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I don't know how young you are. Great story, but, sorry, no. Every single weight loss program claims exactly what you claim. And they all deliver pretty much

I don't know how young you are. Great story, but, sorry, no. Every single weight loss program claims exactly what you claim. And they all deliver pretty much exactly the same results. My guess is that about 10 to 20 percent of weight loss program participants achieve sustainable life-long objectives, keep the weight off and change their lifestyle. The rest are in a range between utter failure and yo-yo diet programs to some short term success, no long term behavioral modification and ultimately, a return to their prior state or worse. Every single bullet point you list requires one thing that you cannot control --nobody can: A personal decision to change. And no pill is going to force this decision. Look, maybe you are well-meaning, however, what you are looking to do here is no different from the myriad weight loss supplements out there. I know people who made millions peddling Garcinia Cambogia, Forskolin and other weight loss supplements on Amazon. I know people who swear by the stuff. I would be willing to bet that, statistically speaking the results are not very different from almost any other purported solution. At the end of the day, the day weight loss isn't difficult at all. In its harshest form its as simple as eating less. Even if you eat junk, if you eat less, you lose weight. Physics. A more sophisticated approach is to learn and decide to eat better. In both cases no exercise is required beyond normal activity. Even a person who is confined to bedrest --no exercise at all-- will lose weight if they consume less matter than their bodies process into energy and excrete. My mother passed away a couple of months ago. A couple of months before that she simply did not want to eat very much at all. The amount of weight she lost was incredible. The issue with obesity is bad food, unhealthy eating habits being promoted from childhood and a situation where adults almost can't escape all the things that make them sick. And yet, after all of that, it becomes a matter of making a decision. And it is a very difficult decision to make for most. To use an analogy, it takes far more effort to help someone who becomes a drug addict than to guide them down the right path from early childhood. That also happens to be far better for society. To use a business parallel: You can build the best hotel, have the greatest and most amazing rooms, serve incredible food and have amazing customer service. And yet, you cannot force people to take a vacation. And so, all the bullet points in your argument sound fantastic. If you go to Jenny Craig, or Weight Watchers, they pretty much claim exactly the same things. And their road to success is paved with the sorry bodies of the millions of people who thought they found magic, only to end-up exactly where they started --or worse. The right solution isn't a pill. Its investing time, money and effort to change what we are doing about food and how we are destroying our kids health by not acting with their best interest in mind. That said, congratulations. With YC's backing there's probably no doubt your startup will have a unicorn-scale exit. If there's one market segment were the same story can be used again and again to make billions it is the weight loss industry. So, again, congrats. Brilliant move.

dang 5y ago
Please stop posting these rants. Hounding someone like this after you already personally attacked them is crossing into harassment. I already asked you to stop once, and you've responded by doing more of it, not once but twice. Seriously not cool. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28258175 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28258175.
- robomartin 5y ago
  I understand. You need to protect a YC-funded startup from criticism. No problem. I get it. Money is more important. Just go ahead and delete everything I have written on this thread. That will be the easiest path. Lesson learned, don't be critical of YC companies. Got it.
  - dang 5y ago
    People criticize YC-funded startups all the time on HN. Just look at the beating these guys took yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28247379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28247379. We go out of our way to moderate threads less when a YC startup is involved (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20moderate%20less%20%22not%20more%22%20yc&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...), but your behavior in this thread has been so egregious that I don't have a choice. "Less" doesn't mean "zero".
    - robomartin 5y ago
      > your behavior in this thread has been so egregious that I don't have a choice From the FDA notice on the approval of this drug: "The most common side effects of Wegovy include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal (stomach) pain, headache, fatigue, dyspepsia (indigestion), dizziness, abdominal distension, eructation (belching), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in patients with type 2 diabetes, flatulence (gas buildup), gastroenteritis (an intestinal infection) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (a type of digestive disorder). The prescribing information for Wegovy contains a boxed warning to inform healthcare professionals and patients about the potential risk of THYROID C-CELL TUMORS. Wegovy should not be used in patients with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or in patients with a rare condition called Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2). Wegovy should not be used in patients with a history of severe allergic reactions to semaglutide or any of the other components of Wegovy. Patients should stop Wegovy immediately and seek medical help if a severe allergic reaction is suspected. Wegovy also contains warnings for inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), gallbladder problems (including gallstones), low blood sugar, acute kidney injury, diabetic retinopathy (damage to the eye's retina), increased heart rate and suicidal behavior or thinking. Patients should discuss with their healthcare professional if they have symptoms of pancreatitis or gallstones. If Wegovy is used with insulin or a substance that causes insulin secretion, patients should speak to their health care provider about potentially lowering the dose of insulin or the insulin-inducing drug to reduce the risk of low blood sugar. Healthcare providers should monitor patients with kidney disease, diabetic retinopathy and depression or suicidal behaviors or thoughts." It is interesting what we choose to label as egregious. My first reaction was very raw: I could not believe YC though it OK to effectively become drug pushers. You are funding a startup that will expose people to all of the above, and then some. Here's the key message: See that list? Well, that list goes away. Completely. If we push for better food rather than popping pills. Gone. You are entitled to moderate HN as you wish, of course. This does not alter the obscenity that is the idea of looking for a billion dollar exit by preying on desperate people by pushing drugs. At the end of the day, that's what all weight loss programs do. From a Harvard article on weight loss drugs: "You may remember some disturbing reports about previous weight-loss medications. Dexfenfluramine and fenfluramine were taken off the market after they were linked to heart valve damage. Sibutramine (Meridia) was removed after it was linked to heart attack and stroke in people at highest risk for them. The options on the market today come with their own cautions. The ingredient phentermine—a component of Adipex-P, Ionamin, and Qsymia—isn't usually recommended for people who have high blood pressure or other heart conditions. Topiramate, another component of Qsymia, has been linked to an increased risk of birth defects, so women who take it should take special precautions not to get pregnant." A lot of people don't remember what some of these approved drugs did to people, perhaps because they are too young...they don't even know the history. What does FDA approved actually mean? Have a good weekend. Going for a walk.

