PAINFUL TRUTH: Fear of weight loss drugs

If reading news reports burns calories, you can skip the gym for a month and just read all the articles that have been circulating about Ozempic and its ilk for the past month.

Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro jumped into the conversation because they seemed to promise sustained weight loss.

These drugs, developed for diabetics, regulate insulin and blood sugar, and they also happen to slow digestion, increase feelings of fullness after eating, and drastically reduce appetite.

Because of these effects, people taking these drugs tend to lose 10% to 25% of their total body weight over a year.

Naturally, non-diabetic Hollywood celebrities and wealthy people pounce on it in order to lose weight. And more and more people are following. As new drugs of this class become available, prices are sure to come down.

This caused an uproar that already bordered on a moral panic. It's forming a new front in the war between fat phobia and fat accepting culture, and about what's healthy and what's not.

But I believe a lot of it has to do with money, class, and who “deserves” being thin.

It seems like people are intimidated by the idea that people don't have to “work” to lose weight, they can just buy it. Somehow there is a right way to lose weight, through diet and exercise, willpower and perseverance. Think thin people are inherently virtuous.

That was bullshit all along.

Gaining weight is easy now because for the first time in our history as a species, cheap, plentiful processed food is available in many societies, and because we don't have to do strenuous, calorie-burning physical labor to get it.

They ship high fructose corn syrup in tanker trucks, did anyone anticipate what was going to happen?

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But when you look at the statistics, the poorer you are, the more likely you are to be overweight or obese.

That's because rich people have bought into health and thinness.

Personal trainers and trainers. private chef. Fresh produce. Home fitness equipment. Premium bikes. Treadmill desk. Most importantly, wealth buys time—grocery delivery, child care, and cleaning services allow people to take time to take care of their bodies.

I wouldn't tell anyone they should be on any of these medications, that's between them and their doctor.

But we live in a structured society that makes it easy to gain weight, and we all have a biology that makes it hard to lose weight.

If we're wary of these drugs, it should be because we're worried about side effects, or we think it's possible to be fat and fit, or because obesity phobia is an ugly prejudice, or because we want to build a world where people can be more easily The more active we are, the better food is for us.

We shouldn't do this because only some people “worth” being thin. Being able to afford better food and more time to exercise is not a moral virtue.

Got a story tip? Email: matthew.claxton@langleyadvancetimes.com