[thereisnospork]

Nonsense, one not just as easily say they are overweight because they aren't taking enough GLP-1 agonists. A patient with scurvy is proscribed vitamin C - they might even need to take it for the rest of their lives to stay healthy.

Woe is them I guess for their chemical dependence.

[buck746]

One could even argue food is a lifetime chemical dependance. An assortment of chemicals really with the amino acids, lipids and sugars involved. People who are against these medications typically draw arbitrary lines for what treatments are "acceptable".

Until starting tirzepitide I always thought about food, now I don't. Had depressive issues since I was a teenager as well. I took Wellbutrin for 20 years and had an interruption in the last six weeks due to an insurance issue. Payed for the tirzepetide out of pocket, take that once a week, my depression is manageable without the Wellbutrin for the first time in my life. I'm still going thru depression, but that's due to my husbands death in early March. If I wasn't taking my weekly shot I would easily be morbidly obese and probably suicidal. The cost isn't an issue either, I would spend more on food that I'm not buying or eating each month than it costs to buy the medication.

Just because something might not be interesting to someone doesn't mean it has no value. I have no interest in sports, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't exist. I could argue they shouldn't be as prominent in society but that's a different argument.

If you have struggled with your weight, depression, have early warning signs of cardiac problems and a range of other conditions it can be worth considering semaglutide or terzepitide. As long as you stick to the lowest dose that's effective the side effects are minimal to non existent. Categorically dismissing these drugs is as silly as refusing pain meds because "god designed us to experience pain".

[9x39]

I think you dislike the personal responsibility angle, which is fine but separate from caloric intake being the source of obesity. The fat is stored energy from food, it would violate conservation of energy otherwise.

There's metabolism, food density, food availability, psychology, culture, economics, etc in play, but it's important not to lie to ourselves that the proximal cause of obesity isn't from over consumption.

[JumpCrisscross]

> dislike the personal responsibility angle

I dislike the rejection of evidence. These drugs solve a problem. Preaching personal responsibility does not. In that way it almost reminds me of drug prohibition and abstinence-only rhetoric.

[9x39]

The evidence of where their fat stores came from?

[JumpCrisscross]

> evidence of where their fat stores came from?

Yes. Specifically, how basal metabolism is not a consciously-controlled rate that modifies itself against diet and exercise to the point that in some people with serious metabolic syndrome it may be impossible for them to lose weight through diet and exercise without suffering nutritional shortfalls.

Also, the clinical evidence around what works for people losing weight and getting healthier and what doesn’t. Like, I get we have a powerful fast-food and sugary-drinks lobby in America, but wow is it wild seeing people get uppity about third parties’ private healthcare decisions like this.

[faangguyindia]

>Yes. Specifically, how basal metabolism is not a consciously-controlled rate that modifies itself against diet and exercise to the point that in some people with serious metabolic syndrome it may be impossible for them to lose weight through diet and exercise without suffering nutritional shortfalls.

The average person does not understand how weight loss works; many people do not know the concept of maintenance calories, and don't know how calorie surplus or deficit works.

Simply putting them on drugs for life isn't a solution. The average person does not have metabolic syndrome, yet the average person is increasingly becoming obese or perhaps already is obese in many countries.

[crooked-v]

> Simply putting them on drugs for life isn't a solution.

Plenty of people are on drugs for life for a variety of things that have less health impact than being overweight.

[s1artibartfast]

Third party private healthcare decisions are almost non-existant in the US due to the payment systems. People are on the hook for the decisions of others either through their premium, taxes, or both. Of course, this is non-central and rarely the concern people present.

That said, 2026 US GLP-1 healthcare sales projections run between 60 and 100 billion [1]. it will be interesting to see if these miricle drugs can really provide that much benefit/offset that much cost.

For comparison, Medicare part D is ~150 billion in its entirety. https://evolvancemarketresearch.com/reports/glp-1-weight-los...

[JumpCrisscross]

> Third party private healthcare decisions are almost non-existant in the US due to the payment systems

The payment part is almost entirely pushing against GLP-1 agonists. Nobody has a long-term financial stake in patient costs to care that lifetime costs will likely be lower; insurers are just looking at the next couple years against expected churn. Another cost of tying health insurance to employment.

[phil21]

Who is lying? I was fat because I ate too much.

Why I ate too much is uninteresting to me. I also don’t have some moral hang up over it. Give me that easy button all day long so I can focus on shit in my life that actually matters.

If it makes someone feel better about themselves to believe in woo-woo science that violates the laws of physics and ascribe magical properties to GLPs, why do you care?

[faangguyindia]

>If it makes someone feel better about themselves to believe in woo-woo science that violates the laws of physics and ascribe magical properties to GLPs, why do you care?

Why we should not care about putting people on drug who do can benefit from making lifestyle changes, being less sedentary and leaning about maintenance calories and how calorie surplus and deficit works?

if there is no resistance, simply prescribing GLPs to average person may become a new normal.

[toast0]

We don't seem to care much about giving people access to caffeine, allergy pills, corrective lenses, and in many places alcohol and marijuana.

Why is it a problem if there's wider access to these drugs? So far, afaik, there's been no long term major adverse effects, and especially I've seen no reports of adverse effects that extend beyond use of the drug (as has been the case with previously popular weight loss drugs that could injure people's hearts).

We're 5 years since fda approval specifically for weight loss and 9 years since fda approval for type 2 diabetes. That's a pretty good amount of time to find serious problems, although certainly many withdrawn drugs were on the market for longer, ex wikipedia says Ranitidine was the biggest selling prescription drug in 1987, but was found to be problematic in 2019 (apparently a new formulation is available as of late 2025!)

Sure, there are other ways to work on weight, just like there are other ways to work on allergies and exercises some people say are effective for vision problems. But we don't force people to give up pets or move somewhere that has fewer triggering allergens, we let them take allergy pills; we let people use eyeglasses or contact lenses or have their eyeballs adjusted so they can see; etc. There's a tool that's effective for many people, why not use it?

[phil21]

> being less sedentary and leaning about maintenance calories and how calorie surplus and deficit works?

Because it's useless advice that doesn't work in practice. As witnessed by decades of failure, with the only thing turning the tide on the obesity epidemic on a population scale being GLP-1 drugs.

> if there is no resistance, simply prescribing GLPs to average person may become a new normal.

Probably not ideal, but until Western society decides to change from the ground up it's better than the alternative which showed literally nothing but failure. One is something that works, the other is something that will take multiple generations to correct.