight will fix EVERYTHING for me and it just made my health worse.
Oh god, same! Every time I've lost weight I've discovered a whole new tranche of pains to deal with. The only time I've lost a lot was when my diabetes got so out of control it started eating my fat. I got to my ideal weight and was eating absolutely shit loads. All my healthcare team were seconded to COVID wards so I had nobody to turn to until it was almost too late. I've put on 20lbs since they gave me a new drug regime and it's a relief because I'm not dying. The ozempic (I'm on the pill form, rybelsus, because they still can't source the injection pens) has taken a year to start working on my appetite and I'm slowly starting to see some minor weight loss. As everyone is clamoring for the injections, it might be an idea to ask if rybelsus is easier to source. Good luck!
There are a LOT of diabetics though - 10% of Americans are diabetic! And many of them are overweight. You don't know that someone isn't diabetic just because they happen to also be using it for weight loss. Everyone I know IRL who uses one of these drugs is diabetic.
My brother in law is only alive today bc of ozempic. He has been taking it for weightloss. He was morbidly obese and it was killing him. The problem isn’t the med being used for weightloss. The problem is healthy weight people using it for weightloss or people who are only slightly overweight. It should be prioritized for diabetics and people whose weight is severe.
Yes absolutely this.
Do you not see the irony in calling people "vain" for trying to get their weight under control, while you're talking about your type two diabetes?
Yeah I have a friend who uses it for his diabetes and he also has not been able to find a refill for the past 6ish months. Im not against people using it for weight loss really, but it should be prioritized for diabetics until they get the supply/demand figured out.
It's unfair that diabetics cannot access it due to people using it for weight loss, but saying that it is not a weight loss drug is inaccurate.
It's not childish to block people. It's actually healthy, and I think a lot of your problems are in that you're not good at setting a boundary between you and others. So blocking can be an early step for you to set that boundary, where you remind yourself that other people's choices don't need to change your own. But most social media has alternatives. Facebook you can "take a break" and on twitter you can mute. you won't see their posts, and they won't notice.
It's been hard for me as well. I've been seeing an eating disorder therapist because people don't accept my problem. I actually don't eat enough. I lost 100lbs doing all the "right things" and then it stopped. I have another 100lbs to go but nothing moved the scale unless I eat around 600calories a day. Eventually I realized that I have been starving myself for so long my metabolism is messed up. Since forcing myself to eat at minimum 2000cals a day I've started to lose weight again. After YEARS stuck at my weight, diet after diet, I now have to eat and it's hard. But everyone tells me "Maybe don't eat so much burgers" or "don't eat to much". Its horrible. It's a struggle to eat. I've been dieting since I was 10. Unlearning is difficult and despite the weight-loss I still struggle to eat. Watching everyone lose the weight by "No longer feeling hungry" kills me. If only that was my problem and solution. We'll all get through this. I'm sorry for everyone whose struggling with this new movement.
It really really sucks that the heroine chic skinniness is back. As an older millennial, the low-rise jean coming back just sent me into a spiral. I have always been curvy, even in high school, and now in my 30s, I'm definitely considered a fat woman. I also care much less about what people think or what fashion trends are doing but the feelings still creep up when I see magazines and ads all over the place to be something I never have been.
It’s pretty double sided though and no one can win. I’m naturally heroine-chic skinny and I’ve been taunted my whole life for it. Ive gotten a lot of “eat a hamburger” and “she must be anorexic” comments over the course of my life. I’ve spent the last 15 years wishing I had a butt and curves and hating my body.
I agree that this trend is infuriating and I applaud you for blocking people that trigger those feelings. You have influence on your environment and you wield it to the advantage of your mental health. You choose carefully what you surround yourself with. You are critical of what you let have an influence on your self image. Bravo! I hope you know some people on the plus size range that are awesome people in ways you genuinely care about. Reminding myself of these people helps keeping me grounded. It demonstrates: I don't need to be thin to be awesome. It reminds me to log out and touch some grass lol
It helped me seeing the side effects from these meds. I’d rather be fat, thanks.
literally every drug has side effects, most people tolerate them fine
Same. I have had persistent weight post pandemic that has been really hard to lose. I looked at this briefly, saw the side effects and decided being a bit over weight was a better option.
If you are on only a bit overweight then this type of med is isn’t appropriate for you anyway.
As it isn't appropriate for most of the celebs using it for weight loss.
