January 24, 2023

"It was like flipping a switch. I would look at food and it wasn’t even appealing, and I am someone who loves food!"

"I almost had to remind myself to eat. It just took away all the cravings.... I remember looking in the mirror, and it was almost like I didn’t even recognize myself,” she said. “My body looked great, but my face looked exhausted and old."


It's crazy to lose weight by making food completely unappealing. Wouldn't you want to still get pleasure from the food that you do eat while eating in a way that reduces weight? And then on top of that, it makes your face look old — older, apparently, than just the usual way too much weight loss makes you look hollowed out and haggard.

And there's an additional problem: This off-label use is creating a shortage of a medicine that people with diabetes need. At least their moral failing is causing them to look bad. I know, it's also a moral failing to enjoy seeing people get their just deserts.

And, yes, it's "just deserts," not "just desserts" (though feel free to call your cake shop Just Desserts).

39 comments:

mccullough said...

The Clockwork Orange Diet

So haggard and do woe-begone

Mike Sylwester said...

It's crazy to weight by making

It's crazy to lose weight by making

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

I know, it's also a moral failing to enjoy seeing people get their just deserts.

Things that are done within a yard of Congressman Santos.

RideSpaceMountain said...

Come on down to Just Desserts, the cake shop where homosexuals better eat that cake and like it, or else!

Shouting Thomas said...

I lost 50 pounds pretty quickly 5 years ago and have kept it off. Counted calories. Keto diet. Increased and followed my exercise program diligently.

I’m often told that “calories in, calories out” is not the only approach to weight loss. I think it probably is. Self-discipline is what is required.

Since I essentially cut out one meal, I am much more attentive to the quality and appeal of what I eat.

Kate said...

Wow, I didn't know that about "just deserts".

When food is rendered tasteless and the purpose of eating is to achieve a physical or mental ideal, it's called anorexia.

Rocketeer said...

Like Mount Desert Island, Maine - through which pronunciation one is able to tell whether you’re local or not.

Ryan said...

Like they say in Hollywood - you can have a face or an ass, but not both.

n.n said...

Affirmative effacement in lieu of self-moderation.

Chuck said...

And there's an additional problem: This off-label use is creating a shortage of a medicine that people with diabetes need. At least their moral failing is causing them to look bad. I know, it's also a moral failing to enjoy seeing people get their just deserts.


Like, uh, the unproven, unjustified and perhaps dangerous misuse of ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine to treat COVID-19.

Freeman Hunt said...

People can buy semaglutide much cheaper than they can get semaglutide drugs from a pharmacy.

Original Mike said...

"And there's an additional problem: This off-label use is creating a shortage of a medicine that people with diabetes need. "

Isn't this a prescription medication? Who's writing those prescriptions?

Owen said...

So this product performs as represented, causing loss of appetite and thus loss of weight? And now we have to hear endless whinging about secondary effects?

God forbid you should look emaciated or wrinkly in order to reverse a lifetime of trying vainly to conquer your obesity.

In other news, "What have you done for me lately?"

lizska said...

Isn't facial aging a side effect of losing weight at a certain age no matter how you do it? That's why I've heard fat called nature's botox.

Freeman Hunt said...

The article doesn't seem to make any claims about aging beyond what would normally be expected from weight loss.

Joanne Jacobs said...

My sister was prescribed Ozempic to control her diabetes. It works very well, but her appetite was so suppressed (and her digestive system so out of whack) that the doctor cut her back to a half dose. It's too early to say if that will control the blood sugar and allow her to eat enough, but not so much that she regains the weight she lost.

It's annoying to see non-diabetics use up the limited supply of a medication for diabetics.

Kay said...

Dang, I’ve always assumed it was just desserts.

Carol said...

"Isn't this a prescription medication? Who's writing those prescriptions?"

The best MDs, DOs, PAs and NPs money can buy.

Ann Althouse said...

“The article doesn't seem to make any claims about aging beyond what would normally be expected from weight loss.”

I think it’s implied. If it’s not the case the article is phenomenally stupid.

tim in vermont said...

Chuck, what a surprise to see you, mr Life Long Republican, pushing another of the "current things" that Democrats are pushing, based on supposed evidence paid for by large Democrat donors.

MedinCell announces positive results for the SAIVE clinical study in prevention of Covid-19 infection in a contact-based population
JANUARY 5, 2023
Download press release
The study conducted in 399 participants met its primary efficacy endpoint with a reduction of 72% of COVID-19 infection in the group treated with daily oral administration of ivermectin compared to the placebo group

Ivermectin administered for 28 days demonstrated acceptable safety and tolerability without any unexpected safety signals

The SAIVE study was conducted to support mdc-TTG program, whose objective is to provide prevention of Covid-19 infection for weeks or months with a single injection of a long-acting formulation of ivermectin based on MedinCell’s proprietary technology, BEPO®


https://www.medincell.com/en/2023/01/05/medincell-announces-positive-results-for-the-saive-clinical-study-in-prevention-of-covid-19-infection-in-a-contact-based-population

It's kind of funny that the studies purporting to prove that Ivermectin was useless were funded by the same guy who gave hundreds of millions of dollars to the Democrats, fraudster SBF.

There are several studies now that show that Ivermectin works and is safe: For one thing, Africa did very well during the pandemic, where Ivermectin is in widespread use for parasites.

But here is an article on it with links to studies like the one above.

https://www.biznews.com/health/2023/01/23/ivermectin-efficacy

Yancey Ward said...

Losing weight causes saggy skin if you do it past a certain stage in life.

Yancey Ward said...

