Glucagon-like peptide-1 agonism - GLP-1, common in obesity medicines - is not essential to weight management, according to preclinical research led by Richard DiMarchi and Matthias Tschöp, with funding from their startup company Bluewater Biosciences.
This attitude is the problem, yep.
There’s no other medical condition which only 0.8% of people ever recover from where we tell people to just keep trying treatments that we know don’t work.
An individual’s behaviour is a contributing factor in most diseases. But the hormones, social factors, etc. which determine that behaviour are beyond the control of willpower. GLP1s work because they treat the hormonal imbalances which cause the behaviour that causes weight loss.
We don’t tell people they’re pathetic for catching a cold, though our social organization put them in a place where their biological weakness to that disease was triggered.
I am not downplaying the psychological effects of obesity but…Willpower is quite literally the ability to overcome your hormones/emotion and resist social pressure. It IS all you need, it’s just really hard to learn. Especially nowadays with the societal pressure to be hot and how depressing the world is in general.
Comparing obesity to a cold is a false dichotomy as you most people can’t simply avoid asymptomatic carriers. But if you insist on the comparison, we were absolutely vicious to people who got COVID because they chose to not wear masks (and rightfully so). I’m not suggesting we SHOULD be similarly mean to fat people, though.
I want to reiterate I’m not looking down on anyone for having weak willpower, mine is shit when there’s a sweet treat in front of me. But I lost 5kg last year just by practicing at the grocery store. If there’s junk food in my house, I know I’ll pick it over real food every time. So I choose not to buy it.
“social factors” = “i have NO CHOICE but to eat this pie because everyone else is”
LOL ok bud.
nice talking
edit: i have to be honest: i too would love to adopt the stance of “i ate 5000 calories yesterday and it’s everyone and everything else’s fault except for mine,” and everyone’s free to believe that, or whatever they choose. but i’ll never sit here and say that’s a valid argument, or that weight loss is a “myth.” no, it’s not easy, but “not easy” does NOT equal impossible, and my opinion is that making such claims is dishonest and harmful
No, social factors like the price of processed vs healthy food, the amount of sugar and salt companies are allowed put in food specifically to addict consumers, the food our culture uses to celebrate, the stressors and social pressures that we know drive people towards dopamine sources like high caloric foods, cities designed to discourage walking, etc.
Edit: no one’s claiming what you’re saying. Individual behaviour is a factor in most disease. Focusing on the individual behaviour piece has proved to be completely ineffective at producing weightloss. That’s just a fact. And yet we keep doing it like it’s suddenly going to work. It won’t. You could tell people not to go to work in winter so they don’t catch a cold, but they won’t do that.
Plus highly engineered garbage designed to fuel addiction. But it’s not impossible. I’m not paying $8 for 3lbs Mandarins; but I’ll pay $4 for 3 lbs of naval oranges.
Eating less donuts is cheaper than eating more donuts. If price is your motivator, I have good news for you!
Okay, but hear me out, have you tried this pie? It’s delicious!