While I understand why they are lauded as such, I fear they have only fuelled the rampant fatphobia that still sees us jeering at celebrity weight gain, applauding weight loss, or intensely hating ourselves for the unforgivable crime of not being thin enough. Weight loss drugs can certainly help us shed the pounds, but they have only added to the stigma of being fat.
The impact of these medications can be dramatic. People taking them can expect to lose anywhere between 5 and 22.5 per cent of their bodyweight within 18 months. They’re not cheap though. At the time of writing, the only way to access these drugs through the NHS is via a weight management specialist, and access to these is highly restricted. This being the case, right now, a private prescription is really the only way to go, and that will set you back a couple of hundred pounds per month at least. But it is a price many are more than happy to pay.
As more and more people are turning to GLP-1 drugs to battle the bulge, a vicious narrative has arisen that anyone doing so is “cheating” at weight loss, or “taking the easy way out’.” This phenomenon is now so common that it has been dubbed “Ozempic shaming”. You don’t have to look very far to find it, just read through the comments section of anyone posting about their GLP-1 journey online. You can also see it in the rhetoric used by fitness influencers who talk about losing weight “naturally”.
Obesity has been linked to many health issues, and fatphobia often masquerades as faux concern around health. But that isn’t what is going on here. I doubt the kids who bullied me at school, or the men who shouted at me in the street for being fat, were ever seriously interested in my blood pressure staying within a healthy range or minimising my risk of a stroke. That isn’t why fat people are stigmatised and harassed, and research shows that weight-related bullying is one of the most common forms of harassment. If fat-shaming was truly about health, no one would suggest weight loss drugs are “cheating’’ – we would simply be cheering them on.
The medication makes you feel fuller for longer, but you can still eat, and if you snack a lot on high fat foods, you really won’t lose very much. You still have to exercise and make sure you are eating within a calorie deficit if you want to see the results you are hoping for. Believe me, you still have to work for it.
Over the years, I have grown and shrunk more times than the Take That fan club, and there is one horrible thing that I absolutely know to be true: the world is nicer to you when you are thin. People cheerfully tell you that you “look great” when you’ve lost weight. Well-meaning relatives load up your plate at family parties because “there’s nothing on you”, strangers flirt with you, and all the shops carry your clothing size. The assumption was that I had lost weight because I was healthier, but for all anyone knew I may have had a tapeworm or some hideous wasting disease. In the eyes of many, thinner means healthier.
There is a very simple reason for this: we collectively reward thin and punish fat. It is an ugly and unpalatable truth, but we want fat people to struggle and suffer. This is why GLP-1 medications are being disparaged as a cheat sheet to thinness.
When it comes to taking GLP-1, you are damned if you do and damned if you don’t. I recognise that these drugs save lives and can improve the quality of life for millions of people. But what they cannot help with is our own cultural stigma about body size. In fact, they have made this worse.
There is no drug in the world that will help us to lose fatphobia. That really will take hard work.
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