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How long til we're all on Ozempic?

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

#731

Post by thr0waway001 »

IncreasePosts wrote: post #3

My biggest fear is either there will be long term negative consequences to Ozempic et al, and a huge swath of the population will be dealing with issues 30 years form now - OR - there will be some long term positive consequence to using Ozempic et al, and I'm not getting any of the benefits because I'm not overweight.

That's why I haven't taken it. I'm probably a guy who should. Overweight, with kidney disease person who, if I became diabetic, it would probably kill me.

I'm not, someone who doesn't really need it. For example, some average weight housewife who just wants to fit in a dress a little better.

And still, I won't use it even though I can afford it cause it's the long term consequences are not entirely understood.

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

#732

Post by 0xcde4c3db »

asciimov wrote: post #723
0xcde4c3db wrote: post #602

I think we desperately need to answer the question of why GLP-1 agonists are so effective, and particularly whether it's counteracting something in the environment that has been acting to reduce GLP-1 (or other glucagon-related pathway) activity without us realizing it. The obesity data practically screams that something happened in North America ca. 1980 that messed up our metabolisms, and it may have spread to Euro…

Coke and Pepsi started using HFCS in 1980. I’d be curious about side effects of the Depression and WW2 that took an extra generation to show up.

> I’d be curious about side effects of the Depression and WW2 that took an extra generation to show up.

While there might be a time span involved that could be described that way, as far as I've read there weren't any statistics that were "generational" in the usual sense of the term. Obesity rates started rising among all age groups at roughly the same time.

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

#733

Post by dahinds »

larodi wrote: post #680
OptionOfT wrote: post #420

As someone who struggled with their weight his whole life, this medication is a god send. My wife and I cook every evening. We never eat food made in a factory. We buy raw products and spend a good amount of time every day cooking them. Every morning I wake up and go on a 5 mile hike. And still weight kept on coming on. Worse yet, I am on ADHD medication, which are amphetamines and actually make you lose weight. Yet.…

Perhaps the first person on HN who actively and without shame pays attention to the fact that Adderall is a very nice amphet cocktail. Surprising though you don't loose wait with it, sad also given the circumstances. But I envy you a little cause such ADHD boost is only illegal in EU. Sometimes I wonder if it was a some neat trick by US gov to diagnose and put 1/5 of the population on amphetamines (2024 data +60mil p…

I think you're incorrectly assuming that one prescription = one person. Far less than 20% of the population is taking Adderall, this CDC study says 4% in 2021.

https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/volumes/72/wr/mm7213a1.htm

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

#734

Post by slothtrop »

Alupis wrote: post #457
dyauspitr wrote: post #376

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…

Yes, what's true and often understated about weight-loss is that people usually do lose weight when they decide to, but gain it back. Aside from lifestyle, metabolic adaptation is one factor. Since metabolism is lower, increasing calorie intake too quickly leads to weight-gain, and metabolism remains worse than it was before.

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

#735

Post by brianmcc »

colordrops wrote: post #642
brianmcc wrote: post #610

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> I scanned, weighed, and measured every single thing I put into my body Not being snarky, but is this truly "better" than a single weekly injection - 10 seconds and done for the week? I do think our wider society sees medications for overeating as "cheating". Perhaps we might benefit from rethinking that.

For preventable diseases in general, prevention and self control should be attempted before medication. There are health benefits besides being skinny, and all medications have side effects. There's nothing inherently wrong with medication, but addressing the root cause should be tried first, and then medication can be introduced if it doesn't work out. It's not an either-or, binary situation.

I don't disagree. As I've gotten older though I am just increasingly convinced that for the regular person going about their life, the fight against cheap and terrible and calorie-laden - but tasty! - processed foods is not an even one. Perhaps some form of counter-balance is just not such a bad thing?

