GLP-1 Cheating Myths Debunked

Rick and Greg take a detour from their upcoming hormones series to address a topic that comes up constantly in the clinic: the stigma surrounding GLP-1 medications for weight loss.

If you've ever heard — or thought — "they took the easy way out," this episode is for you. They walk through the most common myths about medication-assisted weight loss, explain why these beliefs are medically unfounded, and explore the real-world consequences of that stigma: people delaying or avoiding treatment for a legitimate chronic disease.

The guys also reference a recent study in which participants judged a fictional GLP-1 user more negatively than someone who lost no weight at all — a striking finding that puts the cultural bias on full display.

Topics covered: the "cheating" narrative, social circle influence, celebrity distortion, the gender gap in weight loss criticism, and why supporting someone's health journey — whatever form it takes — is always the right call.

Rick and Greg are medical providers, but not your medical provider. Consult your personal provider before beginning any weight loss program, medication, or supplement.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:25

Welcome back. Hey.

SPEAKER_01 0:27

Greg.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

Hey, everyone. Hey, uh, welcome everybody. We are glad to be here. We're excited. Uh, there's some things we're we've been super excited to talk about. I know Greg is really excited to talk about a couple of things. Um, and and I was thinking, though, today we could take a little detour um uh and talk about uh uh something else that we kind of touched on before. So so before we get started, uh we are here on Healthier Ever After. We um we are medical providers, but not your medical provider. We recommend that you uh have a good relationship uh with your uh personal provider before starting uh any weight loss regimen, dietary supplements, um, medication, uh or exercise program. Yeah. Um what we do here is for information and education. Uh okay, so so what I what I you know, we I guess we could give it like a little teaser. We're we want to get into some uh some of the things that are are gender specific, some of the hormones, um women's help, men's help, that kind of stuff. But but I think for today we're gonna do a little detour. We talked uh I think last time we talked a little bit or a couple of weeks ago, maybe, uh, we talked about the the stigma around obesity. Yeah. And how how that can kind of stand in the way of people getting appropriate treatment. Uh sometimes even medical providers carry have this uh bias. Yeah. Um and it and it it makes for some difficulty in in really working on a cure for what is a disease, and that is obesity. Um and and you know, I mean, we're we're gonna tell it how it is, we'll talk about it. We're not trying to fat shame anybody, but but it is a thing. And and and I think our point there was when we treat this like a real disease, that it is a chronic condition that is multifactorial, uh, then we need to treat it as such, like we would any other disease, right? So that was like a little bit of the stigma. I what I think we want to get into a little bit today, what I'd love to talk about is kind of another sort of myth or or stigma or bias, whatever you want to call it, um, specifically for people who use GLP1 medications. Um there's there's there's this kind of overarching sentiment or perception or belief that that if you take GLP1 medicine uh to lose weight, you you didn't earn it, you cheated, you don't deserve it, uh you didn't do it right, yeah. Uh your your weight loss isn't real, like whatever. Yeah, what what whatever all the things and and and and people say those things and believe those things, and we'll talk about that a little bit more, I think, but but that can then stand in the way of people seeing it, because they're like, I don't want to be people criticizing me, judging me, whatever. And uh and it it it then leads to people remaining overweight and carrying with them the risks of other diseases that comes with them.

SPEAKER_01 3:23

All the comorbidities that oftentimes are associated with being obese, which you know, obviously muscoskeletal. Um, we know that you know that's gonna be harder on your on your bones and your body. We know your cardiovascular system is is been long documented. Um, you know, and and it's unfortunate because it's you know it's it is there's a big stigma out there. And I know that as a weight loss provider, I've had so many patients that even you know said, Hey, I would have been in here two years ago doing this, but I was worried about what everyone would think. Or I knew a neighbor that did it, they got way too thin and um and things like that. And like there was this really even people coming to the clinic to say, Hey, I want to talk about this more, still even had that stigma in their brains. Now, a lot of people get on the medication and start realizing a lot of the benefits that um it can possibly have for them. And and and of course that goes away quickly, right? But that doesn't actually stop them from receiving uh some kind of that negative um feedback from right family members.

