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Comment by ido | Hacker News Reader

> if I were, I do think I'd try a GLP-1 agonist to get my weight down.

Don't they only prescribe these for the morbidly obese? As someone "merely" overweight (BMI ~27) I'd like to try but I don't think I'm fat enough to get a prescription.

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I was around 27 as well. I’m a big guy with a muscular frame but put on extra weight over the last 2 years of intense company building. If you can get a prescription (Hims will prescribe) you may have to pay out of pocket, but worth it IMO. They may want you to be at 30 BMI, but that is easy to fudge on their intake (they won’t do any validation of your intake numbers). Commit to a few months of extreme dedication and let the financial impact be a motivator.

Reassess progress towards your renewal (we did 3 months). It’s literally cheating, in the best way.

For better or worse, most of the online pharmacies like Ro or Hims will prescribe it to anyone with a pulse. Some insurance companies don't cover it unless your BMI is over like 40.

Pretty sure these aren’t available to me (in Germany), I will have to get an actual prescription.

I think the definition of "fat enough" will come down quickly as these drugs become better understood. If the side effects are mild or manageable, why not prescribe it to anyone who even comes within striking distance of "overweight"? There are other kinds of medications, like those for high cholesterol, where it's a no-brainer to just start taking them when your cholesterol crosses some threshold.

>no-brainer

Many experts including cardiologists maintain that the current mainstream protocols for statin drugs do more harm than good.

Some* experts, and frankly I really doubt their perspective because it's all a risk management thing.

It's not that statins are good for you, it's that heart disease is the number 1 killer in the US and surgery is very risky. If we're able to better control cholesterol and hypertension without invasive methods that's very good.

Also GLP-1s lower cholesterol too. So it's possibly statins will be going out a bit out of fashion in the future.

The statin skeptics all have protocols to address heart disease. It's not like they are advocating doing nothing about the risk.

They do to an extent, but the things they recommend are also recommended by cardiologists who prescribe statins. I mean, lifestyle and diet is going to be the first words out of a cardiologist's mouth when you see them and you have high cholesterol.

The reality, I think, is that that is just not a very effective treatment plan for a lot of people.

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