"I No Longer Think GLP-1s Are the Answer — The drugs "work" but may be working against us long-term"

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There's no way we have enough long term data for the author to proclaim what he does here.

This. Anyone can say anything. That doesn't make it true. Research and data and facts do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am happy for people who are losing weight on meds.

However, although they are now thin, IMO they don’t look good. Their skin is gaunt and they look sickly. I understand it’s better than being overweight.

I also think there will be some bad side effects that are yet to be discovered.

Just because you think your friends/acquaintances who have lost a lot of weight look different does NOT mean they look gaunt and sickly. That's just your opinion because they look different.

Your nastiness doesn't look good on you, sweetie.

DP. I’ve always been thin but have not been pretty. I would have always chosen to pretty over thin. The amount of people picking their body over their face is baffling to me.

but pretty women are pretty whether they are young or old, thin or fat. on glp, they are still pretty, but have ozempic face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There's no way we have enough long term data for the author to proclaim what he does here.

This. Anyone can say anything. That doesn't make it true. Research and data and facts do.

You can click on the links in the article to find the data he is citing.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: So it is this awful cycle of you gain weight, you move less, you then spend more time eating to comfort yourself, by gaining weight you have more aches and pains like knee pain so you end up moving even less. You think about food all day and what you will have for your next meal. It really becomes a constant thought. Once you get used to eating more and moving less it just becomes ingrained that is your destiny.

GLP-1's break this cycle. It quiets the "food noise" that overweight /obese people have often ALL day. You eat and suddenly you feel full much sooner, you don't feel the need as often as before so instead of eating breakfast at 8, a snack at 10, lunch at 12 and a snack at 2, you eat skip breakfast/ eat tiny bit for breakfast and eat lunch at 12 and are fine until dinner. Once you start losing weight you can try to exercise and it becomes easier as you lose weight.

Long-term the more practice you have with eating less and exercising more is only going to help a person.

It is hilarious "a practicing obesity medicine specialist" is against GLP-1's, cynically I think this is because he probably realizes that because so many people are successful on GLP-1's he is getting pushed out of his speciality.

If you are eating to comfort yourself you need to solve THAT problem. It’s a mental health problem and GLPs will help ONE symptom but it won’t cure you and you will always comfort eat

Nope that is the miracle of GLP-1's. You feel awful you constantly crave food and have no self-control so end up eating even more, hence the comfort eating. Then you take GLP-1's and realize - wait a second this is what it is like not to think about food or overeat. You realize it isn't a moral flaw, you are just wired differently. It isn't a mental health problem at all.

Plus you get into good habits. I don't know why people aren't studying this part more as lots of study has gone into how long it takes to establish a good habit or a bad habit.

If a drug helps you implement a good habit (i.e., portion size; times of day to eat, refraining from alcohol, etc.) you can still keep these habits after dropping the drug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I don't understand why people double down on these common misconceptions about weight.

Skinny woman at 20 = has control
Exact same woman and diet in perimenopause = no control

When will we ever admit biology plays a HUGE role in weight.

You'd never dare say that same skinny woman could be built and play tennis like Serena Williams if only she were more dedicated to tennis because that's not true.

So why do you say that about weight?

Fwiw I've been the larger girl my entire life in a home where my Mom, eating the same food, never weighed more than 100 lbs most of her life. I was build like my football player Dad and not my tennis-playing Mom.

GLP 1 might be the first time in my life I ever hit below my plateau. Not for trying either. I spent my entire life dieting and exercising. Division one athlete with an eating disorder and still was never skinny.

Maybe your body was never meant to be skinny. And now you are taking a drug to force your body into a physique it never wanted. How is this good?

I still won't be skinny below my plateau. I'll be the high end of "normal" based on BMI. I also no longer desire that anyway. I prefer to be strong and healthy over skinny.

That said, as I've aged just being a healthy weight is a challenge. Even with GLP1 my doctor is shocked how hard it is for me to lose weight despite the fact that I had to prove that to get approved for the Rx anyway and I've been saying that to her since 2019.

[Anonymous]

No, you cannot just "keep these habits" after dropping the drug. This is what so many of you are missing.

People who are overweight, for the most part, do not have a "bad habit" problem. Their body doesn't just not tell them, "you are full, stop eating," their body says, "you are hungry, keep eating," even when it is too much. This is not a habit. This is something wrong inside that makes their body tell itself that it's ideal weight is way too high. Who knows why this is, but it is. This is what I believe the shot fixes - the bodies set point.

