Problem with diets is that your body responds to this new habit by panicking, thinking you’re going through a famine and reduces metabolism to compensate for reduced caloric intake while increasing hunger. It’s like if you’re he body responded to brushing your teeth every day by making you obsess over caramel corn. Most habit changes don’t have this “body actively fighting you with increasing ferocity” effect that caloric restriction does.
But what if your “good diet” DOES send your body into a panic? That is, physiologically, what occurs with many obese people when they lose weight, REGARDLESS OF WHICH DIET THEY PICK.
Keywords were "after adjustment period". Your body will Panic if you quit smoking, alcohol, or many hard drugs. That doesn't mean it's a bad idea to do so.
Your body will also panic if you start working out vigorously, confront hard but necessary situations, or many other aspects of human life.
If a prescription help someone make a productive transition, that's great. My point is simply that I'm cautious of potentially lifelong crutches to avoid making difficult changes, and there's value in cultivating the ability to maintain your personal homeostasis if you can
Again, with the idea it’s just a willpower thing to overcome some hurdle. The “panic period” is permanent for many obese people. There’s literally no end to fighting your body once you’ve lost substantial weight, it’s ALWAYS trying to lower metabolism and increase hunger to compensate. It’s not a few months and then you’re good, it’s forever. This is why a treatment like this is so necessary.
If there are easy alternatives with the same outcomes, hard things absolutely should not be done (unless you're practicing for an emergency situation where the easy thing is not available.)
Even in a utilitarian framework, there is more to consider besides outcomes, such as costs.
Examples of costs could be be the reoccurring monetary cost for the rest of your life, and being dependent on the supply of medicine to maintain your health.
Additionally, there are personal advantages to being an individual that is capable of doing and regularly practices "hard things".
No doubt. The old habits are easier. It’s way easier to order in food and lay in bed than to cook and workout. Of course, it’s overly reductionist to assume weight loss is as easy as “stop laying around, eat healthy, and exercise.”
It kind of is that simple, but there are so many factors that help prevent us from good habits. I think my biggest issue is that food is one of the few things in my life that’s ever evoked a positive response for me. I’ve gone years without being fat, but it comes back because of some issue I encounter, and I lack the tools to deal with it in a better way. So I get depressed and eat, and eventually hate myself for falling apart again, and so we go, forever and always.
I think the big lesson from Semaglutide is that bad eating habits are not the primary cause of obesity. More likely they are correlated due to common causation.
