The same can be said for so many health issues -- mental and physical.  There is a lot of hard work to be done to reach and maintain optimum health.  We don't even know all the mechanisms of how the body controls metabolism and the weight set-point and appetite...and so on.  And all the emotional issues that often compound the problem of obesity (I am obese, myself) are not addressed by the weight-reduction meds.  Just like medication for schizophrenia (and I have schizophrenia) does not address the environmental stresses that may impact the prognosis of the disease.  Mental and physical stresses are very influential on each other.  And one often complicates the other.  My schizophrenia medication was Zyprexa for 13 yrs, and while on it my weight doubled because my appetite was absolutely insatiable.  But part of the problem became that I grew dependent on the idea that if I ever stopped taking Zyprexa, the weight would come off rapidly with little or no effort.  I had the cause and the cure, or so I thought.  But once I switched to a different medication, Saphris, I no longer had that ravenous hunger 24x7.  And the weight stayed the same.  No magic there.

I begin to understand now that the same effort I put into addressing and overcoming the problems of mental illness (courage, attitude, flexibility, stamina, determination, etc.) are going to have to come into play when battling obesity.  It is not just going to fall off.  Would I take a drug that would bring my weight down to a normal level and keep it there without unwanted side effects?  Yeah, that would be nice.  But it ain't gonna happen by just swallowing a pill.  Not any time in the near future, anyway.