@Git Em SteveDave: @Walter: Smug much?

While, on a platonic level, it is as simple as "eat less and exercise", in practice, it does require a lot of hard work and dedication to lose weight. Mainly because most fat people don't even realize that they're eating too much. For me, I "listened to my body" as every hack on the internet tells me to do, and I ended up at 300 pounds. My body, quite simply, doesn't know what's good for it. So now, I restrict myself to 1700 calories a day (this was after experimenting a bit and finding my average daily burn, which is somewhere between 2200 and 2500), I track what I eat using spreadsheets, and I'm gradually ramping up on exercise. So far it's working; I'm down to 260 since starting in the last week of January. But it's not easy (though it's a hell of a lot easier than the first few days, when I was hungry, tired, and sick all the time). It's a big chore that most people don't have to deal with, because their body actually tells them when it's satisfied.

It's easy to sit here and tell people, "Stop stuffing your face, lardass!" It's considerably harder to put into practice. And that's why people are always looking for the quick fix; because people like you make it sound like it should be easy. So, when they try things the hard way, and don't get immediate drastic results, they assume they're doing something wrong.

In short, you're hurting people. Stop.

HeartBurnKid

@drsmith: I know what you mean. 7 minutes of straight skipping 3-5 nights a week, and I lost 25 lbs. However, I altered my eating habits quite a bit. It goes hand in hand.

C

Food can be addictive, just like any other substance that your body responds to positively. While compulsive eating is generally regarded as psychological, there is a chemical component.

There are drugs to help people quit smoking or to help with other addictions, why not aid with overeating? This is a tool to keep the monkey off the person's back long enough to deal with the problem.

Of course, it won't be advertised as such - it'll be another "lose weight without diet and exercise" drug just like the article describes.

chaoslink

Maybe it could be added to a McDonalds Big Mac?

bronskrat

Like McDonalds won't buy this patent in a jiffy..

Monsterdog

DO WANT.

No, seriously. Spout your "just eat less calories" all you want -- I *do* eat less calories.

In order to have *almost* normal blood sugar I'm on three different drugs, I eat half a breakfast, no lunch, and can't indulge in the occasional company-provided donut.

I exercise fairly regularly, but no shit, there are times when exercise results in higher blood sugar the next day.

I'm on three different drugs now; one of them has the side effects of reducing appetite and encouraging weight loss, but it's injected and expensive. The other two have weight gain as side effects.

Crashproof

@nutbastard: The crack head diet - Have you ever seen a fat crack addict?

General Tsao aka Ivan the Impaler

@LindsayJoy: I'll be there in 5 minutes.

atomx

@nutbastard: 6'1 and 155 IS a stick figure.

I look back on some pictures of me in highschool, and I was 6'4" and 190. I looked like Colista Flockheart could beat me in arm wrestling. Now, I am a slightly less than healthy 230 and 6'5". By no means fat, but I could stand to lose 10 pounds.

I do REALLY miss the days where I could go running every day for a week and lose ten pounds, but the old metabolism has slowed down significantly since I left my 20s.

zenpoet

...or turn you in to a zombie!!!

trendspotter

Everyone is missing the greater point here -- fat mice will be a thing of the past!

edosan

After reading the comments, all I can say is that going to the gym doesn't work for me. I can spend hours there and all it really does is make me hungry. When I want to lose weight, I can - I just need to be in the right frame of mind or all bets are off. Yes, I exercise, but I eventually discovered that shorter, more intense workouts than those I would get in a typical gym worked better overall. Lately, I have a 10 minute workout routine that I do every morning. I can do it at home and because it's faster than even taking the time to drive to the gym(as well as being cheaper), I'm much more likely to do it and keep at it. Sometimes, it's not the amount of exercise, but rather finding out what works best for each individual.

drsmith

@rraszews: while i'm sorry to hear that, and do not think fat people are inherently lazy or vice versa, i do have a hard time believing that someone can consistently expend more calories than they take in and not lose weight.

Elcheecho

@ab12: But we wouldn't have aspirin.

(Rodents are allergic to it)

rraszews

Nothing beats eating right and exercise.

bms

@Git Em SteveDave: Nothing but respect from me, man. My wife and I courted listening to that album.