SPEAKER_00 4:24

Uh well and and what they received before, like it sticks, it sticks. Like you remember what what what you're you know, I you remember what Sally said about so-and-so um a year ago. And you're like, oh crap, I don't want to, you know, you seem to say that about me. But whatever you think, it's it just sticks for a long time.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

It doesn't, it sticks, and it's real, like we were talking about that. It's these are all real things. It's not uh uh it's it's easy for someone to sit back and and play Monday morning quarterback, if anyone uses that phrase anymore, and like, oh, just don't worry about what people think. Well, right. I mean, true, that's good advice.

SPEAKER_00 5:01

Yeah, but I mean, yeah, but it's not it's not as easy as it sounds coming up.

SPEAKER_01 5:05

Especially when these are a lot of people are are not receiving who who cares if it's like some Joe Schmoe online that's slamming on GLP ones or the way that people want to lose their way. But I mean, a lot of these people are actually more hesitant because of where they're receiving this uh feedback, this negative feedback and stigma are from close friends or family members. Yeah um people that you know are obviously should and and probably are invested in your health, and your health and your longevity and your wellness. So, but it it a lot of times it comes uh from lack of understanding and education. Um, there's not a lot of uh even medical providers, this is all fairly new for. So it comes from a lack of understanding, really, yeah, of where this all comes from. Can GLP1s uh and any other weight loss medications can they be used? Um wrong is maybe not the right word that I want to use right there, but but but wrong, or can they be used um without the medical supervision? Uh can they be, can people go overboard? Um don't know when to stop or when's enough enough? Sure, there's all that's with every medication out there. So I think there can be things that we can talk about as a community to say, hey, that you know, we don't want to go overboard with anyone, but as far as just the people, which is 99% of the people that I see in clinic that are just trying to be healthier, and um this is not their first stop, right? They've been trying to lose weight for usually years, not just a couple months. Uh, this is uh this medication is is can be life-saving, yeah, and um and really uh revolutionary.

SPEAKER_00 6:38

Yeah, absolutely. So, so here's here's just a question to pose. Uh, like as we as we discuss these things, I wrote this down. This is uh the question is this why do we celebrate someone who grinds through years of dieting, but judge someone who finally found something that works? Isn't it wild? You know, I mean you know, and I know people like I've I've that that I've I've tried all the things, I've done this, I've done that, I've I lost weight, I gained it, I lost weight, I gained it for years and never found anything that really, really got them to where they felt like they wanted to be and where they felt healthy and well, and then finally, you know, get a GLP one. Use those same things that you did, yeah, you learned to exercise and and be disciplined on your eating, all those things that were made kind of easier or or ramped up better or whatever that was. Yes, with the GLP one, all of a sudden you're successful, you lost a bunch of weight, you look great, your clothes, you gotta get new clothes because nothing fits. It's you gotta buy smaller things. And and and I'm and I look at you as a failure now, because you it's wild. It's wild anyway. So that's the that's the thing we kind of in the back of your mind think about why do we why do we do that in our brains? Or do I? Do I do that? Am I guilty of that? Uh so let's talk about where this kind of comes from. Um, you know, just some things you might hear. So we talked about this a little bit. Number one, you took the easy way out, right? It's it's it's cheating, it's uh it's the easy way out. It's you a GLP1 medicine isn't there's some moral value to to doing this without help. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

I I oftentimes I've I hear this one a lot, and I oftentimes will give the example, and maybe it's a cheesy example, but uh, you know, I'll tell patients or people that are, you know, maybe more so people that are actually kind of uh contrary to GLP1s or any medications for that matter for weight loss because it is the easy way out, right? Everyone's cheating, uh what they didn't earn it, whatever their reasoning for for not liking them are, I'll often ask them, um, did you ride to work today in a horse and buck horse and buggy? Uh did you did you walk to work today?

SPEAKER_00 8:44

Like I literally same thought like over the weekend.

SPEAKER_01 8:47

Yeah, like are you like we've made advancements in every facet of our lives as human beings? And and for some reason, when it comes to medications and people trying to get help with their weight, um, for whatever reason, you know, it can be genetic factors, it can be, yeah, maybe they do have a food addiction. So why would we not celebrate someone that is trying to get a hold of that and use medications? If someone's addicted to alcohol or drugs or anything, we would never be like, oh no, no, no, just cold turkey. It come on, don't you have the willpower? Yeah, don't use medical help. Yeah, and interventions. So that's why it's so surprising to me often, oftentimes, when I'm like, well, you know, that's fine, but did you did you drive your car to work today? Well, you did. You you drove here and you got here in five minutes and air-conditioned uh, you know, temperatures and and uh and you know, well, does that mean you're lazy?

