Weight Watcher's GLP-1 House
Published 1.23.2024: I had no idea the GLP-1 house existed until I watched this video by Sam at Every Size (her YouTuber name). I like this channel and generally start my Mondays watching her. Naturally some fat activists are up in arms about other fat people are choosing to lose weight.
Fat Body Positivity (FaBoPo) or fat activism seems to be splitting into groups-- those who have decided to lose a bit of weight (though mostly they are still fat) and those who think the only valid change is to gain weight. Weight Watchers (which bought Sequence last year) hosted the house, which had presentations about the drug, but also a lot of healthy foods (they are very focused on protein). For the record, I can understand
The GLP-1 house has only started showing up in a YouTube search. Initially I couldn't find it, but I suppose most of the influencers were TikTokers rather than YouTubers, so it showed up on TikTok earlier. I don't have TikTok, so I can't search there.
Sam at Every Size is wondering about the future of fat activism and notes that losing weight is considered suspect (losing weight intentionally). Weight is allowed to change in fat activism, but it's only allowed to go up. Never down. I've made that point many times before.
Apparently there's a movie called, The Dark Side of Fat Acceptance, and I can watch it on TubiTV. The movie/documentary is from 2020. What follows are my notes.
Manal Zayne is the first woman they interview, and she has (or had) a YouTube channel. I could not find her YouTube channel in January of 2024. She did give a few interviews about the film, and those are still online. I had no idea though of the extent of the fat activist (FA) vitriol. Granted most of this took place when my offline business was up and running, but still.
Most of the film is about how fat activists trolled people and doxxed people because they posted about weight loss. In the film, one woman who'd been in the movement noted that there was a change at some point and suddenly you couldn't talk about weight loss-- only weight gain, not even if you were having health problems... which are not new to the current generation of fat activists. Meaning that FAs back then had health problems. The younger generation doesn't yet.
No, they are simply aging into the ages where your past begins to catch up with you. Last year, Gabriella Lascano (who took down her post due to harassment) told the truth about needing to lose weight for health and that it was okay to lose weight to help your health. It's fine when you're young, but into your 30s and 40s, suddenly it's not fine.
Several prominent fat activists have died young in the past year, which has been noted online so I won't go into it. To be clear, it's fine to be overweight, but each body has a limit. And if you exceed that limit there are health issues that result. More to the point, and new I think to my writing, is that AGE is also a factor. A younger body is better able to compensate than an older body.
This does explain why there is a dearth of older FAs... there aren't many because so many of them die OR decide that weight loss is not only desirable, but POSSIBLE when they start to have health concerns, everything from heart disease to joint issues. And in all cases, fat activism is no longer for you if your weight declines. I've read the pieces by former fats lamenting the loss of their community.
Fat Body Positivity (FaBoPo) or fat activism seems to be splitting into groups-- those who have decided to lose a bit of weight (though mostly they are still fat) and those who think the only valid change is to gain weight. Weight Watchers (which bought Sequence last year) hosted the house, which had presentations about the drug, but also a lot of healthy foods (they are very focused on protein). For the record, I can understand
The GLP-1 house has only started showing up in a YouTube search. Initially I couldn't find it, but I suppose most of the influencers were TikTokers rather than YouTubers, so it showed up on TikTok earlier. I don't have TikTok, so I can't search there.
Sam at Every Size is wondering about the future of fat activism and notes that losing weight is considered suspect (losing weight intentionally). Weight is allowed to change in fat activism, but it's only allowed to go up. Never down. I've made that point many times before.
Apparently there's a movie called, The Dark Side of Fat Acceptance, and I can watch it on TubiTV. The movie/documentary is from 2020. What follows are my notes.
Manal Zayne is the first woman they interview, and she has (or had) a YouTube channel. I could not find her YouTube channel in January of 2024. She did give a few interviews about the film, and those are still online. I had no idea though of the extent of the fat activist (FA) vitriol. Granted most of this took place when my offline business was up and running, but still.
Most of the film is about how fat activists trolled people and doxxed people because they posted about weight loss. In the film, one woman who'd been in the movement noted that there was a change at some point and suddenly you couldn't talk about weight loss-- only weight gain, not even if you were having health problems... which are not new to the current generation of fat activists. Meaning that FAs back then had health problems. The younger generation doesn't yet.
No, they are simply aging into the ages where your past begins to catch up with you. Last year, Gabriella Lascano (who took down her post due to harassment) told the truth about needing to lose weight for health and that it was okay to lose weight to help your health. It's fine when you're young, but into your 30s and 40s, suddenly it's not fine.
Several prominent fat activists have died young in the past year, which has been noted online so I won't go into it. To be clear, it's fine to be overweight, but each body has a limit. And if you exceed that limit there are health issues that result. More to the point, and new I think to my writing, is that AGE is also a factor. A younger body is better able to compensate than an older body.
