People judge weight loss more harshly when GLP-1 drugs are involved, study finds

[mybodyisasewer]

I'd bet these people cheat on their taxes w/out a problem..

Seriously, what's the standard here? Even if GLPs are cheating, who is harmed? Cheating on your vehicle inspection puts society at risk. Cheating on taxes takes money from public services. Cheating at Counterstrike harms the competitive community. But what if you're only cheating yourself? Who is to judge? I think tattoos are dumb af but I don't go around calling people with tats "doodleskins" because it's not my business.

 

[Throwfa]

It's crazy how some people view weight loss as some sort of competition. I get it, you did it the "natural" way, but man am I glad i finally found something that potentially saved my life.

When people talk about libido it's widely accepted that some people just have a higher libido. Why can't they apply the same logic to eating urges?

 

[McFatty]

Let them judge all they want. They don't pay my bills. I oddly find it a flex when I tell them that I buy my shots from a sweet, young, Chinese "woman" that calls me dear .

 

[Ruckus4519]

People are too angry. Get too up in arms about shit that doesn't affect them. Obesity is a health issue. People shouldn't be treating this shit as a morality problem.

I'd be glad even if the only positive effects were that my doctor takes me more seriously, but hopefully, I'll never had to go into surgery to fix this.

 

[HereKittyKitty]

People judge weight loss more harshly when GLP-1 drugs are involved, study finds

In four pre-registered studies across Belgium, the US, and the UK, people judged anti-obesity medication users as putting in less effort and, in turn, viewed them as less moral, competent, warm, and deserving than non-users. The findings suggest that effort moralization may help drive stigma...

www.news-medical.net

Not too surprising that society has negative connotations regarding weight-loss medications, but that people using the medications are “viewed as less moral, competent, and deserving.” is kind of sad…

It's that phucking Rugged Individualism all over again. That bitch rears her ugly head at every turn.

GLP/GIP medications are not an easier, softer way. Anyone who has used them knows this is true.

 

[desinr-gal]

It is elitism. Ever since the majority of americans started sitting or staying still for work

thinness became elite. Just like a suntan in winter. People with free time can exercise daily, or who can afford the money and time to go play tennis, or go to the gym and have a trainer, dieticitian, and afford fresh lean and green foods can stay thin.

The majority of people however have gained weight in this modern life, of commuting, and sitting, and eating on the go.

pre made foods are high in sugars, fat and preservatives, which in addition to sedentary lifestyles cause obesity. Those who are blessed with genes that keep them thin, or who spend their lives working hard to fight it, feel entitled to their results and the status that comes with it.

If you the person who they know as fat, suddenly start to look like them, after "simply" taking a medication.. it messes with their idea of themselves as superior.

You've skipped the line!

This situation reminds me of Dr Suess's Starbellied Sneetches.

 

[deleted.user.16]

Seriously, what's the standard here? Even if GLPs are cheating, who is harmed? Cheating on your vehicle inspection puts society at risk. Cheating on taxes takes money from public services. Cheating at Counterstrike harms the competitive community. But what if you're only cheating yourself? Who is to judge? I think tattoos are dumb af but I don't go around calling people with tats "doodleskins" because it's not my business.

GLPs are cheating because everyone else looks fatter in comparison . (Just kidding ofc)

 

[Sasquatch]

I don't see or speak to six people in a week, maybe more.

Still, , , , , ,, Fuck 'em.

 

[Sasquatch]

Hey, wait a minute! This isn't one of these social media things that are just to get me wound up, is it?

Still, , , , , ,Fuck 'em.

 

[ochoseis]

what the actual hell?? Where are y'all FINDING these "friends" who'd just say something like that right out loud with witnesses??

Every time I've lost a significant amount of weight (which is more times than I'd have liked...) I've had to totally reevaluate my friend group. I don't get it because my bestie has been everywhere from 125lbs to 250lbs and I've always loved her and supported her and was thrilled to go shopping for her even when my fatass couldn't fit in anything in the store.

When you're all fat together you don't really notice it, but this "friend" in particular out ate Ozempic & Zepbound and is totally convinced it will work for no one.

 

[Nailedit]

I've noticed that people who are unhealthy and severely overweight are mainly the ones who say GLP's are "cheating". I've been using Reta since Oct 2025 and have lost 30lb. My bloodwork is now significantly better than before I started. It's also the severely overweight people who say they are worried about the unknown long term side effects. My scale results and my bloodwork results make me believe that my long term health has only improved.

