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Two months ago, I was at a party when I overheard two friends talking about Ozempic face. I only caught the tail end of the conversation, but it was enough to pick up on the tone ofjudgment in their voices and looks of horror at the idea of women taking these new diet drugs.

My hair stood up on the back of my neck, and I felt a lump in my throat I tried to say that the drug doesnt reallyageyour face, its justthe changes that happen when you lose weight, but I trailed off. Im usually immune to well-meaning, offhanded comments about weight and wellness: from diet trends to new exercise regimens, and from talk about how fat people should be more health-conscious to the idea that fatness itself is an epidemic.

But this time was different. What my friends didnt know is that I was already on one of those drugs. I was too ashamed to say it out loud, but the drug was working, and I wasnt sure how I felt about it.

I want to say it all started six months ago, but thats not really true.

Ive lived most of my life as a curvy girl the you have such a pretty face girl but otherwise fit into standard sizes until the last few years. As my size changed, so did the way the world treated me the eye rolls when I found my seat on the plane, the invisibility when out with thinner friends, the mean comments from nosy family members, the suspicion that Id been overlooked for promotions.

I could write books, run a newsroom, provide for my family, be a good friend, and be on time for anything, but I couldnt be thin or get thin and, somehow, that felt like it negated everything else. What was the point of all this success if Im still fat?

We live in an anti-fat culture where weight gain is, on its own, seen as a personal failure. (Weight loss, on the other hand, is viewed as a sign of sacrifice and commitment you have to earn it to be worthy of it, as writer Helen Rosner points out). Fat people like me have a harder time getting appropriate medical care; we face discrimination in finding work and housing; we are humiliated when flying; we are disbelieved when raped. We are ridiculed and shamed, whether when teased as children or heckled in public as adults.

In the last few years, I found respite in the body-positivity movement, which posits that none of us deserve to be humiliated or discriminated against because of our sizes. And Ive worked hard to love myself at my size: I refuse to try a fad diet, refuse to follow extreme exercise regimens, refuse to do anything that I perceive as giving in to the pressure to constantly obsess about my weight and hate my body.

Around the same time that I slid across the curvy divide and into fat-landia, my father, who had struggled with obesity-related diabetes and heart disease for most of his adult life, died of complications from his diabetes and the resulting dialysis. It was not an easy death and it was made worse by my own recognition that, on some level, I had believed he couldve stayed with us had he taken better care of his body in exactly the ways I lately wasnt taking care of my own.

Eight months ago I found myself tired all the time, tossing and turning at night, overheating. Id lose my breath exerting myself. I was eating compulsively and struggling to take care of myself. When you are fat, though, its hard to know what you actually need and harder to know how to get it.

The thought of going to a health-care provider who might be rude or shame me about my weight let alone put me through a cycle of self-punishment that would add to my mental health woes had made me avoid the reality of my health for two years. Finally, one day I woke up so exhausted that I couldnt focus, and I knew I had to take action. I needed to do something about my health without going back to hating my body.

Six months ago, after some research, I found a doctor, a woman of color who had investigated generational health issues in her own family, who appeared to have a holistic approach to weight and health, and finally booked an appointment. My bloodwork showed that I wasnt diabetic, but I was as close as you can get; my cholesterol was elevated, but not to the point that I needed to be on medication. I was at the stage at which patients are usually encouraged to try keeping a food diary, drinking more water, getting more exercise, and cutting calories, all in a mild lead-up to some sort of herculean weight-loss effort we all know wont really work forever anyway. I explained that I knew short-term dieting didnt and wouldnt work for me, but I was struggling to make any meaningful long-term lifestyle changes.

My doctor suggested I try weight-loss medication.

In particular, she suggested that we try a newer class of these drugs either semaglutides or tirzepatides that were developed to treat diabetes but have also shown great success in helping patients lose weight. Some, like Ozempic and Mounjaro, are currently only approved for people with diabetes, those who have a high risk of developing diabetes, or those who are prediabetic with high A1C (a number that tells you how much sugar is in your blood and if you are nearing diabetes), while others, like Wegovy, are approved for weight loss in overweight and obese people. All are injectables that mimic your own hormones (what doctors call GLP-1 or GIP) that are supposed to control our feelings of hunger and make us feel full sooner when eating. (They are also really expensive for people without insurance, which doesnt always even cover them, and their recent off-label overuse has resulted in these drugs becoming less available topatients with diabetes. )

She said taking one she recommended Mounjaro would help suppress my appetite and bring down my blood sugar while I slowly make some gradual-but-permanent lifestyle changes like moving a little each day and eating higher-quality foods.

I walked out of the doctors office white hot with shame about my health, despite my doctors optimism. How could I let it get this bad? Was I now my father? And, beyond that, the thought of taking a weight loss drug felt both like giving up on and a betrayal of the body positivity Id struggled so hard to achieve.