SPEAKER_00 9:38

I had never I had never thought about it that way. Like, like, can you imagine like like an alcoholic who who just got their you know, they're like their two-year token, yeah, right? I've been sober for two years. Can I like look at him and say, well, that's good, but you didn't do it alone. Yeah, completely like that doesn't like you, you you were in like this program in the 12 step.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah, did you use medication for this? Or it's not real if you had to get help. It sounds it's it just sounds ridiculous in that other yeah world. We'd celebrate this person's no matter how they got there, right? I mean, they're sober, they're trying to improve their health or their life, and obesity really shouldn't be any different. And because we make so many techno technological advances, not only in medicine, but in you know, in our vehicles, even in our cell phones, look now you can get on the internet. Like, are you lazy because you don't go to the yeah? You are you lazy because you didn't go to the library and look up the information, you got on your phone and you googled it. Does that mean you're lazy? No, does it mean you took a shortcut? No, it actually means that you are trying to find that information quicker, you're trying to be more efficient, and this is no different. Once again, there's always a caveat with there's a few people out there that maybe used these medications in the wrong way or didn't do it, you know, with medical supervision or or assistance. And um sure, but we're not talking about those people.

SPEAKER_00 10:57

Well, and even then, who who cares? Like what does that mean? I mean, really though, right? Right. Okay, so number two, um number two thing you might hear. You didn't earn it, right? There's this there's this cultural kind of assumption that you need to suffer uh uh enough to like earn your results, masochists here. We're just and I'm I've heard that, especially with like you know, what you call like the gym rats, right? Like like you didn't earn your your health because you weren't in the gym as long as I was, or you didn't suffer as much, you didn't do as many reps as I did. You I don't know.

SPEAKER_01 11:32

Well, I I just think too, is like you know, there's there's a lot of factors that go into why we're overweight, and yeah, some of it can be discipline and self-control and and lifestyle and all these things, but a bigger component that I think most of us would agree on is there's actually a huge genetic predisposition uh to the way that you're built. And these are not choices of yours or even of your parents, these are genes that are passed along to you. I mean, almost every disease we know of, including obesity, there is a genetic predisposition. And it doesn't always mean that that um bigger parents are gonna have bigger children, but maybe lifestyle-wise or genetically, that is, you know, if my parents are uh, you know, over six feet, both of them, there's a very good chance that I'm gonna be over six feet uh as a as their child. So I guess what I'm saying is that like obesity is no different, whether it be through social factors um or even genetic factors that are not even oftentimes being considered. You know, yet here we sit and we're like, hey, that guy that has this perfect physique and can have a six pack. Well, guess what? There's some people that could work their whole lives, they could be they could work harder than the guy that has the six pack and diet better, and they may never get a six pack. Right.

unknown 12:43

Right.

SPEAKER_01 12:44

And and so there is a lot of genetic factors here. Yeah, you're like, well, yeah, guilty. I mean, well, it's just it's so it's just wild to me that that we don't even consider stuff that we consider with every other chronic disease process, including genetics. And we somehow with weight loss, somehow with obesity, we just discount it.

SPEAKER_00 13:03

Well, yeah, and I mean that's how we get to our other, you know, like so that's how people get the idea, like it's just it's just for people who can't control themselves. That's what this medication is for. Um, and and that's that just that it's just like what you said, like that that um that statement just is evidence that uh we do not recognize obesity as a disease, as a health issue, but it's uh it's uh choice, it's a laziness thing, it's uh you know, whatever other thing it is, it's not a medical condition.

SPEAKER_01 13:32

Almost like a deserved treatment, like a moral issue, right? It's like, yeah, you're not like what's your what's your deal? You you just can't do this. And you know what, even for those people, let's just pretend for just a moment that you hit the genetic lottery and you just for whatever reason cannot kick food and you just have this, you know, uh can't control yourself. Right. And then let's pretend for just a moment that then you now you found this thing that actually can help you get that under control and deal with this. You don't even, if you don't want to call it an addict an addiction, don't. But what deal with this problem that you're having? The fact that people are are trying to deal with it is is something that should be celebrated, not shamed.

