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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?

#961

Post by GeorgeTirebiter »

pfdietz wrote: post #156
setgree wrote: post #13

There's some evidence that Ozempic improves general impulse control, e.g decreasing alcohol consumption [0], which the article mentions. Also, as Tyler Cowen writes [1], this is probably going to translate into big improvements for animal welfare: > People lose weight on these drugs because they eat less, and eating less usually means eating less meat. And less meat consumption results in less factory farming. This s…

I had a short conversation with an agronomist friend of mine. Crop prices are in the dumps right now, and I was wondering if it's because of these drugs. He said this is being openly discussed.

What percentage of the population is on GLP-1 drugs right now?

Well "According to KFF polling from May 2024, 6% of all adults report that they currently are taking a GLP-1 drug, and 12% report that they've ever taken a GLP-1 drug".

Is 6% enough to affect crop prices? Presumably some ag economist can weigh in. Note it would only be a reduction per person, not a full 6% reduction in consumption.

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

#962

Post by StefanBatory »

ripply wrote: post #930
StefanBatory wrote: post #421

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was obese myself, and I have different thoughts on that. For me, it was purely an issue of personal falling and willpower issue. I was obese because of a diet I was indulging in; full of unhealthy things and snacks. It was due to nobody else but myself.

You don’t place any blame on the people that marketed and created that diet? Or the regulators who allowed that to happen? At a certain point people’s well being and health should come before a mega corporation’s profits. The whole world would be better off if unhealthy food was more strictly regulated. Children grow up not learning healthy eating habits that last into adult hood and some never learn them.

No, I do not. It was my decision to keep doing so, it was a bad coping mechanism I developed. My actions are nobody else fault but mine.

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

#963

Post by nunez »

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…

So I was, also, a firm believer of the "gotta fix your lifestyle" school of thought regarding weight management until I was introduced to the Maintenance Phase podcast (hosted by Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes).

This podcast, and Aubrey's book "What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat," opened my eyes to the fact that many people are just _born_ hungrier than others.

The body will weigh what the body wants to weigh, no matter how many fad diets or drugs you throw at it.

Unfortunately, those whose bodies that don't conform to our modern, eugenicized definition of "healthy" and don't particularly care for working out at all times are dealt a lifelong sentence of social ostracizing, "have you tried this diet" and "calories in, calories out," mostly against their will.

To wit: I can easily scarf down 3000+ calories per day. EASILY. I also know people who struggle to eat 2000 calories per day. I've seen this dynamic with kids in the same family as well.

I'm not saying that it's impossible to make healthier choices. Everyone can benefit from a balanced diet and more exercise. I'm saying that some people will naturally be heavier than others, and that should be okay.

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

#964

Post by cthalupa »

cthalupa wrote: post #866
seer wrote: post #797

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a very American way of thinking about it - not invented here vibes all over. Of course people don’t choose to be obese, but the culture and environment inevitably pushes you to it. A proof of that is that there are places in the world, with similar genes, that don’t have the same problem in the degree that US does. I don’t think it is a personal failing, more a collective one - the society itself has chosen a…

Obesity is rising rapidly over much of the developed world, both in Europe and Asia, on a trajectory fairly similar to the historical trajectory of it in the US. Obesity in adult men in North Korea more than doubled between 2009 and 2019. The UK is already up to 26% obesity. 36% of adults in Mexico are obese. America is an unfortunate pioneer in obesity, but it is not even remotely unique to America. > It is still we…

Note: I meant to type South Korea here, not North.

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

#965

Post by deanrtaylor »

dfxm12 wrote: 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 problem is that you can't undo millennia of evolution that has pushed us towards the situation where people are obsessed with food and struggle to limit themselves. We also shouldn't forget that not more than a century ago famine and rationing was still commonplace. Certainly my parents were still raised in an environment that hadn't gotten used to food being plentiful and were always forced to eat everything they had at all times and rewarded with food, this has been engrained in myself since I was young as well. I'm lucky that I managed to move away and isolate myself and lose a lot of weight but the important thing to note is that once I got down to a lower weight, everything was easier, getting up in the morning, walking, jogging, working out, talking to people, going outside. Now I've probably gained back 30% of what I lost and if I could take Ozempic to lose 5kg the rest would come a lot quicker because I'd be able to run further and have more energy generally.

All that is to say, these two are not mutually exclusive and if people receive this drug everything we already do to promote a healthy lifestyle will become much more realistic for many people, as far as I understand Ozempic removes the desire of hunger, it's not like people can continue their bad habits and take the drug and lose weight. Furthermore once they assume these habits, the generational cycle of raising children and over indulging will likely come to an end and we will probably not need the drugs as much.

TL;DR, people want to be healthy, they just don't have the tools or motivation to do it. Losing weight will likely be a gateway to many health improvements and benefits for future generations

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

#966

Post by scotty79 »

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.…

> We never eat food made in a factory. We buy raw products and spend a good amount of time every day cooking them.

> ...

> Yet... the number on the scale kept on creeping up.

That is absolutely terrifying. What oils did you use for cooking?

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

#967

Post by scotty79 »

unlikelytomato wrote: post #746
mrshadowgoose wrote: post #544

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? "Getting fit and staying fit" is a form of social capital, because it's extremely hard and only within reach of a small portion of the population. "Being fit" is strongly aligned with "being attractive" which confers all sorts of cross-cutting…

I would say my concerns are far more in the range of downstream effects from the medication. Specifically, I am concerned with muscle retention. Concerns aside, it's a little hard of an argument to swallow having visited many other countries where these things are simply not an issue. How can it be argued that the cause is anything other than behavior when so many others are doing just fine? There is more to this sto…

I think some of the observed muscle loss might be just burning the fat tissue embedded inside muscles (marbling).

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

#968

Post by collingreen »

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…

Congratulations! This is such a great success story.

I love your tactic about building healthy habits while you have some support and leaning on those to carry you through the future.

Good job!

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

#970

Post by eli_gottlieb »

pinko wrote: post #443
tjohns wrote: post #399

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Studies have show most people rapidly regain the weight once they stop taking GLP-1 drugs. The dysfunctional biochemical processes that contributed to overeating are still present if you discontinue the drug. Your body has a natural set-point for the weight it wants to be at, and the hunger and food noise comes right back as your body tries to get you back to your old weight. It's possible that after after a long eno…

Is the idea of a set-point settled medical/scientific fact, or still a disputed theory?

There are lots of physiological parameters with set-points, such as body temperature. The problem for weight gain/loss is that instead of one set-point for body weight itself, you have maybe 5-10 set and operating points that are indirectly related to body weight, but not direct measurements of it. They don't all have to be "working right" to keep you healthy, but if too many become disordered at once, you're gonna have a problem.
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