I did what I always do when faced with a major life decision: I started talking to people other doctors (This drug is revolutionary); friends who have faced similar questions (Would you judge someone that needs an inhaler for their asthma?); and, worst of all, I talked to straight-size people. Do you really need this medication yet? one friend asked me. Have you really tried everything else?

I realized something awful in this process: Not only do I struggle with the belief that the size of my body is my fault and a result of my neglectful actions, some other people feel that way, too.

But after many appointments and many questions, I decided to go on the drug. I knew I needed some kind of intervention to help stabilize my body and my health while I figured out why I was eating my feelings, why I was struggling to even go for a walk, and why I thought good health and self-care were only about sacrifice. I had to interrogate why I believed I deserved to be sick because I couldnt control myself, but I couldnt allow myself to keep getting sicker while I did so.

So now Ive been on Mounjaro for several months, and each time I want to refill my prescription, I have to go to visit the doctor to talk through how Im feeling, how the side effects constipation, nausea, some insomnia are going and how my relationship to food and my body are changing. (Because my doctor is a holistic practitioner, and because I made it very clear I dont want to be on this for longer than I need to be, this is slightly above and beyond as I understand it.) Its been an adjustment. Behavior change is not impossible; its just really, really hard, and a drug like this is meant to be one tool of many, which for me includes therapy, movement, and mindfulness.

And I have lost some weight, though not the enormous amounts you read about in some breathless reporting. Its given me some space to breathe between meals and its even helped me crave healthier foods. (It apparently makes it harder to digest greasy, fried, and sugary foods). My A1C has dropped 0.5 points, a strong indicator that my genetics dont mean I have to develop diabetes, which has given me a tremendous sense of relief. Thats what Im staying focused on my actual health and the indicators that determine it, even if everything and everyone wants me to just focus on losing weight.

But, perhaps most profoundly, having a medication that can regulate my hormones is teaching me that when I eat compulsively, it is not just about internal willpower or self-control. And that when such behavior began threatening my health, it was okay to get help. Getting treatment was not a personal failure; it was good medical care for me.

Undoubtedly, anything touted as a weight-loss miracle is troubling because, as writer Aubrey Gordon said on Slates The Waves podcast recently, when we get this spun up about a weight-loss drug this early, its usually a bad sign because it means that people will get more attached to the fantasy of weight loss. (Also, its worth noting, the long-term effects of these drugs are still being studied.)

What these drugs cant fix is what underlies the obesity epidemic a culture that continues to hate fat people, a health-care system that incentivizes our weight loss over our actual well-being, and a food system that denies us access to whole, healthy foods.

But my body alone cant remedy all that. Perhaps it was my commitment to body positivitys insights into the diet industry that made me hesitant to consider a drug that would result in weight loss. Until I realized that body positivity is also about doing what is right for you and your body as you see it. Allowing myself to step away from the externally imposed shame and the sense of impossibility that has come with living in this body and really trying to figure out what is best for myself ended up being the key to truly accepting myself.

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Mounjaro and Me - The Cut

The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) released new guidelines (opens in new tab) for treating children and teens with obesity.

The 73-page guidelines outline a proactive approach, where children and their families receive counseling about weight-loss treatments sooner, rather than later. Treatments include time-intensive programs that address children's nutrition and physical activity, as well as weight-loss drugs for children as young as age 12 and metabolic and bariatric surgeries for teens 13 and older.

The guidelines aim to curb the negative health outcomes linked to untreated childhood obesity. In both the short-term and long-term, kids and teens with obesity face an elevated risk of heart disease, high blood pressure, insulin resistance, prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. Studies suggest that a child's weight is highly predictive of weight in adolescence and adulthood, and the links between obesity and increased health risks in adults are established, the report states. So by having doctors treat obesity early, the AAP is aiming to head off a lifetime of health problems, the authors wrote.

The new guidance received a mixed response, with some experts hailing it as an "overdue and crucial" (opens in new tab) shift in how American doctors approach childhood obesity. Others argued that it perpetuates anti-fat bias (opens in new tab) and may prompt physicians to reach for the aggressive (opens in new tab) interventions (opens in new tab) as first-line treatments, rather than last resorts.

Live Science asked experts what they think of the guidelines, and they generally agreed that the AAP presented an evidence-based review of childhood obesity and the best available treatments. However, for now, most children likely won't receive the gold standard of care recommended by the guidelines. Thus, there's a risk that harried pediatricians will recommend that children lose weight but lack the time to guide them safely through the process, potentially leaving kids vulnerable to disordered eating, one expert suggested. In addition, scientists are still learning about the long-term consequences of weight-loss drugs, they added.