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

#736

Post by slothtrop »

dghlsakjg wrote: post #95
amatecha wrote: post #19

This article seems to frame things in such a strange way. Maybe instead of trying to get everyone obesity medication, we can instead educate society so we all understand nutrition and diet and can combat the ever-persistent forces of corporations pushing unhealthy food on us?

Do you think overweight people don't know why they're overweight? There are plenty of obese people that understand nutrition just fine, there are obese people who understand it well enough to have lost significant weight and gained it all back. Clearly there is something else going on that we haven't grasped yet.

Understanding nutrition, and eating habits in practice, are two very different things.

Regaining weight is the primary issue really. Most people are capable of losing weight, but gain it back, and it gets harder going forward. Metabolic adaptation is better understood now and among the factors (.e.g increasing caloric intake too quickly after weight loss), but falling into old habits that are culturally ubiquitous is a glaring part of the problem.

Former drug addicts are told now to sever contact with peers who partook in those indulgences as they're likely to pull them back in. With food, it can be more than a minor subculture. There are regions of the US that have much higher obesity rates than others. Not having family members and a romantic partner on board can be difficult.

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

#737

Post by yard2010 »

0x1DEADCA0 wrote: post #323
gcr wrote: post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I can understand this perspective. You're looking at it with healthy eyes. But for fat people, the calculus looks different. A decision to take semaglutides is a decision between the long-term negative effects of obesity *now*, or the possibility of long-term negative effects *later.* Anecdotally, trans people have a similar calculus. Going unmedicated/unsupported brings significant mental health risk now [1], wherea…

No, they're making a choice between the long-term negative effects of not losing weight naturally, vs the possibility of long-term negative effects of using artificial methods. This isn't polemic, as even things as basic as birth control and advil have negative long term effects.

Some people cannot lose weight naturally. So the question stands: what is the least bad alternative?

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

#738

Post by __turbobrew__ »

karmajunkie wrote: post #672
intothemild wrote: post #662

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.

Second the other commenter. Measure your heart rate and stay within a lower zone.

Most likely this means you will be walk-running at the beginning or even just walking up a steep hill. Running is an activity of many small incremental gains. Every week you can go a little tiny bit further but if you amortize that over a year it makes a big difference.

Many go into running too fast and hard which leads them into not liking it because they feel absolutely miserable the entire time or they injure themselves due to bad form.

I had a good physical therapist which took me from nothing and for the first few months I wasn’t even running but doing foot and ankle strengthening because that part of my kinetic chain was so weak.

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

#739

Post by slothtrop »

Etheryte wrote: post #681
arijo wrote: post #573

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cut on carbs and you will have all the benefits without the nasty side effects. Check https://metabolicmind.org for details. My own experience with the keto diet - https://www.feelingbuggy.com/p/finding-hope-after-decades-of...

This is about as useful as telling someone who's obese to just eat less. Factually yes, it might help them, but practically they're clearly unable to implement it, probably for a plethora of underlying reasons.

It's not nearly in the same ballpark.

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

#740

Post by slothtrop »

arijo wrote: post #573
robohydrate wrote: post #299

I've been on tirzepatide (Mounjaro) for 4 months now. I'm down 13% of my body weight. I realized that frequent cannabis consumption interferes with the weight loss, so I've kicked the habit from daily to occasionally on weekends. I've started walking 2-3 miles a day, 2-3 days a week regularly, in addition to eating less and being more motivated to calorie count. All this to say, this drug has been life changing for m…

Cut on carbs and you will have all the benefits without the nasty side effects. Check https://metabolicmind.org for details. My own experience with the keto diet - https://www.feelingbuggy.com/p/finding-hope-after-decades-of...

You can just cut ultra-refined foods i.e. junk foods. No one is getting obese from lentils, broccoli and apples. Even so, avoiding weight gain is one thing and losing weight is another. While it helps to increase ratio of protein and fiber intake for satiety, that in itself does not guarantee a caloric deficit, which is what is necessary for weight loss.
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