Medical weight loss

How medical weight loss works?

If you have serious health problems because of your weight and dieting hasn't worked for you, prescription weight-loss drugs may be an option. You should know, though, that prescription weight-loss drugs don't replace the need to make healthy changes in your eating habits and activity level.If you’re someone battling a weight problem, you might start considering medical weight loss. What is medical weight loss and what sets it apart from other weight loss programs on the market? If you are really serious about seeing weight loss success, it’s going to be vital that you learn various strategies that you can use to go about reaching your goal. 

For some people, medical weight loss is just the strategy that they need to use.
Let’s take a closer look at what this is and whether it’s the right approach for you.

What Medical Weight Loss Is

Clearly understanding what medical weight loss is will be important if you’re to give this any consideration at all. This weight loss approach is a process of intense weight loss that’s supervised by medical professionals to ensure that you stay safe while seeing such a fast rate of progress.

Most of these programs are going to be extremely low calorie in nature and many will be simply a liquid formula that you take at various points during the day to provide vital nutrients to the body to sustain proper functioning.

This makes it one of the strictest diets available and while it will definitely produce results, it’s not something that will be easy to go through. Most people will report feelings of hunger while going about the diet due to the fact that they’re creating such a high calorie deficit each day.

Who is a candidate for weight-loss drugs?

Prescription weight-loss drugs are generally reserved for people who haven't been able to lose weight through diet and exercise, and who have health problems because of their weight. They're not for people who want to lose just a few pounds for cosmetic reasons.

Your doctor may consider weight-loss drugs for you if haven't been able to lose weight through diet and exercise and you meet one of the following:

• Your body mass index (BMI) is greater than 30
• Your BMI is greater than 27 and you have a serious medical problem related to obesity, such as diabetes or high blood pressure

Before selecting a medication for you, your doctor will consider your health history, possible side effects and potential interaction of weight-loss drugs with other medications you're taking.

So who is best suited to using a medical weight loss approach? Generally those who are carrying a very large amount of excess body fat and are considered to be obese will be the best candidates for a medical weight loss program.

Often you will have to be pre-screened by a doctor as well to qualify. Not everyone will be advised to proceed through this process since it is so rigorous and isn’t an easy process on the body.

If you have existing thyroid conditions that make it very difficult to lose weight as well that may further necessitate using medical weight loss to assist with reaching your ideal weight.

What To Remember About This Process

So if you’ve decided that you’d really like to consider using this process to help you shed the excess fat, there are a few things to remember.

First, make sure that you follow the diet plan exactly as is. Don’t try and make adjustments on your own as these have been very specifically designed by doctors to work the way they do.

Second, realize that this is not a permanent fix. Even if you do see significant results on your program, if you go back to your old habits once again once you’re finished, you’re going to gain that weight right back.

Failing to realize this and getting stuck back in your former ways will lead to much disappointment and frustration along the way.

Make sure that you don’t let yourself do this.

So there you have the facts about medical weight loss. When used correctly and under professional supervision, this is a good way for very obese individuals to reach their goal weight.

How well do weight-loss drugs work?

When combined with a low-calorie diet and regular exercise, weight-loss drugs produce an average weight loss of 5 to 10 percent of total body weight within a year, which is a typical weight-loss goal. Diet and exercise are responsible for part of this weight loss, and medications are responsible for part as well.

Losing 5 to 10 percent of your total weight may not seem like much, but even modest weight loss can improve your health by:

• Decreasing blood pressure
• Decreasing lipid levels
• Decreasing blood glucose levels
• Increasing insulin sensitivity

It's important to keep in mind, however, that these medications may not work for everyone. And when you stop taking these medications, you're likely to regain much or all of the weight you lost.