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Comment by JediWing | Hacker News Reader

Suggesting lifestyle change as a cure for obesity presupposes that obese people simply lack the knowledge of what must be done.

The real struggle is in the doing.

Many tout "listen to your body" as a solution, or "think about how junk food makes you feel" as one of the go-to solutions in "lifestyle change".

For the first time in my life I was able to adhere to this advice, because I'm on semaglutide.

My body now actually is telling me that too much junk food feels bad.

Before now, it actually felt VERY VERY GOOD to eat nearly unlimited junk food.

There is something going on in my body that prevents the proper signaling of "too much food feels bad", and this medicine corrects that for me and countless others.

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<<Suggesting lifestyle change as a cure for obesity presupposes that obese people simply lack the knowledge of what must be done.

You presuppose lack of knowledge, not me. Contrarily, I call out the lack of self discipline knowing what they must do. Every obese person I know is aware of what is wrong and what they must do.

Ozempic and semaglutide trick your body into thinking it has eaten. If you take it for a year, but still eat the same calories per day, you do not lose weight. It still requires some discipline. From pricing without insurance these seem to be >$200 per month medications. That's a lot of money for Big Pharma considering they suggest you take it for at least a year and the obesity rate in America.

Call me old fashioned and relying on some common sense, but there are longer term and healthier solutions than relying on a pill for all of your troubles.

>>Before now, it actually felt VERY VERY GOOD to eat nearly unlimited junk food.

So downing a bucket or two of chicken wings felt good to the last wing? I doubt it. You've conditioned yourself to still like it when bursting at the seams. Again some discipline would go a long way rather than a pill. Let's see where all this medication puts this generation down the road - from all sorts of mental health pills to diet pills, etc. I don't think it's the right path, and there are those making money hand-over-fist while everyone plugs into the matrix.

Ozempic is semaglutide. And you must see not eating when you are not hungry requires less discipline than not eating when you feel hungry.

I might call you old fashioned. I would not call you relying on some common sense.

You misunderstand my argument. I realize how Ozempic and semaglutide works. It dupes you. It does not treat the cause, but the symptom. I hold that discipline, not drugs, are needed. Discipline can be built where it is weak. That is common sense. The drugs short circuit the reality causing you to skip the step where you build up your own healthy lifestyle to beat the problem. It is not a long-term or healthy solution by any means. Sagging and aging face as a side effect for one. Common sense - it takes work to get things done in physics and physiology. It is clear from the opioid and mental health epidemics that treating the symptom and not the cause with all sorts of pills does not end well. You need to do some work - exercise, diet, get proper sleep. No course of drugs will replace those basic and normal tasks. Any long-term results on Ozempic? I already see warnings that they may increase the risk of thyroid cancer, acute pancreatitis, gallbladder disease among other things. I think old fashioned and common sense were more synonymous in my generation than they are nowadays. A pill for everything is today's mantra.

> So downing a bucket or two of chicken wings felt good to the last wing? I doubt it

Well there's your problem. You're failing to believe and listen to the people who actually experience the problem, and insist that it simply can't be true.

I would overeat because the pleasure signals never stopped.

But sure, over 40% of Americans are obese and it's a personal moral failing, not something systemic.

> Again some discipline would go a long way rather than a pill

I lost about 40lb 10 years ago through diet and exercise. I did intense exercises at least 3x a week, and watched what I ate strictly.

Guess what: it all came back and then some, because I was white knuckling my way through life, and it was unsustainable.

You know nothing about my level of discipline, so you ought not comment on it.

> Let's see where all this medication puts this generation down the road

My bet is longer and healthier lives.

> My bet is longer and healthier lives.

I hope so for your sake, but I highly doubt it for all the medications being touted for mental health and obesity.

> I lost about 40lb 10 years ago through diet and exercise. I did intense exercises at least 3x a week, and watched what I ate strictly.

How long did you do this for? Did you keep doing this along with the Ozempic or similar, or did you cut it down and only take the meds?

For what it's worth, it's better to do moderate exercise everyday (walking a mile or two daily) then to overdo it 2 or 3x per week with regards to regulating your metabolism and making it favorable for fighting off your hunger and maintaining a healthy body weight.

I have found the number one thing in my diet throughout my whole life has been sugar. It is the worst for your health and weight. I never bought into the sugar substitutes; I just cut back drastically on sugar. That and walking everyday would have a big impact on people's lives and the obesity epidemic. The discipline I speak of is just getting out everyday, not necessarily the gym or high-intensity exercise. Most obese people I know personally think they eat less than they do, and do not see how inactive they truly are.

I hear your struggle, and I am not commenting on your discipline. Only that discipline is needed and many people need an objective bar on what level that is outside of their own echo chamber. I am not saying this is you, but in my opinion this is most of the battle for the suffering.

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