January 5, 2026
Shots fired, pounds lost
Ozempic Melted Away Weight–and the Idea of 'Body Positivity'
Ozempic vs Body Positivity: Comments Are a War Zone
TLDR: Ozempic’s rise is changing the conversation, making it okay to want weight loss. Comments split: some cheer goals and reject “healthy at any size,” others warn it’s a quick-fix with risks and fear a swing to extreme thinness—showing a cultural tug-of-war over health, identity, and trend
A Wall Street Journal op-ed says Ozempic melted more than waistlines—it melted the shame around wanting to be thinner. The comments instantly lit up like a New Year’s fireworks show. One camp cheers the honesty: it’s okay to want change, it’s okay to set goals. Another blasts the “healthy at any size” slogan as fantasy, arguing the original body positivity—supporting people with conditions they couldn’t control—was hijacked by bad science and louder activists. Meanwhile, the gym crowd is shouting: if meds make you slim but you don’t lift or eat protein, you’re just “a younger old person” waiting for a hip to shatter. The skepticism squad calls Ozempic a quick fix with side effects and no cure for couch life. Then comes the dark fashion take: the pendulum’s swinging to extreme thinness, with celebs normalizing the “almost dead” look—just pay up and join the trend. Between sarcasm, earnest pep talks, and doomsday warnings, the thread reads like a culture clash: goal-setters vs slogan-shouters, protein shakes vs shot glasses, Tumblr nostalgia vs TikTok aesthetics. Everyone agrees on one thing: the conversation about bodies just got brutally, messily real.
Key Points
- •The piece is a Wall Street Journal opinion column by therapist Jonathan Alpert.
- •It argues that widespread use of drugs like Ozempic is changing attitudes toward body image and weight loss.
- •A patient anecdote illustrates tension between public self-acceptance and private desire to lose weight.
- •The column suggests reduced stigma around wanting to be thinner, contrasting with prior body-positivity pressures.
- •Full article access requires a subscription, so details beyond the introduction are limited.