Weight Loss Treatments

As the problem of obesity continues to grow, more and more people are taking extreme action to combat what is very often a medical condition. Many obese sufferers are even reverting to surgery as a quick fix, although a variety of other weight loss treatments are available today.

Obesity Statistics

With recent studies and corresponding results presenting a grim picture, obesity statistics have evolved into a clear and present danger. This global problem is observed to have dramatically risen regardless of age, gender, economic status or race. In the past decade alone, countries that were once hailed for health policies such as the United States, Canada and England have disclosed disturbing figures on rising obesity. Obesity is a health condition marked with abnormally high proportion of body fat. Obesity and obesity statistics that trail neck-to-neck have put lives of millions at risk and has the potential to continue to create new patients suffering from diabetes, hypertension, osteoarthritis and sleep apnea.

Tracking obesity is primarily based on the Body Mass Index (BMI) where an identified cutoff point serves as the guide to determine whether one is overweight or obese. Obesity statistics reflect various factors related to the disease such as adult obesity, childhood obesity, eating habits, prevalence of hypertension, high-blood cholesterol, gallbladder and cardiovascular disease, and cancer. The rate of change of obesity prevalence over the years has grown rapidly.

Obesity statistics also show an increase in mortality rate associated with obesity as obese individuals have a 50-100% increased risk of death from all causes. Even those moderately obese people have their life expectancy shortened by 2 to 5 years. Obesity statistics also show that it is more prevalent as one ages. About 28% of men and 27% of women aged 16-24 are obese in the world alongside about 76% of men and 68% of women between 55 and 64. UK for its part has grim obesity statistics too where in a 2002 report, 13% of 8 year old and 17% of 15 year old were obese. Worldwide, obesity is a predominant danger lurking in most homes today.

Medical and Non-medical Treatments

Treatment for obesity will be most successful if you create a long-term plan with your doctor. A reasonable goal might be to begin making lifestyle changes by increasing physical activity and limiting calories. It is expected that an individual with a BMI great than or equal to 30, as well as those with a BMI of 25.0-29.9 in addition to two or more disease risk factors must attempt to lose weight either with medical or non-medical treatments. Non-medical means are:

Lifestyle Modification - By adhering to a program of diet, exercise, and behavior therapy, one adheres to a particular regimen for a discrete period of time, implementing dietary and behavioral changes that can be sustained indefinitely to promote health.

Dietary Interventions - Designed to create a negative energy balance, dietary intervention reduced one's daily energy intake so much so that it stays below one's energy requirement limit. This greatly varies by sex, weight, and level of physical activity involved.

Physical Activity - The greatest benefit of physical activity is its facilitative action in weight loss maintenance.

Behavior Therapy - This type of therapy provides patients a set of principles and techniques to facilitate their adherence to the diet and activity goals that they have set for themselves.

Over-the-counter herbal weight loss supplements - These supplements are generally known as 'fat burners' and work by boosting the body's metabolism. Doctors have often prescribed these weight loss supplements, though the progress has always been closely monitored. However, these supplements are strongly discouraged due to a lack of labeling of ingredients on these products, and because they have the ability to cause a drastic increase in blood pressure and heart problems.

Medical intervention includes:

Pharmacological Interventions - As BMI or disease risk increases, more intensive options are available for the treatment of obesity. Two medications - sibutramine (Reductil) and orlistat (Xenical) - are approved drugs for the induction and maintenance of safe weight loss.

Sibutramine - is a combined serotonin-norepinephrine reuptake inhibitor that is associated with reports of increased satiation (i.e., fullness).

Orlistat - is a gastric lipase inhibitor that blocks the absorption of about one-third of the fat contained in a meal, leading to weight loss. Patients are negatively reinforced to eat a low-fat diet because not doing so can induce adverse gastrointestinal events that include oily stools, flatus with discharge, and fecal urgency.

Surgical Interventions - Bariatric surgery, the most intensive treatment for obesity, is appropriate only for those individuals with a BMI e35-40 in the presence of comorbidities. Typically, people who seek bariatric surgery should have exhausted the more conservative weight loss options without satisfactory results. The two most common surgical procedures entail isolating a small pouch of stomach with a line of staples, thereby drastically limiting food intake. The surgical procedures are:

Vertical banded gastroplasty
Gastric bypass

Acupuncture - While acupuncture for weight loss has been around for ages now, it has only recently being used for treating individuals for weight loss or obesity. It works by curbing the patient's appetite, inhibits cravings for food, clears excess water in the body and stimulates the pituitary gland to burn off extra calories. It makes use of acupuncture ear staples for weight loss. However, the process is not a scientifically proven and while it may work for some, there are no guaranteed results.

Hypnosis - Hypnotic sessions allows one to break free from pre-formed concepts and self realize oneself. This mode explores the various reasons that one's body is carrying around those extra pounds and works towards releasing extra emotional baggage. It can help us break away from negative thoughts, increase metabolism, release negative overweight behavior as well as reduce sugar cravings and food addictions.

Liposuction - Is a surgical procedure that removes excess fat or localized fat deposits through a suction process. It can even alter body shape.