SynapticSight

One other thing I could add on is that working out is one side of the equation. Weight gain (ignoring for a second the bulker/weight-lifter guys and gals for a second) is entirely the result of a positive energy balance. That's a fancy term for: "more is going in than going out."

So, weight loss can be achieved in two ways.

1. You can increase "energy out." That's working out.
2. You can decrease "energy in." That's eating less. Counting calories helps a LOT in this. The vast, vast majority of Americans dramatically underestimate the amount of calories they eat per day, and overestimate the amount of calories they burn.

If you'd like to chat more about that, feel free and send me a message. Source: medical student! :)

Alternatively, people are throwing their money behind the candidate who they think will win. Big companies might consider it a waste to drop a billion dollars on Sanders.

I think you'll be glad to know that the scientific meta analyses seem to support your opinion of fad diets. Some diets like the Atkins may have greater short-term weight losses but long-term regress back toward the mean.

Essentially what this means is this: a person's adherence to a given diet is far more important than the type of diet. So long as a person finds a diet to which they can stick, long-term, they are likely to lose weight and keep that weight off. The point of a diet shouldn't be a temporary behavioral change, but a permanent shift in eating habits.

They are also incredibly painful to have put in.

Is this why you're not doing it? Because the procedure is presumably done under anesthesia unless you have some sort of bizarre contraindication.

Well of course you are under anesthesia, but eventually you wake up from that at which point you begin to notice that they inserted something into your head

Certainly, but that's also more psychological. The main thing with pain receptors is the meninges, not the brain itself (which has none).

I'm only clarifying that to put you more at ease about it, in case you do pursue it as an option (I'm a med student going into neurology).