Goodnightbabytron

So, "diet and exercise" is great and all. But I eat a low-carb diet. I exercise *three hours* a day, five days a week. I weigh 270 pounds and am not losing any. It's INCREDIBLY condescending the way people dismiss any new weight loss solution by implying that fat people are inherently lazy.

rraszews

I'll believe it once its proven to be effective in humans. Anyone remember the leptin protein? Manipulating it in mice worked wonders in controlling body weight, turns out it wasn't expressed on nearly the same level in people. If everything that worked in mice worked in people we would have solved countless problems by now.

ab12

I thought there was already a drug that does this?

It's called Amphetamine..

And i'm prescribed it for my A.D.D lol.

I have no urge to eat anything ever, my heart rate is constantly increased causing me to burn calories more than usual. My attitude is much brighter and I can start and finish tasks easier :).

Kakkoister

@Goodnightbabytron: I can pretty much do "No Cure For Cancer" karaoke. In High School, my "theme" song was Asshole. I can sing it from memory. Whenever I hear someone say "You know what I'm gonna do...." I start singing the song in my head.

Git Em SteveDave

@Git Em SteveDave: Denis Leary likes it when you recycle.

Goodnightbabytron

the best way i've found to lose weight is to get a massive throat infection that causes pain when eating. so far i've dropped 3 pounds this week.

Odiwan

Oh baby, now I can have food and sex (well that probaly burns calories) calorie free?

(Imagines all the whipped cream coated possibilities....)

LindsayJoy

[www.milkduds.com]

StealthPersona

@Rodime: I'd like the free choice to not have you wasting my parking spaces too. I guess we'll all just have to learn how to get along (without legislation), won't we?

matto

@Rodime: I'd like the choice of not looking at rotund people, but I guess we need to be reasonable, don't we?

OUTLAW FARTS NOW!

shamoononon

@nutbastard: f*in smokers. stink up my life whenever they're around (even when not smoking)...

You want free choice (to smoke)? I want free choice NOT to smell smoke!!!

Rodime

@something_unique_and_descriptive: It pretty much acts like speed either way. I don't like it, I LOVE IT!

Git Em SteveDave

There is already a drug on the market that does this, it's called Dexedrine. They use it to treat ADD (which Is why I have it), side effects include loss of appetite and increased metabolism. They used to use it in diet pills before it became a controlled substance. When you give it to a person who really does have ADD (not someone who's just been slapped with the label because they can't behave themselves) it lets them focus, and keep their temper under control. Give it to someone who doesn't have ADD and it's Speed, and has the opposite affect. And if you overdose, your heart will explode.

@Walter: Don't be too sure of that. Guy I know died about six months ago... 55 years old, in good health, ate right, rode a bike to work every day (~15 miles round trip), no history of heart problems in the family... had a heart attack and died.

My dad, 56, overweight, diabetic, gout, hypertension, etc, etc. Still going fine.

His father (my grandfather) had three heart attacks, a bad valve in the heart, two strokes, diabetes, hypertension and lived to 75.

@nutbastard: There's a reason it's also known as the Yay Area.

something_unique_and_descriptive

@nutbastard: Heh, I'm only 4" shorter, eat 2000 cals a day, and 30 lbs lighter. Stick that to your 'it's good to be young' theory. Nah nah!!

@McLucky: Hmm, if being healthy and not eating those disgusting crap concoctions they serve you in the drive through is grounds to be called a stick figure, than count me in. SOMEBODY needs to pull down the nations fat average... and live past 50.

shamoononon

"makes trans-fat-laden fast food less appealing "

Don't mean to be terribly harsh, but wouldn't a glance in the mirror do the same thing?

shamoononon

@nutbastard: you mean the stuff cut with baby laxative?

anti-hello-kitty

Cause cancer? U means aids. that how jeared did it.

j4sk868

@ninjagin: actually for an IND submission (approval to test in humans) the FDA would require a basic battery of studies, a few in mice or rats, followed by a few in either dogs or monkey's generally if you're talking about something that has an affect on enzymes they will much rather see the monkey studies than dog studies.