Related: How body fat is calculated

"I think the challenge is that many patients do not have access, resources, or time to participate in structured and professionally run pediatric obesity treatment," Dr. Jason Nagata (opens in new tab), a pediatrician and adolescent eating disorder specialist at the University of California, San Francisco, told Live Science in an email. Outside of these programs, kids recommended weight loss treatment may not be adequately monitored, Nagata said.

"As an eating disorder specialist, I have received many referrals for teens who were previously told they were obese and needed to lose weight, and they took the weight loss to the extreme," he said. Research led by Nagata (opens in new tab) suggests that, compared with their leaner peers, older teens and young adults with overweight or obesity are more likely to engage in disordered eating behaviors, like fasting, but less likely to be diagnosed with eating disorders than underweight peers. That's dangerous because teens with disorders like anorexia can still be dangerously ill, even if they are not underweight.

Doctors should discourage patients from using dangerous weight control strategies, explain the risks, and monitor the rate and degree of patients' weight loss, Nagata said, and AAP gives similar, if brief, guidance in its report. But many doctors have limited training in eating disorders and limited time to interact with their patients, Nagata said, so ensuring that kids receive this type of care could be tough.

The AAP also provides examples of neutral language to use in conversations about a child's weight, and broadly, the guidelines frame obesity as a complex, chronic disease influenced by myriad factors, from genetics to socioeconomics, rather than a "reversible consequence of personal choices," as it's been considered in the past, the guidelines authors wrote.

The guidelines emphasize "treating the whole child," rather than fixating on a number on a scale, Dr. Sheethal Reddy (opens in new tab), a clinical psychologist who specializes in obesity medicine at the Emory Bariatric Center, told Live Science. "The goal here is not to get kids skinny it's not to have them fit into a certain size pair of pants," said Reddy, who until recently worked with children and teens at a pediatric obesity clinic.

In practice, that means taking a child's and their family's medical history, vital signs and labs, nutrition and physical activity habits, mental health and social circumstances into account, rather than checking only their body mass index (BMI) an estimate of body fat calculated using weight and height.

That said, BMI still factors into a child's evaluation, although the measure has been widely (opens in new tab) criticized (opens in new tab) as an imprecise measure of fat and poor indicator of overall health. More-precise methods of measuring body fat (opens in new tab) are more cost- and time-intensive, and thus not regularly used in clinics or in research.

"Even though it's flawed, it's still a useful tool," Reddy said. "I sort of think of BMI as kind of the yellow traffic light" a signal to slow down and see what else is going on with a child's health.

"The higher the percentile, the more likely it is that a child is carrying excess adiposity," meaning fat, said Dr. Sarah Hampl (opens in new tab), chair of the AAP's Clinical Practice Guideline Subcommittee on Obesity and a lead author of the guidelines. "Overweight" is defined as a BMI at or above the 85th percentile and below the 95th percentile for children of the same age and sex, and "obesity" is defined as a BMI at or above the 95th percentile. These categories are reflected in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's new extended BMI growth charts (opens in new tab) for kids and teens.

"And yet it's still only one of several measures we look at in terms of determining the child's health," and whether or not their weight is negatively affecting them, Hampl said.

Related: High-sugar diet disrupts the gut microbiome, leading to obesity (in mice)

If a child is recommended for weight-loss treatment, what are their options?

One is a motivational interviewing, a type of counseling where doctors help kids and their families work towards adjusting their nutrition and physical activity. A similar but more extensive intervention, called intensive health behavior and lifestyle treatment (IHBLT), focuses on introducing similar lifestyle changes and making them sustainable in the long-term.

"IHBLT is most often effective when it occurs face-to-face, engages the whole family, and delivers at least 26 hours of nutrition, physical activity, and behavior change lessons over 3 to 12 months," the guidelines state. Although backed by research, these types of programs aren't readily accessible to many kids, as few institutes host them and they're rarely covered by insurance, Reddy said.

As an adjunct to IHBLT, doctors may offer children with obesity weight-loss drugs, provided they are age 12 and older. These treatments include Wegovy (opens in new tab) (generic name semaglutide), a once-weekly injection that affects how the brain and gut communicate and reduces the user's appetite.

Weight-loss drugs approved for children have been tested in roughly year-long trials, but we don't yet have data on what happens after five or 10 years of use, for example, Hampl said. And there aren't set recommendations as to how long children should use the medications.

Teens ages 13 and older with severe obesity meaning their BMI is equal to or greater than 120% of the 95th percentile for age and sex may also be referred to a specialist to be evaluated for metabolic and bariatric surgery.

Evidence suggests (opens in new tab) that these surgeries can reduce teens' weight and counter health conditions linked to obesity, such as diabetes and high blood pressure. However, eating disorder experts have raised concerns that the procedures alter how and what patients can eat, which can damage their relationship to food, NPR reported (opens in new tab); other experts worry that doctors will turn to surgery too quickly, without exhausting other options, according to STAT (opens in new tab).

