All it proves If you need a pill to lose weight because 3/4s of your population are overweight is that American society is pretty messed up.
Its not about will power. Its about making new habits and lifestyle changes. Habits are second nature when they are set -no will power required.
OK, 3/4s of the population of the USA are unable/unwilling to make habit and lifestyle changes.
If you look up I used to agree with you.
But I’ve changed my mind on a few points.
I’m not sayin we remove agency and I think someone should try exercising and eating a simple diet of meat, fish, eggs, and fruits. No vegetables (overrated and no processed/ultraprocessed food) and 99% of people would be healthy weight. I believe the that as I live that.
But people are struggling various reason. Some just simple don’t have enough will power left in a day with their chaotic life. Others are truly metabolically broken.
I did a person experiment. I ate basically a bag of candy for 2 weeks before I took blood sugar tests , insulin sensitivity, and hemoglobin A1c and mine came out to 4.7 each time for Ha1c. For whatever reason my body is just extremely good at processing sugar for energy and it’s not going into fat at all.
If given the choice of the health risk of obesity vs downside of these drugs, I think the risk benefit clearly comes out to its better to take these drugs.
And new generations of Glp1 like retatrutide are even better at muscle sparring while even better at fat loss.
Perhaps you can reconsider this position like I did.
I wrote more about all the new drugs coming our way. It’s actually incredibly how far we’ve come to having a literal exercise in a bottle or obesity “cure”
I hate to call it this as it goes against my own personal beliefs and experiences but the science is incredible once you open your mind to what’s being researched right now.
What’s wrong with vegetables?
I think there’s a lot of truth to this. I know one person who is doing one meal a day. Some days, he even skips that one meal. He has lost 7 kilos over several months and it has been a real struggle, often yoyoing for days before going below the next kilogram. If I did that, I would lose 10 kilos very quickly. Too quickly.
But having said all that, there are many overweight people who don’t even really try to lose weight. With all my working out (typically 5x per week), 17/7 intermittent fasting, and constant weight, run, and swim goal setting, if I’m honest, I have a somewhat reduced respect for overweight folks. Sorry if that hurts anyone’s feelings.
As a last point, are these drugs really safe long-term? And how much muscle are people losing? If they are being taken by people with low willpower, what measures are being taken to reduce muscle loss and allow for eventually getting off these drugs? So they’ll be taking pills for the rest of their lives? The drug companies must love this. I really wonder about these things.
I already said it isnt about will power.
Look the world we live in is unhealthy. It is what it is, that is naturally going to make it harder for someone to switch to a healthy diet if that means stepping aside from the norm. That goes twofold for America. But a pill ain’t the right answer for most people.
What about elderly people? Having muscle mass is supposed to be the number 1 thing that helps when we age. I cant imagine that most people who want to take this drug are working out, so taking a drug that also makes you lose a ton of muscle isnt going to do them any favours.
And yea personally I have something against this drug as I have a family member who wants to start taking it, they currently eat way too much, complain about walking too far and have some serious health problems. I dont see any of those things being addressed by taking this drug. I mean the food intake will go down but as I’ve already pointed out it will start again when they come off it so nothing will be learned.
The bioavailability of nutrients in vegetables are incredibly low. When they try to tell you to eat spinach for iron for example, they aren’t tell you only 2-10% are even bioavailable. Not to mention the suggested range is off, most mass farming has depleted the earth so if its label 200mg…it’s unlikely it’s even close to that.
Plants often have oxalates and anti nutrients that makes it hard to absorb more nutrients you’re eating.
They’re not very nutrient dense for health or caloric dense for energy.
Most plants are toxic to humans unless we process them and cook them in a certain way.
Plants can’t run so they produce toxins to protect itself, most humans tolerate them well enough like caffeine. (Yes it might shock people to know it’s toxic to humans) It is toxic to most animals and and us but we tolerate it reasonably well to a certain extent.
Other examples are nicotine which is toxic to us and a known pesticides. You’ll find most plants have something like this and we either tolerate it well enough that’s it’s not a major problem to most people or we have to process it to remove it. Some even cyanide for example.
I think it’s easy for people now to believe it the food pyramid is a lie and made us unhealthy but people still can’t accept vegetables are overrated and they are unnecessary for good health.
I’m not saying don’t eat them, I eat some as I like them. But I don’t go in thinking they’re super foods like we’ve been conditioned since childhood. You’re better off considering animals foods and fruits as your main diet.
I stick to meats and fish which are nutrient dense and the nutrients are bioavailable to us along with most fruits because they actually want to be eaten as it’s a main factor on spreading their seeds.
There’s a lot I can say but this is a simplified version.
I actually agree with a lot of what you’re saying, especially about muscle mass and aging. That’s a real concern and probably the biggest legitimate criticism of current GLP-1 use.
Where I think we differ is that I don’t see this as pills versus lifestyle. I see it as biology versus environment. For a meaningful number of people, biology is clearly winning no matter how much advice they’re given.
The muscle loss issue is real, but it isn’t inevitable. It depends a lot on protein intake, resistance training, how fast the weight is lost, and the specific drug being used. It’s also worth pointing out that obesity itself leads to muscle loss over time, especially as people age. Staying obese and insulin resistant isn’t neutral for muscle either.
On the point about regaining weight when stopping the drug, that’s true, but it’s also true for a lot of chronic conditions. Blood pressure meds, statins, antidepressants all behave the same way. We don’t dismiss them because the condition returns when treatment stops. Obesity looks much more like a chronic disease than a temporary state.
I’m not saying these drugs replace movement, diet, or personal responsibility. I’m saying that for some people they make those things possible by lowering the biological resistance first. For a lot of people, losing weight makes movement and exercise realistic for the first time rather than something they’re supposed to do while already struggling.
