Sort of. We have drugs that can help you lose weight, but they come with their own challenges and risks, and you still need to eat right and exercise. And even then, it’s prescribed and covered for diagnosed diabetes. If you want it to lose weight, you probably have to pay for it.
Eating right is much more difficult than people pretend it is, and exercise is simply not possible for a lot of overweight people. You might as well say “don’t be poor, and also don’t be poor.”
So when you say on top of that, “we’ve made it easier for you to lose weight with this new drug, as long as you aren’t poor,” that’s not really helpful.
Now it is also prescribed for obesity, not just diabetes. And I think very much worth it from a societal perspective, as the healthcare costs of obesity are extreme.
My parents and my fiancee have gotten on an equivalent of Ozempic specifically for weight loss and covered by insurance. It seems to be easier now than it was, because if my fiancee wasn’t covered we absolutely couldn’t afford it.
Excellent question, but I have no idea. She tears the medicine labels off for some reason so I’ll ask her when she gets home and edit with more info. It’s a capsule and a tiny pill, taken morning and night respectively, if that means anything to you.
exercise is simply not possible for a lot of overweight people.
I’m not fat, but that seems simply untrue unless the person is fat due to a serious disability in the first place. Maybe doing intense exercise isn’t possible, but fat people can absolutely start with small, little exercises and work their way up over months or years.
I wasn’t going to get into it, but I think you’ll find disability is far more widespread than you think it is, and the other limiting factor is poverty. Obese people skew poor for the first time in history, and it’s because the working poor are limited in food choice, healthcare, and disposable time. People who say “start small and work your way up over months or years” never worked 80 hours a week for minimum wage and it shows.
You’re right, of course, it’s not impossible, but as someone who’s had several significant changes in BMI/body fat in my life, I can tell you exercising when you’re already in decent shape is SO much easier.
Being fat makes a lot of potential options for exercise much more difficult if not outright impossible. One of the biggest ways to stay active is to find something you actually like doing, so the fewer options you have, the harder it is.
This validated a new normal across America: When legally required to share public pools with Black children, many white families decided they’d rather not go at all. Closing public pools to avoid racial integration became official policy for many cities across the U.S.
Not only did racism deprive black people of access to pools (leading to stereotypes like “black people don’t swim” etc.), it also greatly reduced it for white people, especially ones not wealthy enough to pay for membership to one of the private pools that sprang up in the wake of the closures of the public pools.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ In the sample size of the few fat people I know IRL and their family’s that’s not true, at least for the people I know. Unless we’re counting mental illness as a medical condition, which is fair because they are.
Mental illnesses are absolutely medical conditions. Many of them have physical origins; your brain is a physical organ in your body. Mental illnesses with social or experiential origins are also medical conditions that can demand both physical and mental care. The brain can have a physical impact on the body that also need care. Your brain is the main organ in your body that predicts what will happen in the future, and other parts of your body respond to it to regulate biological functions, as famously demonstrated by Pavlov’s experiments with conditioning dogs by experience to get a response from their digestive (salivary) glands.
They are, and they absolutely changed my life. I was never obese, but almost always overweight since childhood.
As an adult, I used Saxenda (liraglutide) for almost 3 years, prescribed by my gastro doc. I lost 25 kgs with it, out of which only 3 was muscle mass. I only needed half the max dose, and now they even have a newer and more effective formula.
I was afraid I would gain it back after stopping, as I was warned, but I stopped half a year ago, and I lost 5 kg more with only diet since then. And by diet I don’t mean starving myself, just switching to super healthy and natural stuff, and staying away from processed food.
Before this med, I ate too much, and even though I tried to stay away from stuff with added sugar or too much fat, it just added up. The drug took away my excessive hunger, and at the beginning I just ate less, but after a few months I also changed my diet to be more fresh and healthy, and the fat just kept melting away.
Now I’m in my mid 30s, and look better then ever, and also got rid of health conditions (like minor high blood pressure) that would cause a mess later. And again, I was never obese, only overweight, so I can’t even imagine the impact this would have on dangerously obese people.
