In the UK it’s estimated that around 1 in every 4 adults and around 1 in every 5 children aged 10 to 11 are living with obesity.
How to tell if you’re living with obesity
The most widely used method to check if you’re a healthy weight is body mass index (BMI).
Body mass index (BMI)
BMI is a measure of whether you’re a healthy weight for your height. You can use the NHS BMI healthy weight calculator to find out your BMI.
For most adults, if your BMI is:
- below 18.5 – you’re in the underweight range
- 18.5 to 24.9 – you’re in the healthy weight range
- 25 to 29.9 – you’re in the overweight range
- 30 to 39.9 – you’re in the obese range
- 40 or above – you’re in the severely obese range
If you have an Asian, Chinese, Middle Eastern, Black African or African-Caribbean family background you’ll need to use a lower BMI score to measure overweight and obesity:
- 23 to 27.4 – you’re in the overweight range
- 27.5 or above – you’re in the obese range
BMI score has some limitations because it measures whether a person is carrying too much weight but not too much fat. For example, people who are very muscular, like professional sportspeople, can have a high BMI without much fat.
But for most people, BMI is a useful indication of whether they’re a healthy weight.
Can I get weight loss injections free with the NHS?
From June 21st 2025 GPs will be allowed to prescribe weight loss injections for free for certain groups of patients. However for the 1st few years we will be very limited in how many patients we can prescribe these medications for free on the NHS. We know this may be disappointing but unfortunately this is being dictated to us by NHS England.
Over the past few years, these types of drugs – known as GLP-1 agonists – have become more and more popular in the UK and around the world for weight loss. While they were originally designed to lower blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes, GLP-1 agonists also reduce your appetite, which means they can help people without diabetes lose weight too.
Some research also suggests that these medicines can reduce the risk of a range of diseases, including heart attacks and strokes. However, there’s still a lot we do not know about how GLP-1 agonists affect different areas of the body.
What does the Research currently say?
To find out more, researchers behind a new study published in the journal Nature Medicine in January 2025 looked at the impact of taking GLP-1 agonists on 175 different diseases using health information from over 2.4 million veterans with type 2 diabetes across the United States. After an average of 3.68 years, people taking GLP-1 agonists had a lower risk of developing 42 different diseases than those given their usual medicines. This included a
- 22 per cent lower risk of a cardiac arrest,
- 11 per cent lower risk of heart failure,
- 9 per cent lower risk of a heart attack and
- 7 per cent lower risk of ischaemic stroke.
As well as heart and circulatory diseases, people taking GLP-1 agonists were
- 24 per cent less likely to have liver failure,
- 22 per cent less likely to have respiratory failure and
- 12 per cent less likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease.
GLP-1 agonists were also linked to a lower risk of some mental health issues, such as substance use disorders, suicidal ideation and schizophrenia.
Side effects
The most common side effects of the medicine are nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting (which usually goes away over time), and constipation.
Low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) is also very common in patients with diabetes. Symptoms of this can include headache, drowsiness, weakness, dizziness, feeling hungry, confusion, irritability, fast heartbeat and sweating.
Most notably, they were nearly 2.5 times more likely to develop drug-induced acute pancreatitis, which is a serious condition where an organ called the pancreas becomes inflamed.
11 per cent higher risk of arthritis and a
6 per cent higher risk of low blood pressure.
Important information about Contraception in Women
Obese or overweight female patients using oral contraceptives should consider also using a barrier method of contraception (e.g., a condom) or switching to a non-oral contraceptive method for 4 weeks after starting Mounjaro and for 4 weeks after each increase in dose as Mounjaro may affect how well the contraceptive pill works in these patients.
Who is eligible for Weight loss injections?
Weight loss injections are recommended by NICE for people with a body mass index of more than 35 and at least one weight-related illness (such as diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnoea or heart problems).
Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) is licenced for patients with BMI of more than 30 or those with a BMI of more than 27 with one weight-related health problems (such as diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnoea or heart problems).
As this accounts for a very large number of people (around 3.4 million in England), the roll out of Tirzepatide has been restricted by NHS England to those with the highest clinical need who are living with obesity.
From June 21st 2025 GPs will be allowed to prescribe weight loss injections for free for certain groups of patients. The initial focus will be on patients with a BMI of 40 or higher and with a minimum number of weight-related health conditions (such as diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnoea or heart problems). We will be very limited in how many patients we can prescribe these medications for free on the NHS. We know this may be disappointing but unfortunately this is being dictated to us by NHS England.
In order to identify patients who are eligible we are inviting potential eligible patients to come in to see our HCA/ Nurse to get a health check. In this Health Check we will weigh you, measure your height, take your blood pressure and carry out some basic tests in order to see if you fit the criteria for the medication to be prescribed for free by the NHS.
Those who aren’t eligible for Tirzepatide (Mounjaro) or Semaglutide ( but want to improve their health by losing weight are urged to seek further information via NHS Better Health or book an appointment with Elwyn our social prescriber Health Coach.