Others argue that surgery is just another option for patients and should be considered, if needed.

"There is too much hype or over emphasis on the mention that [pharmacotherapy] and surgery 'MAY or CAN' be offered," said Dr. Stephen Cook (opens in new tab), an internist and associate professor who researches childhood and adolescent obesity at the University of Rochester Medical Center, told Live Science in an email. "There are a number of steps before those could be considered, and they are only to be considered for those with more severe levels of obesity," he said.

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Childhood obesity should be treated early and aggressively, new ... - Livescience.com

Intermittent fasting has been around since the 1800s but really came around again in the 200s. Studies have taken a closer look at the weight-loss approach and have come up with a number of benefits.

There are a lot of different approaches to intermittent fasting, including the times you can and cannot eat and what you put in your body. While there are a lot of modification options, its important for newcomers to understand the basics and set themselves up for success.

How It Works

Intermittent fasting is when you give yourself a window during the day where you can consume food. Outside of that window, you will fast. The most common approach for fasting techniques is the 16/8, which is commonly referred to as the Leangains fast. In this scenario, you fast for 16 hours and eat within an eight-hour window.

This naturally promotes reduced calorie intake and helps control your blood sugar levels. When you are fasting, your body goes into a fat-burning state because it technically believes you are starving. It uses that fat to keep the body running.

Lets look at it from a technical standpoint.

All of the above can be referred to as fasting for autophagy. By stimulating autophagy, you can take advantage of these benefits with the new cells and get rid of unwanted proteins that contribute to disease.

But you can only reap these benefits when you do a successful fast. This means following some general guidelines.

Best Practices For A Successful Fast

Here are the best practices in order to have a successful fast and lose weight. Keep in mind that its not just about the window of time in which you eat, but its about what you do during that window of time.

Healthy Diet

During the window that you can eat, its important that you dont go haywire. Remaining vigilant to a healthy balanced diet helps your metabolism. If you dont reduce your calorie intake, you likely wont see results.

This also includes staying well-hydrated. Dehydrated fasters find themselves with slower metabolisms. Drinking water also keeps us full.

Dont Drink Calories

Speaking of drinking, stick to water or other zero-calorie options. When you drink your calories, you are consuming a lot of sugar that adds up quickly. Stick to black coffee. But not too much of it because tea and coffee are dehydrating.

Dont Go Extreme

If you go on an extreme fast like a bone-broth diet, you may find yourself crash-dieting. This leads to serious weight gain after rapid weight loss. Pacing yourself and starting with a moderate intermittent fasting schedule is key for long-term success.

Eat Earlier

Our metabolism works better in the morning than it does late at night. Thats why keeping your eating window from morning to middle to late afternoon can make a big difference in your digestive system. Many fasters report using the 16/8 between 8 A.M. and 4 P.M. or starting at 10 A.M. and finishing around 6 P.M.

Watch Your Workouts

Working out is a great way to supplement your fast, but understanding your body, and its relationship to food is important. In order to exercise, your body needs proper fuel and energy. If you are working and restricting your calories to extreme levels, you run the risk of injury or a medical issue.

When you work out rigorously, you can add more calories to your daily intake within your window than you may normally have. As long as they are healthy sources of food, this will not hurt your fasting.

Giving It a Try

At first, fasting can be incredibly difficult for people who have never tried it. It takes discipline. Even with the most modest fast schedules it requires a level of preparation and consideration. But the benefits as studied are well worth it.

Even though the main idea is to eat during a window of time, its important to focus on what you are fueling your body with. This can be the make or break of your diet and determine whether you are losing weight.

By giving it a try (it may take some trial and error), you may find yourself having no issue with the lifestyle choice after a few days or weeks. And then you can put your own modifications or try something a little more challenging.

See more here:
Intermittent Fasting and Weight Loss: How it works and Tips for ... - Anti Aging News

Apple cider vinegar is a common feature in many diet plans.

Some people drink it in the morning on an empty stomach, while others drink it before every meal. It is believed to aid in weight loss. But just how true is this?

Popular television personality, Dr Oz, did a feature on 'The Weight Loss Benefits of Apple Cider Vinegar' where he interviewed several people who made claims that drinking apple cider vinegar helped them shed weight.

READ:"The banting diet is dangerous," warns dietitian

Let's look at the science behind all this.

The website World Health.net claims that apple cider vinegar is an excellent appetite suppressant.

'When as little as 2 tablespoons per day is combined with high-carbohydrate meals, vinegar can create a feeling of being full while consuming fewer calories. While the average amount of weight loss is less than 2 pounds per month, a reduction in belly fat and waist circumference is an added benefit,' states the website.

