Losing weight through healthy eating, increasing physical activity, and making other lifestyle changes are all common therapies for overweight and obesity. Some obese persons may benefit from weight-management programs to lose weight or avoid regaining it. Others are either unable to shed enough weight to boost their health or are unable to maintain a healthy weight. Other therapies, like weight-loss drugs, or bariatric surgery, may be considered in such circumstances.
Obesity is mostly treated with a combination of diets and physical exercise. Diet plans can help people lose weight in the short and long term; however, they work best when combined with exercise. Dietary and lifestyle adjustments can help prevent excessive weight gain and improve health.
Following are some of the approaches and procedures that have made headlines in recent years to treat obesity.
Weight Loss Diets
Low-fat, low-carbohydrate, low-calorie, and very low-calorie diets are the four types of weight-loss diets available. meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials indicated no difference between three primary diet categories (low calorie, low carbohydrate, and low fat), with all studies showing a weight loss of 2–4 kilograms (4.4–8.8 lb). Regardless of the macronutrients emphasized, these three methods resulted in identical weight loss after two years. Diets high in protein don’t seem to make a difference. Weight gain is caused by a diet high in simple sugars. There is evidence that dieting alone can help obese people lose weight and improve their health. The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend calorie restriction diets for overweight people.
Weight Loss Exercises
Exercising is beneficial to your health, especially if you’re trying to lose fat or maintain a healthy weight. intense physical activity increases the number of calories your body utilizes for energy or burns off when you’re trying to lose weight. Muscles burn both fat and glycogen for energy when they are used. Walking, running, and cycling are the most effective forms of exercise for losing body fat due to the large size of leg muscles. A calorie deficit is created when you burn calories through physical activity while also reducing the number of calories you eat. This leads to weight loss. Above and beyond that, physical activity lowers the risk of cardiovascular disease and diabetes.
Weight Loss Programs
In a weight-loss program, professionals will create a customized strategy for you and encourage you in sticking to it. A lower-calorie diet, regular physical activity, and solutions to help you modify your behaviors are all part of the plan. This could entail eating smaller meals, limiting specific foods, and making a serious commitment to exercise more. These programs also allow people to connect with others who are trying to lose weight, to develop mutually motivated and supportive relationships.
Weight Loss Drugs
There are pharmacological treatments that help people lose or keep their weight under control, such as anti-obesity drugs. These pills affect one of the body’s most fundamental functions, the regulation of weight, by either affecting appetite or calorie absorption. Some anti-obesity drugs also aid in the reduction of cravings and the control of compulsive eating, particularly for sweets and high-calorie, fatty, salty foods. In recent years, the FDA has approved many anti-obesity medications that help manage appetite and food cravings, such as Phentermine, Phendimetrazine, Benzphetamine, Orlistat, Contrave, Liraglutide injection, and Semaglutide injection.
Weight Loss Surgery
Bariatric surgery refers to a variety of procedures that alter your digestive system to help you lose weight. Only severely obese people (BMI > 40) who have failed to lose weight after dietary changes and pharmaceutical treatment should consider weight loss surgery. The two most popular approaches are reducing the volume of the stomach, which causes an earlier sense of satiation, and shortening the length of the bowel that comes into touch with food, which limits absorption directly.
Surgery for severe obesity is linked to long-term weight loss and a lower overall death rate. When compared to traditional weight loss measures, one study reported a weight loss of between 14 and 25 percent (depending on the type of surgery performed) at 10 years, as well as a 29 percent reduction in all-cause death.