Modern Methods in the Fight Against Excess Weight

Excess body weight is a major contributor to the severity of several medical conditions, making it a source of concern for many who are overweight or obese. Shedding excess weight can be difficult and frustrating, especially when you finally shed the weight only to get it back or if your weight-loss method isn’t giving you the desired results.

A good understanding of how these different methods work will help you choose the right treatment effective for your weight loss journey. While genetics cannot be ruled out as a possible cause of excess weight gain, behavioral and environmental factors are the major causes, and they are what most weight loss treatments.

This article will give insights into the different weight-loss methods available, including diet plans, exercise regimes, surgery, and modern therapies like stem cell therapy, which have been designed to help you lose weight and maintain optimal health.

Diet for Weight Loss

Dietary lifestyle is a major contributing factor to excess body weight gain. Many foods, including processed foods, high-fat diets, carbonated drinks, and sugar-packed diets, all increase the buildup of fat and calories in the body. Many of these diets contain high amounts of calories, largely higher than what the body can use. Hence, the excess calories contribute to excess weight gain. As much as certain diets can be the source of weight gain, they can also be the solution to losing excess weight. Here’s how!

1. Keep a daily food log to record what and how much you eat, when and where you eat, as certain environments can influence you to eat more.
2. Reduce your intake of processed and refined foods high in fat and sugar.
3. Fibers and whole grains: Add more fiber-rich foods to your diets, such as fresh fruits and vegetables. A high fiber diet is strategic to the process of losing weight as consuming fiber makes you feel full for a longer period, which curbs the temptation to eat more.
4. Like fiber, whole grains give the feeling of fullness because when consumed, they release their energy slowly, thereby reducing the number of calories released in the body.
5. You’re more likely to develop metabolic syndrome, which includes Type 2 diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular problems if you’re obese. Adding whole grains and fiber can help reduce the risk of developing metabolic syndrome. Visit a doctor or dietician to design the perfect diet-based weight loss program for you.
6. Reduce alcohol consumption and stop smoking. Not only do these behaviors aid weight gain, but they also lead to dangerous health conditions.

Role of Physical Exercises in Obesity

People who work from home usually maintain a sitting posture for long periods. This sedentary lifestyle promotes weight gain more rapidly than those who engage in more physical activity at work. So much so because they consume more calories than they can burn through activity—this has been stated to be the greatest contributor to weight gain.

Physical exercise is an effective strategy to burn excess calories and shed excess weight. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services recommends the following physical exercises:

• Aerobic exercises involve engaging in moderate aerobic activity for at least 2 hours and 30 minutes, or 1 hour and 15 minutes of vigorous aerobic activity a week. These exercises are regarded as low-intensity cardio workouts and do not involve much rigor—they are considered beginner-friendly and are effective in weight loss. Some aerobic exercises that you can practice include swimming, cycling, walking, hiking, dancing, and more.
• Strength training exercises involve doing strength training exercises for different muscle groups in the body at least two times a week. Examples of strength training exercises are squats, push-ups, lunges, bench press, plank, etc. These workouts are regarded as high-intensity resistance training because they involve weight-bearing activities and intense exercises.

However, extremely obese people who are bedridden or can’t endure fast-paced activities can’t engage in long-term physical exercises. Such people can consider surgery.

Losing Weight with Surgery

Gastric bypass surgery helps you achieve weight loss by modifying how your stomach and small intestine metabolize or break down the food you eat. The goal of the surgery is to make your stomach smaller, after which you will start feeling full with less food.

The surgery halts the absorption of food in certain parts of your stomach and intestine, thereby decreasing the number of calories released from the breakdown of food in the body and consequently helping to lose and maintain a healthy weight. Here’s what gastric bypass surgery entails:

1. First, your surgeon will make your stomach smaller by dividing it into one smaller upper section and another lower bottom section, also called pouches. When you eat, the food will go to the upper section and not to the lower one; hence, you will feel full when the upper pouch gets filled. Since you don’t eat as much, you don’t gain as many calories, and consequently, you lose weight.
2. The second step involves your surgeon making a small hole in your pouch and connecting your small intestine to it, which is the bypass process. This makes food pass from your pouch into the small intestine, thereby reducing the number of calories absorbed by the body. (1)

Stem Cell Treatment

Stem cell weight loss treatment is a modern method for losing weight. According to research by the NIH, it was stated that “cell-based therapy using adipose-derived stromal cells seems to be a promising strategy to control obesity and related syndromes.”

If you have areas in your body like the belly, chin, etc., with fat tissue that prove difficult to lose regardless of diet or exercise, stem cell therapy can be used for effective weight loss in those areas.

Stem cell therapy involves using stem cells, a type of body cell that can differentiate into other body cell types, to treat different medical conditions, including excess weight or obesity.

Typically, in stem cell therapy, injected stem cells displace the old and damaged ones, which leads to rejuvenating of the body. In obesity, mesenchymal stem cells demonstrated the ability to cause weight loss along with anti-atherosclerotic, hypoglycemic and cardioprotective effects.

The procedure is done in an accredited stem cell therapy centre and it involves your doctor collecting some stem cells from your body or using donated stem cells. These cells are processed and can be injected into the areas marked for weight loss. To get more info about stem cell weight loss treatment, click here. (2)

In Conclusion

Weight gain can be caused by genetic, behavioural, and environmental factors—which serve as the basis for many weight loss methods. Shedding excess body weight can be achieved by various weight loss methods. You can choose which method suits you best, or combine some methods for better results.

Talk to your doctor for a more personalized strategy to help you achieve your weight loss goal. Once you get your weight loss plan right, you’re one step closer to getting the body weight you so much desire! Which weight-loss method appeals to you the most among the options?