SPEAKER_00 14:09

Right. No, like a thousand percent. Okay. Um, here's another one you might say, well, real weight loss, whatever that means. Like, what is it? Real weight loss comes from diet and exercise. Number one, real weight loss, like weight loss is weight loss. Weight is, and we talked about this, is your relationship with gravity. Um, there's this is a much deeper topic than just losing weight. I mean, there's all the health benefits we've talked about. This on and on and on. Uh, but but sure, comes from diet and exercise. I I this one is the one I'm not gonna really argue with that. Like, weight loss comes from diet and exercise. Those are great components of an overall health plan. Yeah, um, but but to use that to say, see, diet and exercise, I think the assumption on that statement is that those are the only things that make whatever real weight loss.

SPEAKER_01 14:56

Well, and I think the assumption too there is that patients, uh people, whatever we're we get in provider. I know we get we're talking about documents. I was in the ER patients today. Well, so they're people, so people, people um that like GLP ones are are the way that they lose weight without doing those things. I I I beg to differ. Yeah, yeah, yeah. It's not an either or. I actually have the patients, 99% of the patients that I see, it's a combination of diet, exercise, and medications. And I think that that we know and the studies support that the two work best together. And so, yeah, sure, there's those people that, you know, they don't lift a finger, they don't do anything. The GLP one has helped them uh meet some of their goals without doing that. Those are definitely the exception. I find most people actually start losing weight, even if they weren't working out before, they start losing weight, they start feeling better. And oh my gosh, lo and behold, when you feel better and you start losing some weight, you don't mind going for that walk. And you don't mind like it's just easier to do the right things that you know are good for you.

SPEAKER_00 16:00

Well, and if anyone, if anyone has listened to anything we've said, I mean, that point, I think we have hit, at least tried to hit as an underlying philosophy of everything we're talking about, is that is that um the GLP1 is a tool, and all of the things, you know, our eight steps to wellness, um, your wellness guide, all those, all those little things that we have to do and we can do, and we make incremental changes that are sustainable. That's the whole point, is to make those changes. And the GLP1 makes that sometimes easier for some people. Sure.

SPEAKER_01 16:34

Yeah, it's it's uh yeah, the the um stigma behind a lot of this. And it's always been with weight loss medications, it's just so um amplified right now uh because of the GLP1's coming to light and being so effective. I mean, there's nothing we've like the numbers we're seeing right now, just based on the medications uh in the medic or the data we have on this medic on these medications um are staggering and they're unlike anything we've seen. And when people start using a phrase like game changer or things like that, of course, every bit of like light that's shed on them that's supposed to be good and helping people, um, of course, you're gonna have equal amount of uh naysayers and negative people that are like, you know what, this is uh this is a bad thing. Um if they are saying that, they are not following the evidence we have right now.

SPEAKER_00 17:23

Right, right. Well, and there's this tendency to just pull people down. Like, like I remember hearing the old the the old story about um how to I've I've never gone crab hunting. Yeah, but but what I've been told is you know, you get a bucket and you go get some crabs. If you put a crab in a bucket, the crab's gonna climb out, it's gonna find its way out, get you know, get it, reach up and grab the edge. But if you have more than one crab in the bucket, none of them will ever get out. Because as soon as one like reaches up and gets the edge and is like, pull himself, I'm free. Yeah, the ones in the bottom will reach up and grab him and pull him back down. Yeah, and you know, and I remember hearing that story years and years ago, and I'm like, I just see that sometimes in human nature, like this. Like, like someone is successful, yeah, finally, finally, and the only thing that we can do is criticize them and and demean them and and try to diminish the value of what they've accomplished because you know they didn't do it without help or whatever that is. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_01 18:24

It is wild, and we do, I think, as humans have a tendency to do that and bring people down. And it's just, you know, I do think eventually, you know, that's never gonna go away. I do think eventually, as these medications are around longer and longer. I've even had uh people, patients that have come to the clinic that two years ago were literally, I mean, they were ranting on their Facebook page. They were telling me to my face that, hey, like these are horrible. I can't be believe you're prescribing these medications. You'll see everyone's gonna have all these diseases and cancer and all this other stuff. And just recently I've had several of them reach out and go, hey, okay, uh, would love some help. And uh, I've been reading all this stuff, and actually I found out that hey, guess what? All these people are having all these things, and actually the data supports that if done correctly and properly, um, there's a ton of benefits, like even outside, and we've talked about the benefits outside of GLP1s, outside of weight loss, but specifically with helping with all these things, including weight loss, and it's so fascinating to watch them come around. Um, but there's still going to be a lot of stigma around it.

