Does Tall Trainer Hate Weight Loss Drugs?

Does Tall Trainer Hate Weight Loss Drugs?

I am not a hater by nature.  I have a very moderate approach on nearly everything.  These GLP-1 drugs present a pretty complicated issue.  I am not even a hater on gastric bypass in some cases.  The honest truth is that obesity is far more likely to kill you and disable you than any intervention even a risky one. 

I am however an exercise and nutrition purist and I believe nothing is as powerful or as healthy for you as combining those two factors to lose weight and improve health.  Our philosophy includes these three statements. 

1. Move the way God designed us to move

2. Eat the way God designed us to eat

3. Strive to get better NOT for perfection (we will never hit god-like perfection)

BUT…

If you’ve tried again and again and have already given up…

You need to do…SOMETHING!

(I’ll try to list some of my concerns in bullet points at the bottom, for now I’m going to finish this line of thinking.)

I don’t think you should use weight loss drugs to lose 20 pounds however.  I feel like the risk of the drug becomes higher than your health risks for small amounts of weight.  If used this way I agree with Johann Hari (wrote the book Magic Pill: the extraordinary benefits and disturbing risks for the new weight-loss drugs) when he said.  “We have the most effective tool for self-starvation human beings have ever come up with.”

That’s truly what it makes possible.  So, for morbidly obese it’s less risky to use the drugs as their death could be coming soon from complications of obesity.  But for leaner people it could cause more trouble than it helps. 

Bullet Points of My Concerns:

• People on these drugs are losing as much as 40% lean mass. Certainly, muscle and likely bone mass too.  Frailty and osteoporosis seem like they will be MUCH higher in this group.  But might be 20-30 years before we see the full crushing impact. 

• Nutrient deficits could be HUGE if you just eat less lower nutrient food without eating more nutritious food. Increasing longer term health complications and diseases. 

• I am concerned that there are GLP-1 receptors in the brain too and I’m not sure what the long-term consequences could be. Depression/mental health?  Alzheimer’s/Dementia?  Tumors/Cancer?

• Whenever we add an outside chemical to the body I have concerns about cancers in general.

• If food is a way people are dealing with stress what happens when they can’t soothe that way anymore? Other Addictions?  Suicide?

• I worry about trying to interfere with how the body was made in anyway. One quote that summarizes why is, “if you push mother nature out the door…she’s going to come in the window.”  There is a long history of trying to change a natural occurring process in our bodies and getting some un-intentional consequences.  I don’t know what that would be yet, but I worry. 

• Just because exercise and diet are they best fixes for blood pressure and high cholesterol doesn’t mean I’m against people taking medication for those issues in the short term to save their lives. I just like the idea of taking the minimum and trying to improve so it’s not a forever thing. 

Again, with all these concerns I believe these medications have a place in hard and unhealthy situations. 

If you are already on these medications I recommend:

• Have a plan to slowly move off of them over a period of time and slowly build will power with lighter doses. And healthy nutrition habits.  The longer you use it I feel the negative side will be bigger. 

• Do strength training HARD! To keep some muscle and bone!

• Make sure you are eating Protein! Lots of it!  And nutrition dense vegetables too!

• Don’t lose weight faster than 2 pounds per week. Otherwise your muscle losses will be more significant.  Increasing your frailty and damaging your long-term metabolism. 

• Be meeting with a mental health professional in tandem so you are handling mental health issues that could arise and mental health issues that have been pushed below the surface with food.

If you are debating using these drugs please try it the old fashioned way good and hard first.  A program with nutrition and exercise.  I’ve seen it work hundreds of times now.  I’m told these drugs can be over $800 a month!  You could get a lot of help for $800 a month in the exercise and counseling industry.  It might be harder in the short-term but most of the time, “difficult short-term choices lead to easier long-term outcomes.”

If you are jealous of those shrinking away around you without having to work as hard as you.  Play your own game.  “Comparison is the thief of joy.”  Let them do their plan and you do yours.  You are responsible for your choices.  And they are responsible for theirs.  Don’t pull them down to make yourself feel better in the struggle.  It’s not worth it to be a hater. 

I realize there is a mix of people on both sides of this.  We have both in our classes.  I know that no matter what, we all need to be doing great exercise and learning better nutrition.  With medicine or without there is no replacement for those two factors. 

I want to leave the door open for all. 

Just like we welcome vegans and carnivores.  Without medicine or with medicine we want to help people become healthier period. 

Love you all.  Keep fighting for your health.  Physical, Mental, and even Spiritual. 

God Bless,

Jeremy “tall trainer” Biernat

www.talltrainer.com