Miracle diet pill? A safe drug is elusive

It's the bonbons. People are going to continue to be obese because they just do not care for their own bodies.

Topamax alone as a weight loss treatment but concluded the psychiatric side effects, such as memory loss and difficulty concentrating, were too significant.

Memory loss. Dang, I do not remember if I ate. TIme for more chips and dips.

What's so hard about eating well (and less) and exercising? Then a special pill will not be needed.

The rising rate of obesity is a very complex socio-economic phenomenon that a lot of people try to reduce to ridiculously simple advice like, "eat less" or "exercise more". People have more sedentary lifestyles, e.g. they spend 10 hours a day working in front of a computer rather than swinging an axe cutting down trees, and often longer commutes to and from work because of property prices. It's easy to say, "exercise more", but I get up at 6am to get into work by 8am, then leave work at 7pm (on a good night - and don't tell me to leave early, because that would get me fired in the next round of cutbacks), and home by 9 or 10pm. Doing pushups on the subway is not really an option (finding space to breath is hard enough).

Most "experts" on this subject seem completely oblivious to these socio-economic factors, and to the underlying biology. For example, "brain work" consumes more calories than "muscle work" (up to 1 and a half times as many calories), but "brain work" consumes almost exclusively glucose while "muscle work" consumes fat. What does this mean for the average office worker? That you're going to crave something sweet after a few hours of working, and that when you put on weight it is not going to come off. Most people don't know this, they're just told that sweets are bad for them, so they starve their brains of sugars and then eat a huge lunch... which isn't the right kind of energy and turns into fat that they can't shed. Sensible doctors should be advising most office workers to keep a box of barley sugar sweets or something next to their desks and suck one when they're feeling tired, but instead they simply say, "eat less, exercise more". Completely wrong-headed advice that ignores the underlying biochemical issues that are the genesis of the obesity epidemic.

I'm also a fan of companies having a mandatory 15 minute "fitness break" twice a day, once in the morning and once in the afternoon. Even low impact exercise would improve productivity, concentration and reduce sick leave, resulting in a net saving.

The likelihood of any of these very simple, very practical pieces of advice being listened to? Hahahahahaha! I've given this advice for the last 15 years and nobody listens.

Personally, I have been losing about 1kg per week constantly by just cutting back my eating a bit. If you cut it back too much the body does start to stockpile fat, but if you cut it back moderately it works fine. By the way, my lifestyle is still completely sedentary. I haven't increased my exercise one bit since starting. If I had to exercise to lose weight I would probably have given up long ago...

The main things are knowing how much you should be eating (I had no idea before seeing a dietitian) and having the discipline to stick to the limits.

In short to answer all the questions, people need pills cuz we're lazy! My dog died, i'm depressed...we have a pill for that! My kid drank coffee! But now they have AHDD! We have a pill! My kid is jumping off of walls and won't sit for 3+ hours straight watching tv like I want him/her too! Oh wait we have a pill for that! Etc etc etc....

Frungy - YES! Most people don't realize that you're brain uses about 20% of your calorie intake. So if you diet...you're starving your brain too!

As randomenigma says, a quick fix is not the solution, what is needed are permanent changes to one's diet aimed at gradually reducing and stabilising one's weight over the long term.

In my case my current diet keeps my weight stable to 60 +/- 1 kg. It's not necessary to exercise to maintain a stable weight, but I found that my cholesterol levels plunged once I started regular exercise (swimming).

The only sustainable solution to keeping weight under control is to manage your diet.

Eat properly, eat the right foods, eat the correct amounts, drink lots of water or pure fruit juice occaisionally, follow this and you'll reduce your weight.

I lost 25 kgs, by following this and DID NOT increase exercise one bit.

Don't need to eat a great big plate full of food at meal times.

Fast food is slow suicide.

Eat good, fresh vegetables, rice rather than bread, fresh fish or white meat rather than red and/or fatty meat, cut back on the calories, cut out all fried food, do some kind of exercise and you will have no problems with body weight.

Most of the people reading this are in Japan, so eating traditional Japanese food shouldn't be difficult. Rice, tofu, miso soup, seasonal fresh vegetables, fruit and fish.

And, by the way, you don't need to go to a gym or buy special equipment to exercise. Walking is good.