I just turned 60.
So what? Well, as I sit here at work—actually before work, because at 60 I still go in early and use my Total Gym(yes, I am a cliche—so FREAKIN WHAT?) for a good 40 minutes before my work day even starts. I do feel good at the end of the workout. The entire time I am working out, I’m dying, or so I think. I don’t have a trainer. I don’t have a work out buddy. The whole POINT of my workouts is my own self control.
I have lacked self control often in my now sexagenarian life(bet YOU didn’t know that word either!!). I tend to get overweight easily. I am still overweight now, but less overweight than I was a year ago at this time. I love food…..all food, except OKRA…flush that shit right down the toilet(oh and it will slide right down, slimy, gross snot packets). But, I digress. I could try to score some Ozempic—I have the money to do it, but something tells me it’s cheating—BECAUSE IT IS. I’m not talking about moral cheating. I’m talking about physiologic cheating.
What do I mean by physiologic cheating? I mean you are hijacking normal body functions to produce a desired result. But remember in nature Newtons’ Third Law-for every action, there is an opposite and equal reaction. So, what is the REACTION to things like Ozempic? Well, I don’t think anyone knows yet, do they? This is the problem with wonder drugs. There is ALWAYS a catch….eventually. There are so many drugs available now to short cut things. I’m not saying all these drugs are bad, I’m saying we just don’t know if they are bad or not. Some people have already had bad outcomes with drugs like Ozempic. I don’t want to make it sound like this brand name is bad. It is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) agonist (incretin mimetics) that works by binding to GLP-1 receptors, which results in lower blood sugar levels and A1C levels and may also reduce your appetite to help weight loss. Blah, blah, blah, right? But this description clearly shows that the drug is hijacking a normal mechanism that our body already has in place for a reason. Why that mechanism is not working correctly is OUR FAULT. We may eat the wrong foods, not exercise, etc, etc.
We are designed to be physically active. We are designed to be moving a lot and doing, doing, doing….but through technology and a lot of other things, we have stopped that. By necessity, a lot of us sit around all day at work, then we go home and sit around some more. Our favorite activities may also be sedentary. We are set up for failure with the way life is currently structured in this country. It’s not our fault….or IS it? When you go home after a long day’s work, you are likely mentally tired, but probably not physically tired and it can be very hard to distinguish the two. If your brain says you’re tired, well your body says, ‘Hell yes, break out the chips and let’s watch a flick!!’ It’s HARD to motivate yourself. I totally get it.
I do worry, however that people are heading down a road that seems healthy but really isn’t. As I said, I don’t KNOW what the long term effects of these drugs are. I just worry. I take Ibuprofen like candy at times—I ride horses and this old body sometimes is pretty wrecked by all that entails. I KNOW that this drug can cause heart attacks, kidney and liver damage, ulcers, etc. So, I try to ONLY use it when I am in pain….but when will the Russian Roulette bullet hit? Will it hit ME? Or will I escape being a statistic? I just don’t know. I would likely be better off by riding more and making sure I am in the best possible shape so that each episode is less painful, but hey….I’m human and lazy and just don’t consider it. Plus it’s HARD to stay in shape.
Of course, I am talking in this column about mainly people taking these drugs that are slightly overweight. I’m not talking about morbidly obese people. These people are in immediate risk of dying from the obesity and for THEM, the risks of staying obese far outweigh any long term risks of these drugs….but eventually, if things go well with their weight loss, they should reach a point where they start to do things that maintain healthier weights without the drugs.
So, what is the answer? Hell if I know. I told you this was ‘early morning musings’ NOT early morning solutions. I just hope people stop and consider the trade offs before jumping on the next medicinal bandwagon. And hey, I get it. It’s hard to do things the ‘right’ way. This holds true for everything you do….the easy way, is well, EASY…..but the hard way usually gives you better results in the long run