SPEAKER_00 19:28

Yeah. I mean, it's it's it's funny. I my you know, Pete, my son, yeah, he's uh he's finishing a podiatry residency. So he was in podiatry school, you know, the first two years with the medical students, and and um, and he's talking about things that they're learning that that were not even discovered when I graduated from medical school. Doesn't mean he's like he's like, hey dad, hey dad, we're studying this and this and this. And he he pointed that out. He says, he says, um, some of these things were discovered after you graduated medical school. Yeah and and I'm like, oh man, like my my knowledge is already already feeling like this. But I mean, I guess my point with that is is in in my career, in in my lifetime of learning about health and and physiology and disease processes and things, I don't I don't think I've seen anything uh when you say game changer, yeah, that that has and continues to just build this massive amount of data showing benefit after benefit after benefit than than Jop1s. Like I I can't I may be wrong, well but but but I mean that I just the nothing comes to mind that is even close to to such a a massive um benefit that continues just this over and over. And just it changes, like you said, it changes people's minds that were uh you know ragged on you two years ago, and now they're like, hey, well, yeah, okay. Can I get some help with that?

SPEAKER_01 21:02

Yeah, and and what's interesting is then to watch the tran the transformation of like they start getting help with some of the things that they were frustrated about, and um now they're huge advocates, right? Now they're like, oh yeah, you know, why didn't you tell me about this? Oh yeah. Yeah, well, why didn't I? I think we talked about this. Dude, we had a conversation, and you really yeah, the uh I have I speaking of that, I I've talked to several pharmacists. Uh, you know, and pharmacists, of course, um, you know, these are the ones that study drugs. That's all they do, right? That they really focus in on the drugs and the studies, and they are they are scientists like medical providers, but they have this very narrow focus on just medications. Yeah. And uh recently in the ER, I had one that was said, you know, I just I would see all these patients come in and they would be coming in for, you know, this side effect or this, or not really side effect, this, this uh condition or this problem. And I'd see they're on a GLP one. So I'd immediately get into the research and be like, oh yeah, I'm gonna I guarantee this bad thing that's happening to them. The ER is because of the GLP one. And every single thing I look up, go, oh, well, the GLP one actually helps with that. And it actually helps with this. And oh, they're they're having this problem. Oh, uh, actually the GLP one should do better with that. And he's like, I'm just trying to wait for the time that I can look up a patient and their symptoms and actually have it be from a GLP one instead of actually saying that the studies are showing that, hey, this looks like it'll help with this. It'll look like it'll like help with this condition and work for this and do this. So he he as uh a skeptic and and he uh you know admittedly so is sitting there going like I I'm starting to I'm starting to get it. Like I get it. It's just there's so much overwhelming data that shows all these benefits, and it's it's so hard um to argue these benefits. You can't it's hard to argue all the science behind these. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:52

So we just criticize people instead.

SPEAKER_01 22:54

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 22:54

So a couple more things. Uh you only need GLP1s if you really failed. I I the this is an interesting myth, right? To me, because the the underlying cultural message is that um like pharmacological aids, medications should only be employed uh by individuals who have already failed, whatever that means, um through their own efforts. Um I mean I could argue that, but but here here's my take on that is is um I I think most of the people you might say patients, people that that I've seen have failed. Like like this is not something that someone gets on a GLP1 medication because they've never ever tried to lose weight. They they they most most people that come to the clinic, they're like, I've been trying this for years. We go over all of it. Decades tried, yeah. You know, I've been through that. Like, like if you want to say, hey, I'm gonna define what failure is, you have to have failed before this. That's just a silly that myth to me is so silly because I don't know anyone that hasn't tried yeah before GLP one uh uh weight loss dietitian.