My experience has been mostly the opposite. It's the thin fit ones who say it to me. That it's not healthy to do it with "drugs" or that it's "cheating". I don't know, way too much judgment about just about anything we do. If you don't breast feed you're a bad mom, if you don't rescue an animal you're irresponsible, or if you throw a plastic bottle in the trash you don't care about the planet. Makes my head spin all the judgment.

 

[lessthanhalf]

I think GLP drugs are the closest thing to a solution to obesity that has ever existed, and I think people with significant and especially severe obesity should just about all be taking them and stay on them long term.

But I cannot help having a little bit of instinctive unease about people who are not overweight taking them. I do not entirely agree with myself about this, I do actually believe people have the right to control what goes into their bodies and in general oppose drugs being illegal as , as far as I am concerned their illegality usually causes more problems than the drugs themselves.

I think it is partly as having a serious lifelong problem with weight , and I see these drugs as lifesaving treatments, it does seem just a bit too easy to take some reta to get body fat from 16% to 12%, when I have never been that thin ever. So maybe it is just jealosy .

And I do genuinely think that often those with very minor weight issues or body builders may not have thought through the risk to benefit equations of taking GLP's long term, especially as the long term risks in those populations have never really been studied , so are effectively unknown. And presumably rare and unlikely but severe risks like pancreatitis or NAION are just as likely in those people , but not counterbalanced by dramatic reductions in weight and other health consequences of obesity fixed by GLP's. A slightly thinner bodybuilder who suddenly loses vision in an eye is in some ways a worse outcome than someone with severe obesity who lost 30% of their weight and their diabetes was reversed, and did not have a heart attack, who loses an eye. At least their diabetes was fixed and they missed out on the heart attack, as some sort of compensation.

 

[Bioexplorer]

I've noticed that people who are unhealthy and severely overweight are mainly the ones who say GLP's are "cheating". I've been using Reta since Oct 2025 and have lost 30lb. My bloodwork is now significantly better than before I started. It's also the severely overweight people who say they are worried about the unknown long term side effects. My scale results and my bloodwork results make me believe that my long term health has only improved.

There are plenty of normal weight people taking Reta for the potential health benefits. People with decades long liver issues finally achieved normal blood test results. But yeah, the majority are here for the weight loss. In my case, I'm hoping for both.

 

[mybodyisasewer]

I think GLP drugs are the closest thing to a solution to obesity that has ever existed, and I think people with significant and especially severe obesity should just about all be taking them and stay on them long term.

But I cannot help having a little bit of instinctive unease about people who are not overweight taking them. I do not entirely agree with myself about this, I do actually believe people have the right to control what goes into their bodies and in general oppose drugs being illegal as , as far as I am concerned their illegality usually causes more problems than the drugs themselves.

I think it is partly as having a serious lifelong problem with weight , and I see these drugs as lifesaving treatments, it does seem just a bit too easy to take some reta to get body fat from 16% to 12%, when I have never been that thin ever. So maybe it is just jealosy .

And I do genuinely think that often those with very minor weight issues or body builders may not have thought through the risk to benefit equations of taking GLP's long term, especially as the long term risks in those populations have never really been studied , so are effectively unknown. And presumably rare and unlikely but severe risks like pancreatitis or NAION are just as likely in those people , but not counterbalanced by dramatic reductions in weight and other health consequences of obesity fixed by GLP's. A slightly thinner bodybuilder who suddenly loses vision in an eye is in some ways a worse outcome than someone with severe obesity who lost 30% of their weight and their diabetes was reversed, and did not have a heart attack, who loses an eye. At least their diabetes was fixed and they missed out on the heart attack, as some sort of compensation.

It's okay to feel conflicted on this, I've struggled with my ideal utopian drug policy as well. 10 years ago I was a militant l*bertarian telling people that Walmart should be able to sell bulk meth. I no longer think this is the best policy, but I still think we should be able to do whatever we want to our bodies.

GLPs are just another tool, obese people and fit people can both find uses for them. I still take reta despite reaching my goal weight now because I no longer spend all day thinking about alcohol, drugs, food. These thoughts were using up mental resources which were redirected elsewhere. I'm on reta for mental health more than appetite control at this point.

And I think when obese people get down to a healthy weight and get kicked off their prescription GLPs, they will all turn to the grey market to stay on these medicines. You too may someday be dosing reta to cut down to 10% bodyfat.