@mykalt45: this is correct in a way, 75% of the compounds tested in animals fail to live up to expectations. A lot more goes into it than just the fact that it doesn't translate well, but as a rule most compounds fail. That's why the few that do get through and actually make it to market are fairly costly, they're paying for all of the failures, just the simple battery of studies required by the FDA in animals for an IND submission run in the millions of dollars.

djdare

Never mind the fairly obvious consequences of not having stores of energy when you unexpectedly need to be going on that that long wilderness expedition... Say, after some sort of asteroid impact or other global catastrophe. That drug could spell doom for the entire species! Mark my words, only the fat ones will survive...

Now... Where'd I put that jar of mayonnaise?

Shutaro

I like how the Chili's "bottomless lunch" deals pops up in the Giz ad bar... Excellent ad placement guys!!!

sfokevin

Most drugs do not translate from animal models into humans. It will be interesting to see the results of actual human trials. It's like cancer drugs. Many work in mice, few work in humans.

mykalt45

@nutbastard: Or you'll do what John Wayne did. He told them to take out his lungs, and he would grow gills and learn to breathe like a fish.

Git Em SteveDave

@nutbastard: You forgot to add that part about liking long walks in the park and the smell of rain.

mildretard

@nutbastard: um I thought 6'1" 155 lbs is a stick figure?

McLucky

@DustyButt:
yeah i've grown up and gots me a real job, but i still kick it with the same losers i went to high school with.

nutbastard

So we have to eat the mice to get the enzyme right?

McLucky

I've always been fine on 1,000 calories or so per day for a long time. I eat twice a day, about a handful of food each time. Were it not for beer i'd be a complete stick figure. As it stands im 6'1" and 155lb. It's good to be young : )

nutbastard

@nutbastard: Our man on the street!

DustyButt

now what I really want to know is...can I take my new pill while stuffing my face with donuts, sitting at a computer desk, drinking a calorie loaded energy drink?

because if not...no way I am getting off my ass to go pick up this prescription.

Seiven

Yes, mice are just a step away from humans.

ninjagin

@Bowler Hat:
cocaine is too expensive? maybe 20 years ago. in the bay that shit is everywhere. $30/ gram last i heard.

nutbastard

Now you just have to overcome the slovenly tenancies that made you fat to begin with.

Glamdering

@Ghede: Intersting thought. Exactly how much of the "average" American diet is for sustaining oneself, and how much is a result of the drug munchies and shitty cereal advertising?

tamoko

I wonder, if this drug is released for human use... will it affect the cost of food? After all, less appetite = less demand + more supply = lower prices. Probably, although the question is how much. How much of the food consumed in the world is a result of gluttony and not hunger? Hmm.

Ghede

Cocaine? Are you crazy?

Cocaine is way too expensive. :P

Bowler Hat

@Git Em SteveDave:

"Common sense FTW?"

yeah, sure, but um... WHICH world? Earth? hahahaha no seriously. Which world?

nutbastard

lol, does anyone else have the banner ad for chili's bottomless lunch? Kinda ironic

rndmideas

Side effects may include incresase sexual urges and compulsive gambling.

That seems to be a common side effect these days

rndmideas

"Screw the testing, just bring us the drugs and we'll take the risk."

A true Frucci post...

"There'll be no need to exercise when you'll have easy access to a drug that makes trans-fat-laden fast food less appealing while it burns away the vast reserves of fat your body has been storing away all these years"

I liked this idea better the first time, when it was called "cocaine".

nutbastard

@Walter:
it's analogous to yelling at smokers constantly. we don't listen, we're just waiting for science to grow us new lungs and cure cancer. or not. we're not very particular on the whole dying thing.

nutbastard

What power?! Is that some sort of Hippy thing!? Where's my loaded steak burger?

Technogen

Bring on the partially de-fatted beef fatty tissue. Num num.

mildretard

@Git Em SteveDave: you would think that telling people over and over to MOVE THEIR ASSES would get the message across but I've found it doesn't. I just shake my head and say to myself "yup...you're going to die before me". that tends to make things better.

Walter

Seriously? This is like big news!

superduperm

Eat less calories, move more. Common sense FTW?

Git Em SteveDave

lazy bastards

Walter