It seems to me that the market that Belviq is after are those people who could otherwise only have lost weight through surgery. This may seem like an extreme position, but it is hard to deny that, on average, people tend to gain weight rather than lose it. Here is a New York Times article discussing how hard it is to lose weight permanently.
That said, I think the most effective case study i can do is one in which I do not try too hard to lose weight. So today I tried to eat what I wanted to until I was full, repeating that process whenever I was hungry. I think this worked well.
I took a pill in the morning at about 9, ate a peach, and left for work. At about noon I stopped asking myself every 15 minutes if I was hungry. I made myself some hot chocolate for lunch, took a pill when I got home, and had carrots and triscuits with cheese for dinner. This is a factor of three at least less than what I usually eat at this time, but I almost certainly did not accurately model my regular level of impulse control.
The most noticeable effect of the drug so far is that my abdomen feels warm. I have no idea what this means.
If anyone reading this has picked up a prescription to test it out, please let me know in comments, I'd like to get as much data as possible.
So what about just switching to a highly regimented diet? Rather than eating whatever pops into your mouth, decide in the morning what you're going to eat that day and apply will power to implement that plan?
ReplyDeleteWhy not use Belviq as a complement to a comprehensive weight loss program? Why not use Belviq to help you implement a better lifestyle?
ReplyDeleteThe answer is because I do not believe that this would be a truly objective evaluation of the drug. The principle guiding this "study" is not to simply leave my mouth open and swallow whatever falls in. I'm just not going to deny my hunger to the point of it being in any way unpleasant to do so. This is anecdotal, but it seems like the obvious reason that "standard of care" fails. No one wants to commit to something that will make them miserable indefinitely. And make no mistake, this feeling never ever goes away.
ReplyDeleteTL;DR this seems like an unrealistic expectation to me, and these concerns were not alleviated by the way the original studies was performed.