This is also supported by a report by Healthline, which states that 'studies suggest that vinegar can increase feelings of fullness and help you eat fewer calories, which may lead to weight loss'.

However, the same report states that 'simply adding or subtracting single foods or ingredients rarely has a noticeable effect on weight. Long-term weight loss is created by adopting helpful and supportive diet and lifestyle habits'.

Personal trainer, Owen Hambulo, the owner of Owen Fitness in Sandton, saysincorporating a healthy lifestyle and exercise is still the best and safest way to lose weight in the long run".

READ: Four misconceptions about weight loss debunked

Disclaimer: Health-related information provided in this article is not a substitute for medical advice and should not be used to diagnose or treat health problems. It is always advisable to consult with your doctor on any health-related issues.

Image courtesy of iStock/ @tylim

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Does apple cider vinegar really aid in weight loss? - Jacaranda FM

I was six years old the first time I used fat as an insult. Though I now know itisnt a bad word, I didnt at the time. It didnt take me long growing up in France to internalize the countrys rampantly fatphobic culture and weaponize it against a peer. By the time I was a teen, I had embarked on my first diet, kicking off a decade of disordered relationships with both my own body and the food on my plate.

Experiences like minearent unique to Francefar from itbut the very French insistence on thinness is so insidious that it has somehow gotten exporteden masse to other Western countriesincluding to the US and the UK, the two places Ive lived in since I left France at 17. In these places, womens lifestyle magazines have long purported to teach their readers how to be more like this fabled French woman, the one whoas writer Mireille Guiliano so unhelpfully put it in the title of her 2004 best-selling book,French Women Dont Get Fatis allegedly forever thin.

During my university and postgraduation years in Los Angeles and London, American and British women were increasingly being told they should be more like this impossibly, effortlessly thin person (yet another sneaky iteration of garden-varietydiet culture). As I absorbed these messages, the very same lessons Id learned about my own body growing up were reinforcednamely, that it wasnt good enough as it was.

Though I still have days when my own anti-fat bias rears its ugly head, I consider myselfrecovered from disordered eating now, close to 11 years after I first left my home country. Heres what Ive learned along the way about thewarped messages I was sold about womens bodies, including the ridiculous and deeply harmful idea that we should all try to look like this mythical French girl.

The idea that French women dont get fat is, if not entirely made up, at least woefully distorted. The truth is, lots of French women arent thin. Plenty of themas was the case for mealso develop problems with disordered eating as they try to live up to a harmful ideal. Cline Casse, the founder ofStopTCA, a French therapy platform that connects people dealing with disordered eating habits to nutritionists and therapists, is painfully aware of this reality, citing the example of a 10-year-old girl she worked with who asked her if it was normal to make herself vomit. Casse tells SELF that, due in part to a culture that promotes thinness ahead of health, shes seeing eating disorders begin increasingly early among middle and high school kids. This observation aligns with research showing a significant spike in eating disorder treatment during the COVID-19 pandemic: A 2022 study in theJournal of Clinical Medicine found that from March 2020 to November 2021, anorexia-related hospitalizations in France increased by 46% for girls aged 10 to 19 and by 7% for women aged 20 to 29.

This image of the thin French woman concerns a small portion of individuals, Casse says, who partially blames shows likeEmily in Parisfor perpetuating the myth of the monolithic French woman, when French women exist in all kinds of body types. She also points out that genetic and socioeconomic factors largely influence a persons body size, and that the archetypal French woman we picture is almost always wealthy and whitewhich, again, is hardly representative of all women in France.

When magazines and influencers (and books like Guilianos) attempt to teach us how to eat and live like a French girl, the message is typically that she doesnt have totryto be thin. She just is. The ideal of the effortlessly thin French girl presupposes that diet culture doesnt exist in France, while my and most of my French friends experiences completely invalidates that theory.

Casse confirms that diet culture is unfortunately still alive and well in France. When I listen [to conversations] in a public space, on the radio, or on French TV shows, I hear things like, Fasting helped me lose weight, you should try it, I mustnt gain weight, otherwise my partner wont be happy, or, I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and avoid starchy food as much as possible to stay slim, she says.

Although Casse says thatbody acceptance is slowly gaining traction in France, she caveats that the culture ofanti-fatness prevails. Fat people are still called names and seen (and portrayed in media) as lazy or lacking willpower, while thin people are still praised and glamorized. The effortlessness we associate with the French Girl archetype isnt based in reality, yet were still being sold her perceived diet and lifestyle habits as the pinnacle of womanhood.