31 unit modified polypeptide according to Wiki. Yikes. No wonder there is a sudden shortage with off-label use like weight loss.

Also, it doesn't look like it is off-label use any longer- the FDA has approved it for weight control.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

In fairness to congressman Santos, nobody has lied more, and for longer, about his resume than the POTUS.

Rabel said...

Potatoes do the same thing.

Leora said...

I'm a borderline Type 2 diabetic prescribed Ozempic. For me it has not so far interfered with enjoying food. It does reduce the impulse to eat impulsively or to overeat. I feel like my appetite has returned to what it was before my thyroid conked out on me -hungry when I wake up and after a day of normal activity. I have not noticed any additional facial wrinkling. And it has been paid getting the prescription filled because of the demand.

Original Mike said...

"Dang, I’ve always assumed it was just desserts."

It is. It might have been 'deserts' at one time, but that no longer makes sense. Language changes.

Original Mike said...

Tim, don't you know better than to make eye contact?

n.n said...

There are several studies now that show that Ivermectin works and is safe: For one thing, Africa did very well during the pandemic, where Ivermectin is in widespread use for parasites.

Yes, Africa is a case study for low penetration of the Covid-19/20/21/22 shots and low incidence of disease progression. India, too.

And HCQ is in widespread use to treat malaria. Both drugs have been in use for decades, with billions of consumers, and no significant safety signals. Also, the active mechanisms to prevent and mitigate progress of coronaviruses, and Covid-19/20/21/22 diseases specifically, have been characterized and established for both drugs.

n.n said...

Ironically, there are multiple safety signals with the shots, with both immediate and progressive effects, and only minimal evidence of their effectiveness over their short lifetimes, in a subset of the infected... inoculated cohorts. With a pathogenic component, viral mechanism, and limited safety data, and in the context of a virus with low toxicity in the general population, they were never suitable for general distribution, let alone by mandate/force.

Donald said...

Ok. Factual correction. Prescribing semaglutide for weight loss is not off-label. Wegovy is the same thing as Ozempic, but FDA-approved (and marketed) for weight loss.

Mounjaro is currently only FDA-approved for weight loss. But a phase 3 clinical trial for weight loss (published in the New England Journal of Medicine) was quite promising.

Jake said...

Skinny people look older. In general. I think the fat spreads out wrinkles. Nothing older looking than a skinny smoker.

Fred Drinkwater said...

I've been teased about Santos a few times. I have responded with a brief description of Congressman/Senator Robert Byrd and his LONG tenure. Spluttering usually ensues.

As long as folks like him, and E. Kennedy, and J. Kennedy, are not just tolerated, but in the pantheon of Dem politicians, I DON'T GIVE A DAMN about Santos.

Tom T. said...

"Desert" in the context of "just deserts," is the noun form of "deserve." If you get your just deserts, you're getting what you deserve.

The part about not enjoying food is like Antabuse destroying the ability to enjoy alcohol. The extreme effect may be justified if the danger is sufficiently significant.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Watching ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’

It hits close to home. It is kind of universal. The pecking order.

Gemna said...

The shortage is a big problem. It doesn't bother me too much when I can't fill patients' Adderall, but I feel horrible when its Diabetes meds and antibiotics.

I guess we need Tucker Carlson or Trump or whoever to promote these drugs for weight loss and then pharmacy boards, companies, and medical associations would take action to reserve supply for Diabetic patients.

I'm not against them being used for obesity, but we need to prioritize when there's a shortage.

Chappy said...

After several surgeries (neck, shoulder, knee twice, thyroid cancer, gall bladder (sigh), I had become seriously overweight. Once my A1c tripped over the "pre-diabetes" to "yep, diabetes" line, my endocrinologist started me on Ozempic. After 16 weeks I have lost 45 pounds, and my blood sugars are always between 80 and 110. Most importantly, I have not had any "white-outs" from a plummeting blood sugar. When he tried metformin and pioglitazone, I would have bad drops. He's been doing this for 35 years and considers Ozempic and other similar drugs to be the most significant development in the treatment of diabetes since insulin. Yes, my appetite is depressed, but I still want to eat, just feel full on much smaller portions. And there was some gastric discomfort as my body adjusted to the dosing- none now. Yes, the lines on my face look a little saggy. So what - I feel the best I've felt in ages. And I'm too old to be vain, anyway. Thankfully my wife of 44+ years sees me only through the eyes of love.

Gabriel said...

@Ann:I think it’s implied. If it’s not the case the article is phenomenally stupid.

Yes, the article is phenomenally stupid, and no, the causation is NOT implied because without it the article is phenomenally stupid. You've been reading journalism for a long time, and you say this? Remember the 4 Lokos panic? Kids were drinking the equivalent of a bottle of wine in a single can, and journalists were hyping fear of the caffeine content!

A signature journalistic move is to retail unrelated facts and imply causation, or cite a correlation and get the causation backward, or report (like this case) a spurious correlation (aging and taking a drug for weight loss) driven by another variable (the loss of weight). Every article where "red states be like this and blue states be like that" is an example. Michael Crichton pointed this out twenty years ago:

Briefly stated, the Gell-Mann Amnesia effect is as follows. You open the newspaper to an article on some subject you know well. In Murray's case, physics. In mine, show business. You read the article and see the journalist has absolutely no understanding of either the facts or the issues. Often, the article is so wrong it actually presents the story backward—reversing cause and effect. I call these the "wet streets cause rain" stories. Paper's full of them.

Lurker21 said...

Time and the sun will do a thing on your face however fat or thin you are.

0_0 said...

Was there a shortage of Ivermectin and HCQ?