As for the safety of taking these drugs, my favorite weight loss drug used to be clenbuterol. I don't f with that anymore, reta is better in every way. The people who take PEDs are safer using these GLPs than the previous alternatives. Lab rats are gunna lab rat, my body has always been a sewer. Since reta, it's been a pretty clean sewer. Try to look at GLPs as a safer replacement for PEDs rather than seeing it in a vaacuum.

 

[Neurogroot]

If you aren't cheating you aren't trying!

Viva La Raza? Hope I got the reference

 

[ochoseis]

My experience has been mostly the opposite. It's the thin fit ones who say it to me. That it's not healthy to do it with "drugs" or that it's "cheating". I don't know, way too much judgment about just about anything we do. If you don't breast feed you're a bad mom, if you don't rescue an animal you're irresponsible, or if you throw a plastic bottle in the trash you don't care about the planet. Makes my head spin all the judgment.

I've never had a thin/fit person judge me for it or say anything negative so my experience is definitely the opposite. And I'm super loud and out about my GLP1 use.

And it seems to come directly from two camps of people.

Those that judge it and have something negative to say because they can't afford the drugs and have no interest in grey/compound so it's easier to shit talk it than admit they'd be on it if they could afford to do so. Since it's out of reach for them in their minds, it's easier to call it cheating than admit they want it too.

And the body positive people who think any kind of dieting/exercise is violence against your body so obviously taking a drug that could cause you to lose weight is just as bad. And I'm all for body positivity in the sense that my body is mostly wrecked from having hidradenitis suppurativa but I'm still going to live my life in this body even though it's scarred up and love it as much as I can. And part of loving this body means I'm going to get it to a healthy weight.

 

[HereKittyKitty]

....

But I cannot help having a little bit of instinctive unease about people who are not overweight taking them....

It's none of my business what someone else is doing unless their actions are harming someone else other than themselves.

I also don't know anyone else's story other than my own so who am I to judge.

Since I'm a member here, I've only had about 20# to lose. That's the only part of my lived experience most other members will ever see - my posts about losing 20#. And plenty of them may have their own opinions about a tiny little slice of information.

If I don't want people to judge me, I best look in the mirror and see where my judgment might be oozing out.

(Not attacking @lessthanhalf ...their words resulted in my shared thoughts)

 

[Neurogroot]

Personally, I remember struggling to lose weight without GLPs. Psoriatic Arthritis and just constant inflammation was destroying me. I could go 1400 calories on average, getting as much exercise as I could. I'd lose 1 lb, maybe 1.5 in a month, and I felt horrific.

Enter GLPs (Tirzepatide 2.5 mg to start), and I lost 13 lbs my first 6 weeks, on the entry level amount of Tirz. Inflammation disappeared quickly. Joints were a bit tough (later solved by KPV), but my skin, especially my hands, they healed quickly! I could golf again, I went from the hard, callouslike, torn up skin on my hands, not being able to feel my wife, not being able to hold my niece's hand as we crossed the street without being asked why I was like this...

I sing GLPs praises, for me. I don't march around demanding others do as I do. I'll talk their ear off if they're interested though. It really saved me a lot of ways. When I hit my goal, I'll do an incredibly slow titration down and end with either 1 mg tirz every 5 days, or 0.5 mg reta every every Weds/Sat.

I had a suspicion that those who talk down to GLP users fall into 2 camps. Either people who were able to get in shape/diet and have that work well for them, years ago. Now with something viewed as "magic", its a weird jealousy/gatekeeper thing. I had to work hard for this, you should too! If you get healthier from medicine, it doesn't count!

Or, people like my family. Any unfamiliar/not traditional in the 80s/90s medical stuff viewed as nonsense. "Well why do you need ADHD meds?" "OH well you dont need that GLP stuff". It's not that they don't believe in it, they just feel like taking certain categories of medicine would be seen in a poor light, socially. I don't get it, but I keep a good deal of medicines I take quiet from family now.

All in all, whether you're pro GLP, or against it... You do you. The other side isn't going to suddenly like you anymore if you switch sides. If I died at 45 or 50, no one from that side is mourning me anymore or less. Do what's right for you and your goals!

 

[juGGaKNot]

Same people that think liver king is natural

 

[Neurogroot]

It's none of my business what someone else is doing unless their actions are harming someone else other than themselves

This is the mindset I wish we could have more of. Props to you!