Incredible technology, I think a lot of people will take these in the future. And my case shows that it’s not true that you have to take it forever: if you can adjust your diet and life over a period of a few years, your body will “heal” and help you to keep the fat down later.
And unbelievably expensive, and unbelievably good at regulating an A1C.
Now if you excuse me, I am gonna go and break down crying to the insurance rep about how Ozempic is way better than metformin at not making me shit my pants. I swear I am not making excuses just to lose weight. (Please someone, stop the madness, if I can get semiglutides that doesn’t make you lose weight but regulates my A1C I would be so happy)
Another option for diabetes are the SGLT-2 inhibitors like Jardiance. They work by making you pee out all the excess sugar. You won’t have the diarrhea issues, but you will be peeing a lot. (It’s basically a special diuretic, so it’s also really good for blood pressure.) Bonus: they’ve also gained approval for slowing the progression of diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease), so if that’s something you have any trouble with, it can help get it covered.
Friend of mine has been on wegovy and has lost almost 40 pounds in 4-5 months. It was almost discouraging to hear that as it has taken me two years to set the correct habits to lose almost 35 pounds (and keep it off).
The side effects of those drugs are real though. My friend says she constantly feels nausea and it’s weird to see her eat so little… When we go out I would be surprised if she even eats half her plate, if that.
It’s been a long journey for me personally to lose weight. I had to teach myself how to use gym equipment, cut out all sodas, and to suppress my cravings. To see people take what looks like “the easy way out” can sting… but in the end, I feel better then ever.
One of the biggest problems with the GLP-1’s (Ozempic, etc) is the fact that people lose weight by just not eating as much, and the things they do eat aren’t likely to be very nutritious. Protein malnutrition and muscle wasting are very common sources of weight loss on Ozempic. That’s why it’s standard of care to get your patient to a licensed dietician before starting them on one of those drugs if at all possible.
Now we have weight loss drugs, though. Those are apparently unbelievably effective
Sort of. We have drugs that can help you lose weight, but they come with their own challenges and risks, and you still need to eat right and exercise. And even then, it’s prescribed and covered for diagnosed diabetes. If you want it to lose weight, you probably have to pay for it.
Eating right is much more difficult than people pretend it is, and exercise is simply not possible for a lot of overweight people. You might as well say “don’t be poor, and also don’t be poor.”
So when you say on top of that, “we’ve made it easier for you to lose weight with this new drug, as long as you aren’t poor,” that’s not really helpful.
Now it is also prescribed for obesity, not just diabetes. And I think very much worth it from a societal perspective, as the healthcare costs of obesity are extreme.
My parents and my fiancee have gotten on an equivalent of Ozempic specifically for weight loss and covered by insurance. It seems to be easier now than it was, because if my fiancee wasn’t covered we absolutely couldn’t afford it.
WeGovy?
Excellent question, but I have no idea. She tears the medicine labels off for some reason so I’ll ask her when she gets home and edit with more info. It’s a capsule and a tiny pill, taken morning and night respectively, if that means anything to you.
Edit: Phentermine and topiramate
I’m not fat, but that seems simply untrue unless the person is fat due to a serious disability in the first place. Maybe doing intense exercise isn’t possible, but fat people can absolutely start with small, little exercises and work their way up over months or years.
I wasn’t going to get into it, but I think you’ll find disability is far more widespread than you think it is, and the other limiting factor is poverty. Obese people skew poor for the first time in history, and it’s because the working poor are limited in food choice, healthcare, and disposable time. People who say “start small and work your way up over months or years” never worked 80 hours a week for minimum wage and it shows.
You’re right, of course, it’s not impossible, but as someone who’s had several significant changes in BMI/body fat in my life, I can tell you exercising when you’re already in decent shape is SO much easier.
Being fat makes a lot of potential options for exercise much more difficult if not outright impossible. One of the biggest ways to stay active is to find something you actually like doing, so the fewer options you have, the harder it is.
Like going to a pool if there’s is one available near them.
Speaking of institutional racism…
Not only did racism deprive black people of access to pools (leading to stereotypes like “black people don’t swim” etc.), it also greatly reduced it for white people, especially ones not wealthy enough to pay for membership to one of the private pools that sprang up in the wake of the closures of the public pools.
