4 ms·

An apparatus that may trick the brain into thinking the stomach is full

32 points by dankohn1 12y ago

vidarh 12y ago
Anyone who expects that "tricking the brain into thinking the stomach is full" will end obesity does not understand the myriad of motivations for overeating. Feeling hungry is just one of many. For my part, I pretty much never over-eat because I feel hungry. When I fail to adhere to my diet, it is almost always because stress or moods or social situations gets me to ignore very obvious feelings of fullness and continue to eat, or eat the "wrong" foods. It's not that things like this couldn't be very helpful for a lot of people, but there are also a lot of people for whom it'd do absolutely nothing.
- deleted 12y ago
  [deleted]
- ebbv 12y ago
  Exactly. I use food to self medicate. That's why I was over 300lbs in 2009. Only when I decided I was finally sick and tired of how I looked and how I felt all the time did I finally find the motivation to change my diet and lose the weight. I have a friend that gastric bypass worked for, but there's lots of people where it only temporarily works. This will be similar to gastric bypass. Where if people don't follow up the procedure with a change to their underlying behavior, they will end up overweight again.
- ars 12y ago
  Obviously it won't work for everyone. For example that comfort eater in the article: This wouldn't work on her, no matter that she dreams of having it. But it will work on some people, and for those people it will help.
- Semiapies 12y ago
  What I hate about headlines is that people view them as a proposition to debate. When every journalist I've known or followed has linked to a published story of theirs, the first thing they always say is, "I didn't write the headline." Headlines are just linkbait that an editor came up with, and they are not worth consideration. The actual story isn't about "ending obesity", it's about a treatment that may replace or reduce the need for a dangerous and expensive surgery for some morbidly obese people. The people interviewed don't offer it as a solution to Americans Being Fat, just as a treatment for very severe, life-threatening cases of obesity. And that's a Hell of a thing, if it pans out! I had a friend who would have died without a gastric bypass, and he had to fight his insurance company to get it covered. The bypass wasn't the only thing he had to do to lose and keep off his weight, of course, but it was critical. If something like this implant had been available, he could have had an easier time getting it and avoided a lot of surgical risk. For him and anyone in his position, that would be a huge win.
  - vidarh 12y ago
    The actual story also repeatedly talks about how one of the "problems" with the device is that contrary to current surgeries they expect it might be used by a lot more people. Millions is mentioned: > Baker’s concern, though, is that the Full Sense Device might work too well. If it’s effective, easy, and cheap, what’s to stop people from abusing it? >“When this hits the market, there’s not going to be just 10,000 to 15,000 people having it,” says Fred Walburn, president and sole employee of Full Sense Device’s parent company, BFKW. “There’s going to be hundreds of thousands. Millions per year.” And while a journalist has a valid reason to complain if we criticise the journalist for the title, they don't have a valid reason to complain if we criticise the headline. The headline is there. It is part of the presentation. It's not (likely) the journalists fault, but it's still an important part of the overall product.
_cudgel 12y ago
How about filling up on meat and vegetables, so there's no trick involved, and you get the nutrition you need?
- jonahx 12y ago
  As someone who has done this with a low calorie diet, I can tell you that it helps, but only to a point. That is, you'll be less hungry on this kind of diet while losing weight than on most others, but you'll still be hungry. And you'll be plenty hungry if you're calorie restricting a lot.
  - _cudgel 12y ago
    I had this problem as well. Finally someone said to me "What the hell makes you think you shouldn't be a little bit hungry all the time?" That hunger is the drive that pushes me to do things now. I don't want to fully satisfy it; I use it. I think a lot of us modern humans could stand to learn that. It definitely helped me.
    - Jare 12y ago
      You may be causing your mind and body undue stress and anxiety - please be careful and watch out for symptoms like mood swings or odd sleep patterns.
radley 12y ago
HN needs a buzzfeed filter.
- _cudgel 12y ago
  Agreed; this doesn't deserve down votes.
- ars 12y ago
  What kind of filter? Avoid buzzfeed, or more of it? Because this article is perfectly fine, so writing it off because of the url is silly (if that's what you meant, it was not clear).
  - radley 12y ago
    It's a weight loss scheme.
    - scribu 12y ago
      If you're trying to imply that it's dishonest (that's what I thought when I read "scheme" in this context), please explain why you've reached the conclusion that it's dishonest.

