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Comment by mcculley | Hacker News Reader

I think I will wait for some version that does not cause "strong nausea, extreme fatigue, brain fog, and constipation".

I take a GLP-1, I do not feel any of these effects unless I eat poorly. I'm not saying these side-effects don't happen, but they aren't guaranteed. Testing has also shown these aren't prevalent in the majority of users.

You forgot the key part of "for the first 3 months" the assumption is that they largely tapered off for OP I think. That's an easy trade off for me personally.

I did not forget that. I am not going to risk brain fog for three months.

Okay that’s personal preference but the long term trade off seems to heavily out weigh some brain fog for a few months. Talking years of improved health.

Not if brain fog is a symptom of brain injury.

Temporary brain fog, which is what is said here, doesn't indicate brain injury to me.

You can get brain fog from a large caloric deficit before your body adjusts to it, which this by design, will induce.

Have there been proven benefits beyond weight loss? I am responding to "I believe that everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs for the longevity effects" and assertions about "longevity markers". I am not interested in taking a drug to lose weight. I am interested in improving my overall health, but I am not yet convinced that I should take this drug. The symptoms could be a sign that something bad is happening to the body.

It could be, it also could be adjusting to large calorie deficits, electrolyte level changes and dehydration.

I don't know, but I'd be fine gambling on it. You don't seem to be, which is also fine.

Brain fog also comes from eating 1000 calories a day for many until their body adjusts to a fat metabolism, much like keto flu. Also eating less makes your margin of error for bad micronutrient density significantly lower. You would need to tease out what is the medication and what comes from a low calorie diet in these patients by giving both groups (placebo vs medicated) the same diet and seeing the effects.

Keto you can eat your calories though because the process of ketosis requires more energy.

despite that wouldn't just undernourishing the body lead to shorter lifespans not longer?

I have been hearing for at least 20 years that calorie restriction increases lifespan [0]. I have not seen compelling evidence of this, but I know a lot of people believe it.

[0]: https://sitn.hms.harvard.edu/flash/2020/can-calorie-restrict...

Please correct me if i'm wrong but wasn't the initial research on this conducted on animal models where they were essentially starved to the point where they went into hibernation mode?

The point that I'd like to make is- if you think a comparison between hunter/gathers and the modern human is illustrative for a diet where our phenotype thrives best, sure, their food arrive at more irregular intervals than the modern human and they probably binged on what was in season at the time (which might give us pointers for our own diet) but I think the concept of perpetual calorie restriction as a full time human diet is infantile and quacky.

This is exactly why I said, “I have not seen compelling evidence of this, but I know a lot of people believe it.”

Those are mostly just second-order symptoms of hypoglycemia/running a severe caloric deficit.

I have a lot of experience with fasting. I have never experienced those symptoms as a result of restricting calories.

In my experience, it seems like these effects may be more common in people who are not fat-adapted from low carb diets or some type of fasting.

> I have a lot of experience with fasting.

> I think I will wait for some version that does not cause "strong nausea, extreme fatigue, brain fog, and constipation".

Did fasting help with weight control. Why are you considering these drugs ?

Fasting does help me with weight control. I generally eat only one meal each day and I find this has many other benefits.

I am not considering these drugs. I responded to "I believe that everyone, even the skinny folks, should be on GLP1 drugs for the longevity effects."

Were you operating at a calorie deficit for a prolonged period though. I.e., were you fasting for weeks at a time?

I have been eating only one meal per day deliberately for many years. I have fasted for up to 4 days. I seldom fast for more than one day.

When I was doing keto, I never experienced the keto flu that many complain about. If these are the same symptoms, maybe the same benefits are achieved without taking the drug.

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