logoalt Hacker News

kakacik • today at 1:35 PM • 2 replies • view on HN

Well, the proposed solution works basically 100%, the problem is, as with most issues, people. Tell folks they should not eat sweet things for rest of their lives and half go catatonic when they realize reality of it. The other half go medicating such induced stress with a bucket of ice cream or similar. This is not problem of underlying solution per se, its the problem of expecting too much out of most people.

But you are right with the fact that at the end, it mostly doesn't work. But those who stick with regime, it works 100% and positive changes in life, quality, happiness etc are massive.

The real solution - treat underlying mental issues. They are always there with obese people, they are massive (no pun intended), and they manifest as obesity, among plethora of other mental issues.

Replies

matheusmoreira • today at 3:00 PM

> But those who stick with regime, it works 100%

No. Even nearly a decade of intensive behavioral treatment has highly variable results.

Here's what the numbers tend to look like in practice:

  ~26% weighed more than at baseline
  ~23% lost >0% to <5%
  ~23% lost 5% to <10%
  ~16% lost 10% to <15%
  ~11% lost ≥15%
As you can see, results cannot be guaranteed.

> positive changes in life, quality, happiness etc are massive

This is generally true. Eating better and exercising will improve your life.

But will you lose weight? How much weight? Those are far more difficult questions.

➕ show 1 reply
inglor_cz • today at 1:46 PM

Frankly, a "solution" to a human problem that does not work with most humans, does not deserve to be called a solution.

Mental issues is a broad category as well. Are food cravings a "mental issue", or a "physiological/hormonal issue"? No clear difference between those two, and given how GLP-1s quench cravings in general - not just food cravings, plenty of people on those report losing their compulsive behaviors, even such as gambling or shopping - the hormonal variant sounds quite plausible.

Which may be actually good. We are a lot better in treating hormonal issues than mental issues.