‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers • Hacker News Board

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#861

Post by paul7986 » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 9:44 AM UTC

windpower wrote: post #526

0xB31B1B wrote: post #21

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'm also on one of these drugs (Tirzepatide) and have been for a few months. The first time I remember knowing I was fat was when a babysitter made fun of me for it at age 6. I've been fat ever since and I'm in my late 30s now. I've lost significant amounts of weight (60+ pounds) three times in my adult life, through simple calorie restriction (intermittent fasting, including before I'd ever heard the term). Every ti…

Just curious in regards to saying you never really feel full ..have you ever counted daily calories you consumed on average?

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#862

Post by donkeyd » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 9:56 AM UTC

at-w wrote: post #814

runnerup wrote: post #768

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The parent post said: > everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs But as a skinny person, I can already easily reduce caloric intake as much as I want to. My body is "blessed" with weak food cravings and solid blood glucose levels while fasting. So while I do recommend these drugs to people who need them, I don't think they'd help me at all more than merely deciding one day to monitor and control my we…

To be fair our ideas of normal are extremely skewed. If you look at photos from say 1962, you'd consider most people "skinny" (even photos of places like the US). Yet even then, 23% of American adults were obese according to the CDC. Even in 1987, the actor that played Private Pyle in Full Metal Jacket gained 75lbs to play a comically obese Marine. Today he looks fitter than most people you'd see everyday. If you loo…

> is now considered "chubby" or "curvy" if not normal by most Americans for whom that is normal.

This is why I hate the 'body positivity' movement as it is right now. It's great that this movement tries to make (especially young) people understand that you don't need to have a tiny cover model body to look good (an that it's unhealthy too). But what it's turned into is that obese people are becoming an example to others without any attention to health issues.

It's no longer allowed to advertise smoking pretty much anywhere, but glorifying (morbid) obesity on social media and TV is fine. Meanwhile, obesity is arguably as bad as or worse than smoking.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#863

Post by moonchrome » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 9:57 AM UTC

elcomet wrote: post #135

EamonnMR wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If we're going to treat calories as addictive and addiction as a disease rather than a personal failing it should follow that we treat the disease with a drug.

But not only. It also follow that we need to regulate the industry and stop advertising for sugar for example

We do not - because it just codifies our misinformed populist views instead of actually solving the problem.

Sugar consumption is going down and it doesn't seem to have any impact.

Calorie equated studies show no difference between low fat or low carb diets.

It all boils down to excess calories.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#864

Post by paul7986 » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 9:58 AM UTC

danielvaughn wrote: post #641

windpower wrote: post #526

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm also on one of these drugs (Tirzepatide) and have been for a few months. The first time I remember knowing I was fat was when a babysitter made fun of me for it at age 6. I've been fat ever since and I'm in my late 30s now. I've lost significant amounts of weight (60+ pounds) three times in my adult life, through simple calorie restriction (intermittent fasting, including before I'd ever heard the term). Every ti…

I was just saying the exact same thing to my wife yesterday. We’re both trying to lose weight, for the millionth time in the 20 years we’ve been together. Exasperated, I just said “I don’t get it. I was an artist who had no technical background, and was able to teach myself computer science and now I’m a highly successful engineer. I did that. And yet I can’t lose 10 pounds to save my life.” It’s so hard to eat healt…

I was diagnosed with something a few years ago which if I didn't change my diet (no beef, pork, fried foods, no foods with preservatives, low to no salted foods, increase water intake to 3/4 a gallon a day & started eating fresh fruit)that in ten to 20 years id be stuck in bed too tired to do anything/ enjoy life.

For me that forced me to eat healthy daily and it has almost healed my affliction upon religiously following such a diet.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#865

Post by concordDance » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 10:03 AM UTC

komali2 wrote: post #680

MaxHoppersGhost wrote: post #656

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Being a young and very healthy person I felt this way about the COVID vaccine.

Why? Plenty of young and healthy people died of COVID. Only some vaccines are mRNA types, and, in the USA anyway, all vaccines went through the same testing process as any other medication, they simply sped the process up by layering some of the steps - all that means is that rather than wait to see if one study passes before doing the next one (save money or whatever), they just overlapped them. Even for MRNA vaccin…

Very very few young and healthy (eg sensible bmi, some exercise, no smoking) people died of COVID. I think it was about a dozen in the UK.

A few hundred young people had heart damage from moderna: https://www.cidrap.umn.edu/rare-heart-related-side-effects-h...

Probably no deaths though: https://www.ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulationandcommunity/healthan...

Disclaimer: I think on the net it was sensible for young healthy people to take even Moderna as COVID can cause serious long term damage, but it wasn't costless and we aren't completely sure that it was a net benefit to the healthy young for them to vaccinate (this is ignoring the large effects from things like them infecting others or taking up healthcare resources).

