According to some new survey results, about three million Canadian adults are taking GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic or Mounjaro, primarily for weight loss. This would correspond to roughly eight per cent of the population. Another six percent (approximately 2 million people) responded that they would like to take a GLP-1 drug but can’t afford it.
I thought this seemed like a really high number, but apparently in the U.S. it’s even higher, with 11 per cent of Americans surveyed saying they take the medication.
I really shouldn’t have been surprised. Roughly two-thirds of Canadians are reported to be overweight or obese (obesity being the medical condition, affecting about one-third of Canadians). And the numbers have been increasing, especially during the COVID shutdown. In the U.S. the stats are even worse, with just over 40% of Americans being obese. That’s a big (and yes, I’ll say it, growing) problem, and it seems as though these drugs do help people lose weight so they may be helping in that regard. But I still have to shake my head at that amount of drug use among such a large segment of the population. I’m also always surprised at the high rates of obesity. We’re all familiar with these numbers now, but the thing is, when I go out for a walk I don’t see a third of the people I meet as being obese. Not even close. Maybe 1 in 10, tops. The only way I’ve ever made sense of this is by figuring that all the really heavy people stay at home, never leaving their house. Or if they have to go anywhere, staying in their cars. Does that explain it?
I don’t personally take any GLP-1 drugs. I do, however, invest in pharmaceutical companies. I have for years. They’ve always been a pretty safe bet.
Alex Good 
My boss did ozimpic or whatever it’s called, she lost 3 stone over 3 months, and didn’t really eat much at all. She stopped for some reason I forgot and put most of the weight back on and is on it again now 🥴. At 200 quid a month that’s how the pharma lot make their money I guess. No point in doing it and not changing your diet to a healthy one, and if you did that in the first place you wouldn’t need the damned drugs. 🙄
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Yeah, the way it works, as I understand it, is that it boosts satiety so you don’t feel hungry. And if you want to lose weight the only way to do it is to eat less. As the saying goes, you can’t exercise your way out of a bad diet. So in that respect it does really work for a lot of people. As for side effects, I don’t know if we know the full story on that. And if you go off it I guess you do run the risk of just gaining the weight back. Which effectively means you’ve become dependent on the drug.
Stopping eating so much is the goal, and if you can do that on your own without the drugs that’s the way to go.
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Well, the thing about “obese” is that it means you are an X percent over your supposed weight. Oh, you are 5’4″? You should weigh 135lbs. I think it is 20percent is where it becomes “obese”. So for 135lbs, you’d only have to be at 162pounds. I haven’t seen 160 in over a decade and there is no way you’d look at me and think “my goodness, what a fatso. He’s so obese.”. However, most americans ARE chunky. and it is all down to very bad diet and less and less exercise. Muscle is a much better thing to carry than fat.
And I have heard the same results as Fraggle talked about. You stop the shots, you gain the weight back because you never actually learned to control your appetite.
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Is that the way they measure obesity? I thought it was more percentage body fat. But I never looked into it. I can definitely see people gaining the weight back once the quick fix wears off. But that just means we’ve got a population of people using these drugs their entire lives.
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I looked into it and you’re right. Obesity is based off of BMI, which does not measure body fat. So you could get some really skewed results if you’re a bodybuilder say. But I guess those people are outliers.
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