I am a person who was chubby since puberty. Who spent every waking minute since being a teenager on a diet, eating healthy, making good choices, counting calories, everyday of my life since forever, to try and not be chubby. I made "lifetime" (meaning hit goal weight at WW) 5 times over 40 years, and every time it was a massive struggle and every time the weight came back if I didn't count calories for every single meal.

I went on the shots and lost the weight more easily than ever before - it wasn't a struggle. I felt great for the first time in decades, and went off 2 other medications (for high cholesterol and high blood pressure).

Weaned off the shots, and the weight came back, same as with WW. Went back on the shots, and am now stable at a healthy weight, and am planing to stay on a maintenance dose of the shots forever (seems better to me than having high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and my doctor agrees). My non-medical opinion is the shots help my body maintain a healthy set point.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, you cannot just "keep these habits" after dropping the drug. This is what so many of you are missing.

People who are overweight, for the most part, do not have a "bad habit" problem. Their body doesn't just not tell them, "you are full, stop eating," their body says, "you are hungry, keep eating," even when it is too much. This is not a habit. This is something wrong inside that makes their body tell itself that it's ideal weight is way too high. Who knows why this is, but it is. This is what I believe the shot fixes - the bodies set point.

I am a person who was chubby since puberty. Who spent every waking minute since being a teenager on a diet, eating healthy, making good choices, counting calories, everyday of my life since forever, to try and not be chubby. I made "lifetime" (meaning hit goal weight at WW) 5 times over 40 years, and every time it was a massive struggle and every time the weight came back if I didn't count calories for every single meal.

I went on the shots and lost the weight more easily than ever before - it wasn't a struggle. I felt great for the first time in decades, and went off 2 other medications (for high cholesterol and high blood pressure).

Weaned off the shots, and the weight came back, same as with WW. Went back on the shots, and am now stable at a healthy weight, and am planing to stay on a maintenance dose of the shots forever (seems better to me than having high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and my doctor agrees). My non-medical opinion is the shots help my body maintain a healthy set point.

OP here. Thank you for sharing your story. I am genuinely glad it works for you and hope more people who need it are able to use it for life.

[Anonymous]

[url]

Anonymous wrote:No, you cannot just "keep these habits" after dropping the drug. This is what so many of you are missing.

People who are overweight, for the most part, do not have a "bad habit" problem. Their body doesn't just not tell them, "you are full, stop eating," their body says, "you are hungry, keep eating," even when it is too much. This is not a habit. This is something wrong inside that makes their body tell itself that it's ideal weight is way too high. Who knows why this is, but it is. This is what I believe the shot fixes - the bodies set point.

I am a person who was chubby since puberty. Who spent every waking minute since being a teenager on a diet, eating healthy, making good choices, counting calories, everyday of my life since forever, to try and not be chubby. I made "lifetime" (meaning hit goal weight at WW) 5 times over 40 years, and every time it was a massive struggle and every time the weight came back if I didn't count calories for every single meal.

I went on the shots and lost the weight more easily than ever before - it wasn't a struggle. I felt great for the first time in decades, and went off 2 other medications (for high cholesterol and high blood pressure).

Weaned off the shots, and the weight came back, same as with WW. Went back on the shots, and am now stable at a healthy weight, and am planing to stay on a maintenance dose of the shots forever (seems better to me than having high blood pressure and high cholesterol, and my doctor agrees). My non-medical opinion is the shots help my body maintain a healthy set point.

I could have written this post except I never tried to drop GLP1s and never used WW, just calorie counting. I have spent my entire life trying to fight my body’s food signals with varying success. On GLP1s I finally actually *can* rely on my good habits and hunger cues instead of constant, neurotic calorie-counting.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After being a size 4 from teens into my late 40s,I was on a strict whole 30 and weight watchers diet simultaneously and was still gaining 20-30 lbs a year after i went through menopause and had some other metabolic issues almost reaching 200 lbs - glp-1s have been great for me and I am very open about being on them to try to counter the judgement on this thread. If diet and exercise alone work for you great - but mind your own business re: others

I have no judgement for anyone that uses a GLP-1 but I do not want to spend tax dollars or pay increased premiums to enrich big pharma when it doesn't improve health for three quarters of people that use the drugs.

