[cthalupa]

Where? In Japan, obesity among men has increased by 1.5x over the past several decades. It remains quite low, but the rate is still increasing year over year (slower with women). Vietnam, a country with one of the lowest obesity rates in the world is seeing an increase - the overweight and obesity rate has basically tripled since the early 2000s.

[cynicalpeace]

Huntington, West Virginia: https://www.advisory.com/daily-briefing/2020/01/27/fattest-c...

The solution involved exercise and diet, surprise surprise. It's not magic or some law of nature that people will only get more fat and unhealthy.

If we think that way, then it will surely happen though.

[cthalupa]

Alright - so whole community intervention, including literal celebrity chefs appearing and building out menus, can improve the situation.

Yes, if we remove all of the modern, processed, high calorie, energy dense, sugar heavy foods out of a place we can improve the obesity rate.

I hope you understand why individuals are going to take things into their own hands vs. waiting for massive societal change. I thought you were referring to whole cultures or countries making significant change here, not small communities.

[thefz]

So you are going to take the drug and keep on eating the same modern, processed, high calorie, energy dense, sugar heavy foods?

[cthalupa]

No. Where did I ever say that? I take the drug and it makes it significantly easier for me to eat healthy foods and in healthy quantities.

I'm someone who has spent many years of their life fit. I'm also someone who has spent many years of their life fat. I can tell you that when I was fit, I did not suffer from the sort of constant hunger I did before I was fat. It didn't take any sort of willpower or discipline on my part - I just wasn't hungry nearly as often, healthy food was satiating, and things were easy. Lifting weights multiple days a week took a bit of discipline, but it wasn't the reason I was eating healthy - I was doing that before I ever got particularly into exercise.

But I got busy with other aspects of my life and it became easier and easier to just grab some fast food, or order uber eats during the pandemic. But this was just laziness - I didn't have constant hunger or cravings. But before I knew it, I had gained significant weight, and then I did have constant hunger and cravings, and it became a tremendously difficult task for me. Losing weight by sticking to healthy food in healthy quantities required significant willpower, and shoving that hunger down had impact on my mood, ability to concentrate, etc. I struggled to make it past 6 months before some other event in my life would require me put my focus towards it, and I wouldn't have the capacity to deal with both things, so I'd go back to eating poorly.

Tirzepatide puts my relationship with food and hunger back to where it was before I had gotten fat in the first place.

[cynicalpeace]

My entire point is that individuals should take things into their own hands. By exercising and eating whole foods, not depending on the pharmaceutical system for a panacea that may or may not have long term side effects.

And if enough people do it, we have a healthy culture again.

[cthalupa]

If it was that easy, then 'eating better and exercising regularly' wouldn't be the most prescribed and least successful treatment for obesity.

There's countless comments in here from many people explaining why this is the case. If you don't get it by now, I doubt you ever will.

[cynicalpeace]

It's because our culture is set up to incentivize being weak and fat. You get up from bed, walk to your car, drive to the Dunkin Donuts drive thru, then sit in an office, until you go home.

It's insane to imply this culture just needs some drugs to be healthy.

[cthalupa]

I spent a good chunk of my 20s lifting heavy weights. I ate well. Bulking was harder for me than cutting. It never took any real willpower or discipline for me to eat healthy food in healthy quantities.

Then I got busy with life and the convenience of fast food and then eventually uber eats lead me to putting on weight at a steady pace, and before I realized it, suddenly it was incredibly difficult for me to eat healthy quantities of food. As someone who had many years of success being healthy, it was not something I ever succeeded at doing for more than half a year or so after I let myself get fat, despite repeat attempts to resolve the issue.

Did our culture make it easy for me to get fat when I started devoting all my mental energy elsewhere? Yes. But I was never able to get back to where I should be prior to tirzepatide. Now my relationship with hunger is basically where it was back when I was fit.

Some people are be able to push through the various biological feedback loops based on willpower alone. I'm not one of them. So instead of staying fat, or berating myself for my repeated failed attempts, I'll take the drugs and be better off for it.