Obesity: Appetite drug could mark 'new era' in tackling condition
Some of the people on the 15-month trial lost more than a fifth of their body weight.
www.bbc.com
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"Appetite Drug" (currently in trial phase) is successful in making people lose almost 1/5th of their total body weight in 15 month period
- Thread starter RustyNails
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It sound good, but I'm worried about how it might be abused. I hope I'm just being a paranoid debbie downer.
The "fast whisper the side effects" part of the TV ads for this are going to be four minutes long.
Yeah... I've got to research this more and consider the implications.
My knee-jerk is this is a terrible idea.
No, that was my immediate reaction too.
Assuming this pans out, I'd hope they only administer this to people who are working with a nutritionist... but it does seem like a potential boon to help a lot of unhealthy folks.
Maintenance of the lower weight is a big issue too...
If people just put the weight back on after they stop taking the drug, is it really all that helpful? Doesn't sound any different from any weight loss plan in that regard. People still need to overhaul their diets and look at the way they consume their foods.
Very unfortunate situation of many drugs really.
But if this can help obesity this could be (for lack of better words) huge.
Doctor says it at the end though, it really shouldnt be considered a 'cheat':
I'd say this is potentially even worse than your average yo-yo diet... because it would potentially retrain you to eat for an artificially suppressed appetite.
It's a tool. I'd like to think their natural appetite will be lowered since they have been eating considerably less the whole time and so won't eat at the same volume. Will have to see how the same participants have fared in a years time.
A lot of people just need help to get to a place where they are less obese and they can maintain that level afterward.
That's a given and I'm sure there will be people who shot right back up but fort those who are overwhelmed at being heavy and just can't seem to get to a healthy weight too then tackle maintaining it, this will be very helpful.
Ngl when I was put on Concerta I lost like 30 lbs in a month which then made me underweight but at the same time, I was eating what I usually did.
Not sure if it's a good thing or not but the weight will come crawling back if I don't take the medication regardless of eating or not.
i doubt it's a bad thing considering you're taking medication for a reason and are assumedly getting enough nutrition, it's basically always associated with living longer to weigh less (though i think technically it's also associated with a longer life to actually eat less too)
not like you got a tapeworm, just burnin
not like you got a tapeworm, just burnin
So, to lose 1kg/2.2lbs a month, you'd need to get a shot every week? Guess that's better than surgery?
This is less of a magic bullet and more of a crutch. People who use it and notice what proper healthy portions are will have success. I'd suspect most people would rebound though...
This is less of a magic bullet and more of a crutch. People who use it and notice what proper healthy portions are will have success. I'd suspect most people would rebound though...
You can give yourself the shot. Side effects doesn't seem too bad either, but the cost is really damn high. Maybe when it gets to generic status it might have a wider adaption.
That makes more sense, but there's still something that doesn't feel quite right here. How easily it could be abused for vanity, people becoming dependent on it?
Appetite can be suppressed with discipline and consistency, people just have shit discipline (I'm no exception).
If this helps some, it's a net benefit, of course.
If this helps some, it's a net benefit, of course.
Not even sure if you'd need to take them off it since if it just makes them eat less you might be able to get to a point where it reaches equilibrium since your bodies metabolism is designed to resist changes to some extent. Overweight people will often burn calories faster because of that extra weight so I wouldn't assume the rate that they burn calories is equivalent throughout the whole period. As long as the equilibrium ends up in a healthy area you might not need to go off them (though of course it might still be beneficial to do so because being on less meds if you can is generally better)
Well considering I need to lose weight and vacuum my apartment, sign me up!
When over 40% of the population is obese and around 70% are overweight I think it's time we stop looking at this as an individual problem.
This. It takes me about 4-5 days to change my appetite but those 4-5 days are ABSOLUTE FUCKING HELL and I have to basically be mindful at all times otherwise I can potentially turn my brain off and mindlessly eat my entire fridge
I don't see how this will actually help people except for those that desperately need to lose weight in a short amount of time. The effectiveness will wear off soon or immediately after ceasing to take the drug, and you're relationship to food will go back to the way it was before the drug. Long term weight loss is primarily about behavioral changes, this is avoidance.
I can imagine this would be good for obese people who medically would benefit from losing weight rather quickly, but I just feel like this will be marketed to a public that is often overweight because of their food choices and portion sizing, and see this as a silver bullet. Obviously, being overweight, at least in the U.S, is a far more complicated issue than just being the result of individuals' behavior, but drugs aren't going to address those issues either.
I can imagine this would be good for obese people who medically would benefit from losing weight rather quickly, but I just feel like this will be marketed to a public that is often overweight because of their food choices and portion sizing, and see this as a silver bullet. Obviously, being overweight, at least in the U.S, is a far more complicated issue than just being the result of individuals' behavior, but drugs aren't going to address those issues either.
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Exactly this. It's awful -- and inverse to the amount of work as it takes for you to change it positively, it'll go RIGHT BACK if you let yourself fall into old habits.
Man, it's crazy how accurately this describes me, too. I am currently in the process of trying to adapt back after fucking up and it's scary how easy it is to convince yourself to just eat whatever you want unless you are hyper focused not to.
My wife has lost 83 lbs in a year and a half. Without a pill. Really wish I had her drive, she has made an incredible transformation.
It has been all diet and either walking or jogging everyday
It has been all diet and either walking or jogging everyday
This drug has been on the market for a few years, and there are other drugs like it in the same class. They're used for type 2 diabetes and have been known to be weight neutral or cause weight loss for awhile now. It seems this one causes even more weight loss than other drugs in that class, which is interesting.
Food addiction is a very real thing for many people, especially those with severe depression, seasonal depression, etc. Stress levels contribute as well.
Saying appetite can easily be controlled with discipline is kind of brushing aside many of the underlying factors as to why people develop eating addictions to begin with.
Not every solution works for every person or situation, and the more tools that exist out there the better.
People aren't "weak" because they get controlled by their food cravings, they need genuine help in most cases.
Same here :( since January I've been trying but I get to like, Day 3 and then I fuck up. It's hard but I can FEEL IT IN MY BONES that I'm gonna get back on track very soon
And I have to keep reminding myself that I've done this before and I've been successful before
P.S. this is why I fuCKING HATE the holidays because everyone's just like "here eat this 6000 calorie thing it's ok it's the holidays 😊 don't be a party pooper come on ☺️"
I'm sure the original poster knew this; of course it's simplified. There's many many many many many factors that contribute to this stuff.
And the more self aware I become the more I realize this lol
I'm just pissed at myself rn because in December I was SOOOO fucking close to having a good 6 pack and then I rented a cabin with 2 friends and ate like total shit and I've been trying to recover ever since :-(
When I was in high school I was on adderall and I had almost zero appetite and it sucked. During lunch I had to almost force myself to eat something. Though it would wear off by dinner and I would stuff my face. I was in amazing physical shape though.
I learned at a pretty young age that no matter what I ate, no matter how filling the meal, I would always have room for more and remain hungry. Because of that, I had to develop a plan to basically fast for 14-18 hours a day in order to make sure I didn't consume food nonchalantly. If I didn't have that mechanism I'd eat 24/7.
I know firsthand that other people suffer from the same thing I do and don't have the ability to fast for 12+ hours like I do, and I've found it has very little to do with discipline and a lot to do with mental health, stress and their hunger signals getting royally screwed up over the course of their life.
It's why I don't like to boil it down to discpline, I find that explanation far too simple and it tends to unintentionally make the whole thing seem really easy.
For too many people, it'll be a life long struggle.