Successful Weight Management

By Kavian S. Milani, MD

Virginia Family Medicine

. http://www.virginiafamilymed.com/

More Weight Control, Nutrition & Exercise Articles

Successful Weight Management

The good news is that everyone who wants to lose weight can do so with some help. Amazing help is now through medically managed diet plans that have a strong track record in both safety and success. Here I want to address the medical management of obesity.

Oftentimes patients think that weight management is about will power. However this has been strongly disproven in literature. We have limited amount of will power and once on a diet we will run out of the limited reserves of will power very fast.

The pitfall here is not the first 10 pounds but it is how to sustain the weight management over the next 12 months, and how to avoid a “yo-yo” diet.

After the first successful period of weight loss the body reacts in a number of ways and metabolism actually slows down. The body produces a hormone called ghrelin which increases appetite to negate any weight loss to restore the original (non-desired) weight.

After a 20 pound loss ghrelin increases by about 30% creating a ravenous appetite that will quickly force one to gain the weight back, negating any success. This can last up to a year. Patients and physicians struggle with this issue and patients lose momentum and become discouraged when any success is reversed despite their best effort.

The really good news is that the correct use of medications can really enhance the original weight loss, and counter the body's attempts to reverse the weight loss. There are a variety of medicines to suppress appetite, acting in the brain to reduce craving for food. There are all FDA approved with an excellent track record in a medically supervised weight management program. Weight loss medications need to be highly personalized and there are no “cookie-cutter” approaches or shortcuts.

These weight loss medications have been used with amazing success. Next month in Your Health Magazine we will begin to explore the types of specific medications available and how to navigate the terrain of weight loss medications.