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Thank you for grand standing about obesity and your relationship with your body. We all really needed it and it was very helpful.
‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
391–400 of 1001 posts
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#392I'm not obese, but am not what I'd consider at my ideal weight. I wonder how/if doctors would even prescribe this to someone like me. I think I've read some Hollywood types are using this to lose weight, but those are edge cases. I imagine for normal people this would not be easy to get prescribed.
FDA approves these for use in most people above 30 BMI. Some people may be considered for it at 28 BMI. If you're looking for last mile weight loss, this may not actually be worth it. The side effects, especially getting started, can be really rough.
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#393Earlier quoted context omitted.
Oh man, the first result for him on Google is a link to a YouTube video. That makes my BS meter instantly peg.
What kind of crap do you watch on YouTube that manages to taint the entire platform?
youtube consistently steers everyone who touches it to more and more extreme content with the passage of time. It's not unique, and often times that content tends to be anti-science.
I'm not the OP but youtube is tainted for anything other than entertainment and a few select channels like the ones by PBS e.g Space Time.
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#394Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is that you could gain back the original weight plus more. Most adults who become obese have not increased their number of fat cells - their fat cells just become larger. The GLP-1 drugs literally increase the number of fat cells.
How does liposuction fare in long term fat loss?
> Weight gain was reported in 43 percent of the responders, with 56 percent of them gaining between 5 and 10 pounds 6 months after their surgery. Fat return was reported in 65 percent of the responders.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16651945/
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#395> I believe that everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs for the longevity effects. Are you for real? Serious question.
I mean, if you have perfect bloodwork and a marvel movie body probably not necessary but otherwise yes. Heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, colon cancer rates are rising amongst everyone, even thin people. These drugs positively impact indicators of these things in everyone. Longevity makers have been betting on metformin for a long time and these drugs are like a supercharged metformin
colon cancer rates are rising amongst everyone, even thin people.
Yeah, look at all these super-old people like Alan Greenspan, Warren Buffett, Kissinger, Munger who pretty much have terrible diets, obese, no exercise yet still going strong, productive. Shows the power of genes. "Your BMI is below 23, therefore we will skip the colonoscopy and prostate/PSA exam and blood work," said no doctor ever (unless the doctor wants to get sued, I suppose).
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#396Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yes, your instinct is correct, you have vastly oversimplified it in an unhelpful way. The body is not an energy equation to be balanced. The desire to eat is driven by our hormones and these are not easily overridden by willpower. In fact, study after study shows that willpower is insufficient for most people. Hunger is produced by a complex set of factors that we do not fully understand. What we eat and how we live…
The body is an energy equation to be balanced. Physics defines that. What you are talking about substantially in your post is about willpower with regards to eating and exercise which is totally different.
Evolution had no care about the understanding of applied physics when we came up the evolutionary tree. Understanding physics here almost has no effect on our behavior.
Instead look at the evolutionary incentives. If you starve you are going to die and it is going to fucking hurt the entire time you are dying.
With that one line of information you now understand not only humans but the vast majority of animal life on this planet and why almost all animals get fat if you leave a full food dish around. We are optimized to avoid starving at all costs. When winter comes you could die. When the summer drought comes you could die. Your animal brain is yelling at you to pack on the pounds now that the eating is good because the lean times are coming. Our animal brain has no understanding or concept that times are good, we need to slow down. It has never been a primary evolutionary driver.
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#397Earlier quoted context omitted.
gastric bypass does not have this problem as bad
Kinda, drugs/diet/exercise you can stop. But most people don't undo the gastric bypass surgery. (I don't even know if it's possible)
A family member has had gastric bypass. You can have everything “replumbed” if complications require failing back to something similar to previous state.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27387697/
With that said, I would be interested if new weight loss drugs negate the need for gastric bypass in the first place. Comes across as medieval and barbaric if the hormones/drugs are superior.
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#398Earlier quoted context omitted.
The point is that you could gain back the original weight plus more. Most adults who become obese have not increased their number of fat cells - their fat cells just become larger. The GLP-1 drugs literally increase the number of fat cells.
> The point is that you could gain back the original weight plus more. This is also common in all weight loss interventions, though the reason is generally from metabolic slowdown, not the creation of new adipose tissues.
I suppose the concern goes something like this. Under certain metabolic conditions, each fat cell (in a region) decides it needs to be size X, and grows / shrinks accordingly. And under other conditions, each fat cell (in the same region) decides it needs to be size X*3.
If there are more fat cells, then and they all decide to increase in size, then that could be a substantial weight gain, beyond what would be expected otherwise.
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#399$1000/month seems like a decent amount of money for a lot of people. I'm guessing a large number of folks would love to lose weight miraculously. I wonder how long before we get a bootleg analog that can be bought in the non-medical drug market in the same way as testosterone can be bought. Now that the mechanism is known (GLP-1 inhibition) are these the kind of drug, e.g. LSD, valium, or morphine, that is easy to cr…
These drugs are way more difficult to manufacture than testosterone. I'm sure we'll see things branded as a knockoff but I doubt we'll see any true knockoffs.
Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers
#400> In the past, scientists and the public often thought that those with obesity simply lacked the willpower to lose weight. But evidence is growing that most people’s bodies have a natural size that can be hard to change. In the context where we have gone from obesity rates of 13 percent to 40, to suggest that people have a natural weight and that's the cause of this seems absurd to me.
It's just terrible reporting, and equivocation. It being a lifestyle problem and having a natural weight can both be true. People have a natural weight, and it's difficult to drop below it. No one's natural weight is to morbidly obese. These people are taking a medical finding and blowing it wildly out of proportion to support their agenda. It's an unfortunately common tactic. I don't quite think it's entirely fair t…
IMO it's purely a question of perspective. From the point of view of individual health, you need to think like a doctor. The important question is "what can this individual do to improve their health?" From that perspective it's a "lifestyle" problem, as you put it. The individual has a food supply that is unnaturally calorie dense and unhealthy. To lose weight and improve their health the individual must make an effort to shift that; for some it might be impossible. For others it might be possible with a great deal of effort or with drugs.
From the point of view of public healthy, you need to think like a public health expert. From this perspective it makes perfect sense to talk about "natural weights" as something that can change (and has risen) over time. The calorie dense food environment and sedentary lifestyles are things that exist in the background here. Given these background facts, the weights of the great majority of people (who don't have the time, means, willpower, etc to resist) are going to rise to a new higher "natural" point. For some, foods will be so calorie dense and provide so little nutrition or satiety that they experience runaway obesity. These are just predictable downstream effects of the environment, and so the perspective of the public health expert is that individuals aren't to be blamed and you have to fix the environment. Ban soda in public schools, etc etc.