Most people on weight loss drugs are spending less on restaurants and takeout, survey says

return2ozma@lemmy.world to News@lemmy.world – 148 points –
Most people on weight loss drugs are spending less on restaurants and takeout, survey says
cnbc.com
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People on weight loss drugs eat less? My god, what else will science discover?!

In this case, not science but an investment firm. Trying to figure out if they should cut investments in restaurants, groceries or both.

It is slightly interesting that people mostly seem to cut eating out and not groceries, rather than it being proportional. That being said, if I'm taking a weight loss drug I'm probably trying to eat at least a little healthier, which probably means less eating out.

They are also stupid expensive. If you're spending 1k a month on medicine, of course you're gonna eat out less.

That's the new dystopian plan for those who can't afford groceries. Take a pill!

My mom told me that when she was send away to a remote school where she lived with other teens they drenched cotton balls in orange juice and ate that to lose weight. That thought still haunts me.

What's crazy about that, you could just eat high fiber foods and get the same effect.

People did that because the cotton wouldn't be digested and make their stomachs feel full for a long time. Literally the same thing nondigestable fiber does.

What's actually crazy is most people today barely eat any fiber.

I guess that's one way to get your fiber.

73% of Americans are overweight. They'll be just fine if they eat out less.

As a lot of people here know, I am the last person to be saying this, but if it was possible to take a pill to avoid paying for groceries, it's probably worth it.

Just don't end up living on Ensure and V8 because it's just as expensive, trust me.

I used to think of eating and sleeping as wasting my productive time. Were I then able to take a pill to reclaim that time, I would have. I'm much lazier now. I like the new me.

Trust me, eating is one of the best things in the world. Maybe the best thing in the world if it's the right meal. Every culture is built around food.

I am very much in a position to know this.

Edit: I forgot my point, which was that even though it's great, if people could only do it when they wanted to instead of when they had to, they would probably make that choice.

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I'm on Ozempic. I eat way less. Many restaurants offer portion sizes that are far, far too big for a person NOT on weight loss drugs let alone one who is. I often ask for a half or a quarter portion because I don't want to waste the rest of the food. I always say I will pay full price but I don't want all the food. Some restaurants give me a break on the price. Others don't. When you're faced with such huge portions it's just easier to avoid restaurants.

Why is taking home leftovers not an option?

I do when I go to a restaurant close to home. I travel for work and can't take leftovers back to my hotel most of the time. I've found that most restaurants are good about cutting portion sizes and that sometimes when I ask for half because I can't eat a whole portion but offer to pay full price they will give me a break.

Hasn't it been killing people due to prevention or absorbing food properly even after stopping the medication?

There are some very rare possible serious side effects. I'm not sure what the numbers are. No one is being forced to take it.

I'm a caregiver for a diabetic person and Medicare decided at the new year that they would not cover the medications he's been doing very well on because they (state insurance, not his doctors) want him on Ozempic instead. They let him keep his insulin, but Victoza, Pandin and Jardiance are gone. We're having a very hard time keeping his blood sugar steady, he's getting dangerous lows that he's not capable of communicating to us, and higher spikes than I've seen in the four years I've cared for him, so we're testing more frequently and no, they will not cover the additional testing supplies, that's out of pocket now.

So, yes. Some people on Medicare are being forced to take it.

The US medical system is grotesque.

I am taking Ozempic, Metformin, and Jardiance but I live in a civilized country where my doctor makes the decisions about what drugs I am taking and talks to me about his recommendations before prescribing.

No one is being forced to take it.

That's kind of missing the forest for the trees. Dying because some company pushed weight loss pills on your doctor who then pushed them onto you is kind of fucked up just like drugs like Chantix driving people to kill themselves or leak fluids out of their asshole in order to stop smoking, two things that have a multitude of other methods to acheive the same goal with much less of a risk.

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Most takeout and many restaurants aren't healthy, and I would expect many people taking dietary supplements/weight loss pills to be health conscious. And also eat less in general.

Also: The focus the article and study puts on this impacting the corporate food world sickens me.

These drugs aren't giving people the calories they need to live, so it sounds like your business depends on making people unhealthy.

These drugs aren’t giving people the calories they need to live

Of course the drugs don't give people calories. Food does that.

A lot of times the reason restaurant food is so good is because of the ungodly amount of butter they add to it

Sometimes, living off of stored calories can improve ones health

These drugs aren’t giving people the calories they need to live

That's what the fat reserves are for.