Why weight loss medicine

another one, is what has enabled me to keep my weight relatively stable and to feel comfortable in my own skin. I am far from perfect, and I continue to set goals for myself, one of which is to have surgery to get rid of my excess skin. I really think that if you are doing things for you, then everything is acceptable. A healthy lifestyle is actually for life. There is no end point, but the occasional holiday is actively encouraged. Over covid (knew it would get mentioned at some point) I gained around 15-20 Kgs, It didn’t really stress me out. It has been an exceptionally stressful time to be a full time “front line” doctor with four kids and I did not escape the mental burn out. Cortisol, the stress hormone, will have been elevated for most of us during the pandemic, and it is not you friend when you are trying to lose weight. Also, like most people, I’m an emotional eater and I one hundred percent reached for the snacks and fast food to get me through the trauma. I refocused my mind in January and have so far lost 10 Kgs of

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the weight. Sadly, I didn’t meet the criteria for Ozempic! But honestly, the struggle is real, and I do understand.

Why weight loss medicine?

I absolutely love my NHS job, and will likely stay in it forever. Over the course of my training, I have watched many doctors approach the issue of weight with patients, mostly badly. I wanted to help people with their weight because it’s important to their health. I see that weight is almost always linked in people’s minds with appearance. However, I meet many people who have obesity or severe and complex obesity who look amazing. In the past I was one of them! I have been stood behind many a smug consultant, cringing, while they broach the subject of weight with an obese patient. I am not a judgemental person, and I just don’t think you can hope to inspire anyone,

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unless you can really put yourself in their shoes and find some true empathy. I really believe in body positivity, and I do not believe in pushing visual ideals on anyone.

A huge government Foresight study into tackling obesity found that obesity currently costs the NHS £4.2 Billion a year. Unfortunately, the current government do not support doctors in the NHS to provide weight loss medications to obese patients. Even with all the evidence provided from their own study. As far as I am aware this is down to cost. The health secretary reportedly justifies this because being obese is a “lifestyle choice”. I strongly disagree with this for many reasons.

It is extremely hard to maintain a BMI of less than 25 in our society. The true implications for health are not widely known by anyone – including doctors. The culture of Body shaming and the intrinsic relationship between body weight and appearance make it a difficult topic to approach. However, I think it is possible to appreciate the

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beauty of larger people and empower everyone to feel attractive and valuable while still talking about the health benefits of weight loss. Nobody should feel pressured to change because someone else doesn’t like how they look. It’s just not a thing. Check out Savage x Fenty lingerie website to see some amazing examples of sexy, beautiful people with a raised BMI. Think about how great everybody looks and then just generally start to appreciate that your body is amazing. And so are you. There is no one size fits all for health. Not every person will feel at their best with a BMI of 25. Being healthy is only possible with happiness and a human’s worth is not measured by a number on a scale. Health is the absence of disease by some definitions, but the World Health organisation has a much more holistic view, they say “Health is a state of physical, mental and social well-being and not just the absence of disease or infirmity…”. I believe we should be striving to live our healthiest lifestyle which also makes us happy. Being healthy but miserable is not being healthy.

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