Can you get addicted to weight loss? You most certainly can – and recently, colleagues and I have noticed a surge in patients who for years have struggled with overeating but who now are getting such a high from losing weight that they can’t stop.

In some cases their body weight is low enough for them to be now classed anorexic.

What’s behind this? The answer is weight-loss jabs.

It’s a widespread problem with significant numbers of these patients appearing all the time, but what worries me is that we’re not talking about it.

There is no doubt that weight-loss jabs such as Wegovy or Mounjaro can be valuable tools for some – but I am seeing far too many people using these jabs now suffering from new eating disorders as a result, or those whose existing eating disorders are worsening, driving a rise in anorexia.

The reason these jabs are so popular (according to current estimates around half a million people are paying for private prescriptions for these jabs – and that figure is expected to double this year) is that you need to change nothing about yourself or your lifestyle in order to lose weight – but that’s what also makes them potentially dangerous.

One of the many problems with the jabs is that the weight comes off fast.

A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine in 2021 found that people can lose 15 per cent of their body weight in 15 months on Wegovy.

Recently, colleagues and I have noticed a surge in patients who for years have struggled with overeating but who now are getting such a high from losing weight that they can’t stop, writes Dr Joanna Silver

But losing weight rapidly is also a known risk factor for developing an eating disorder.

What many people may not know is that eating disorders aren’t really anything to do with food.

People with eating disorders tend to restrict their food or overeat as a way to numb painful feelings about themselves or their environment.

That’s as true as it is for those with anorexia – who restrict their food intake and often over-exercise – as it is for those who have a tendency to binge in response to distress.

What happens when someone who is a binge eater, for instance, is that once they’re on these jabs it becomes difficult to binge – as the drugs literally remove your appetite for food.

So rather than numbing painful feelings with food, they now numb feelings by restricting their intake – which brings them a welcome ‘high’.

And that’s a feeling they find difficult to step away from, even when their weight becomes dangerously low.

Not everyone who is obese will have an eating disorder, but many will have some kind of issue around food – and unless they address the underlying problem that caused them to overeat in the first place, all you are creating with a weight-loss jab is a thinner version of that troubled person.

Losing weight rapidly is also a known risk factor for developing an eating disorder (picture posed by model)

They weigh less but have the same problems as they had before.

So whereas previously this person may have binged or overeaten to push away feelings of sadness or anxiety or a lack of self-worth, they now do this by heavily restricting what they eat.

This is not a new phenomenon. In fact, people with binge-eating disorder (where, unlike with bulimia, they binge without purging) often intersperse that with periods of great restriction – giving into the binge only when hunger overtakes them or as a way to deal with a strong emotional feeling, such as deep sadness or anxiety.

But if that person then starts using weight-loss jabs, the reduced intake flicks the switch in their head that encourages them to swap that binge behaviour for restriction.

And by restrict I don’t mean they get better at calorie counting or portion control, I mean they may be living on a highly restricted diet – with many foods regarded as ‘dangerous’ or off-limits – and this persists after they stop taking the weight loss jabs.

It’s a form of weight-loss addiction and as those numbers on the scales go down, it fuels a sense of achievement. And they just can’t stop.

Some people may read this and dismiss the idea, and think this will never happen to them.

They think only certain types of individuals – the stereotypical, slim, young girl – will develop an eating disorder, but in fact any one can.

We now see more men with eating disorders, and more women entering menopause appear to be developing or re-visiting past eating disorders.

Men used to be more immune to the idea that they needed to look a certain way, but social media is full of images of men looking toned and ripped.

It brings more pressure to try to achieve the body beautiful – the same applies to post-menopausal women.

The celebrity culture just adds to the message: stay slim or you have failed.

I fear that availability and messaging surrounding these weight-loss jabs implies no one has an excuse anymore – everyone must be slim and that means people who may only need to lose a few pounds are turning to medication to lose weight as they feel shamed into it.

And more will end up with anorexia.

In fact, I fear the widespread use of weight-loss jabs means we will soon be seeing a lot of people with more complex eating disorders than ever (as they move from bingeing or overeating, to restriction).

Clearly for those who have weight issues that are endangering their health and for whom nothing else has worked, these drugs are a valuable way to kickstart a healthier lifestyle.

But I think we need to be careful about using weight-loss jabs to shed a few pounds to slim down for a holiday or big event, especially if you’re the kind of person who has a difficult relationship with food.

I fear the widescale use – and social acceptance – of these jabs is leading us blindly down an alley which is going to lead to an eruption in the number of people with eating disorders on a scale we have never seen before.

Dr Silver is lead psychological therapist at Orri, a specialist eating disorder clinic offering private and NHS care.