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#866

Post by adriang133 » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 10:07 AM UTC

windpower wrote: post #526

0xB31B1B wrote: post #21

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'm also on one of these drugs (Tirzepatide) and have been for a few months. The first time I remember knowing I was fat was when a babysitter made fun of me for it at age 6. I've been fat ever since and I'm in my late 30s now. I've lost significant amounts of weight (60+ pounds) three times in my adult life, through simple calorie restriction (intermittent fasting, including before I'd ever heard the term). Every ti…

I was fat/overweight all my life until I was about 24. I had enough of it and I went from ~94kg to about 85kg quite quickly (through calorie deficit), then over 1-2 years I went to a low of about 72kg. I am about 75-76 now, and have been oscillating in the 72-77 range for the past 5 years or so. It still requires me to be mindful of how much I eat, which has become part of my daily life. I'm not very strict about it, I have days when I eat more and then I compensate by eating less.

I think the mistake people make is they think they can go on a diet temporarily, then go back to the old eating habits and not get fat again. That is nonsense of course, which is why dieting doesn't work. Dieting implies something temporary and you need something permanent.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#867

Post by pjc50 » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 10:16 AM UTC

Auracle wrote: post #803

scarmig wrote: post #649

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It’s so hard to eat healthy, I honestly cannot fathom how people do it. When I started taking semaglutide, I finally understood it. I'd eat a salad... and be full and more than satisfied! I'd look at a muffin right after lunch, and go "eh, better things to do with my time" instead of immediately having an overriding desire to eat eat eat. Before, I could eat half a pizza and still be hungry (way out of what my body…

I'm sorry, but I'm a decently in shape person that tried semaglutide for reasons other than losing weight and I disagree. While I'm sure we all are a bit different satiety wise (and I've found it greatly depends on how much I've been eating overall recently), your experience on the drug is not what the rest of us feel like all the time. It's unfortunately normal for our biology to basically want to shove calories dow…

> she was limiting herself to 1400 calories a day

This is closer to disordered eating than healthy eating.

> The rest of us have worked hard our entire lives to stay skinny and now you all get a cheat

Ah, the student loan forgiveness argument, and the pro-spanking argument: I suffered, so you should as well, because suffering is intrinsically moral and pleasure is bad.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#868

Post by tgv » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 10:19 AM UTC

pfooti wrote: post #813

bioemerl wrote: post #182

> 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.

The threshold for "obese" and all such labels has changed over the years, in such a way that makes it seem like people are fatter, when in fact the labels have changed. Some history. https://elemental.medium.com/the-bizarre-and-racist-history-...

It doesn't only seem as if people are fatter. Compare the weight statistics, or just look at pictures from the 1980s. That link is pure self-deception.

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#869

Post by leokennis » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 10:22 AM UTC

wolverine876 wrote: post #827

throwawayfatty wrote: post #722

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Not that hard to stop yourself from going to the store again or ordering more Well, actually... I'm fat. Like BMI 40 fat. Most of my life I have been fat. I was laughed at in school for it, as far back as I can remember. It probably wasn't all that bad when I think back. Certainly not as bad as now. But I was the fat kid in class, and I felt like the fat kid. Anyway, I have lost a lot of it at a few points. Once by…

Thanks for sharing. I didn't really understand it (though I didn't doubt it) until I read your comment. What a hard burden to carry; I completely understand the state of watching myself do something unwanted (though not with food). One thing that's helped me: I just make a rule to myself, 'go from one healthy thing to another'. I just try to find more and more relatively healthy (or at least harmless) and appealing o…

Can you give an example of this?

Re: ‘Breakthrough’ obesity drugs that have stunned researchers

#870

Post by zupa-hu » Thu, Jan 05, 2023, 10:26 AM UTC

a4a4a4a4 wrote: post #856

zupa-hu wrote: post #854

I’m a skinny / athletic person. The reason is a doctor told my parents not to feed me any sugar until age 2-3, as fat cells are created up to that age. After that, they only change in size. I don’t know if that’s a scientifically proven thing, but indeed i simply can not gain weight, whatever i eat. As if i had zero fat cells. The only downside is that I’m often cold, which is of course far easier to manage. I’m not…

> The reason is a doctor told my parents not to feed me any sugar until age 2-3 What I take from this is that the actual reason is, "I had parents that were concerned enough with my nutrition to not feed me much sugar as a child, and those healthy eating habits probably didn't stop after age 2-3. I now cannot gain weight, even if I eat what I perceive as a lot of food (because I grew up eating healthy food and portio…

Once I was working in London as a contractor, a colleague looked at my lunch after a while of working together, shook his head and told me "you are going to kill yourself". I hope that was indeed the worst 6mo in my life pretty much living on fast food, but I did not gain a penny in weight.

I think healthy eating habits would be the last thing that came to my friends minds when describing me.

I totally agree I'm only a sample of one that I know of, but the fact that this doctor relative of ours told my parents the cause-and-effect relationship beforehand, and it worked out, makes me believe the theory. Either way, I keep recommending it to my friends getting babies, so I'll be able to collect more data in the next 50 years. ;)

The thing is, that's the kind of gamble that costs nothing and might have immense upside, so it would be kinda silly not to apply it. My 2c.