dang 5y ago

Please stop posting these rants. Hounding someone like this after you already personally attacked them is crossing into harassment. I already asked you to stop once, and you've responded by doing more of it, not once but twice. Seriously not cool. We detached this comment from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28258175 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28258175.

robomartin 5y ago
I understand. You need to protect a YC-funded startup from criticism. No problem. I get it. Money is more important. Just go ahead and delete everything I have written on this thread. That will be the easiest path. Lesson learned, don't be critical of YC companies. Got it.
- dang 5y ago
  People criticize YC-funded startups all the time on HN. Just look at the beating these guys took yesterday: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28247379 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=28247379. We go out of our way to moderate threads less when a YC startup is involved (https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&query=by%3Adang%20moderate%20less%20%22not%20more%22%20yc&sort=byDate&type=comment https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...), but your behavior in this thread has been so egregious that I don't have a choice. "Less" doesn't mean "zero".
  - robomartin 5y ago
    > your behavior in this thread has been so egregious that I don't have a choice From the FDA notice on the approval of this drug: "The most common side effects of Wegovy include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal (stomach) pain, headache, fatigue, dyspepsia (indigestion), dizziness, abdominal distension, eructation (belching), hypoglycemia (low blood sugar) in patients with type 2 diabetes, flatulence (gas buildup), gastroenteritis (an intestinal infection) and gastroesophageal reflux disease (a type of digestive disorder). The prescribing information for Wegovy contains a boxed warning to inform healthcare professionals and patients about the potential risk of THYROID C-CELL TUMORS. Wegovy should not be used in patients with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or in patients with a rare condition called Multiple Endocrine Neoplasia syndrome type 2 (MEN 2). Wegovy should not be used in patients with a history of severe allergic reactions to semaglutide or any of the other components of Wegovy. Patients should stop Wegovy immediately and seek medical help if a severe allergic reaction is suspected. Wegovy also contains warnings for inflammation of the pancreas (pancreatitis), gallbladder problems (including gallstones), low blood sugar, acute kidney injury, diabetic retinopathy (damage to the eye's retina), increased heart rate and suicidal behavior or thinking. Patients should discuss with their healthcare professional if they have symptoms of pancreatitis or gallstones. If Wegovy is used with insulin or a substance that causes insulin secretion, patients should speak to their health care provider about potentially lowering the dose of insulin or the insulin-inducing drug to reduce the risk of low blood sugar. Healthcare providers should monitor patients with kidney disease, diabetic retinopathy and depression or suicidal behaviors or thoughts." It is interesting what we choose to label as egregious. My first reaction was very raw: I could not believe YC though it OK to effectively become drug pushers. You are funding a startup that will expose people to all of the above, and then some. Here's the key message: See that list? Well, that list goes away. Completely. If we push for better food rather than popping pills. Gone. You are entitled to moderate HN as you wish, of course. This does not alter the obscenity that is the idea of looking for a billion dollar exit by preying on desperate people by pushing drugs. At the end of the day, that's what all weight loss programs do. From a Harvard article on weight loss drugs: "You may remember some disturbing reports about previous weight-loss medications. Dexfenfluramine and fenfluramine were taken off the market after they were linked to heart valve damage. Sibutramine (Meridia) was removed after it was linked to heart attack and stroke in people at highest risk for them. The options on the market today come with their own cautions. The ingredient phentermine—a component of Adipex-P, Ionamin, and Qsymia—isn't usually recommended for people who have high blood pressure or other heart conditions. Topiramate, another component of Qsymia, has been linked to an increased risk of birth defects, so women who take it should take special precautions not to get pregnant." A lot of people don't remember what some of these approved drugs did to people, perhaps because they are too young...they don't even know the history. What does FDA approved actually mean? Have a good weekend. Going for a walk.