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Breaking the HN guidelines will get you banned here, regardless of how right you are, or feel you are, about obesity and other topics. No more of this, please.
I'll focus on one area of your post: "They will have developed no good habits at all. They will not have a clue as to how to manage stress. They sure as fuck are not going to understand that exercise is important and necessary. They are not going to become discerning about what they eat...They will pop your pills as they suck-in a two liter drink with insane amounts of sugar and inhale cheap carbohydrates in their burritos, burgers, pizza, etc."
I want to emphasize how wrong you are here.
Fella is a 12-month program, with continued support for the rest of your life after that first year. The program is focused on:
- building resilience to stress & other testing emotions
- building a sustainable exercise habit which is enjoyable and sustainable
- building healthier eating habits which are realistic & sustainable
- building sleep habits which help improve metabolic health
In terms of the medication, it's really important to listen to obesity specialists here. They are trying to find practical solutions to help people. It's clear that moral indignation isn't working so far.
These are all legitimate concerns you raise. Know that I have researched this deeply, and genuinely believe this is the best practical solution to help the most amount of people.
Please let me know your thoughts.
This is my favorite HN line in ages, kudos!
PS - in California and signed up for the wait list.
Sure, there are medical conditions that sometimes play a role. But how often is that the case? I actually don't know. Maybe your company could help with that?
Good luck. There's obviously a market for your services.
Far from ignorant. It is an absolute fact --thermodynamics-- that no human being needs a pill to lose weight. So, stop with the holier-than-thou come-back and think.
This is no different from selling crap weight loss supplements to people. Why? Because they do not need that either. The fact that something is clinically proven means nothing. Why? Because people don't need it.
> Your approach is, like the others, one among many that will work for some people.
It isn't my approach. I only had to lose about 30 lbs. I could have done that going back to strength training, which was I was into before the pandemic hit. I decided to see if there was any merit to what my wife, the MD, was telling me.
Major "duh" moment: Of course it had merit! And of course it can work for absolutely everyone!
And, guess what, it does not cost $150 per month. No pills necessary.
The problem with obesity, particularly in the US, is systemic. Our food is unmitigated garbage and we train our kids to eat and crave this garbage from early childhood times. By the time they become young adults they are well on their way to a life of dealing with weight problems and a straight line into diabetes and other ailments.
You can't fix inflammation from food with pills, unless you want to be popping them for the rest of your life and end-up with other problems because of it.
This is going to sound weird: I am always astounded by how much I have learned by raising and training GSD's (German Shepherd Dogs). Stay with me for a second.
One of our GSD's developed a very serious problem a number of years ago. His skin smelled horrible and he lost all hear from his chest and belly. His coat looked dull, almost dead.
Not knowing what was going on I sought advice from our vet. He suggested I take him to a veterinary dermatologist. $2,500 and bunch of shots and pills later, we went home with a plan. Pop pills every day. Get this magical shot once a month.
Sure enough, in about four weeks his coat was nice and shinny again, his skin didn't smell and hair started to come back to his chest.
Back we went for another shot and more pills. This was running about $600 per month. The dermatologist said he'd have to be on this program for the rest of his life. Wow.
I decided to reach out to a number of GSD groups and breeders. A theme emerged from these conversations very quickly: Change his food. He is having allergic reaction to his food. Stop the nonsense the dermatologist is selling you.
So, I did. I figured I could try for a couple months and, if nothing changed, go back to the treatment.
We went with a high quality food with twice the protein content and far less junk carbs, etc.
Less than a month later this dog was in what I might describe as the best shape of his life. He looked great, was happy, didn't have smelly skin, his coat grew back on this chest and belly and was pretty much the picture of a healthy dog. This was many years ago. He has been on this better-food diet every since and looks and feels wonderful.
We have lost sense of just how important good food is for our bodies and minds. We accept that the garbage we buy at the market and restaurants is normal. Well, it isn't. This is the problem. The vet dermatologist was administering a government approved drug to my dog. It worked. And yet that was not really the solution, because it did not address the underlying problem. And that's the issue I have this startup. It isn't a solution. At all. Nobody needs this to lose weight.
You: Nonsense, and to prove it, here's another long personal anecdote.