This does explain why there is a dearth of older FAs... there aren't many because so many of them die OR decide that weight loss is not only desirable, but POSSIBLE when they start to have health concerns, everything from heart disease to joint issues. And in all cases, fat activism is no longer for you if your weight declines. I've read the pieces by former fats lamenting the loss of their community.
The Dark Side of Fat Topia
The title is an amalgamation of two movies I watched while developing this piece. The first I heard of was The Dark Side of Fat Acceptance (which can be streamed on Amazon's Prime Video), and the second one was Fat Topia (To watch you have to sign into Google, and there are ad breaks). Fat Topia was the first movie, The Dark Side of Fat Acceptance was an answer to the reaction to the first movie. Hopefully, that makes sense. I actually watched the two movies in reverse order.
The dude who made the movie Fat Topia is the producer of The Dark Side of Fat Acceptance, and is also a talking head in the movie. FAs really did not like his first movie, and so targeted him and his family offline, which is really over the line. And that's the main story line of the dark side movie. They also talk to former FAs who were also trolled for choosing to lose weight.
At this point I realized that I have to watch Fat Topia to see what the hubbub is about. A few scenes in, I can predict what set FAs off. The film's point of view is that obesity is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. Not suer if this was the case when the movie was released, but FAs consider the word obesity as a slur.
Because he's a cisgendered (meaning not trans), thin, white, male, the FAs don't think that he should be making the film. And mostly, they refuse to talk with him. The host gets hung up on the health implications of FA, which is truthfully where the whole thing falls apart. Fat activism cannot allow that weight may be related to health, because the entire movement would fall apart.
I've written any number of times my position on this, but in case anyone is new: Everyone has a level of weight (fat) beyond which their body can't compensate. It's all fun and games until you reach that point, but once you reach and/or exceed that point, "the wheels come off," and health problems begin to fester. [Disclaimer reminder: I am not a medical professional of any kind.]
And then one FA agrees to talk with him. I think the "anonymous" FA he's interviewing is goes by the monicker Fat Doctor UK. At least, that's who it sounds like. Fat Doctor UK is no longer a doctor I believe, and is a true believer, with the same zeal as a newly confirmed Catholic. If I recall her story correctly, she found FA later in life (after med school) and fell for it hook line and sinker. She tried to "change" the NHS system from within, and lost her license. I also think I recognize the verbiage used, which I've heard from Fat Doctor UK previously. Unsurprisingly, the interview ends early when the anonymous talker walks out.
The concept of thin privilege comes up, and as I do think there's a legitimate point to be made. But the entire world isn't going to be re-engineered for the (as yet fairly small) number of super-sized people (so-called infinifats). Also… overweight and obesity are conflated in these arguments. They are not the same, which, ironically, is a point that FAs make. The so-called "small fats" who can still navigate the engineered world. I think the presenter really tried to present both sides. The difficult argument he can't get around is health.
He interviews the lead, a guy named Steve Miller, of the Fat Families show that was on in the UK. I've never seen that show, actually. Miller's point against obesity is mostly health based too. But he is a nasty piece of work, which is part of his schtick apparently. If the movie had been hosted by Miller, I think the FAs would have a better point.
Segueing back to the current issues in fat activism or health at every size (HAES), it's the health that's catching up to them. Fat Influencers are losing weight (often with GLP=1s) because they have health issues. Hence the "GLP-1 House" that Weight Watchers (Dr Spencer Nadolsky was there to present) hosted. Full disclosure: I listen to Nadolsky's podcast, The Docs Who Lift, that he does with his endocrinologist brother. He was a founder of Sequence, I think, and I've heard his case in favor of the GLP-!s before-- both online and on the podcast.
The TikToker that Sam at Every Size was highlighting doesn't actually show any of the doctor's presentation, just notes that he's there, and that she's a fan. Anyway, She shows an image of the 15 or so FAs who were there (presumably all losing weight with drugs), but I don't know any of them. And as I say, searching YouTube for GLP-! turned up nothing.
Eventually I found a single YouTuber who went to the GLP-1 house and made a video about it. Basically noting that she was losing weight, and that drugs were involved. Honesty is what viewers claim to care about, pretending that your weight loss is due to eating less and moving more naturally is mocked.
However, there is also an online backlash to anyone who claimed the FA mantra, and then decides for health reasons to lose weight. And especially if they decide to use the drugs for assistance. Fat activists fear the GLP-1 drugs because they give a "way out" of a condition that they are trying to say is preferable. I do think they have a point about side effects, but these drugs are not new as they were developed first for type 2 diabetics. They were not developed to be used by people who have a normally functioning pancreas, and you don't know what you don't know. The fact that they have to be taken chronically doesn't bother me— blood pressure meds are that way, as are statins.