My tax dollars are spent on all kinds of things that aren't important to me. That's the price of living in the US. You have a beef with GLP-1s, other people would have the same complaint about infertility treatments. It costs thousands of dollars and you may or may not end up pregnant.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:After being a size 4 from teens into my late 40s,I was on a strict whole 30 and weight watchers diet simultaneously and was still gaining 20-30 lbs a year after i went through menopause and had some other metabolic issues almost reaching 200 lbs - glp-1s have been great for me and I am very open about being on them to try to counter the judgement on this thread. If diet and exercise alone work for you great - but mind your own business re: others

I have no judgement for anyone that uses a GLP-1 but I do not want to spend tax dollars or pay increased premiums to enrich big pharma when it doesn't improve health for three quarters of people that use the drugs.

My tax dollars are spent on all kinds of things that aren't important to me. That's the price of living in the US. You have a beef with GLP-1s, other people would have the same complaint about infertility treatments. It costs thousands of dollars and you may or may not end up pregnant.

Exactly. Or even insulin and all of the other drugs that people use (I was one of them before Ozempic) long term due to unhealthy weight.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am happy for people who are losing weight on meds.

However, although they are now thin, IMO they don’t look good. Their skin is gaunt and they look sickly. I understand it’s better than being overweight.

I also think there will be some bad side effects that are yet to be discovered.

Just because you think your friends/acquaintances who have lost a lot of weight look different does NOT mean they look gaunt and sickly. That's just your opinion because they look different.

Your nastiness doesn't look good on you, sweetie.

DP. I’ve always been thin but have not been pretty. I would have always chosen to pretty over thin. The amount of people picking their body over their face is baffling to me.

but pretty women are pretty whether they are young or old, thin or fat. on glp, they are still pretty, but have ozempic face.

sunken ozempic face is not pretty. you are not pretty when it's tough to look at your face.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote: So it is this awful cycle of you gain weight, you move less, you then spend more time eating to comfort yourself, by gaining weight you have more aches and pains like knee pain so you end up moving even less. You think about food all day and what you will have for your next meal. It really becomes a constant thought. Once you get used to eating more and moving less it just becomes ingrained that is your destiny.

GLP-1's break this cycle. It quiets the "food noise" that overweight /obese people have often ALL day. You eat and suddenly you feel full much sooner, you don't feel the need as often as before so instead of eating breakfast at 8, a snack at 10, lunch at 12 and a snack at 2, you eat skip breakfast/ eat tiny bit for breakfast and eat lunch at 12 and are fine until dinner. Once you start losing weight you can try to exercise and it becomes easier as you lose weight.

Long-term the more practice you have with eating less and exercising more is only going to help a person.

It is hilarious "a practicing obesity medicine specialist" is against GLP-1's, cynically I think this is because he probably realizes that because so many people are successful on GLP-1's he is getting pushed out of his speciality.

If you are eating to comfort yourself you need to solve THAT problem. It’s a mental health problem and GLPs will help ONE symptom but it won’t cure you and you will always comfort eat

Nope that is the miracle of GLP-1's. You feel awful you constantly crave food and have no self-control so end up eating even more, hence the comfort eating. Then you take GLP-1's and realize - wait a second this is what it is like not to think about food or overeat. You realize it isn't a moral flaw, you are just wired differently. It isn't a mental health problem at all.

Plus you get into good habits. I don't know why people aren't studying this part more as lots of study has gone into how long it takes to establish a good habit or a bad habit.

If a drug helps you implement a good habit (i.e., portion size; times of day to eat, refraining from alcohol, etc.) you can still keep these habits after dropping the drug.

Presumably these folks weren’t born with their bad habits- their parents likely didn’t over feed them or give them alcohol- they found their way into those patterns over time. I believe they’ll just fall back into their patterns over time- but they could probably just go back on the drug again then. Has it really solved anything then if Americans just lose and gain doesn’t history show that that makes our metabolisms slower? I don’t know the answers I’m just shocked at the amount of women I know who have taken it to go from thin/normal/strong to waif like and rail thin in my affluent largely white suburb. It’s really surprised me. I don’t judge any choices anyone makes with their bodies and support people taking it if it makes them happy - don’t take my questions as me being a “hater”.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am happy for people who are losing weight on meds.

However, although they are now thin, IMO they don’t look good. Their skin is gaunt and they look sickly. I understand it’s better than being overweight.

I also think there will be some bad side effects that are yet to be discovered.

Just because you think your friends/acquaintances who have lost a lot of weight look different does NOT mean they look gaunt and sickly. That's just your opinion because they look different.