32 points by dankohn1 12y ago

Anyone who expects that "tricking the brain into thinking the stomach is full" will end obesity does not understand the myriad of motivations for overeating. Feeling hungry is just one of many. For my part, I pretty much never over-eat because I feel hungry. When I fail to adhere to my diet, it is almost always because stress or moods or social situations gets me to ignore very obvious feelings of fullness and continue to eat, or eat the "wrong" foods. It's not that things like this couldn't be very helpful for a lot of people, but there are also a lot of people for whom it'd do absolutely nothing.

deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
ebbv 12y ago
Exactly. I use food to self medicate. That's why I was over 300lbs in 2009. Only when I decided I was finally sick and tired of how I looked and how I felt all the time did I finally find the motivation to change my diet and lose the weight. I have a friend that gastric bypass worked for, but there's lots of people where it only temporarily works. This will be similar to gastric bypass. Where if people don't follow up the procedure with a change to their underlying behavior, they will end up overweight again.
ars 12y ago
Obviously it won't work for everyone. For example that comfort eater in the article: This wouldn't work on her, no matter that she dreams of having it. But it will work on some people, and for those people it will help.
Semiapies 12y ago
What I hate about headlines is that people view them as a proposition to debate. When every journalist I've known or followed has linked to a published story of theirs, the first thing they always say is, "I didn't write the headline." Headlines are just linkbait that an editor came up with, and they are not worth consideration. The actual story isn't about "ending obesity", it's about a treatment that may replace or reduce the need for a dangerous and expensive surgery for some morbidly obese people. The people interviewed don't offer it as a solution to Americans Being Fat, just as a treatment for very severe, life-threatening cases of obesity. And that's a Hell of a thing, if it pans out! I had a friend who would have died without a gastric bypass, and he had to fight his insurance company to get it covered. The bypass wasn't the only thing he had to do to lose and keep off his weight, of course, but it was critical. If something like this implant had been available, he could have had an easier time getting it and avoided a lot of surgical risk. For him and anyone in his position, that would be a huge win.
- vidarh 12y ago
  The actual story also repeatedly talks about how one of the "problems" with the device is that contrary to current surgeries they expect it might be used by a lot more people. Millions is mentioned: > Baker’s concern, though, is that the Full Sense Device might work too well. If it’s effective, easy, and cheap, what’s to stop people from abusing it? >“When this hits the market, there’s not going to be just 10,000 to 15,000 people having it,” says Fred Walburn, president and sole employee of Full Sense Device’s parent company, BFKW. “There’s going to be hundreds of thousands. Millions per year.” And while a journalist has a valid reason to complain if we criticise the journalist for the title, they don't have a valid reason to complain if we criticise the headline. The headline is there. It is part of the presentation. It's not (likely) the journalists fault, but it's still an important part of the overall product.

_cudgel 12y ago

How about filling up on meat and vegetables, so there's no trick involved, and you get the nutrition you need?

jonahx 12y ago
As someone who has done this with a low calorie diet, I can tell you that it helps, but only to a point. That is, you'll be less hungry on this kind of diet while losing weight than on most others, but you'll still be hungry. And you'll be plenty hungry if you're calorie restricting a lot.
- _cudgel 12y ago
  I had this problem as well. Finally someone said to me "What the hell makes you think you shouldn't be a little bit hungry all the time?" That hunger is the drive that pushes me to do things now. I don't want to fully satisfy it; I use it. I think a lot of us modern humans could stand to learn that. It definitely helped me.
  - Jare 12y ago
    You may be causing your mind and body undue stress and anxiety - please be careful and watch out for symptoms like mood swings or odd sleep patterns.

radley 12y ago

HN needs a buzzfeed filter.

_cudgel 12y ago
Agreed; this doesn't deserve down votes.
ars 12y ago
What kind of filter? Avoid buzzfeed, or more of it? Because this article is perfectly fine, so writing it off because of the url is silly (if that's what you meant, it was not clear).
- radley 12y ago
  It's a weight loss scheme.
  - scribu 12y ago
    If you're trying to imply that it's dishonest (that's what I thought when I read "scheme" in this context), please explain why you've reached the conclusion that it's dishonest.