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‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

nature.com

491–500 of 1001 posts

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#491
“when lifestyle changes aren’t enough.”

People don’t want to hear it, but we do nobody any favors by pretending this is more complicated than it is. It’s actually pretty simple. The solution is to adjust calories in vs calories out. Fast a few days a week. Cut out bread, sugar and other simple carbs.

We don’t help alcoholics or opioid addicts by enabling them with statements like “when not getting drunk isn’t enough…”

The pharma industry will enable addicts because it wants money. Fat people need love, though love, and a home without good tasting, or high calorie foods.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#492
post #422

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the person making that statement is not the developer of the treatment and neither is she a doctor or biological scientist. Rather, she's trying to get in on a lucrative field which she has no expertise in.

Again, needlessly harsh. She is psychologist with expertise in body image and was likely asked by the reporter for an opinion. Idk why you think she's trying to cash in on anything. It's incredibly cynical.

> expertise in body image

No, needfully harsh. "body image" is an invented term and "expertise" just means she got some papers published in journals controlled, most likely, by her friends. "Getting quoted in journals" would appear on her application for tenure, if she doesn't have it already.

Also, reporters don't just happen to call up random people and ask for an opinion. You call them and offer it. Get on HARO if you want to be quoted, too.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> if you have perfect bloodwork I see a lot of health influencers always say whatever diet they are doing is best because nothing bad has shown up on their bloodwork. I am not really sure if bloodwork is all it takes to asses your health.

I am not really sure if bloodwork is all it takes to asses your health. It is not. Steve Jobs had good bloodwork and low BP, still died a a few years later. Steroid-taking health influencers like to show bloodwork to convince followers they are still healthy. Let's see 20+ years down the road...

He is reputed to have ignored classical medical treatment advice when his condition was discovered and was highly treatable.

If true, it suggests being superpower smart ignoring advice is a life threatening condition.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#494

> 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.

https://slimemoldtimemold.com/2021/07/07/a-chemical-hunger-p... TLDR: The modern obesity epidemic is mostly a mystery, things like higher caloric food, western diet bad don't tell the whole story. Most likely answers are chemical contaminants in our foods and water i.e. lithium or PFAS chemicals. Interestingly enough both wild animals and lab animals(rats) have been getting fatter over time as well which clearly inva…

TLDR: The modern obesity epidemic is mostly a mystery, things like higher caloric food, western diet bad don't tell the whole story.

I think it tells more of the story than contaminants does. A candy bar is packed with calories and not that filling. This didn't exist a long time ago.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#495

I’m currently taking one of these drugs and it has been no less than a miracle in my life. I became obese when I was around 5, topping out around a 34 BMI. When I was 20 I lost a substantial amount of weight the old fashioned way (diet and exercise), and within 8 months I was BMI 23. Losing weight was extremely challenging and socially isolating. 7 years later, I had a bad ankle injury and regained weight to about 29…

I get the opposite of brain fog. I feel sharper on semaglutide than off of it.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#496

[flagged]

This is a ridiculous comment. Statistically, there is no weight loss strategy that has been found to work long term at the population level except for bariatric surgery (and now, apparently, these drugs, but we'll see how things look in a few years). Sure, one individual person can pull it off with enough willpower and support and luck. But at a population level, we know definitively that "grind it out with exercise,…

Even people who had bariatric surgery regain weight substantially.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#497

“when lifestyle changes aren’t enough.” People don’t want to hear it, but we do nobody any favors by pretending this is more complicated than it is. It’s actually pretty simple. The solution is to adjust calories in vs calories out. Fast a few days a week. Cut out bread, sugar and other simple carbs. We don’t help alcoholics or opioid addicts by enabling them with statements like “when not getting drunk isn’t enough……

> The pharma industry will enable addicts because it wants money.

This is a little over-simplistic. The "pharma industry" is not a monolith, and is made up in large part by academics who love spending their time thinking about how to make the world better, and by doctors who have no conflict of interest, etc etc.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#498
post #479

I’m currently taking one of these drugs and it has been no less than a miracle in my life. I became obese when I was around 5, topping out around a 34 BMI. When I was 20 I lost a substantial amount of weight the old fashioned way (diet and exercise), and within 8 months I was BMI 23. Losing weight was extremely challenging and socially isolating. 7 years later, I had a bad ankle injury and regained weight to about 29…

> Losing weight was extremely challenging and socially isolating. How was it socially isolating? I’m curious because I exercise and diet and this is not my experience. I understand it being challenging though.

Because if you want to lose quickly, and once you get the discipline to lose you do want it to be quick, you have to restrict your calories A LOT.

I'm not OP but when I was losing, as a 6"2 male, I was eating between 1200 and 1400 calories a day. This does not allow you to eat anything outside of small meals and drink anything outside of water or diet sodas.

I was still going sometimes to the restaurant with friends but my choice was limited to the unique salad on the menu (which you can't eat whole because it would be too much) and my drink would be a diet coke. Same when we were going to the bar, I would just have diet soda or water.

I was lucky that all of my friends were absolutely supportive and didn't mind at all, but it still limits you. Going to a night club without drinking is not fun at all for example.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#499
post #79

> I believe that everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs for the longevity effects. Are you for real? Serious question.

I had the same reaction. I minimize oxidative stress on my body by being selective about what I eat: having a bit less of some delicious things and eating a bit more of some boring foods that I know are good for me. Also, fuck 'longevity.' The population of the world has doubled during my lifetime and this is a Bad Thing which is wiping out vast numbers of other species. Call me misanthropic if you like but humans ar…

Also, fuck 'longevity.' The population of the world has doubled during my lifetime and this is a Bad Thing which is wiping out vast numbers of other species.

More about our socioeconomic and political structure than raw population numbers.

Every piece of meat, for example, require the conversion of plant matter into meat. There's going to be energy loss. If we eat more plants and less meat, we would pollute less, and less meat animals and presumably more wild animals.

My idea of biological success is no living to the greatest ago possible but having sufficient fitness and autonomy to be physically and mentally active while I'm alive.

Unless you die in an accident, you're going to live longer due to being healthier.

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