There is something about trying to lose weight that feels almost impossible and pointless in the beginning. I suppose because weight can sometimes be so easy to put on that the dismay at lack of immediacy in seeing results after working out for a bit seems to be reasonable. Except, the fact is that is not how the body works.
To add additional fuel to the fire, one scroll through Instagram of people’s weight transformation pictures makes it look so instantaneous. Almost like cutting your hair. With just the months and years boldly printed onto their side-by-side body image comparison photos, why wouldn’t it appear so? What we do not see are the gruelling workouts, the expensive grocery bills that come with clean and organic eating or the long mental deliberations when it comes to making healthy choices on the daily.
I have had so many friends that tell me they just want an easy push in the beginning for motivation. By easy push they were referring to taking weight loss teas, diet pills, following fad diets or anything that involved minimal physical effort and ended with a sizable kg loss result before they took the deep dive into really getting healthy and committing. It was almost as if they firmly believed it was never possible without a little external help.
It is too not surprising that almost every other day there seems to be a new hack to kickstart your transformation. The latest being “Oatzempic”. The viral name combines oats and Ozempic (the drug used to treat diabetic patients). Ozempic helps the body to produce more insulin and reduces the amount of sugar the liver makes. This slows the way the body breaks down food, which in turn makes one feel fuller for longer. It is in very high demand because of its weight-loss effect. With a dosage costing up US$945, without insurance and thus out of reach for many, the TikTok budget version cleverly named “Oatzempic” involves water, lime, and oats. It has no serious side effects, compared to Ozempic, and has been touted to have the same weight-loss effect.
Some who have video blogged about their usage of “Oatzempic” claim to have lost up to 40 pounds in two months. For those willing to spend a bit more but not as much as on an actual Ozempic dosage, Berberine is another powerful, natural supplement that costs somewhere around US$50 to US$100 depending on size and brand. It is said to produce the same weight-loss results and has gained considerable traction over the past year. My friends call it budget Ozempic in a bottle.
With all these options at our fingertips it’s not hard to understand why our conversations around health and weight management don’t revolve around the core problems: stress reduction, grass-fed meats free of hormones, lower alcohol consumption, better sleep, etc. It is simpler to ignore the fact that we have all been huddled into lifestyles that leave us devoid of time and patience, resulting in us taking the fast options: fast food, ready meals and anything really that is quick and easy and that would give us a boost to continue ploughing through life’s responsibilities.
Whether it is an expensive treatment or a fleeting fad, one thing is for certain our weight issues will persist if we don’t address our core habits and lifestyles. As strange as it sounds perhaps the journey of healthy weight management doesn’t start with a hack or an easy starting push but truly accepting this: possibly the toughest of all the pills to swallow.
