Weight Loss Meds (Wegovy, etc)

[verticaldoug]

Originally Posted by mcteague

I had this conversation with someone recently. I noted that very few in my high school class, back in the early 70s, were fat. The kids that we considered fat would only be a bit overweight today. Genes certainly don't change in that short a period of time. My guess it comes down to how much more processed food, and fast food places, there are now. Plus, kids are far more sedentary now than in years past. Bit by bit it all adds up. I'm 6' and 160 lbs but could still stand to lose a couple of pounds around my waist. I rarely say it out loud as I look very slim and most people take that claim as a humble brag. Still...I notice it.

Tim

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3147141/

There are some studies with Rats and food addiction. If rats eat their normal diet, they don't over eat and don't become obese. However, switch to a processed food diet, and the little buggers gorge themselves.

Once you take the processed foods away, and offer them their normal diet, they don't go back to eating it right away. They eventually have to be starving before they will eat the healthy food.

The high fat/sugar content process foods rewires your mind a bit. This is what is really going on. Maybe it is all high fructose corn syrup.

[nmrt]

I do not know what really is going on with the food in the US to lay blame on a major culprit. But we do gets bits and pieces of the usual food additive culprits every now and then via research -- HFCS, pharmaceuticals in our food, highly processed things that do not look like food but taste "great". Still, it is an inescapable fact that we are getting fatter as a nation. Where was this obesity 30-40 years ago? Why is it that we are blessed with this obesity when other developed nations have 3-4-5 points lower BMI that our good 'ole USA?

Is obesity a moral failure? For everyone? Of course not! Are there people who have genuine medical issues leading to their weight? Of course! When looking at a population, we can see all sorts of cases. But I feel, as a nation, we look to drugs as a panacea. That is unsettling, and as we parrot their "advertisements" on why we should be taking their drugs, we are moving farther away from addressing the real causes of obesity. For most people, genetics plays a HUGE role. But for many, many people, do not discount the type of food they eat and their lifestyle.

Originally Posted by verticaldoug

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3147141/

There are some studies with Rats and food addiction. If rats eat their normal diet, they don't over eat and don't become obese. However, switch to a processed food diet, and the little buggers gorge themselves.

Once you take the processed foods away, and offer them their normal diet, they don't go back to eating it right away. They eventually have to be starving before they will eat the healthy food.

The high fat/sugar content process foods rewires your mind a bit. This is what is really going on. Maybe it is all high fructose corn syrup.

[unterhausen]

My health would really benefit from losing weight. I had a number of health setbacks that have led me to weighing more than is good for me. And my high BP goes away when I weigh 40 lb less than I do now.

I have to say that Wegovy and Ozempic already work for me even without taking them. I was volunteering for a 200km ride outside a bbq restaurant, and i was going to eat lunch there. Then the first rider showed up looking much better than he did when I saw him 2 years ago, really slim and muscular. He was riding faster than a lot of pretty fast riders. Apparently he's taking Wegovy. The problem is you have to work out a lot to keep from losing muscle. He says he barely has time to ride because he's always working out.

So anyway, seeing him led me to skip the bbq for lunch. Working already and I'm not even taking it.

I am not a big fan of the way these drugs work. And if you do go on a long ride, you have to taper so your stomach works normally.