alt Hacker NewsDiet and exercise. It always comes back to that, yet people avoid it like the plague.
The modern weight loss program you described is pushed because that's what people want; an extremely low-effort methodology that yields extremely high results.
The idea that their is some silver bullet to weight loss has dominated the US health market for ages now because selling someone a pill that they don't have to do anything but swallow and be cured is really, really easy.
Having gone through my own weight loss journey, I have seen first hand how attractive that is and fell for it myself twice. So have loved ones, one whom is no longer the same person because they got gastric bypass which resulted in a massive change to gut and brain chemistry, something that we seem to be just figuring out is connected. My own journey is not over, but there are no longer any medications or supplements involved, because I can say with authority that none of them work without good nutrition and physical exercise.
As I realized this and just put more work into eating better and doing more activities (I did not join a gym, but started riding my bicycle more, walking neighbor's dogs, and doing body-weight exercises at home, etc, making it more integrated into my day rather than a separate event I could skip), I lost a healthy amount of weight and got stronger.
It took a lot longer, of course, than what the pills promised, but that's the trick of the whole weight loss industry...and make no mistake, it is an industry. Short-term results in exchange for your money. It was never about helping people be healthier and always about myopic profits, therefore we should not be trusting any claims these companies make that their silver bullet is the correct one, finally.
And yet.
Replies
I don’t think anyone is disputing that changes to diet and exercise are required.
Based on people who I know have been taking these drugs, they make it much easier to reduce calorie intake by promoting satiety. That’s the benefit.
Doing the rest of your life while you feel hungry is not fun, and willpower is not infinite.
I don't know it is always avoidance when it comes to diet and exercise. I think oftentimes it comes down to overscheduling. I like to exercise, I like to eat healthy. Those two are oftentimes the first things on my chopping block when I am hurried
How has the gastric bypass affected this person? It would not have occurred to me that the brain would be affected.
> The modern weight loss program you described is pushed because that's what people want; an extremely low-effort methodology that yields extremely high results.
I think it's a mistake to think of it as what people want. It's what people can do.
We have to acknowledge a fundamental struggle that we have with dieting and working out. Pretending it's just hard, when statistics show what is true at a societal level, will not bring us solutions.
We need something else. Either that's massive societal change to i.e. approach something like the diet/workout culture you have in Japan. That's hard. Or, as with many other of our health problems that we can't just will away, it's drugs.
Not believing in progress here, when drugs progress everywhere, is unnecessary. Current generations might have issues. Drugs will be better. We won't.