The French woman Guiliano writes about represents a specific type of personone who is Parisian, wealthy, and usually white. Her thinness is to an extent a byproduct of these factors (as, again, socioeconomic circumstances such asincome and education levels can influence a persons weight), coupled with genetics. Shes also typically assumed to be healthy simply because shes thin, even though we know that health and body size areby no means the same thing. Its also worth noting thatone in three French people smoked tobacco products as of 2020, a habit that is often associated with the French Girl archetype and one that is unfortunately frequently used as a weight-loss methoddespite the fact that smoking is decidedly bad for your health.

Nearly 20 years after Guillano publishedFrench Women Dont Get Fat, people are still conflating French womens perceived thinness with fitness and health. A new generation ofinfluencers andblogs are teaching readers to eat like French women in order to stay healthyeven though the advice they peddle is often geared at readers looking to lose weight rather than to take care of their health holistically. And of course, mainstream magazines andonline publications arestill at it too, though mercifully much less so than they might have been a few years ago. But what these content creators are ignoring is that you cant tell how healthy someone is from their body size.

Weight-science research shows that about 75% of our body weight ispredetermined by genetics; by contrast, some studies suggest that height is around80% genetically determined, London-based registered nutritionistLaura Thomas, PhD, tells SELF. We also know that the vast majority of dieting attempts end inweight regain, and a large portion of peoplewill go on to regain more weight than what they lost on the diet, adds Dr. Thomas. In effect, the scientific reality is that no matter how much you try to eat like a French girl, you are unlikely to drastically alter your body type over the long termnor would restricting your food in this way determine whether you are any healthier overall.

The deeply entrenched fatphobia in France, coupled with the false ideal of the effortlessly thin (and therefore healthy) French woman, destroyed my relationship with food and my body as I know it has for thousands of others. This essay is my call to media outlets, content creators, and anyone else who will listen to consider the consequences of selling such an exclusionary ideal to vulnerable girls and women, and to lay it to rest once and for all. Its long past time.

If youre struggling with an eating disorder, you can find support and resources from theNational Eating Disorder Association(NEDA). If you are in a crisis, you can text NEDA to 741741 to be connected with a trained volunteer atCrisis Text Linefor immediate support.

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The Myth That French Women Dont Get Fat Is Both Wrong and Harmful - Self

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Similar to Angela Deem, Winter Everett, and Tiffany Franco, Jen Boecher from 90 Day Fianc: The Other Way season 4 also had surgery for weight loss.

While Jen Boecher hasn't revealed her weight loss story on 90 Day Fianc: The Other Way yet, shes gotten surgery in the past before meeting Rishi Singh. The 46-year-old currently stars in The Other Way season 4 with Rishi, who is a professional model and fitness trainer. There isn't much revealed about what job Jen does for a living in the U.S. However, on the show, shes leaving her life behind and moving to Jaipur for good to get married to Rishi, who hasn't told his family anything about her.

90 Day Fianc's Jen Boecher is a nomad at heart, who was staying in Stilwell, Oklahoma on her parents farm when she was introduced on the show. She showed her life on the farm, leaving her family and friends to wonder how Rishi would adjust to Jens life if he eventually moved to the U.S. Jen spoke about how it wasnt love at first sight with Rishi, and took a whole month to say yes to him when they got engaged. She has lived in five or six major cities before meeting Rishi, and had a string of bad past relationships, with a track record of falling for the wrong guys. Jen said, I would choose guys who were good-looking and very charismatic. She couldn't find what she needed in a long-term partner with any of her exes. In the past, Jen was married to a guy she dated for only a few months, and was divorced less than two years later.

Related: 90 Day Fianc: All Clues Rishi & Jen Have Already Split (SPOILERS)

Theres more to Jens past than just her ex-husband and history of unworthy men. According to Starcasm, Jen was in India for her weight loss surgery in June 2018, when a Facebook post was discovered made by a laparoscopic surgeon revealing details of her medical procedure. The post shows Jen in a hospital gown standing next to her doctor. In the caption, the surgeon explains that he performed intragastric balloon procedure for weight loss on 19/06/2018 on Ms. Jeniffer Boecher Lee from the U.S. According to the doctor, Jen used to weigh 94 kgs, which is a little over 200 pounds with a BMI of 33.5. Jen seems to have a strong family history of Obesity.

In the post, the surgeon mentioned the Fortis JK Hospital where Jens surgery was performed, and it took just 20 minutes. Jen lost 4 kgs in just five days, and her doctor expected her to lose another 20 kgs in the coming year. According to Starcasm, the above-mentioned hospital is based in Udaipur, which is a different city than Jaipur where Rishi is from. However, both Jaipur and Udaipur are in the same state as Rajasthan in India. Jen claimed to have bumped into Rishi in a hotel where he came for a modeling job, so there is a chance Jen and Rishi crossed paths in 2018. If not, Jen may have visited her doctor for a follow-up in case she needed her balloon to be removed or replaced.

