Comprehensive Medical Weight Loss
Weight Loss Strategies for patients of Clinical Nutrition Center in Denver, CO.
In June, the American Medical Association officially recognized obesity as a disease, though the condition has long been regarded as a medical concern. Much more than an issue of excess weight and aesthetic dissatisfaction, living with obesity puts you at a greater risk of developing serious medical complications. One such obesity-related disease is type-2 diabetes, also commonly referred to as adult-onset diabetes.
Having worked with individuals on weight loss over the past 10 years, I've had the opportunity to watch countless patients lose weight and keep it off. Unfortunately, I've also had the opportunity to watch countless patients lose weight only to regain it down the road. I'd like to share some of my observations on the differences between these two weight loss groups.
Getting enough sleep is one of the most important factors when it comes to losing weight and keeping it off for good.
Exercise enhances blood circulation, stimulates metabolism and burns fat, but these are not the only benefits of engaging in physical activity. Exercising regularly can help you lose weight, and so these physical benefits often outshine the many mental benefits that are associated with physical exertion. The medical weight loss process is about more than improving physical appearance through weight loss; it is a process of engaging with and improving one’s health—mentally and physically.
When you’ve got a lot going on, reasons to skip your workout can fly at you from every direction. For a lot of people, the desire to exercise is hampered down by very legitimate time concerns. There are carpools, there are meetings and there are mouths at home that have to be fed. Obligations like these can quickly turn into weight loss obstacles if you let them.
You want to lose weight, but despite your best intentions there are new obstacles to overcome every day. Donuts in the break room, lunch meetings with co-workers, long evenings that make cooking a healthy meal next to impossible—these are factors that a lot of people face, but you don’t need to let them interfere with your weight loss plans.
Hours after dinner, the murmur of late-night television echoes through the house as you begin your transition from the couch to the bed. But before calling it a night, there is one more trip to the kitchen. What will it be tonight: A small bowl of ice cream, a handful of crackers, or maybe a warm mug of hot chocolate?
Many people have trouble making exercise a consistent part of their lives, but there may be a simple solution: exercising at home. When you don’t even have to leave the house to exercise, the barriers between you and a workout become significantly fewer, and your excuses start to sound pretty hollow.
For many years I have told my patients that obesity is not a problem of eating too much and exercising too little, in spite of this common stereotype that has been propagated everywhere from the lay press to physician beliefs. We have had good science to support that in fact obesity should be considered a disease and not simply a result of conscious behaviors dating back to the discovery of leptin, a hormone that fat cells make which governs appetite regulation, back in 1994. In 1998 our National Institute of Health recognized obesity as a disease. And today the American Medical Association adopted new policy recognizing obesity as a disease.
Once you’ve started medical weight loss, you have the chance to reassess your attitude towards healthy eating. Not only is it possible to teach yourself to love healthy foods—with time, you may find that you enjoy them much more than the empty calories that were once part of your diet.