Your nastiness doesn't look good on you, sweetie.

DP. I’ve always been thin but have not been pretty. I would have always chosen to pretty over thin. The amount of people picking their body over their face is baffling to me.

but pretty women are pretty whether they are young or old, thin or fat. on glp, they are still pretty, but have ozempic face.

sunken ozempic face is not pretty. you are not pretty when it's tough to look at your face.

IS that all you got, princess? I dont have the sunken Ozempic face that you're so desperate for me to have. I do have my health back. Eff all the way off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It seems like he likes GLP-1s and his objections are not hard to overcome:

"Reasons for discontinuation include cost, side effects, and supply shortages. But one of the most common reasons is that patients simply don't want to take a weight loss medication indefinitely. Many believe they can "beat the system," use them briefly, change their lifestyle, and stop taking them without regaining weight."

So why not educate patients so they understand the importance to stick with the GLP-1s? There are many reasonable cost options out there. The support group I am in has a wide spectrum of income. With cost going down and the ease of newer pill meds, all the objections (aside from side effects, and a switch to a different specific med can help with that) for staying on meds go away.

It sounds like his experience is patients don't stay on the drugs. I assume he is warning them they need to stay on them, but people don't want to do that. And since the majority are not staying on them and instead are cycling on and off the drugs they are just spending a lot of money for no health benefits.

Most people (no matter how they lost weight) regain the weight eventually. The benefit of weight loss is still there for the patient though: the ability to move around in the world as a normal weight person, being able to hike, sit easily on an airplane, physically be more active with kids and grandkids, having fewer health issues while on the med, not feeling addicted to food...Personally I think this is absolutely priceless even if it is fleeting because it is such better quality of life. But do I think staying on the med is best? Yes. I think that should be the takeaway rather than "don't start it because you'll stop it" which is fatalistic and not solution-oriented especially when the main objection is cost.

Weight yo-yoing (weight cycling) is generally considered bad for you, linked to increased risks for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, higher body fat, slower metabolism, and poorer mental health due to repeated stress, muscle loss, and metabolic disruption, making future weight loss harder and increasing health problems.

It is bad for you. But you're not going to find many doctors advising their patients to stay fat and not try and lose weight, despite knowing that they are likely to regain the weight (again, regardless of how they did it).

GLP-1s are costing employers and taxpayers a.lot of money. That's fine if it has a health benefit. But if there is no added health benefit then it is a net negative for health and society.

There is a cost benefit to society in having fewer obese people. Not all employer plans cover it depending on specifics, and many people go out of pocket and get compounds anyway on their own dime.

Our public school system is millions of dollars in the hole due to GLP-1s. I am all for spending money to reduce obesity sustainably but not for medication assisted yo yo dieting.

There is no proven way to lose weight without a very high likelihood of yoyo weight.

So let's choose the option that's free and has the same result.

Go for it! I’m choosing the option that cost me 25 dollars a month and actually works , whereas the last 20 years of dirt and exercise and thinking of food constantly has not. For me. We both win!

Kind of. . . Your insurance won’t cover it for $25/mo to you once you lose enough weight that you are not at high risk. Then you yo yo and . . . well, you lose (not weight).

My insurance has not had any problem with me staying on it. My BMI has now been in normal range for over 6 months . Still 25 dollars a month. I know you don’t want this to work for me , and for others, for some strange reason, but believe it or not, I am taking a medication that has improved my health and I’m going to keep taking it. Even if you are jealous that you do not get to take it too, which is the only plausible reason you hate me taking it so much when it doesn’t affect you at all.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am happy for people who are losing weight on meds.

However, although they are now thin, IMO they don’t look good. Their skin is gaunt and they look sickly. I understand it’s better than being overweight.

I also think there will be some bad side effects that are yet to be discovered.

Just because you think your friends/acquaintances who have lost a lot of weight look different does NOT mean they look gaunt and sickly. That's just your opinion because they look different.

Your nastiness doesn't look good on you, sweetie.

DP. I’ve always been thin but have not been pretty. I would have always chosen to pretty over thin. The amount of people picking their body over their face is baffling to me.

but pretty women are pretty whether they are young or old, thin or fat. on glp, they are still pretty, but have ozempic face.

sunken ozempic face is not pretty. you are not pretty when it's tough to look at your face.

IS that all you got, princess? I dont have the sunken Ozempic face that you're so desperate for me to have. I do have my health back. Eff all the way off.

Lots of delusion going on.