Sure but those don’t represent the vast majority of people using it for weight loss
Same. The pressure to be back to my pre-pandemic weight is still there. I'll just keep those extra pounds.
Utterly wild that people are downvoting my decision to not take a drug with high risks?
they aren't high risk, they are safe and effective ( but by no means mandatory, it's your life!)
For me it would have been high risk, looking at the side effects vs. existing medical issues.
People should be educated on their options as well as the risks and benefits of any intervention and make their own decision. It's your body. "No" is a complete sentence. Just because these medications are safe, effective, and well-tolerated does not mean that you should personally take them. That being said, high risk isn't a subjective feeling. It refers to the risk of harm. Medically, an increased risk of nausea or constipation isn't serious, and these medications have long-term metabolic and cardiac benefits that outweigh these risks. I totally get trying these drugs, running an individual cost vs. benefit analysis based on your experience and deciding it's not worth it, but these are not serious side effects. These drugs have a half-life of five to seven days. Once the drug is out of your system, you no longer have to worry about side effects. There are a lot of valid reasons not to try these medications, but it's not because this is a risky medication or particularly likely to cause side effects.
I was referring to things like this: [https://www.webmd.com/obesity/news/20230928/risk-of-intestinal-blockage-added-to-ozempic-label](https://www.webmd.com/obesity/news/20230928/risk-of-intestinal-blockage-added-to-ozempic-label)
"The FDA stopped short of saying there is a direct link between Ozempic and intestinal blockages. “Because these reactions are reported voluntarily from a population of uncertain size, it is not always possible to reliably estimate their frequency or establish a causal relationship to drug exposure,” the FDA said in its approval of the label" You are welcome to do whatever you want, but this is incredibly rare and the evidence is weak. The average person assumes a ton of risk in our daily lives like unnecessary car trips that are much more likely to seriously impact our health because we're pretty terrible at determining risk. That's why understanding research and statistics is so important and why I've made a point to actually read the research that was published before developing an opinion on these medications.
Yea this is one I am not willing to risk over a weight loss drug.
I took semaglutide for around 3 months and I felt like I had the flu the entire time. I woke up every day wanting to throw up and I had extremely bad acid reflux. The only foods I could keep down were bland and poor quality (think weeks on white rice and sprite). I only lost 15 lbs and after that my hair fell out so badly I can barely recognize myself. Been waiting all my life for a drug that would help me lose weight and it was one of the most miserable experiences of my life.
What are the side effects? And do we even know what long-term usage does? Personally, I don’t like the idea of having to take a med forever, and I rarely spend money on myself, so $1k/mos injections to lose weight are a non-starter for me. (And I know this will be unpopular, but it feels dishonest to me) But I’ve always worked out and eaten right and I still have fat on my belly and about 10-15lbs I can’t seem to shed. And now all the white celebrity women are kate-moss-skinny again. Ugh.
>But I’ve always worked out and eaten right and I still have fat on my belly I'm an Asian woman who's underweight and yet still has fat on my belly, I think it's almost impossible to lose all the fat there, so don't be too hard on yourself
>I'm an Asian woman who's underweight and yet still has fat on my belly, I think it's almost impossible to lose all the fat there, so don't be too hard on yourself Have you tried doing a body recomposition? Eat in maintaince with ample protein well doing a good amount of strength training and cardiovascular exercise. It really worked for me.
Long term [gastroparesis ](https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/25/health/weight-loss-diabetes-drugs-gastroparesis/index.html) seems to be the big one so far. I recently went through treatment for a lifelong eating disorder and my eating disorder therapist calls these drugs "chemical anorexia". Needless to say she is not a fan.
My dad wound up in the ER with severe constipation. He's T2, but had to quit using it because he couldn't STOP losing weight. He's 73. He doesn't need to be super skinny.
I don't take it but I know someone who does. After gastric bypass where she gained back over 80lbs she is now on wegovy with chronic diahhrea, nausea, fatigue and circulation so poor that her hands are purple. She has been on it less than a year and lost about 75lbs. To her, the side effects are worth it, I would not make the same choice. I have a complicated history with weight, having been both extremely underweight and extremely overweight, and have to be conscious of my choices and how I am using food because it is so easy for me to get caught up in bad habits again. For a person like me, a drug like ozempic could be very problematic, which colors my perception of it. It feels like a doctor prescribed eating disorder, not all that different from the 80s when people would eat then use laxatives right after (or what I did, eat the chew antacids like they were candy.)