SPEAKER_01 24:06

Any of that is never anyone's first stop. I I kind of joke with patients as they come into the clinic as a first-time patient and and um I say, I know I'm not your first stop. Like you've done, I know that this isn't our this isn't your first date. No, this is like if you've done this, I already know you've tried calorie counting, I already know you've done diet and exercise. I already know like I can go through a little bit of and they're kind of looking at me like I'm a fortune teller, and I'm like, no, no, no, no, no, no. I wish it was that good. Um, I wish I was that good. I really what it is is that you see enough people and talk to enough people that deal with this, and you know where they've been, you know where they're there, there no one's going to GLP one's first line. Oh, I gained five pounds, I better go get on to GLP one. No one has done that that I've ever met. I'm sure there's one patient of one, one guy, but uh most people have gone through the ringer, tried all the things, and what get them usually seeking this uh by whatever means is frustration of you know, over and over and over again feeling like they just either they're not making progress or they do, only to gain it all back and then some. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 25:12

Yeah. And final, final uh couple things. If if someone, you know, people tend to be a little more, I guess, judgy if they just don't know anyone, if this is new to them, right? If I don't I don't know anybody that's on a GLP one or has had success or how that's affected them, how that's helped them. Um, I still maybe uh a little more prone to accept some of these myths, maybe.

SPEAKER_01 25:36

I agree. I think uh, you know, everything, everything in this life is social and and even even medicine. I I think it it really comes down to uh within your social circle, if a bunch of people are are on these medications, it probably is a lot easier. Yeah, because then you can just have this shared journey with them and talk about this experience versus if everyone in your circle, whether it be family or friends, uh you don't have anyone that's on GLP1s, this may be something that you are feeling very um vulnerable because no one else is going through this. And there's always going to be a first, right? There's got to be that first person, and uh, I'm sure that can be feel like you are on an island.

SPEAKER_00 26:11

Well, and then and then adding onto that is is um what I would call the celebrity distortion. Oh, yeah. Like, like, you know, there are celebrities that have have been very successful in this, and and they get criticized all the time. Uh big time. And and I think that magnifies the the feeling of, oh no, because because whether someone, you know, you talk about being in your circles and stuff. Well, like famous people being criticized for this, that's kind of my circle because I see it.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_00 26:35

It's it's it's a little out there more so, and so it magnifies, I think, the effect of of that criticism. Yeah, it's so public.

SPEAKER_01 26:42

Well, and it's easy to it's easy to judge and criticize celebrities, right? These are not people that are in your home. It's just, you know, it's that whole, it's that whole, let's bring these uh, you know, celebrities down. Uh, oh, I can't believe it. Like they're celebrities, they can pay for a chef and a trainer. Right, right. Yeah. Well, if that was working, every single celebrity in Hollywood would not struggle with this. Yeah. I mean, look at Oprah. She has more money than you know what I was gonna say, I can't say, but she has more money than anyone. And and uh, and look at uh her um success and her ad, she's advocating for people to be able to try to get help uh with these medications because she knows how much it impacted her life. I can promise you, Oprah Oprah can pay for uh um everyone to do anything for her. And so if someone as prominent as her with as much money as her can struggle with this, then any of us can.

SPEAKER_00 27:35

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 27:36

And so I don't know if I'm am I allowed to mention celebrities?

SPEAKER_00 27:39

I I don't know. We'll find out if we get you know what? If if we get contacted by Oprah and told to knock it off, yeah, I'm gonna count that as a because because somebody listened. One of our seven followers, one of our seven followers got us. Hey, we'd really like if you subscribe to the channel or like the thing or something. That's cool. Whatever, we'll get to that. Um, final, final little thing on some of these myths. Um, there is some gender uh dimension to this as well. Research has shown that that women uh get more negative comments, more comments about like the cheating and all the things we've been talking about more than men, and that's just also not okay. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

Well, and it's I think that women have a more complex medical history. We'll talk about hormones in a different episode. Uh usually a more complex system that um oftentimes is is um very affected by hormones. And uh so I think that women are more uh harshly criticized, more harshly judged, um, and also uh also will are willing to seek help over their counterparts, men.