Jen spoke about having spent about 45 days with Rishi in person before she came back to the U.S. With the pandemic taking place soon after, Jen and Rishi were in a long-distance relationship for two years, and Jen rushed to India as soon as the borders opened. India opened for tourism in November 2021, and scheduled commercial international flights resumed in March 2022. Jen and Rishis journey on 90 Day Fianc: The Other Way season 4 could have been filmed in the past year, and it seems unlikely that itll focus on Jens weight loss journey. Unless Jen opens up about her fitness transformation to inspire her followers like other 90 Day Fianc stars, theres no other way anyone will know about her successful surgery.

More: 90 Day Fianc The Other Way: Why Jen & Rishi Are The New Jenny & Sumit

Source: Starcasm, Dr. Sapan Jain/Facebook

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Weight loss is an important health goal for Sabrazsia Gardner, so she began researching Wegovy, the anti-obesity drug that contains the same medication as Ozempic.

Gardner, 33, says she wanted to stop the snacking and binge eating that contributed to her obesity, and eat less. But diets didnt work and she didnt want to go the weight-loss surgery route.

After talking about her options with her doctor during her annual physical, she received a prescription for Wegovy. Now seven weeks into the treatment, Gardner says she has "very little appetite" and is losing weight.

I dont think about food the same I dont think about snacking and Im fuller longer, Gardner, an esthetician who lives in Chandler, Arizona, tells TODAY.com.

I dont even have hunger cravings. I eat because Im supposed to. You eat to live, not live to eat.

Gardner could once eat 10 chicken wings in a sitting, but barely ate three when she recently treated herself. She got a stomachache afterwards, one of the side effects shes experienced on the drug. Since starting Wegovy, Gardner has also had fatigue, diarrhea and really prominent nausea for which she takes another medication.

Gardner says she sometimes doesnt feel hungry all day and is no longer drawn to chips or chocolate foods she used to crave and snack on. Shes lost about 10 pounds so far.

Wegovy contains semaglutide, the same medication found in Ozempic, the Type 2 diabetes treatment that comes with a celebrated side effect: weight loss.

Wegovy is approved for weight loss by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, while Ozempic is not, though many people are using it off-label for that purpose. Each medication is self-injected by patients once a week.

The only difference between the two drugs is the design of the injector pen and the doses, says Dr. Louis Aronne, an obesity medicine physician and director of the Comprehensive Weight Control Center at Weill Cornell Medicine and NewYork-Presbyterian.

Wegovy comes in five different dose strengths, while Ozempic has four.

The maximum dose is 2 milligrams for Ozempic and 2.4 milligrams for Wegovy, according to Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical giant that makes both drugs. The company says they are not interchangeable.

Semaglutide is a synthetic version of a hormone known as GLP-1, which the body releases into the intestine when people eat food, says Aronne, who is a scientific adviser for Novo Nordisk.

When the medication hits GLP-1 receptors in different parts of the brain, that triggers a reaction, stimulating nerves that mimic the effect of eating food people have reduced appetite, and when they do eat, they feel full sooner, he notes.

That hormone gets absorbed into the bloodstream, goes to the brain and tells the brain youve eaten food. So people basically feel like theyve already eaten when they take it, Aronne tells TODAY.com.

Its kind of like if I gave you Thanksgiving dinner and then I asked you to eat another dinner. Youll say, I cant possibly eat it. I just ate a whole dinner.

Another way the medication works is that it slows down stomach emptying, which slows down the absorption of calories and may contribute to the feeling of fullness, Aronne says.

People who took Wegovy for 16 months in the largest placebo-controlled trial lost an average of 12% of their body weight compared to those who received a placebo, according to the FDA.

A typical anecdote Aronne hears from a patient is: I went to the same restaurant I always go to, I ordered the same dinner I always order, but when I ate half of it, I just couldnt continue. I felt so full, so bloated that I could not eat anymore.

People with binge eating problems or who obsessively think about food tell him, I have so much time in the day now because Im not thinking about my next meal all the time.

Some people also lose cravings. Looking at a bag of Doritos was kind of like looking at a pair of socks, Shea Murray, who used Ozempic, previously told TODAY.

People have to keep taking semaglutide for the drug to keep working otherwise, they will regain two-thirds of their prior weight loss, studies have shown. Its not a short-term cosmetic fix for someone who wants to lose 10 pounds to look good in a swimsuit, but a long-term treatment for people who have health problems related to obesity, doctors say.

The most common side effects of Ozempic and Wegovy include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and constipation, according to Novo Nordisk.

Some patients told NBC News the side effects were so severe they stopped taking the drugs or questioned whether they could stay on them long-term.

In clinical trials, almost 7% of patients treated with Wegovy permanently stopped taking it because of adverse reactions, or more than twice the number of people who received a placebo, Novo Nordisk reported.

