WEIGHT LOSS

1 in 2 Australians is obese or overweight believed to be due to obesogenic environment.

Even small (5-10%) weight loss associated with a big (35%) health benefits. You can do whatever you can and just by itself improve your health.

Excess weight is associated with high risks of diabetes, heart attack, stroke, cancers, depression to name the few, but most of our Melbourne clinic patients seek weight loss also for a quality of life.

There are number of approaches, some have more evidence than others, but lifestyle change is 1 of the most important “ingredient” to ensure that the weight won’t return after the weight loss program.

• counselling and behavioural approaches ( to substitute comfort eating to alternative comfort strategies, implement lifestyle changes, address underlying overlying causes)
• meal replacements (short term intense weight loss  – up to 3 months)
• commercial meal programs (quite effective and patient learn new habits from them)
• appetite suppressants and metabolic medications, as prescribed by doctor
• bariatric surgery (the most effective long term weight loss, although associated with the highest risks)

How “big” am I objectively? 

BMI is most common, but less accurate weight measure (especially for men, who cares larger muscle mass).

You can calculate your BMI here and your ideal weight here.

Waist measurement is more important – it’s an indicator of internal fat, which squeezes your heart, liver and other organs and predispose you to metabolic diseases and diabetes.

Your health is at risk if your waist size is:

Lifestyle modification

Important with any other weight loss strategies. Research shown that within a year almost all patients returned to the same or larger weight, if not lifestyle changes.

It’s really simple – are you consuming more energy (in cal)  than spend (=weight gain) or spend more energy than consume (=weight loss).

Be careful about food density (how much energy (cal) per food weight) – our appetite satisfaction depends also on a bulk of food eaten.

Less dense food are drinks, non starch vegetables etc – try to eat them before meals to achieve satiety earler than you overeat.

Medications 

OTC (over the counter) 

we never saw successful weight loss on OTC medications/creams/wraps  at VISTA Clinic. Also, there is not much evidence available, therefore it’s not worth of discussion.

Prescription medications

Australian law prohibits direct advertising of prescription only medications to the general public due to safety reasons. We will highlight classes.

D – stimulant medication  with appetite suppressant effect and providing energy for exercises. Available for short term only to increase motivation and to break through plateaus. Side effects significant.

R – classic appetite suppressant, where this is a genuine problem of the weight gain

Antidepressants – certain classes are associated with weight loss. Helpful in relapse prevention.

S- daily injections, working via metabolic pathway and appetite reduction. Proven 10% weight loss within 6 months (at VISTA Clinic we observed usually more significant) and, more importantly, the weight didn’t return after cease of the medication.