SPEAKER_00 28:46

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so we want to talk about there there's uh a recent study that was done. Um, and this just kind of kind of opened my eyes to like really how we are all judging people. So they they asked study participants to um evaluate uh fictional person, right? Evaluate a person based on their weight history, and they had a couple of different people. So so they were asked, you know, uh that about someone who lost weight using GLP1s, uh, someone who lost weight through diet and exercise alone, or someone who didn't lose weight at all. All right. And so the people in the study, they they viewed the GLP1 user more negatively than the diet and exercise person, right? And I'm like, okay, that I mean that makes sense kind of what we've been talking about, right? You think, oh, you cheated, you whatever. Uh here's the case though, that that the study participants, they judged the geo person who lost weight using GLP1s more negatively than the person who didn't lose weight at all. Wow. Like and and again, I we ought not be negatively in you know judging or or or or have some negative connotation for someone who hasn't lost any weight, someone who's overweight, obese, and hasn't lost weight, but but that person is still subject to those all the health concerns and problems that we've been talking about. But the person who used the GLP one is like viewed or perceived as the worst of all of them. Unreal. And yeah, please don't do this anymore, people.

SPEAKER_01 30:25

Yeah, it's definitely something that you are possibly even doing, people around you are possibly doing without even knowing it. It's a kind of this like um bias that they have that they haven't even really kind of thought through. And then once they kind of I think I think if you were able to talk to any logical, normal human being, um I think you know you talk to them about this kind of stuff, and I think that you could come to terms with it. But I think a lot of people just do it um kind of automatically, that that propensity to just bring people down. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 30:56

Well, and I think I think the hope, I guess, uh in noting this is that we could kind of pay attention to what I say, how I how I think about this, and what perception do I give others on that. Because really what happened, the irony in this is um when I I criticize someone who's on a GLP one, I I put forth some of these myths that we've just talked about. And and and the effect of that is someone is going to feel that shame, someone's gonna feel hesitant, someone's gonna be that person that didn't come in two years ago, yeah, but came in now because they didn't they were worried about what other people might think, worried about something that I said, you know, this. And and so the the effect of that is that I'm I'm uh impeding their real health improvement. I'm I'm making people less healthy by criticizing their health success.

SPEAKER_01 31:52

Yeah, isn't it isn't it wild that your your exact probably thought is like, oh no, I'm standing on the mountain of right and uh and they should lose weight with diet and exercise while you don't realize that you're actually potentially um having someone prolong or completely like not seek help or prolong the when they would seek help um because they're worried about your judgment of them rather than being supportive and like just letting people do that and say, you know what, with that whatever means that you're trying to use to improve yourself, um, we should be supporting that. That's our stance, anyways. I think I can say that pretty confidently that we feel that you know what, it's uh everyone's gonna have their own journey. And some people don't need GLP1. Sometimes they can just really just just put their head down and and and do the diet and exercise thing. And so a lot of people have some really good success this way. For those that don't, for those that need help, we sh definitely really would would like the you know, uh socially for people to start really um accepting these and actually even more so applauding and supporting them.

SPEAKER_00 33:02

Yeah, no, I I agree. I I think uh final thought would be, you know, just people be nice. And and and recognize, you know, recognize that that um weight loss is treating a disease that's a real thing with multiple causes, multiple multifactorial. Um and and when someone can be successful in in becoming more healthy, uh that deserves that deserves our applause and our participation, our encouragement. Um yeah.

SPEAKER_01 33:36

Or just being quiet, right? Or just shut up, or just be quiet, like don't say anything at all. It's it's it's really the uh the old thumper rule, you know. It's just if you don't have anything nice to say, it's uh you you're really probably not helping anyone by giving them that criticism. Um you know, let people do like do them. And uh, you know, and and why would we discourage someone from trying to seek help to be healthier? It's just for me, that doesn't make any any logical sense. But uh yeah, be nice to people. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:07

Well, we encourage you to be healthy and be healthier ever after. Yeah, how about that? Yeah, um, yeah, so that's a good chat. Um, I we I could sit here for another hour and just talk about more of this stuff, but but um I I think that's just gives a a a brief overview of kind of some of the the myths that go on and and create some of that stigma that we talked about. Yeah, and it and and it it kind of shifts the stigma of obesity to the stigma of people who gained health in a morally worse. I don't know, whatever we judge at. Judge we judge that. Anyway, we we really appreciate you being here and um we will see you next time.

SPEAKER_02 34:46

Take care.