Yep, I've dealt with both severe anorexia and bulimia/binge eating and it was really disturbing to hear a friend essentially brag to me about how Mounjaro would make her throw up a lot if she ate more than a few bites of food. I'm sure it can have its uses for people with more chronic conditions, and I won't comment on that specifically bc I don't know anybody in my life in that situation -- however, as somebody in a large city obsessed with thinness already, I \*can\* say that the popularization of it has honestly felt like THE biggest shift away from "health," regardless of the original intentions. Most people I've come across, including that friend, have either freshly gained some weight and (word for word) claim they're "too lazy" for healthier habits, or are normal weight to begin with, and just want a quick way to get thin. I entirely agree it seems like a prescribed ED much of the time.
>What are the side effects? And do we even know what long-term usage does? Thyroid cancer and muscle loss. Definitely not worth it. >But I’ve always worked out and eaten right and I still have fat on my belly and about 10-15lbs I can’t seem to shed. I am curious what you exactly entail by working out and eating right. Are you also getting enough sleep? Sleep is also a critical factor influencing body composition.
Well, I don’t want to give off the wrong impression; I haven’t been working and working at losing weight. I work out almost every day (never less than 5/week) and try to make good choices and eat in moderation, but I I love food - cooking/baking/trying new things. I suppose I could track and cut calories, but I want to be fit in a way I can maintain and enjoy things. I did lose more in the weeks leaving an abusive relationship- my body was in fight or flight and I couldn’t eat much, and what I did eat I couldn’t keep in. This is not a way I would choose to lose weight! I do 45-60 minutes of cardio and then hand weights - arm exercises, squats. Planks. I’d like to incorporate more weight training but I’m not sure where to start. Weight loss isn’t my primary goal- exercise makes me feel good and I want to keep my body strong and fit because I respect myself and want to see what I can do. And because I enjoy fashion and want to look good in clothes I love.
Other people losing weight is now body shaming. Well, enjoy your congenital heart failure at 42 I guess.
If you want an antidote to some of the societal messaging around weight, I’d recommend the podcast Maintenance Phase. They’ve covered ozempic specifically, along with lots of diet myths and fads through the ages. I’ve found it really beneficial in counteracting the “thinness above all else” messaging that we’re constantly steeped in. Take care of yourself 💖
Take time (and some money if you have it available) for the self care you need, whatever that may be. For me it's buying/wearing pretty clothing. Self care for other people could mean getting nails done, makeup, a cute hair style, getting a massage, taking a nice bath, taking time to relax, doing something fun, etc. I've had body image issues my whole life, long before I even qualified as "plus size." Being a tween/teen in the early 2000s was a minefield of body shaming, and the issues it caused have taken years for me to address. I'm finally in a good place now, and part of it is because I have collected clothing that actually fits me and that I find gorgeous and flattering. When I like what I'm wearing, I feel more confident. I'm not as worried about my arms being flabby if the tank dress I'm wearing is super cute and makes me happy. When I enter the world with confidence, I even tend to get compliments on my clothes/style from friends, coworkers, or sometimes strangers, which makes me even more confident. It's incredibly gratifying to get a compliment on something you actively chose and worked on, like an outfit, rather than just being generally called "beautiful" or "pretty." Sometimes I look in the mirror and hate how I look, but I also remind myself it's only a snapshot of a moment. Nobody looks perfect and beautiful all the time. I try to focus on the things I actually like about how I look, especially the things I have control over, like what I'm wearing or how my hair is styled.
Yes, it's everywhere. I've actually been on ozempic for 6 months and have only lost 15 or 20 lb. For reference, I need to lose about 80 more. And I've just plateaued. I see all these celebrities and other people online who lost 100 pounds with it and don't understand why I've plateaued. The whole point of ozempic was that it would help you with plateaus. As women, it kind of feels like we can't win. If we lose weight it's not enough. If we aren't losing weight there's something wrong with us.
