For people who were hoping for a “magic solution” to lose weight, the Ozempic outbreak may provoke mixed emotions.

in the investigation, The impact of semaglutide on mental health As with Ozempic, there has been little discussion about how the rise of these drugs is affecting people who are not taking them.

Heather Young said she had struggled with her weight all her life, telling CBS News that her teenage years and early adulthood were spent “trying and failing and just feeling devastated.”

The 37-year-old said that for people like her, “all we wanted was a magic solution, but instead we're bombarded with diet culture, harmful pills, calorie counting and fad diet after fad diet.”

Well, like medicine Ozempic, WegoviMunjaro and Zepbound have The popularity soared their Use for weight lossThe program, which helps ordinary people and celebrities lose weight quickly, has mixed reviews.

“My initial emotions were definitely mixed,” Young said about the epidemic. “On the one hand, I want everyone to be their best self physically, mentally and emotionally, and if there's a pill that makes it easier for people to get that, I'm happy for that. But … these pills are being marketed as magic pills, and I think that's what's turning me on.”

Ozempic and Mounjaro, which are used to treat diabetes, and Wegovy and Zepbound, which are approved for weight loss, are GLP-1 drugs. Tells the brain that you're full Regulates blood sugar levels.

Dr. Rekha Kumar, an obesity specialist and chief medical officer at weight loss app Found, He previously told CBS News These drugs are a “scientific breakthrough.”

“Not just for weight management, but for reducing the risk of cardiovascular disease and treating diabetes. People are actually getting healthier, and that's the goal of medicine, not just to get thinner,” he said. But Kumar acknowledged that there's a lot of talk about being thinner, which he said is a concern.

“We see people wanting to lose weight so they can fit into a dress, to look good, and so on …,” she says, “but that's not what this drug was originally made for.”

This topic is High demandIt encouraged companies like: Costco and He and She Riding the GLP-1 boom, Dangerous counterfeits It appeared on social media.

Young isn't the only one to feel the way she does.

Mental health advocate Victoria Garrick Brown, who has spoken openly about her struggles with bulimia, shared similar sentiments on her recent show. “Realpod” podcast.

“The Ozempic craze has been really hard on me because when I was younger, all I wanted was a magic pill that would make me lose 30 pounds,” she said. “I remember Googling, 'How do I lose 30 pounds in a month?' And now I feel like I have it – a pill that you inject and you lose weight. I feel like I'm starting to see it on celebrities and in everyday life… This pill that I thought was impossible to use for weight loss is now a reality.”

Even if someone goes through the process of healing their body image and relationship with food, these challenges “can remain lifelong,” says licensed mental health counselor and dietitian. Mind-strengthening therapies.

“Sometimes people have healthy relationships and then as adults they can be re-triggered by a variety of factors,” Mairants says. “A lot of people are re-triggered at different stages in their adult lives.”

Young said she also finds it difficult to see adverts for drugs that claim to “suppress appetite” or “reduce cravings”.

“It was a reminder to me of something that is completely contradictory to my values ​​around food these days,” she said.

Myrantz said this kind of messaging can reinforce “a culture of weight loss, overall body image, and the disconnect between how our bodies look and how healthy they actually are.”

To anyone struggling with similar messages, Myrantz urged them to “not tie their self-worth to the way their body looks.”

“This can lead to frustration and people turning to other harmful weight loss methods,” she said, adding to seek professional help if necessary.