I still think lifestyle should be the first option when it’s actually executable. I just don’t think it’s honest anymore to pretend that advice alone works for everyone. The results over the last few decades don’t really support that.
The muscle loss may be down to carrying less weight around while maintaining a sedentary lifestyle.
It’s very real, especially as we age. It depends on age, too.
In fact, one thing we lose as we age is appetite. At my age I would never take a drug that reduces my appetite. I shoot for a minimum of 150g of daily protein; on some days 200g. It’s a struggle to choke down that much protein without eating a LOT of meat. It requires a real good appetite.
You make an interesting point about will power being finite on a daily basis. One thing I think I’ve gained as I’ve aged is will power. A promise is a promise, you keep it or break it, whether it’s made to yourself or others. You do or you don’t. As I age, I find that broken promises can keep me awake at night, another good reason to keep them.
Still thinking about the finite angle, though. For parents with young children and for entrepreneurs, daily will power may be finite indeed.
Muscle Loss and Stomach Paralysis: The Hidden Dangers
In my clinic, we’ve seen firsthand the side effects associated with these injections, particularly muscle loss and a condition called gastroparesis, or partial paralysis of the stomach. On average, 40-50% of the weight lost through these medications comes from muscle, not fat. This is alarming because muscle mass is crucial for overall health and longevity.
Gastroparesis is another serious issue I’ve encountered in patients who stop taking these medications. Some individuals experience persistent nausea, vomiting, and an inability to eat, all of which stem from the stomach’s inability to contract and empty properly—a direct result of the paralysis of the stomach muscles.
To start with, the way in which semaglutide drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy cause weight loss can be problematic. A weekly dose of semaglutide not only suppresses your appetite, but also delays the rate at which food leaves your stomach, helping you to feel full for longer.
But having food stay in your stomach for a long time can be uncomfortable and cause side-effects such as nausea, vomiting, constipation or, in extreme cases, severe bloating.
According to Dr Vanita Rahman, the clinic director at the Barnard Medical Center in Washington, DC, gastrointestinal problems are the most common side effect of semaglutide.
Other worrying side effects being reported are mental health problems such as anxiety, depression and suicidal thoughts. Psychological changes like these might be possible because semaglutide affects the brain as well as the gut.
The drug modifies the activity of brain cells that produce dopamine and serotonin, chemicals that contribute to feelings of pleasure when you eat. This helps reduce cravings for high-fat or sugary foods, making them less enjoyable to eat.
“A dramatic adjustment of body weight can trigger biological and psychological responses that can influence suicidal ideation,” says Amira Guirguis, a professor of pharmacy at Swansea University in the UK.
Guirguis and her colleagues conducted one of the first studies investigating whether there’s a link between drug-based weight-loss treatments and suicidal thoughts.
Discover:
Why 40% of Ozempic weight loss comes from muscle and bone
The one mistake that causes the fat to return, but not the muscle
Real case: a healthy woman loses weight… and gets osteoporosis
The shocking mental health impact linked to GLP-1 drugs
Why liposuction fails and can actually make your health worse
Well now you don’t have to worry about them eating too much if they take the pills, I think that is a good thing right, because that person is not able to control their appetite or weight which is actually just a really common issue as innate biology is working against us in the modern world of abundance. They will get healthier and you should be happy for them. That they need to start on drugs the rest of their life to maintain the health effects really isn’t a big deal.
As for Diary of A CEO It’s not worth looking at his channel, full of medical mistruths and his group company takes a stake on almost everything promoted on there. Seriously that’s how he makes a lot of his money. He is a slicker version of the radio shows selling pills in Taiwan to old Taiwanese speakers. He’s smart but unfortunately he’s not scientifically educated and his mind is actually on the money connected to these medical videos, not the science or the benefits.
There’s third generation weight loss peptides and small molecule drugs coming through now, soon most of us may be on them and they will absolutely revolutionise our treatment of metabolic disease and be FAR more beneficial than vitamin pill popping everywhere was**. In fact these pills deserve more than one Nobel prize** for the benefits they will bring to humanity and also the environment . Sales of McDonalds are going down in the US because of them.
I’d prefer they just switched to a healthy lifestyle. Then I would be happy for them and they would no doubt feel happy about themselves too.
Its all about your identity, you are never going to make that change with a drug instead of doing it the right way.
It’s not really your life though is it. You should be happy that the drug will allow them to switch to a healthy lifestyle of not over eating which will allow them to be lighter on their feet and more energetic and more mobile and less prone to injuries thus naturally leading them to a healthier lifestyle . What came first the chicken or the egg…who cares. You waiting for them to do it ‘the right way’ they’ll be miserable with all kinds of metabolic diseases and heading to an early grave.
In fact I don’t really understand this kind of thinking it doesn’t make any kind of rational sense to me. Keep repeating something that has a 99% failure rate ?
Well that drug doesn’t make the habits stick. If you come off it you likely go back to your old habits. Plus there are other negatives like eating away your muscle mass.
Not sure what the argument is here. Just do it the old fashioned way, eat less food.
It isnt even difficult. I replaced 1 meal every day this week with a chicken omelet. 3 eggs. I was insanely full from that. No need for the bloody ozempic.
It’s easy but the majority of people can’t do it. Stats.
You brag about your fabulous biochemistry and how easy it is for you every time the subject of weight-loss comes up. We’re all very happy for you, but your lived experience is not the same as the 99% of folks turning to these options, you might as well be a bird telling people how easy it is to just flap their arms more! 
Meanwhile the rest of us are very glad that taking a plane is an option, even if we do have to walk again at the other end, thankyewverymuch… 
I say it’s conceptually simple, but clearly not easy for most.