So what's my point here? I'm not sure actually. Maybe this: Fat activists would have an easier time if they could admit that excess weight can affect health, and that effect is very individual. You can still be "large and in charge" if you're healthy. The problem then is that as people age and make different choices because they are not healthy, I suppose they are worried that people will say, "I told you so." But most of these people continue to pack on pounds as they age. So they will be older and heavier when they start having issues. I think if they would simply realize that each body has a limit they'd be better off. Bodies are different sizes, and not everyone needs to be thin. But at some point… 300lbs? 400lbs? 500lbs? any body can't compensate for the extra load on its systems. That's when health problems begin.
The dude who made the movie Fat Topia is the producer of The Dark Side of Fat Acceptance, and is also a talking head in the movie. FAs really did not like his first movie, and so targeted him and his family offline, which is really over the line. And that's the main story line of the dark side movie. They also talk to former FAs who were also trolled for choosing to lose weight.
At this point I realized that I have to watch Fat Topia to see what the hubbub is about. A few scenes in, I can predict what set FAs off. The film's point of view is that obesity is a growing problem that needs to be addressed. Not suer if this was the case when the movie was released, but FAs consider the word obesity as a slur.
Because he's a cisgendered (meaning not trans), thin, white, male, the FAs don't think that he should be making the film. And mostly, they refuse to talk with him. The host gets hung up on the health implications of FA, which is truthfully where the whole thing falls apart. Fat activism cannot allow that weight may be related to health, because the entire movement would fall apart.
I've written any number of times my position on this, but in case anyone is new: Everyone has a level of weight (fat) beyond which their body can't compensate. It's all fun and games until you reach that point, but once you reach and/or exceed that point, "the wheels come off," and health problems begin to fester. [Disclaimer reminder: I am not a medical professional of any kind.]
And then one FA agrees to talk with him. I think the "anonymous" FA he's interviewing is goes by the monicker Fat Doctor UK. At least, that's who it sounds like. Fat Doctor UK is no longer a doctor I believe, and is a true believer, with the same zeal as a newly confirmed Catholic. If I recall her story correctly, she found FA later in life (after med school) and fell for it hook line and sinker. She tried to "change" the NHS system from within, and lost her license. I also think I recognize the verbiage used, which I've heard from Fat Doctor UK previously. Unsurprisingly, the interview ends early when the anonymous talker walks out.
The concept of thin privilege comes up, and as I do think there's a legitimate point to be made. But the entire world isn't going to be re-engineered for the (as yet fairly small) number of super-sized people (so-called infinifats). Also… overweight and obesity are conflated in these arguments. They are not the same, which, ironically, is a point that FAs make. The so-called "small fats" who can still navigate the engineered world. I think the presenter really tried to present both sides. The difficult argument he can't get around is health.
He interviews the lead, a guy named Steve Miller, of the Fat Families show that was on in the UK. I've never seen that show, actually. Miller's point against obesity is mostly health based too. But he is a nasty piece of work, which is part of his schtick apparently. If the movie had been hosted by Miller, I think the FAs would have a better point.
Segueing back to the current issues in fat activism or health at every size (HAES), it's the health that's catching up to them. Fat Influencers are losing weight (often with GLP=1s) because they have health issues. Hence the "GLP-1 House" that Weight Watchers (Dr Spencer Nadolsky was there to present) hosted. Full disclosure: I listen to Nadolsky's podcast, The Docs Who Lift, that he does with his endocrinologist brother. He was a founder of Sequence, I think, and I've heard his case in favor of the GLP-!s before-- both online and on the podcast.
The TikToker that Sam at Every Size was highlighting doesn't actually show any of the doctor's presentation, just notes that he's there, and that she's a fan. Anyway, She shows an image of the 15 or so FAs who were there (presumably all losing weight with drugs), but I don't know any of them. And as I say, searching YouTube for GLP-! turned up nothing.
Eventually I found a single YouTuber who went to the GLP-1 house and made a video about it. Basically noting that she was losing weight, and that drugs were involved. Honesty is what viewers claim to care about, pretending that your weight loss is due to eating less and moving more naturally is mocked.
However, there is also an online backlash to anyone who claimed the FA mantra, and then decides for health reasons to lose weight. And especially if they decide to use the drugs for assistance. Fat activists fear the GLP-1 drugs because they give a "way out" of a condition that they are trying to say is preferable. I do think they have a point about side effects, but these drugs are not new as they were developed first for type 2 diabetics. They were not developed to be used by people who have a normally functioning pancreas, and you don't know what you don't know. The fact that they have to be taken chronically doesn't bother me— blood pressure meds are that way, as are statins.
So what's my point here? I'm not sure actually. Maybe this: Fat activists would have an easier time if they could admit that excess weight can affect health, and that effect is very individual. You can still be "large and in charge" if you're healthy. The problem then is that as people age and make different choices because they are not healthy, I suppose they are worried that people will say, "I told you so." But most of these people continue to pack on pounds as they age. So they will be older and heavier when they start having issues. I think if they would simply realize that each body has a limit they'd be better off. Bodies are different sizes, and not everyone needs to be thin. But at some point… 300lbs? 400lbs? 500lbs? any body can't compensate for the extra load on its systems. That's when health problems begin.