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.
Everything you mentioned, PLUS:
The list goes on.
The single most important thing everyone can do is take a walk. I make sure I do this rain or shine, even if it’s down the block and back.
GLP-1 and other “weight lost methods” gain popularity in the US due to our population’s proclivity of saying “I want x, but I don’t want to change anything about me.” In other words, “I want to lose weight but don’t want to change my lifestyle.”
Study after study has shown that slow, gradual, and intentional weight loss is healthier and will last longer than any fad, drug, or food plan.
Not only will your body naturally learn what it means to eat and be healthy, you’ll actually feel better too.
One criticism of this analysis (which I think is mostly spot on) those GLP drugs help people change their lifestyle by turning off the ‘food noise’. They don’t, by themselves, make anyone lose weight. They help people who overeat be not hungry all the time so that they can eat better and work out more - it’s the eating better and working out more that is causing the weight loss.
I don’t think it’s the criticism you think it is but it’s okay because I think it’s the same point I’m making.
People would rather take a pill (or an injection in this case) than do a better job of regulating their own eating. I understand that GLP helps increase the “fullness” hormone but there are foods that will help with that but people choose not to eat them.
Kale is great roughage and it fills your stomach quickly. But people won’t eat it because they would rather eat a cheeseburger.
I want to be super clear: we (Americans) didn’t get where we are by ourselves. There is an obesity epidemic that is due to a combination policy decisions and terrible personal choices. And I’m not going to lecture lower-class people because they are effectively in food deserts because grocery stores can’t profit off of them the same way they can with middle class people. And I know first hand that food like kale may not be accessible to those people and even if they were, preparing it takes time and resources they may not have.
But as a whole, the USA has a “let me take a pill so I can ignore everything else” epidemic as well. People who are taking GLP-1 could probably make better choices if they desired to. They could order the salad instead of the steak but they don’t.
I want to thread this needle carefully: I’m not shaming anyone for using GLP-1. Or Atkins or Weight Watchers or whatever. The fact you want to make a change is worth celebrating!! If it works for you, fantastic. Sometimes it’s what people need to motivate them to make better choices.
What I am saying is that GLP-1 works to help you lose weight the same way every weight loss program does: decreasing your caloric intake. If you want to lose weight but don’t want to pay for GLP-1 (or any other program), reducing your portion size will work just as well.
Because I will near guarantee that if you lose weight using GLP and don’t do anything else, you will lose weight but you will gain it back within a year.