Ozempic and GLP-1’s

The rise of Ozempic and other “weightloss” drugs have put me between a rock and a hard place. While I dislike fat people; I equally or more so hate undisciplined and lazy people.

Unless you have been living under a rock for the past 4 years you have most likely heard of Ozempic or the other weightloss drugs that have flooded the market. The steep rise in thier popularity among the American population has probably resulted in you or someone you know taking them. I think it touches many different sensitive topics in our culture and will lead to unknown consequences. Some of these conseqences as I see them are 1)Big Pharma will have an even greater foothold in American households 2) People will be dependant on a drug for thier entire lives 3) Severe health benefits both mentally and physically.

In my estimation, big Pharma is an enemy of the people. This may seem like an insane thing to say but I arrived at this conclusion pretty easily. Big Pharma which consists of multiple large pharmaceutical companies is one of the biggest lobbying conglomerates in Washington and one of the biggest sources of ad revenue for big media companies. They buy the loyalty of congress and the media in order to continue doing what they do. And since they are publicly traded they have one obligation, which is to increase shareholder value. And when you are in the business of pharmacueticals you are relying on a population to become sick and to remain sick in order to extract the most value from each customer, it does them no benefit to diagnose and actually fix a problem because that would result in a potential lost customer. An example would be if you had a cut and the real solution is stitches but instead their solution is to give you band aids that must be replaced every hour, oh and the band aids are $1000.  So when I say they are an enemy of the people, I mean it. If you need more context think back to 2021 when the COVID vaccine was the topic de jour. Every other ad on TV was Pfizer, Moderna, J&J, promoting the vaccine. They even had enough pull to almost get away with a vaccine mandate. It was truly a gift to the pharma companies because the government which has proven that it has essentially unlimited money for what it wants was subsidizing these companies. All of this for a vaccine that was largely not effective and the argument could be made not safe. But they may have struck  metaphorical oil in terms of GLP-1 inhibitors. America is currently on top of all the other bullshit, facing an obesity crises. according to Trust for Americas Health (tfah.org) 42.4% of Americans are obese. Which equates to roughly 140 million people. That is quite a large target market. And the use of GLP-1s are not limited to the obese, people that are slightly overweight or want to reglate thier weight have turned to these drugs and have elevated them to “disigner” status. Meaning you dont necessarily need it for health reasons but want it for lifestyle reasons.

A huge problem that many (especially those that use them) want to ignore is the fact that there is a high likelyhood you will be taking these inhibitors for the rest of your life. I look at it like a fast pass at at a theme park. Once you use a fast pass there is simply no desire to ever be one of the suckers that waits in long lines. And that is exactly what these drugs do. Why would someone go to the gym, eat healthy, and develope the required discipline to be healthy when thier is a drug that can produce simi-comprible results without doing any of that “sucker shit”. According to a 2022 study published on the National Library of Medicine website states “1 year after stopping Ozempic, people gained back two-thirds of the weight they had originally lost. This still resulted in a net weight loss of about 5% from before ever starting Ozempic. In the study, the people who lost the most weight with Ozempic also gained the most weight back. But these people still had the greatest net weight loss.”  In this scenario when someone has lost all that weight and gained it back while simultaneously not developing the ability to become healthy in a healthy way you most likley revert to the “fix” that helped you lose the initial weight. Which leads right into what I believe will be some of the long-term consequences from these drugs.

The benefits of working out and proper nutrition are undisputed in terms of how you look, feel, and interface with the world around you. It requires discipline and sacrifice but the result is a truly healthy life and a greater understanding of yourself and what goes into a desirable physique. Your body is the trophy you show the world every day that shows people you have discipline and the ability to accomplish something. Internally it boosts your self-esteem. It the foundation of your lifestyle and can serve as “proof” to yourself that you can accomplish the goals/promises you make with yourself. With GLP-1’s you dont get any of these intangible benefits. You outsource the hard work to a drug. I believe this will exasterbate the mental health crisis we face. The people that use these drugs that dont need to, usually start because they are unhappy with the way they look. So you are already starting at a place of low self-esteem. Then you lose the weight without doing anything different and people will cheer and compliment you for your weightloss. I think this feeds the imposter demon that lives within each of us. You know you did not earn these praises nor the results. You bought them. Its like paying for followers on social media. From the outside it looks like you have motion but you know in fact you dont.

The physical consequences are discussed pretty widely and I wont spend too much time on those. I will say that the lack of any long term data for the side effects should be something to consider. You are essentially signing up to be a guinea pig. And the mechanism that makes this drug “work” is essentially injecting a drug that induces stomach paralysis, making you feel more full while eating substantially less. I am no expert, but injecting something that inhibits the bodies natural way of functioning seems like a negative.

I will conclude by saying that I understand some people may need GLP-1 prescriptions. If you physically cant walk or do anything because of your weight then I encourage you to do it. I personally have a very harsh outlook on fat people and would rather not have to be subjected to looking at them. I would say that the people that dont need to do it, which would include largely physically capable people that are overweight or unhappy with their weight, shouldnt. Instead they should actually have to work for it or continue down their current trajectory and be part of the group that has to take it. At the end of the day your body is the summation of your habits and lifestyle, you created the problem and also have the ability to fix it. Outsourcing your problems to these pharmacetical companies to solve is in my mind the equivelant of surrendering and a refusal to lay in the bed you made.