The obesity epidemic in this nation isn't caused by people are eating good food and exercising. It is caused by the kinds of things my examples illustrate. And yes, in this case, there happens to be a single basic truth: People are eating too much and too much crap.
You might want to poke fun at what I am saying, come back with contemptuous responses, kill me with downvotes and flagging. And yet, the obesity epidemic has rendered every single weight loss program, drug or magical juju bean "solution", ineffective, even harmful. I wonder how many people have been hurt badly by horrendous weight loss/gain cycles as a direct result of these "solutions"?
Our problem is not solved with drugs, supplements and magical programs.
Our obesity problem is a far deeper issue that requires intervention into our industrialized food system as well as a rethink of our educational choices.
What's really interesting to me is that in this entire incident NOT ONE PERSON has countered my claim that the real problem is bad food and bad habits. That's interesting.
Also, not one person has said something like "No, you are wrong, thermodynamics doesn't work that way...you can eat four times the carb/sugar-laden food you should eat on a daily basis, sit in front of the TV and still maintain good health".
No, all the negative reaction is pretty much about being offended for my strong reaction to yet another easy weight loss scheme that, based on recorded weight loss industry history is going to be no different from everything else we have seen. Only this time it is YC backed, so, I guess that's OK.
In engineering we are trained (or should be trained) to perform real --not imaginary-- root cause analysis in order to understand how to solve a problem. When you do that with regards to obesity, absolutely everything points to bad food, bad choices, bad personal habits and bad education. That's it. This is the root cause package, if you will. And none of this is fixed with a pill. Temporarily, maybe. Long term? No way.
Yes, it works, and maybe it works easy & side-effect free for some, but tbh I'd rather be overweight and die 10 years earlier, than live like that.
An important takeaway from all this is that people react very differently to similar regimes, and projecting our own (successful) experience of a regime onto someone else is likely to not represent their experience.
>Yes, I am yelling.
If pills work then what's the problem? It seems to me that you're making an appeal to nature (https://yourlogicalfallacyis.com/appeal-to-nature). Given all the health problems associated with obesity from cancer to cardiovascular problems then whatever side effects the pills have are probably negligible in comparison.
> Weight management isn't at all about eating less. It's about not eating food that actively want to slowly kill you and, yes, engaging in a modicum of exercise in order to deal with insulin resistance, keep bones strong, etc.
Yes nutrition and exercise are important, but even if it's common knowledge it's obviously working like abstinence based sexual education is working to prevent STDs and teenage pregnancy because like we have a natural urge to sex we also have a natural urge to eat calories and while saving energy.
> "Take this pill...we will save you". Sick.
A lot of pills are necessary to prolong and maintain quality of life. What's "sick" about this?
This includes myself. I recently put on a bit of weight and I know exactly why: second servings, having a few beers, difficulties sticking to a diet with kids and dietary allergies in the house, no time or too lazy for exercise. It's all on me.
Something that can be fixed by just putting your mind to it shouldn't have to be treated with pills.
For some people it will probably be the hardest thing they ever do - I'm not downplaying this. So, for people who don't have the willpower pills is probably the best solution.
Important to emphasize there is a large variety of causes: stress eating is certainly a big part for a lot of people, but it's far from universal & far from the whole story.
"Something that can be fixed by just putting your mind to it shouldn't have to be treated with pills" is I think an interesting statement. I'm unconvinced "putting your mind to it" is as simple as it's made out to be.
Back when I was in university, I decided to simply "put my mind to it" and went from 100kg->65kg in one year. That weight stayed off for the better part of half a decade.
"Simply" doing the same thing now, though, with all of the competing priorities I have (young child, growing business, burned out wife and a constantly shifting set of rules and uncertainty with the pandemic), is a different story. I think men especially are hesitant to come to terms with this because it means admitting weakness.
Thanks for creating this product, Rich. I really wish you success.
Even for those, should'nt the solution be a stronger detox, intervention, stricter regimen to have external help in supplementing their willpower, etc?
Should'nt this be preferred over pills?
Same for things like anxiety, insomnia, ...
Obesity increased with the increase of meal size, average caloric intake and urbanization based around cars.