See, during the trials they make you "non slobby" You can actually get kicked out of trials for doing stupid stuff. No one is going to let an RS contaminate safety/adverse event reports on a $100m research cos a research subject wants to keep smoking and eating deep fried ice-cream burgers. That is why until the drugs hit the public, there were no reports of it dulling a desire to consume alcohol. To see the effects in the absence of medications, you compare them with placebo folks who had only diet and exercise alone. remember, placebo folks also lost weight and improved certain parameters. They also lost less lean muscle mass compared with those on medication. However their overall state was still not as good as those on the medication.
There's reports on the retra Reddit where trial participants post and some have been told to ease off on the weight loss as after a certain % by the research team. Otherwise they have to adjust the dose according to study protocols, and that obviously has an impact on reporting the study data.
Obviously Reddit is a cesspit at the best of times, so I take everything with a grain of salt or two.
Your point stands, all clinical trials will have strict lifestyle requirements participants must follow so the researchers can have data within the set parameters. Companies aren't wasting millions because billy-bob and Karen can't adhere to diet or exercise instructions when participating in the study.
With regards to medicated Vs placebo groups all studies are ran different and researchers have their guidelines in place to allow for easy interpretation and publication of results. I'm far too lazy to read all the trials.
Reports of muscle loss are generally, from those not resistance training or taking adequate protein. Most I've seen are individuals reporting their own results on message boards and Reddit.
Enhanced individuals will not suffer the same results as obviously we would be taking peds, training, and tracking protein, all which hinder muscle loss. Obviously while dropping extreme amounts of weight some muscle loss will occur. Nothing I've seen would indicate any of them having a profound impact on muscle retention in trained individuals.
Personally I am going to run either sema/tirz/retra, coming back from a bad bout of depression and injury. My ADHD came with a lovely binge eating disorder which always hinders my weight loss on a cut. While they won't prevent my brain screaming eat the crap when it wants dopamine, they will decrease my appetite and hunger signaling, and from past fasting experiences. When I'm completely not hungry, even after days of not eating, I don't get those cravings or binge.
For those with eating disorders and people with poor diet adherence these drugs could be complete life changers, especially among the enhanced community.
If anyone has personal experience with sema/tirz/retra they'd like to share (weight loss/ time on/ dosing) hit my DMS please. It would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the rant the ritalin took the wheel.