We are all sicker because of the bigots’ hate.
I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Obesity is almost always caused by other medical conditions, not the other way around.
deleted by creator
¯\_(ツ)_/¯ In the sample size of the few fat people I know IRL and their family’s that’s not true, at least for the people I know. Unless we’re counting mental illness as a medical condition, which is fair because they are.
Mental illnesses are absolutely medical conditions. Many of them have physical origins; your brain is a physical organ in your body. Mental illnesses with social or experiential origins are also medical conditions that can demand both physical and mental care. The brain can have a physical impact on the body that also need care. Your brain is the main organ in your body that predicts what will happen in the future, and other parts of your body respond to it to regulate biological functions, as famously demonstrated by Pavlov’s experiments with conditioning dogs by experience to get a response from their digestive (salivary) glands.
They are, and they absolutely changed my life. I was never obese, but almost always overweight since childhood.
As an adult, I used Saxenda (liraglutide) for almost 3 years, prescribed by my gastro doc. I lost 25 kgs with it, out of which only 3 was muscle mass. I only needed half the max dose, and now they even have a newer and more effective formula.
I was afraid I would gain it back after stopping, as I was warned, but I stopped half a year ago, and I lost 5 kg more with only diet since then. And by diet I don’t mean starving myself, just switching to super healthy and natural stuff, and staying away from processed food.
Before this med, I ate too much, and even though I tried to stay away from stuff with added sugar or too much fat, it just added up. The drug took away my excessive hunger, and at the beginning I just ate less, but after a few months I also changed my diet to be more fresh and healthy, and the fat just kept melting away.
Now I’m in my mid 30s, and look better then ever, and also got rid of health conditions (like minor high blood pressure) that would cause a mess later. And again, I was never obese, only overweight, so I can’t even imagine the impact this would have on dangerously obese people.
Incredible technology, I think a lot of people will take these in the future. And my case shows that it’s not true that you have to take it forever: if you can adjust your diet and life over a period of a few years, your body will “heal” and help you to keep the fat down later.
And unbelievably expensive, and unbelievably good at regulating an A1C.
Now if you excuse me, I am gonna go and break down crying to the insurance rep about how Ozempic is way better than metformin at not making me shit my pants. I swear I am not making excuses just to lose weight. (Please someone, stop the madness, if I can get semiglutides that doesn’t make you lose weight but regulates my A1C I would be so happy)
Another option for diabetes are the SGLT-2 inhibitors like Jardiance. They work by making you pee out all the excess sugar. You won’t have the diarrhea issues, but you will be peeing a lot. (It’s basically a special diuretic, so it’s also really good for blood pressure.) Bonus: they’ve also gained approval for slowing the progression of diabetic nephropathy (kidney disease), so if that’s something you have any trouble with, it can help get it covered.
I hope you get the care you deserve.
Until then talk to your doctor about:
Friend of mine has been on wegovy and has lost almost 40 pounds in 4-5 months. It was almost discouraging to hear that as it has taken me two years to set the correct habits to lose almost 35 pounds (and keep it off).
The side effects of those drugs are real though. My friend says she constantly feels nausea and it’s weird to see her eat so little… When we go out I would be surprised if she even eats half her plate, if that.
It’s been a long journey for me personally to lose weight. I had to teach myself how to use gym equipment, cut out all sodas, and to suppress my cravings. To see people take what looks like “the easy way out” can sting… but in the end, I feel better then ever.
I’d there’s one thing I’ve learned in all my studies, it’s that weight los drugs are shiiiiiit
Not because they don’t work, but because a general effect like “weight loss” usually comes with more than a few downsides
One of the biggest problems with the GLP-1’s (Ozempic, etc) is the fact that people lose weight by just not eating as much, and the things they do eat aren’t likely to be very nutritious. Protein malnutrition and muscle wasting are very common sources of weight loss on Ozempic. That’s why it’s standard of care to get your patient to a licensed dietician before starting them on one of those drugs if at all possible.