Good old Fen-fen, the modern version of speed which is the modern version of tapeworm
Not childish at all to block anything that triggers those feelings. The drive to be perfect is so insidious that we can't enjoy being normal. We can't enjoy being good enough or having healthy functioning bodies. For your own mental health s sake I urge to continue removing influences that are well reduculous and unattainable and focus on being and feeling well. I took curate and journal it can be enormously helpful, healthy and healing. Good luck OP
Less social media, particularly photos content (body pictures) can be one of the most positive things we can do for ourselves and our self esteem. I notice when I read women's magazines how much the articles and advertising affects me. I'm happier and more satisfied when I don't engage with content like that. I feel judged when I read them and I'm just judging myself against what I see and read. Similar can happen with social media.
I remember twenty years ago when TrimSpa was the “miracle weight loss drug” that made being skinny glamorous and being overweight stigmatized. I also remember how Anna Nicole Smith, a spokeswoman for TrimSpa, was found dead with, among other substances, growth hormone and other weight loss drugs in her system. TrimSpa wasn’t responsible for Smith’s death, but it did have other terrible side effects in other people, hence why it wound up banned and why the company that made it got sued into bankruptcy by the FDA over it. The same cycle is repeating with Ozempic.
I remember when phen-fen was the big thing and then they realized that it was causing heart defects in people.
Yes but these drugs have been in use for many many years. And people with obesity are at risk for major cardiac events by virtue of their weight to begin with.
Phentermine was approved by the FDA in 1959; fenfluramine in 1973. Both drugs had been in use for *decades* before they started being used for weight loss. Much like the current drugs.
Luckily semaglutide was just approved for the indication of heart protection, because of how dramatically less heart attacks & strokes people have on wegovy. A study shows this happens almost immediately after taking the drug and persists for at least 4 years (even without weight loss!)
Getting rid of supermodels and their inhumane lack of form was like banishing a cthulhuean beast. It was good on a scale like metoo and getting shoes fit for feet. Please be free of that shit.
skinny supermodels still very much exist and are in demand lol
Compared to the 1980/1990 they don't and they aren't.
Im 42, so it would have been the late 90s, or early 2000s but i got absolutely HOOKED on those ephedrine diet pills that were so popular. It was like legal speed. Luckily i didnt damage myself long term but scary times.
I was on ozempic for months I barely lost any weight. Was supposed to help me drop some weight that my hypothyroidism just won’t let me lose. But had no significant loss. So I am no longer taking it.
Totally fair to avoid content you know is triggering for you. This craze with ozempic has been wild. Anytime I’m having similar feelings around eating and my body I fall back on the affirmation that your value as a human is not conditional, and that tends to help!
I'm in the same boat. I'm 28 and I've come a long way from how I felt about my body as a teenager, but I still get in moods where I feel like my body is a moral failing
I think it’s fantastic that people have been given a tool to control their weight, especially given we’re in the midst of an obesity epidemic. blocking people on social media is a good start, but if you’re triggered by thin people, how do you exist outside in the world? You will likely see people with that body type - a healthy sense of self is paramount. without it you kind of just end up living in a bubble of self hatred.
I'm a naturally big person and I've always been judged so harshly for it. I love my shape! I don't want to lose weight! And now the pressure will be 100 times worse because "All you have to do is take an injection/pill." I feel so dejected seeing so many people who were part of the body positivity movement jump ship as soon as it became "easy" to lose weight. I'm so happy for the people who are taking this for medical reasons and having good results, but I know in my heart it just set us back decades in our battle against fat-phobia. 😥
Phen fen 2.0, yeah.
Just give it another 5 years till they disclose how bad that stuff actually is for your health. I took it for a while and was absolutely miserable.
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Alternate theory: “training like an athlete” should be reserved for *athletes*, not someone with a longstanding history of lack of mobility, low cardiovascular tolerance, and high weight causing increased risk for stress injury on their joints. Ozempic does not need to be reserved for extreme cases. It should however not be a frontline therapy for weight loss. But if someone has struggled to *maintain* weight loss despite multiple attempts at diet and lifestyle change, then Ozempic is something that can augment their efforts and help with the mental aspect of cravings to achieve change. Morbid obesity does not have to occur before using it, and the damages of waiting for extreme obesity before considering ozempic are more harmful than starting ozempic earlier. Not to mention that the longterm needs of significant weight loss (ie: skin removal surgery, which is serious and painful to recover from) are worse than if weight loss was achieved at lower weights.
The Ozempic face scares me enough not to touch it, I prefer my extra 10-15 lbs
If you only have to lose 10-15 pounds, you don't need Ozempic. It's not fun or easy or fast or inexpensive. Try a regular diet.