Thanks to the overload of celebrity endorsments and viral ticket trends, losing weight is no longer a personal health goal. It has become a high pressure, high-dot race. However, as Kilos falls, another type of weight creeps up: silent, increasing burden on our mental health.

This is actually a race – but a one that needs to be resumed.

The pressure to be “thin” or “fit” has never been too much. However, stress, passion, and emotional fragility produces it often uninterrupted. As India enters weight loss injectable era, experts warned: Obesity should not be treated in isolation. The body and mind should be cured together.

Weight loss drug condram

So, what is the proposal for the body? Enough.

The weight -loss injected (GLP -1 receptor agonist) has become the newest repository in the pharmaceutical industry. Mounjaro (Tirzepatide), already sold over 81,500 units and produces Rs 239 million in revenue, sales are up to 60% of the spiral in just one month. Wegovy (Semaglutide), after its success in the US and Europe, was recently launched in India. Recommended prices for this limit from Rs 17,345 to Rs 26,050 per month.

There are other GLP-1 analogs such as ozmpic, zeepbound and Raybelsus which are also a part of India’s Urban Health Lexicon. Some of these are legally approved, others are accessed through gray-market channels.

Yes, India needs these medicines

India is struggling with a silent epidemic: obesity. According to the NFHS -5 report, 24% of women and 23% weighing or thicker of 15–49 years of age are or thick. Urban obesity is also on an upper. About half of Indian women in the age group of 35–49 fall into the category suffering from overweight or obesity, with central obesity.

According to the 2023-24 Economic Survey, obesity in India has been tripled among the middle-aged adults in the last decade. It also describes crowds towards weight loss drugs.

What about our brain?

While we pay attention to physical changes, mental health often causes silent casualties. According to the National Mental Health Survey, 1 of the 7 Indians live with Indian mental illness, and the treatment difference is even more worrying: more than 70% of people with depression or anxiety are never careful.

There is a growing evidence of a bidian link between obesity and mental health. More than 80% of people with psychiatric diseases are overweight or obese. Similarly, many obese people experience anxiety, depression and body image.

“Stress” of solution

While these drugs can address physical concerns, they often trigger an emotional decline. The cost is not only financially burden, it is also psychologically drought, some patients have reported visible mood, loss of appetite, body dismorphia and even social withdrawal.

Adding it is the stigma of being on the drug for weight loss – a situation is still wrongly seen as a case of willpower rather than biology!

An endocrinologist Dr. located in Mumbai. Anjali Sood feels that we are fixing the body, but forgetting the brain. She says: “GLP -1 receptor agonists are revolutionary. They work in centers of brain hunger -but it also means that we cannot ignore their psychological effects. Patients often feel emotionally delicate, especially when physical results slow down.”

She warns against the story ‘Magic Fix’: “Weight loss is more than a metabolic issue. It is deepened with identity, trauma and mental health. Syringe can help the body – but not always mind.”

A clinical psychologist in Noida, Dr. Saurabh Motra, agree. “Many of my patients, especially young women, are under pressure to give ‘before and after results’.” When the weight does not fall quickly, shame and guilt are set. Some develop disorganized food or social anxiety. ,

He says: “Thin is not happy (always). And our current health ecosystem does not prepare patients for that emotional contradiction.”

India immediately needs a protocol that integrates mental health aid with the treatment of weight loss. Countries like Denmark and America are already considering compulsory psychological screening before determining GLP-1s. Experts recommend an associated model of care with endocrinologists, psychologists, nutritionists and general physicians working together.

We cannot take the risk of fighting obesity with Blinker. Without mental health infrastructure, we are only taking the problem from the body to mind.