There is also the addiction angle - we all know that carby foods are addictive. We've all been through the withdrawal from them, and it's not easy at all. The more addicted you are, the more difficult it is. The more glycogen your body is storing - the longer it takes to eliminate the excess and therefore the longer it takes to get through induction flu.

There was someone on the LC forums a couple decades ago (no idea if he's still around or not - can't even recall his name), but he went through no less than 6 weeks of induction flu (or was it 8 weeks? I remember it was an unusually long time) before he was finally through that stage. Never mind that induction flu generally only lasts 2 weeks - how many people would be able to stick to a diet (any diet) for a full 2 weeks when they continually feel awful and crave the very things that they can't have?

Not to mention that those working in an office setting are going to be subject to exposure to the cakes and donuts and cookies and candy that they crave every single day. Every meeting -there will be snacks. The break room will have snacks.

Even the places that have gone to only allowing "healthy" snacks in their break room or at meetings - those will be things like whole grain crackers, apples, oranges, and bananas: in other words still carbs.

For those who work from home, if they have any kind of social life at all, there's still going to be going out/ordering out to eat (a mine field in and of itself), grocery store temptations to buy treats "for the kids" or to have on hand for guests. It's especially a problem at this time of year when every time you turn around there's a party or a dinner full of temptations.

Then there's the friends and neighbors dropping by with their well-meaning tray of homemade cookies or a box of candy. Unless you have an iron will when it comes to those treats, AND live alone so that you can simply graciously thank the gift giver, then throw them in the trash after they leave - those temptations are going to be very difficult to resist when you're fully carb addicted.

I think that's a lot of the reason the injectables are gaining in popularity - it's just so freakin' hard to avoid the temptations to indulge in carbs, and the injectables at least minimize your interest in food in general, plus reduce your appetite to the point that you feel stuffed after only a very small amount of any food, whether it's carby or not. (Although carbs - except sugar - are far easier for them to digest than fats and proteins, so they don't even need to struggle to overcome their carb addiction, also a plus for those who have a strong carb addiction)

Also the injectables do improve lab values for blood sugar and A1C readings, so as long as they're losing enough weight to off-set how bad they feel on the injectables, they're going to continue with it - at least as long as their insurance will continue to cover it, or if they can afford to cover the cost themselves.

I'm definitely not in favor of reliance on those diet drugs, but unless (until) the damage lawsuits start, they're going to continue to be available.