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Most of weight loss actually happens in the kitchen, not the gym. A candy bar is roughly equivalent to a 20 minute run, in terms of Calories. Weight loss drugs

Most of weight loss actually happens in the kitchen, not the gym. A candy bar is roughly equivalent to a 20 minute run, in terms of Calories. Weight loss drugs surpress appetite urges. Even if you got super fit on the drug, without long term habit changes, most people are likely to put back on the weight quickly. Somewhat counter intuitively, fat people tend to have strong muscles to move all their mass around. My understanding with these drugs is that they artificially inhibit cravings, reducing the urge to eat, thus effectively stimulating weight loss. As soon as the drug stops being administered, the cravings return (and thus the weight) regardless of how fit you are. Just as an anecdote, I used to not understand how people got so fat. Just eat less lol? I’ve been a little light for my size pretty much my whole life, so I didn’t quite understand. In fact, if it were up to me I probably wouldn’t eat at all. So the concept of being overweight was foreign to me and I assumed that fat people must be lazy/weak/whatever. As I got older and a little more in tune with my body, I noticed what sugar cravings are really like. And my god, when that part of the brain complains, it gets front and center stage. I specifically remember trying hard to resist reaching for a soda for like an hour. I conceded and drank one. I couldn’t focus otherwise. Then I realized that there are people (typically easily spotted) that live every day of their life like this. And I get that the brain is hardwired for gluttony- I will literally never eat enough food in my life- so it’s a rather natural thing to want Calories. I’m lucky that I’ve got a passable relationship with food. I feel for those who struggle with it. I’m also glad that there is a stop-gap in drugs like ozempic that help effectively curtail eating, today. I’m also hopeful that the drugs of tomorrow will be even safer and more effective than we have now and that the systemic sources of obesity in society erode away. I think the future is only getting brighter (and lighter) for the millions struggling with their weight.

orwin 2y ago
As an ex-obese, you partly understand the issue. It's true that craving are omnipresent (still are for me, and I'm at 25 BMI now, used to be 34). The main issue is hunger and physical pain caused by hunger though. It's an hormonal imbalance, I 'fixed' it by fasting (you need access, time and money to do that in a controlled way, but you can also wing it. Careful, the second day is extremely painful). If you can fix it with medication and without torturing yourself (which the fast felt like), more power to everyone. [edit] also you have a pretty empathic way of thinking.
consteval 2y ago
> Most of weight loss actually happens in the kitchen, not the gym This isn't really true. Or it doesn't have to be. If you look at people with high muscle mass, you'll notice something. They eat a lot. Like... a lot. Michael Phelps famously ate close to 10,000 calories a day. Now granted, he swam a lot. But did he burn 8,000 calories a day swimming and hitting the gym? No. When you have more muscle, you burn more calories. Always, even when you sleep. So while a 20 minute run might only burn 150 calories... how many did you burn by running 20 minutes every day and building up leg muscles? Now it's harder to tell.
- AtlasBarfed 2y ago
  Yeah, if you burn 1,000 extra calories per day exercising (which is a lot of exercise for beginners but not that much for people training for anything major like a marathon) you can certainly do more with exercise than with diet. Personally I always used exercise, then you don't need to starve yourself, and you get all the benefits of hard exercise. But it's a discipline either, and hard for your typical weak-willed average first worlder.
  - the_real_cher 2y ago
    > hard for your typical weak-willed average first worlder First worlders have jobs and good economies as a consolation prize I guess.

orwin 2y ago

As an ex-obese, you partly understand the issue. It's true that craving are omnipresent (still are for me, and I'm at 25 BMI now, used to be 34). The main issue is hunger and physical pain caused by hunger though. It's an hormonal imbalance, I 'fixed' it by fasting (you need access, time and money to do that in a controlled way, but you can also wing it. Careful, the second day is extremely painful). If you can fix it with medication and without torturing yourself (which the fast felt like), more power to everyone. [edit] also you have a pretty empathic way of thinking.

consteval 2y ago

> Most of weight loss actually happens in the kitchen, not the gym This isn't really true. Or it doesn't have to be. If you look at people with high muscle mass, you'll notice something. They eat a lot. Like... a lot. Michael Phelps famously ate close to 10,000 calories a day. Now granted, he swam a lot. But did he burn 8,000 calories a day swimming and hitting the gym? No. When you have more muscle, you burn more calories. Always, even when you sleep. So while a 20 minute run might only burn 150 calories... how many did you burn by running 20 minutes every day and building up leg muscles? Now it's harder to tell.

AtlasBarfed 2y ago
Yeah, if you burn 1,000 extra calories per day exercising (which is a lot of exercise for beginners but not that much for people training for anything major like a marathon) you can certainly do more with exercise than with diet. Personally I always used exercise, then you don't need to starve yourself, and you get all the benefits of hard exercise. But it's a discipline either, and hard for your typical weak-willed average first worlder.
- the_real_cher 2y ago
  > hard for your typical weak-willed average first worlder First worlders have jobs and good economies as a consolation prize I guess.