Slashdot Mirror
"Fat-Burning Pill" Inches Closer To Reality
Zothecula writes with news that a fat burning pill may be on the horizon. "Researchers at Harvard University say they have identified two chemical compounds that could replace "bad" fat cells in the human body with healthy fat-burning cells, in what may be the first step toward the development of an effective medical treatment – which could even take the form of a pill – to help control weight gain. Not all fat is created equal. While white fat cells store energy as lipids and contribute to obesity, heart disease and type 2 diabetes, the less common brown fat cells pack energy in iron-rich mitochondria, have been shown to lower triglyceride levels and insulin resistance in mice, and appear to be correlated with lower body weight in humans. Brown fat makes up about five percent of the body mass of healthy newborns, helping them keep warm, and is still present in lower quantities in our neck and shoulders as adults, where it helps burn the white fat cells."
There's a certain subset of people for whom that is just never going to happen, or periods in lives where that's not going to happen. If we can make a magic pill, is that terrible? It's the future, let's take advantage.
Wrong. Bunk. Snake-Oil. Nonesense. Most of all, Fatlogic. Not sure how the hell this was modded insightful.
There's a certain subset for whom it's never going to happen because they won't stop eating more than they should. Full stop, end of story. It's simple thermodynamics. Your Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is how many calories your body uses up simply existing each day. Eat more than this, you gain weight. Eat less than this, you lose weight. There are plenty of online calculators to help you figure out what your specific TDEE is.
Bottom line is ANYONE can lose weight, and you don't need some "magic pill" to do so. The first step is to put down the 64oz beetus-juice and the cheese fries. Most people don't need 3000+ calories every day. Exercise helps (allows you to eat more calories because you're burning more than recovery), but you can't outrun a shitty diet. Weight loss is hard, because it requires effort, but ANYONE can do it. To think you need some pill to lose weight is nothing but fatlogic and magical thinking.
Source: I'm a (soon to be former) fatty who's been fat their entire life and has lost just over 30lbs since August, with 40 more to go. By all accounts, I should be one of the "it's never gonna happen" cases, since I tried to lose weight before and didn't (read: I thought about trying but that's as far as I got). But once I decided to get off my fat ass and actually take it seriously, the weight has been dropping off. No magic, no pills, no special juices or detox regimens, none of that. I pay attention to what I eat (novel concept, isn't it?), meaning I stopped shovelling garbage into my mouth like the fat kid I'd always been, I cut out sodas completely, and I'm actually attempting to be more active. Couldn't run for more than about a minute at a time without feeling like I was gonna die, and now I'm up to 10k at a time and training for a half-marathon this spring when I'll be at my goal weight. But even without the running, I'd still be losing weight, because I decided to stop being a human-shaped garbage disposal when it comes to food!
tl;dr - Stop making excuses or waiting for a magic pill and take control of your life. If my fat ass can get healthy, so can you.