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Comment by toomuchtodo | Hacker News Reader

I wouldn’t be so fast to downvote this. There is strong evidence that willpower is sometimes not enough, and if we have to provide a drug like we would for a brain chemistry or other chemical imbalance, we shouldn’t turn away from an appetite suppressant to solve for this. We simply need to drive the price down to make it less costly than all of the healthcare currently going into second order effects of broad population obesity.

That’ll help you look good with your clothes on. Gotta lift those heavy weights if you want to look good with your clothes off though.

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I think the fact that millions of people want (and try) to lose weight, but fail, over and over again, is 100% proof that will power does not matter in the slightest. These drugs like Wegovy, Ozempic, etc are showing everyone that we don't consciously control our appetite. Our bodies and our brains will betray us and take control despite whatever our desires may be. Hopefully people start to view obesity with more compassion and less blame on the people who have the disease.

I don't know much about this stuff, but could anyone explain why willpower isn't enough? Like - isn't this something that is in our control?

Also - if you don't have the willpower to lose weight, wouldn't taking weight loss drugs put you at risk of relying on meds for everything? (Including stuff you might have the willpower for - now that you've tried meds, why would you ever do stuff the hard way?)

It is chemical and metabolic and hormonal. Stop eating for a week, and that feeling is not your willpower waning.

It's not easy to willpower past biology, which for many includes unbalanced hunger control mechanisms. I chose a low-carbohydrate diet to control my appetite. But if semaglutide allows people to lose weight, then it's probably better than obesity.

They probably could have been doing keto this entire time, but doctors cant prescribe it, the US Dietary Guidelines recommend against it, and the largest US medical organizations say it might kill you. Nor is it terribly difficult. But keto is not effective because of willpower, it's effective because it's chemical and metabolic and hormonal.

I wonder why people can't overpower their natural survival instincts... Geez these people must be lacking "Willpower".

I'm going to guess there's at least some actions you could be taking to improve your life in some way, yet you don't.

Willpower is a limited resource and some people have more of it than others.

It's a chronic disease and there are many chronic diseases that are treated with permanent medication - diabetes, blood pressure, mental illness, HIV, to name a few. You can't will yourself to stop being obese any easier than you can will yourself to stop being depressed. We simply aren't consciously in control of our appetite or metabolism.

And it's worth remembering that obesity contributes to many other diseases and premature deaths. Treating it long term will prevent a lot of human misery and billions in healthcare costs down the road, even with the high price tag that it currently has.

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