The nausea, which was the most common side effect that led patients to stop treatment, may be caused by the slowing down of the emptying of the stomach or by acid reflux, Aronne says. People respond in different ways to the medication, so they must start with the lowest dose and work their way up to higher doses slowly, he adds.

Possible serious side effects of Ozempic and Wegovy include pancreatitis, gallbladder problems and kidney problems, among other issues, according to the manufacturer.

Both drugs also carry the warning that semaglutide causes thyroid C-cell tumors in rodents, though its unknown whether that can happen in humans.

Dr. Robert Lustig, a neuroendocrinologist and professor emeritus of pediatrics at the University of California, San Francisco, previously told TODAY.com he has major, major concerns about people potentially taking Wegovy for years or for life. Hes not against the drug, but calls it a Band-Aid thats not fixing the root of the problem of obesity.

Dr. Zhaoping Li, professor of medicine and chief of the division of clinical nutrition at the University of California, Los Angeles, says more long-term data is needed about Wegovy.

But other doctors previously told TODAY.com they were comfortable prescribing it for the long-term. Aronne calls this the golden age of treating obesity as more medications that work and are safe become available, he says.

Sabrazsia Gardner, the woman who started taking Wegovy in January, says shed like to stay on it for as long as she can and hopes to lose 120 pounds.

The nausea I can live with. Its annoying, but its OK. If its making me healthier, I think Ill be OK, she says.

A. Pawlowski is a TODAY health reporter focusing on health news and features. Previously, she was a writer, producer and editor at CNN.

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Rachel E. Buehner, Ph.D. and Alex Pruitt, Psy.D.| Opinion Contributors

At this time of year resolutions are tested and new fitness activities and nutrition behaviors are highlighted on social media. Many find themselves exhibiting unusual focus on what they eat and how they move. When faced with a goal like weight loss or changing ones fitness level, it can be easy to fall into the trap of strict, extreme, even painful behaviors that put mental and physical health at risk. Additionally, 80% of those engaged in excessive exercise and rigid approaches to nutrition will eventually gain back any weight lost. Consider former contestants from The Biggest Loser who eventually regained their lost weight. Extreme fads dont tend to work in the long run and can lead to worse health in the end.

More:'It's not a teenage girl disease': Eating disorders are rampant in Louisville

It can look different for each person but what can signal possible concerns for an eating disorder include:

Fixating on your appearance, perceived flaws, body weight or BMI, or on social media messages about fitness and nutrition can each also signal potentially disordered patterns. If you find that your moods or sense of worth are tied to the scale or minutes exercised, it may be time to consider addressing the emotional needs that may be driving disordered behaviors and thought patterns. Accessing mental health treatment when eating disorders develop is vital, as the mortality rate for anorexia is 20%, making it the second leading cause of death from a psychiatric disorder (behind opioid addiction). Early intervention is crucial.

More:Life expectancy for Kentuckians just dropped. Here's why and what to know

When undertaking a new eating or fitness program and seeking long-term success, a more holistic approach to getting results is through healthy behaviors (a robust diet of all kinds of food and joyful movement of body) and a self-acceptance mindset instead of a weight loss goal.

Other ways to achieve this goal are to examine ones day-to-day emotional needs, underlying belief systems about their own worth and attitudes about food (not deserving of food or needing to burn it off) and exercise as punishment. Mindfulness meditation encourages one to attend to their emotional state and to try and focus on the current moment, and is associated with a reduction in binge eating and emotional eating. Cognitive behavior therapy can also help identify and address the underlying beliefs about ourselves and our worth that can sometimes hinder our ability to find and maintain success losing weight and achieving a higher level of fitness.

Weight loss and fitness are not a panacea for low self-esteem. If you notice that liking yourself or treating your body well depends on what youve eaten or how youve exercised, it may be time to consider seeking out psychotherapy. Addressing underlying beliefs that may be an obstacle to your health can improve long-term outcomes on the scale and beyond. Nurturing your health is an inside job.

The Kentucky Eating Disorders Council (Phone: (502) 564-4456) offers guidance on accessing providers who specialize in the treatment of eating disorders. The Kentucky Psychological Association offers a Roadmap to Behavioral Health to facilitate access to quality mental health care.

Rachel E. Buehner, Ph.D. is the former President of the Kentucky Psychological Association. She is a licensed psychologist practicing in Louisville.Alex Pruitt, Psy.D. is a passionate advocate for body positivity and self acceptance by working with individuals with eating disorders. She is the Associate Director of Louisville Center for Eating Disorders. She currently serves on the Kentucky Eating Disorder Council and as Clinical Representative for the KentuckyPsychological Association.

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Why you should prioritize mental health on your fitness and weight ... - Courier Journal

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