All of my past diet attempts (some half successful, some not) have involved incredible amounts of willpower and fighting myself. Limiting my portions but getting hungry for weeks, sometimes months all the time. Fighting yourself because it is trivially easy to consume more calories than a non-athlete can burn through exercise.
Since using a GLP-1 (for it's actual purpose), I actually feel full and satisfied with smaller meals. My appetite is a shadow of it's former self. I can't really explain it well, but it's a game changer not constantly telling yourself "no".
I've struggled through that willpower test many times...sometimes successfully and often not...I was never really able to lose a lot, but the weight when I was able to lose some always came back.
Several years back I went on a drug called Contrave (I wasn't flying then) for a time, it helped to limit that craving appetite but it still required a huge amount of discipline and willpower. Still, it was a game changer for sure, but probably not as much of one as these new GLP-1 agonists are... I did lose a lot but when the drug stopped, the weight slowly trended back on over a few years time even though I was trying hard. The same thing happens with these GLP-1 agonists, as I understand it. The other issue with contrave was that the weight loss was too fast and not managed well enough, resulting in some muscle loss. Losing weight too fast while still eating an unhealthy diet. Ditto, this is also a problem as I understand it with the GLP-1 agonists.
about 2 years ago, I went low carb. Extremely low carb...an animal-based diet. My intent wasn't for weight loss, even though I had weight to lose. I was trying to do a temporary elimination experiment to help with GERD.
An unintended result was the weight fell off EASY. My body was getting the nutrition it needed, and as a result I felt satisfied with smaller/fewer meals. I was only just focusing on content, and not hardly at all on weight or weight loss. My weight fell off without my even trying.
Even more surprising to me was something I noticed later. I lost weight without even trying really, but then at some point it just leveled off. In hindsight, I found that my weight had leveled off right at the MIDPOINT of what "
THEY" say is my "ideal" BMI range" based on my height! It's stayed right in that ballpark for about 1-1/2 years now, without much effort at all. The only real effort being that it's hard to eat a clean diet when eating out, when traveling, etc... I am totally convinced that a proper diet for a human is the real and absolute game changer!
full disclosure, my wife has gone on one of these GLP-1 drugs and it has been a game-changer for her. Even though I have had amazing results, she's a carb addict and can't get past all the years of brainwashing about the food triangle, veggies are "good for you", fat is bad for you, and all of that. The point is, these drugs seem to work very well, and if that's what it takes then it seems like a good thing. Losing the weight is a really good thing!
I'm only concerned about the muscle loss and the weight rebound after the drug, because the underlying problems of carb addiction and generally poor nutrition from a "standard diet" aren't being addressed at all...
