Is 2024 The Year The Trend Ends?

[Razors Edge ★]

...for obesity in the US?  Obviously, for decades we've been ticking up, up, up on the %ages of obese Americans (and Canadians and Europeans and Asians, etc), but has the new wave of miracle drugs FINALLY put an end to that upward trend?

Will we see it plateau in the new data that starts emerging? Will 2025 and beyond see a DECLINE in rates?  Will Big Pharma and Big Healthcare be able to balance profit with a reversing of the trends? 

[maddmaxx ★]

The magic fat pill.   

[Razors Edge ★]

9 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

The magic fat pill.   

It is magic in some respects and hopefully further refined and bettered over time.

Sort of like all the other medicines and medical procedures we've developed in the past 100+ years.

Can you imagine not taking an antibiotic and dying from a simple infection? A magic pill for sure! 

Or not taking a blood pressure medicine if you needed it? Or not getting a colonoscopy or mammogram?

[maddmaxx ★]

Double oh 5.  A license to eat.

[jsharr ★]

5 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

Double oh 5.  A license to eat.

Man, it is hard to eat when you are on Ozempic.   Not enjoyable to overeat for me anyway.  Last night all I did was nibble on some feta cheese and eat some peanuts.

[Razors Edge ★]

3 minutes ago, jsharr said:

Man, it is hard to eat when you are on Ozempic.   Not enjoyable to overeat for me anyway.  Last night all I did was nibble on some feta cheese and eat some peanuts.

Is that you talking or the drugs??? JUNKIE!!!!

[shootingstar]

Are there any long-term negative effects of Ozempic /similar drugs?  AFter taking them for several consecutive yrs.?

[ChrisL]

It will be interesting to see the trending but my guess is since Ozempic & other GLP1 Inhibitors are prescribed due to obesity, the trending will still be upward.  Remember these miracle drugs are hard to come by and can be very expensive so many won’t have access to them.

I’m really focused on my diet and since mid March really haven’t deviated off of it.  I know at some point I’ll have a slice of cake or ice cream but to be honest, checking my biomarkers daily which are viewable to my coach & health provider keeps me honest.  I plan to reverse my trending and keep my weight down in 2024 and beyond as it seems to be keeping my diabetes in check. 

I lost 15 lbs during Covid dropping from 205 to 190.  I’m hovering between 191-192 for over two weeks now so it seems my body has adapted to the weight.  

[Randomguy]

I plan to get fatter and fatter.

[ChrisL]

4 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Are there any long-term negative effects of Ozempic /similar drugs?  AFter taking them for several consecutive yrs.?

I think the drugs are too new to know any wide scale long term affect.  They have been widely prescribed for 3-4 years now.  In my family, some people came off Ozempic due to the cost.  I’ve been on them for a few years with seemingly no long term issues. 

[shootingstar]

21 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I think the drugs are too new to know any wide scale long term affect.  They have been widely prescribed for 3-4 years now.  In my family, some people came off Ozempic due to the cost.  I’ve been on them for a few years with seemingly no long term issues. 

Can you continue in retirement? What is your personal objective?

[ChrisL]

1 minute ago, shootingstar said:

Can you continue in retirement? What is your personal objective?

I honestly don’t know as I’m still several years from retirement and I’m on my wife’s medical.  She is 4 years younger so likely will work several years into my retirement.  But one sister stopped Ozempic because it was too expensive in her Medicare (Govt retirement medical).

My hope is my current food plan & weight loss will make GLP1 Inhibitors unnecessary but right now, my Dr has cut the other diabetes drugs keeping me on the GLP1….

[shootingstar]

28 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I honestly don’t know as I’m still several years from retirement and I’m on my wife’s medical.  She is 4 years younger so likely will work several years into my retirement.  But one sister stopped Ozempic because it was too expensive in her Medicare (Govt retirement medical).

My hope is my current food plan & weight loss will make GLP1 Inhibitors unnecessary but right now, my Dr has cut the other diabetes drugs keeping me on the GLP1….

Your sister ... hope she finds a different way to buckle down to lose. It is a long process. Each person can find their own way to lose it.   How many lbs. did she want to lose?

