Open letter to the government: why effective behaviour change support must be at the heart of the weight management conversation
As the focus on weight loss medicines increases, Lisa Salmon, Managing Director of the UK’s largest weight management organisation, Slimming World, urges the government to combine medical progress with evidence-based, in-person support to create lasting change.
In recent years, the UK has explored ambitious and innovative new ways to tackle obesity, from sugar reduction to calorie labelling and now the rollout of new medicines.
But as a society, we need to think differently about how we can truly solve our greatest health challenge.
Weight loss medicines for obesity represent a huge opportunity for people who wish to lose weight and improve their health. But they won’t be effective on their own. Infrastructure and funding challenges are slowing the rollout via the NHS. And, crucially, evidence shows that when people stop taking weight loss medications, if they haven’t learned how to maintain a healthy lifestyle, they will regain the weight they’ve lost.
These drugs will only deliver lasting success when they are combined with lifestyle approaches that empower and equip people to change their mindset around food, drink and activity, and build healthy habits that they are able and motivated to stick with for life.
At our 13,000 weekly Slimming World groups, we welcome people who are prescribed medicines for obesity. In fact, a recent survey of our consultants found that 37 per cent have already welcomed members taking these medicines and who are looking for further support. In a separate survey of those members who joined while using weight loss medication, nine in 10 told us that being supported by others who understand the challenges of losing weight was invaluable, while 82 per cent said they now feel more confident about keeping the weight off when their treatment ends.
The power of people coming together each week in a supportive, non-judgemental environment is a necessary complement to what medicines can achieve. Our members tell us it’s not just about losing weight – it’s about changing their relationship with food, building confidence, connecting with others on similar journeys, becoming more active, and feeling in control of their health.
Sandie Simms, who previously tried weight loss injection Saxenda and has now lost 4st after switching to Slimming World, told us:
Each week in my group, I’ve learned more about my habits and how to change them in a way that feels natural and lasting. Now, I make positive choices because I understand what works for me. That’s what makes the difference. It’s incredibly motivating to be surrounded by people who understand the ups and downs of weight loss.
This is at the heart of why we still need to rethink our national approach to obesity. The unfortunate reality is that, still too often, obesity is seen as something that can be fixed instantly. When we assume obesity can be solved simply by eating fewer takeaways or having an injection, we fail to understand the lifelong nature of this chronic relapsing condition and place the emphasis on the wrong problem.
Until we recognise that obesity is not the fault of the individual and cannot be solved with quick fixes, we will never make the progress that people living with excess weight need us to. And now, in a world of weight loss drugs, failure to provide the wraparound care they require – as NICE recommends – risks letting the opportunities of scientific and medical discovery pass us by and could ultimately cost more, for the government and UK taxpayers, in long-term public health spending.
Evidence-based behaviour change programmes that tackle the deeper drivers of unhealthy eating and inactivity are some of the most valuable interventions for supporting long-term healthy living and weight loss. For more than 56 years, Slimming World has supported millions of people to achieve healthier lives, and today we support around 700,000 members in our groups and online service.
As government and policymakers shape the future of obesity care, we urge them to:
- Embed wraparound behavioural in-person support into the rollout of obesity medicines, ensuring that patients have access to programmes that help them sustain their weight loss over the long term.
- Protect and expand access to lifestyle-based weight management services for people who are ineligible for medicines, choose not to use them, or need help maintaining progress once treatment ends.
- Recognise community-based providers as essential partners in delivering the government and NHS’ ambitions on obesity and prevention.
- Support pilots and evaluations that test combined approaches – medicines plus behavioural programmes – to build the strongest evidence for sustainable solutions.
- Guarantee there is a robust system in place to ensure those supplying weight loss drugs privately are acting responsibly and providing effective and evidence-based support.
We share the same ambition as policymakers: a healthier population, reduced pressure on the NHS, and lives transformed for the better. Slimming World uses its experience, expertise and unique community-based network to deliver life-changing support in a cost-effective way week in week out.
Now is the moment to treat obesity as the life-long chronic condition it is, and to ensure that wraparound support sits alongside medical innovation. Only then will scientific progress translate into lasting change for people’s lives.
