1. The problem it solves is obsessive appetite. I used to read about people saying things like "oh, I was working so hard, I forgot to eat" and I wondered how that was even a possible thing. This takes certain types of people from being constantly hungry to what appears to be "normally" hungry. If you are overweight because you are CONSTANTLY hungry, even right after you eat, this is the solution for you.
2. To everyone else, the people who just really like donuts or whatever, I am not sure what this will do for you. I don't mean it won't help, I just literally mean I have no idea, because my personal experience doesn't speak to this.
3. Intermittent fasting. Because it's impossible to talk about dieting without someone bringing this up. I think IF is wonderful, but, for people like me who have appetite issues, these drugs are helpful for following IF. But I would say the two are not related--they solve different problems.
4. I had zero side effects, but had to jump through an INSANE amount of hoops to get this stuff.