The other day I watched Oprah’s latest special, Shame, Blame and the Weight Loss Revolution. It’s no secret that weight loss medications are taking the world by storm, and Oprah is kind of known for diving headfirst into controversial issues, so I couldn’t wait to see what she had to say about this!
Read on to find out what my major takeaways from the special are as a dietitian.
Things I’m on board with:
Oprah led the special with a call to action: stop shaming people for weight loss. I think she raises a good point with this message. Many, many people blame those who are in bigger bodies for being lazy, lacking willpower or lacking education. The same people who are putting that blame on others are kind of the same people shaming those taking meds like Ozempic by saying they’re taking the easy way out.
One of the major messages in the special was: this is not the easy way out. According to the stories of the guests, my interactions with people in my personal life taking weight loss medications, and my clients taking them is that this was not an easy decision to come to. The fact is, for many people, simple diet and exercise isn’t that simple, and it’s not a solution that provides lasting results.
Now today there is a solution. But since it’s not gritty enough – like dieting and sweating it out in the gym – it’s not worthy of respect. But that’s wrong, because there is no way to know what other people are dealing with or how the drug may interact with someone’s body. It can be gritty, that’s for sure – we just can’t see it as outsiders.
Things that need attention:
One of the most common traits among the guests, and my clients who are on weight loss medication, is struggling with emotional eating. This is an issue that I work with my clients on very closely, as it impacts so many people of all different sizes.
A very popular statement I hear from those on weight loss medications is something along the lines of “I don’t obsess about food anymore” or “the food noise is virtually eliminated.” To me, it’s like a band aid. There’s still a cut underneath and it might be healing but you can’t see it. Once you take off that band aid, you run the risk of breaking that cut open again.
I truly believe the mental component of food is too strong to be ignored. If someone on weight loss medication has noticed their emotional eating decrease, then I think it’s only fair to remind them that unless they work on that issue then that absolutely will return once they stop the medication.
I’ve also heard people express that they are eating much less than they were before starting the medication. That’s essentially how GLP-1 inhibitors work, so that isn’t surprising. But as a food freedom dietitian, it’s important for me to say that eating less because you are unable to eat more does not translate to eating less because you are satisfied with what you had.
OK, last important thing! As Oprah and some of the guests were talking, they were casually dropping phrases like “healthy lifestyle” into the conversation. What I’m translating this to for you is that if you’re pursuing weight loss via medication, other things need to also change so you can sustain that weight loss.
It’s clear that obesity and everyone’s personal struggle with weight is a complex, multifactorial issue. So thinking that you can take a weekly dose of medication and not work on your relationship with food, learn about your body’s hunger and satiety cues, find an exercise routine that you enjoy and build confidence in yourself then you will not be successful in the long term.
I’ll cut it off here to keep it short, but I’d LOVE to hear your thoughts on the special if you saw it or just your thoughts on what you read here!