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How long til we're all on Ozempic?

asteriskmag.com

701–710 of 1001 posts

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#701

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I'm a distance runner, who is on these drugs.. and yeah, It sucks, I LOVE running.. but running heavy SUCKS. Most people run to lose weight, I lose weight to run.

honest to god i wish i knew what it was like to be like you —i have always hated every step of a run, and im halfway convinced the notion of a runners high is a convenient fiction cooked up by nike.

There are a few things that happen here, but the most common one is not having someone helping you with form, and running much too fast. If you talk to a physical therapist and run with a distance runner and have them help you keep your heart rate in zone 2, you will probably feel much better.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#702

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What is a realistic path to this? Being from Europe I visited US last year and was horrified at the quality of your food. You see a lot of documentaries/youtube videos/etc... discussing the problem, but how do you even go about this?

There's plenty of high quality food, you just have to know where to look. For example, come to the Bay Area and check out Whole Foods and any number of high-end restaurants.

Imagine thinking Whole Foods is high quality.

The only way you're going to get high quality food in the US is if you live where the Amish are.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#703

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Possible effective solutions to the US obesity epidemic Just wanted to mention that this is not a US problem, and framing it as such won't help find solutions. Even in southeast Asia the rates over obesity are steadily increasing. Europe is already much fatter than southeast Asia. This is a worldwide phenomenon.

USA is the worst by a long stretch. I believe it's 80% of the USA population that is overweight. Being fit there is statistically considered an anomaly. I don't know of any other country where you would be weird because you're fit.

I believe the UK is quite similar.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#704
post #170

Instead of a system that makes these drug available for purchase, I'd rather live in a system that promotes healthy food and active behavior. Unfortunately, I have to drive everywhere, work too many hours to have free time for recreation and have no idea which government subsidy is going to help big ag likely at the expense of my health. All things being equal, I'd prefer to spend less money on prescriptions and have…

The government isn't going to help you. This evening, go for a one minute walk. Tomorrow evening do the same. Next evening do the same. Repeat. The journey of a thousand miles begins with the first step.

You would have to walk for several hours each day to balance out the overeating that's apparently due to GLP-1.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#705
post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like a miracle drug that helps with all afflictions that come with our modern life/sedentary living.

The problem with this (and all diet plans/drugs) is the lifestyle that led to problem in the first place. If you do not change your lifestyle, for real and not just superficially, then you will relapse with a vengeance. That is to say, be careful with using a drug as a crutch. Sure, it can artificially make you much more interested in not consuming so many calories and/or perhaps being more active than before - but y…

Yeah, no. Speaking of "personal discipline" makes it obvious you have never seriously dealt with addicts. Solving it long term is basically impossible for some of us; pretty sure because of how our brains are wired at the physical level. I know all the (popular) science, I discussed it with a good doctor whom I personally know, I know you're supposed to change your habits long-term (and how you're supposed to do it), and I recently lost 15 kgs of weight for the fourth time in my life. The longest time I managed to maintain healthy weight was maybe 3-4 years. If Ozempic (or whatever) actually solves this, I'm ready to go on it for the rest of my life.

I also live in a "vodka belt" and know several alcoholics who tried very hard to maintain their "personal discipline". It's impossible for most of them -- almost all relapse in a few years' time.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#706
post #418

Maybe when food shortages become a thing, we can add Ozempic to the water supply to curb people’s appetites and reduce demand. \s Kidding aside, I still think it’s extreme for off-label usage. Short term results are nice. But what about the long term? Once patients reach a desirable state, can they be titrated off the medication while maintaining their ideal labs and weight? What’s the rate of recidivism?

> off-label usage

Off label? Semaglutide is approved for weight loss.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#707

I think Ozempic is a treatment of a symptom but not the underlying condition, but unlike many of the posters here, I do not think the underlying condition is "obesity". The below is mostly speculation. Research especially into people with healthy body weight seems to indicate that there is something going on that is causing widespread obesity. That is, there's some sort of environmental "GLP-1 Turbocharger". Maybe it…

We all know the problem: processed food and lack of exercise. We all know the solution: Organic vegetables, lean protein, and lots of exercise.

We really don't all know these.

There isn't anything even remotely close to a scientific consensus on any of those.

There are plenty of scientists who tell you to stop exercising when you want to lose weight, because the exercise leads you to eat more than you would otherwise, and is ultimately self-defeating -- to focus entirely on eating less, and then only add exercise back in once you've reached you target weight. And "processed food" is a highly non-scientific category that is way, way too disparate to be useful at all.

Organic vegetables might be nice, but there's zero evidence that organic vegetables are better at weight loss than non-organic. Also zero evidence regarding lean protein as opposed to fatty -- there's a big argument that fatty meat is better for weight loss, because the fat satiates so you wind up eating less calories overall.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#708
I’ve lost 40lbs this year since I started trying. All I did was cut out breakfast and only ever eat if I feel hungry.

Thr first few weeks were hard. My body was hungry all the time. Now I feel hungry far less. I don’t get hungry until noon.

The problem is that if I ever cheat and pig out, like, say, this Thanksgiving weekend, it resets and I feel a week or two of miserable hunger again.

If I could cheat my brain in any way, it would be just not feeling hungry until noon, regardless of past actions.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#709
post #516

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Why do we find it acceptable to help people who struggle with alcohol abuse, or nicotine addiction, or opioid addiction, but not to help people who struggle with food abuse?" I think it is because if 90% of the population did half of what you do (and kudos for you for doing it), they wouldn't have a problem with weight, you just happen to be one of the unlucky few where it doesn't work and these drugs are useful.

there are numerous studies posted in this thread demonstrating exactly the opposite.

Which studies? I find it hard to imagine that it has been proven that for most people having a low-carb unprocessed meal once a day, no alcohol, and 5-mile daily hikes as the original poster does would would not eliminate sever weight issues.

There are clearly minority of people who can only achieve weight loss using drugs but for most people they can achieve the same effect by a lifestyle change, has this been proven incorrect?

I think the best empirical result for this is to compare US with any other western country (say Japan or France) or even US states with each other, clearly lifestyle plays a huge role in obesity.

Re: How long til we're all on Ozempic?

#710
post #689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The population level statistics show that you're the exception and not the rule. Obviously if the side-effects are unpleasant, the alternative health implications must be even worse: Which they are.

This may sound cynical, but I believe it is also factual: in a capitalist society, generating revenue by making people sick (junk food), and then generating more revenue by curing them, and finally making a big pile by keeping them alive for a few more weeks, is the way it's "supposed" to work. If everyone stayed healthy and then peacefully died one day in their sleep, I can't imagine how many $$$trillions that would…

Thank goodness for all those countries that are neither the US nor puely non-capitalist (not that the US is an example of a pure capitalist society).

Just how blinkered is American Exceptionalism anyway? Surely you're knowingly playing up the false { US | not-US } dichotomy.

eg: "American junk food" as seen in the US is largely regulated away in Australia, food labelling is better, overall health and life expectancy is better, etc.

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