Hormone triggers are responsible for burning fat, right? Why aren’t there drugs that exploit and supercharge this process?

Question

Proper exercise is hard to come by, when your back is basically broken. I want to pop some Notbuprofen and feel the burn as the pounds melt away.

In theory, a drug that stimulates the hormones that demand the burning of fat *should* be possible. Why isn’t it, and/or why has no one made this yet?

In: Biology

Answer 1

The short answer is because it is basically impossible or incredibly unhealthy or dangerous to increase metabolism or calories burned enough to make up for lousy eating habits. It’s far safer to work on the calories in side of the equation by suppressing appetite.

Even with people who have the ability to exercise intensely can’t exercise away enough calories to result in any meaningful weight loss if they are still eating like crap. Outside of elite level athletes the most you’re going to be burning when you’re working out it’s between 3 and 400 calories an hour which is less than half of say a single Big Mac.