You’ve been on a mission this entire thread to make this point over and over. All your comments have been negative about the use of these medicines. I’m going to very gently suggest that you are not accurate and certainly not kind. There is an enormous gulf between “medical issue” and the idea of just need “a fast way to drop weight” that you are willfully ignoring. Frankly, it’s hurtful. And again, inaccurate.
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Sorry if my just having a different opinion makes you say this. I volunteer with young girls who have body image and eating disorders. I struggled with anorexia for years. The introduction of this drug has altered the landscape of social media and is creating havoc in the lives of many young women. Maybe you need to see it from a different perspective.
I’ve said over and over that this drug is great for those who qualify for it.
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The meds could make sense for people who have tried the diet / exercise methods unsuccessfully.
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Almost all the people I know currently taking these meds are in their late 40’s and 50’s. Most were not overweight when they were younger. However, over the years the weight crept up due to many factors. Their jobs became more sedentary, metabolism slowed down, but their diets did not change. Most do not have “bad diets” just eat more calories than their bodies can burn up.
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There is research showing that “metabolism slowing down” is likely baloney. Our metabolic rate doesn’t change much. We just become more sedentary as we grow up. Ever seen a toddler move from point A to point B? They zig and zag and flail their arms… an adult just slowly shuffles… if an adult tried to walk like a toddler, someone would call the cops on them thinking they were on drugs. 
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That’s what I’ve taken from most of the comments. This drug helps people eat less because it makes them less interested in food overall. I’ve struggled with my weight over the years and it fluctuated quite a bit during my life but once I hit my early 50s it started creeping up in earnest. I started to eat much healthier in an attempt to lose weight without much success. Because even healthy food has calories and carbs….often more than I realized.
Once covid hit, unlike many people, I lost weight, around 40 pounds, because I was so concerned about the overweight/obesity co-morbidity. I am not an exerciser and never really have been. I lost the weight by cutting calories with little to no exercise. One of the things I discovered during that time is that my body needs fewer calories than I think (or wish) it does compared to when I was younger.
I’ve gained back about 12 pounds but now I have a better idea of how much food I should eat to maintain or lose weight, which is unfortunately usually less than I’d like.
I definitely understand the allure of this drug. I hope it is safe for long term use as being a healthier weight has great benefits for both the individual and society in general.
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Yes, lack of exercise → decline in muscle mass → lower metabolism → reduced calorie need.
Exercise is also beneficial to health in other ways.
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I just saw they are testing Saxenda for children as young as six years old.
I can’t read the article without a subscription - I saw the headline for Bloomberg Law
I only know a few people going this route. I probably need to lose 25 lbs that I’ve put on since I first injured my knee. I’ve got knee replacement coming up and I hope I can get back to exercising again. I have good eating habits but I find I’ve got to really limit breads, tortillas etc. I doubt I’d be offered a drug like this but part of me would consider it to get those pounds off fast and go off and hopefully maintain.
One of my kids had eating issues in HS and got very thin. She feels it really messed with her metabolism. She is now overweight due to medication she takes daily that causes weight gain. Losing is hard for her. She is very fit, strong and her lab numbers are all great. She would consider medication for weight loss but she is presently nursing.
I thought this was interesting, companies already trying to ascertain how this will affect them.
A different perspective.
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If she is very fit and strong, could her “overweight” be due to more than typical muscle? If so, she should not worry about obesity-related problems.
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Not sure which thread is best for this, but since there is a lot of activity here…
Last sentence of it is food for thought (or thoughts to weigh?) - “What would it take for society to accept the belly, not necessarily as something beautiful but merely as something that is ?” I smiled and thought, “Like hey, we all have ears sticking out the side of our heads… and that is ok”
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While I DK what meds or class of meds @mom60 is referring to, and we don’t need to know, there are many meds that cause weight gain in the MH field (many antidepressants and antipsychotics, that are used for other mood stabilizing purposes) cause weight gain, and is often very difficult for these patients already having mood-related issues. It has nothing to do with being “fit”. It is not muscle mass.
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A friends daughter has pcos. and because of the medication has gained a lot of weight. It is distressing when to fix one problem the side effect is 10-20 extra pounds.
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And people who need to take steroids for various medical conditions. There can be weight gain from those, which would be unrelated to diet and level of fitness (unless they are taking dangerous levels of steroids specifically to build muscles).
It would be great if people in the U.S. could just accept that there are many different body types, and a bigger person doesn’t necessarily mean that they are sitting on the couch and binge-eating Hostess products. And eating less and exercising more doesn’t work for everyone because there are many secondary factors in play that are none of anyone’s business 
And larger people can have a clean bill of health but still be a larger size. Thin people can be very unhealthy but still be thin.
It doesn’t seem like body shaming issues are as widespread in other countries, as they are in the U.S. Europeans of all ages and sizes wear bikinis & speedos and the only ones commenting on it are the Americans. We seem to be abnormally concerned with how other people look and what they wear - to the point that some people get seriously riled up about it. I think it ultimately leads to the obsession we have in this country with altering our appearance (and thinking that we have to resort to spending $$$ injecting ourselves to lose that last 15 lbs.)
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@bluedog23 and @CollegeNerd67 - good points about other classes of meds that contribute to weight gain (and separate from steroid abuse). Some older beta blockers can also cause weight gain/belly fat.
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I recall seeing a comment on Twitter about how in Europe you can find strikingly attractive people working all kinds of menial jobs (eg airport security), and that’s atypical in the US. In other words there’s a “beauty premium” in US society, resulting in attractive people becoming more economically successful.
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To be honest in many European countries people walk much more than we do here in the US. It is really expensive to own/operate a car and public transportation is more than available. I also think the fast food industry markets way more in the US than other countries. I cannot remember seeing a McDonald’s sign in Italy for instance.
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It would be interesting to know about the European demand / usage for Semaglutide etc.
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