Looking back, most people would think I was perpetually healthy and home-free.  If they knew my cycling lifestyle...and slowing cutting back meat, rice, alot of breads, etc. this food eating habit change took me a decade. I didn't push myself..because no need to do that since I wasn't in a health emergency.

because my mother had 6 children, losing weight became difficult after 4th-6th children.   It is only within the last 5 years, she's lost 25 lbs. due partially to age but also eating less white rice, cutting down other carbs. Integrating yogurt (big move) in diet, less meat.  Also age is weakening her and probably loss of some muscle mass.  She never took any drug for weight loss. But takes high blood pressure drug for past 30 yrs. She has never exercised...outside of housework and used to walk more.

She is 90 yrs.

[ChrisL]

1 minute ago, shootingstar said:

Your sister ... hope she finds a different way to buckle down to lose.  How many lbs. did she want to lose?

because my mother had 6 children, losing weight became difficult after 4th child.  It is only within the last 5 years, she's lost 25 lbs. due partially to age but also eating less white rice, cutting down other carbs. Integrating yogurt (big move) in diet, less meat.  Also age is weakening her and probably loss of some muscle mass.

This is the sister I have posted about who is diabetic but doesn’t fit the profile.  She’s around 110 lbs and was always thin & active.  She went from Insulin to Ozempic and now back to insulin.  She was on it as an alternative to insulin, not for weight loss. 

[shootingstar]

19 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

This is the sister I have posted about who is diabetic but doesn’t fit the profile.  She’s around 110 lbs and was always thin & active.  She went from Insulin to Ozempic and now back to insulin.  She was on it as an alternative to insulin, not for weight loss. 

Ok. That is complicated.  She WILL have to change her eating habits. ...because I did. Still more work because of sweets.

[ChrisL]

41 minutes ago, shootingstar said:

Ok. That is complicated.  She WILL have to change her eating habits. ...because I did. Still more work because of sweets.

It is complicated.  You are also comparing someone genetically predisposed to diabetes and has been diabetic close to 40 years with someone who has insulin resistance or maybe prediabetic due to lifestyle.  Yes she needs to eat well, but that won’t cure her diabetes.  

For reference, I’m eating 30 grams of carbs solely from veg, 15 ounces of protein a day.  That is next to nothing really from a volume stand point.  I also  take 1000 mg metformin & 10 mg Mounjaro.  And my glucose is in a range that is still considered elevated but well managed for a diabetic.  

In other words, for those of us genetically predisposed, limiting sweets will not cure our diabetes. 

[Razors Edge ★]

10 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I also  take 1000 mg metformin & 10 mg Mounjaro.  And my glucose is in a range that is still considered elevated but well managed for a diabetic.  

I hope - in addition to the obesity trend coming down - it starts to bend the diabetes one just as much.  

In a separate "wonder drug" category, metformin is one of those that has lots of very positive side-effects for folks on it.  I'm not in the group that does this, but some "healthy" people use metformin for the life-extending benefits.  I'm no Big Pharma guy, but I'm definitely in the camp of "there's good and bad reasons to take drugs, but if the reasons are good, do it".

[ChrisL]

7 minutes ago, Razors Edge said:

I hope - in addition to the obesity trend coming down - it starts to bend the diabetes one just as much.  

In a separate "wonder drug" category, metformin is one of those that has lots of very positive side-effects for folks on it.  I'm not in the group that does this, but some "healthy" people use metformin for the life-extending benefits.  I'm no Big Pharma guy, but I'm definitely in the camp of "there's good and bad reasons to take drugs, but if the reasons are good, do it".

I have been on metformin for over a decade so am adjusted to it but it has some bad side effects too.  Stomach upset being the most common.  

The real issue is we eat too much and too many carbs.  Our brains have completely lost the concept of a healthy portion as well.  The fattening of America and the rise in metabolic syndrome, insulin resistance & diabetes is 100% correlated to our diet & lifestyle.  We have also lost the general concept of what a healthy weight looks like.  That’s why I don’t think, even with wonder drugs the trend will change. 

We took a picture with CJ over the weekend that was posted on social media.  Several of my sisters texted me stating I’m too thin and don’t look healthy. They are completely out of their heads,   I’m no longer obese dropped several diabetes meds and am now trending towards a healthy weight?  How is that unhealthy?