Obesity

Successful weight-loss treatments include setting goals and making lifestyle changes, such as eating fewer calories and doing physical activity regularly. Medicines and weight-loss surgery also are options for some people if lifestyle changes aren’t enough.

Set Realistic Goals

Setting realistic weight-loss goals is an important first step to losing and maintaining weight.

• For Adults
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    Lose just 5 to 10 percent of your current weight over 6 months. This will lower your risk of coronary heart disease (CHD) and other conditions.
  • The best way to lose weight is slowly. A weight loss of 1 to 2 pounds a week is do-able, safe, and will help you keep off the weight. It also will give you the time to make new, healthy lifestyle changes.
  • If you’ve lost 10 percent of your body weight, have kept it off for 6 months, and are still overweight or obese, you may want to consider further weight loss.
• For Children and Teens
  • If your child is overweight or at risk of overweight, the goal is to maintain his or her current weight and to focus on eating healthy and being physically active. This should be part of a family effort to make lifestyle changes.
  • If your child is overweight and has a health condition related to overweight or obesity, your doctor may refer you to a pediatric obesity treatment center.

Lifestyle Changes

For long-term weight-loss success, it’s important for you and your family to make lifestyle changes:

• Focus on balancing energy IN (calories from food and drinks) and energy OUT (physical activity)
• Follow a healthy eating plan
• Learn how to adopt healthy lifestyle habits
• Over time, these changes will become part of your everyday life.

Physical Activity

Being physically active and eating fewer calories will help you lose weight and keep weight off over time. Physical activity also will benefit you in other ways. It will:

• Lower your risk of heart disease, heart attack, diabetes, and cancers (such as breast, uterine, and colon cancers)
• Strengthen your heart and help your lungs work better
• Strengthen your muscles and keep your joints in good condition
• Slow bone loss
• Give you more energy
• Help you to relax and cope better with stress
• Allow you to fall asleep more quickly and sleep more soundly
• Give you an enjoyable way to share time with friends and family

The four main types of physical activity are aerobic, muscle-strengthening, bone strengthening, and stretching. You can do physical activity with light, moderate, or vigorous intensity. The level of intensity depends on how hard you have to work to do the activity.

Behavioral Changes

Changing your behaviors or habits related to food and physical activity is important for losing weight. The first step is to understand which habits lead you to overeat or have an inactive lifestyle. The next step is to change these habits.

Below are some simple tips to help you adopt healthier habits.

• Change your surroundings. You may be more likely to overeat when watching TV, when treats are available at work, or when you’re with a certain friend. You also may find it hard to motivate yourself to do physical activity regularly. However, you can change these habits.
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    Instead of watching TV, dance to music in your living room or go for a walk.
  • Leave the office break room right after you get a cup of coffee.
  • Bring a change of clothes to work. Head straight to an exercise class on the way home from work.
  • Put a note on your calendar to remind yourself to take a walk or go to your exercise class.
• Keep a record. A record of your food intake and the amount of physical activity that you do each day will help inspire you. You also can keep track of your weight. For example, when the record shows that you’ve been meeting your physical activity goals, you’ll want to keep it up. A record also is an easy way to track how you’re doing, especially if you’re working with a registered dietitian or nutritionist.
• Seek support. Ask for help or encouragement from your friends, family, and health care provider. You can get support in person, through e-mail, or by talking on the phone. You also can join a support group.
• Reward success. Reward your success for meeting your weight-loss goals or other achievements with something you would like to do, not with food. Choose rewards that you’ll enjoy, such as a movie, music CD, an afternoon off from work, a massage, or personal time.

Weight-Loss Medicines

Weight-loss medicines approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may be an option for some people. If you’re not successful at losing 1 pound a week after 6 months of using lifestyle changes, medicines may help. You should only use these medicines as part of a program that includes diet, physical activity, and behavioral changes.

Weight-loss medicines may be suitable for adults who are obese (a BMI of 30 or greater). People who have BMIs of 27 or greater and are at risk for heart disease and other health conditions also may benefit from medicines.

Weight-Loss Surgery

Weight-loss surgery may be an option for people who have extreme obesity (BMI of 40 or more) when other treatments have failed.

Weight-loss surgery also is an option for people who have a BMI of 35 or more and life-threatening conditions, such as:

• Severe sleep apnea (a condition in which you have one or more pauses in breathing or shallow breaths while you sleep)
• Obesity-related cardiomyopathy (KAR-de-o-mi-OP-a-the; diseases of the heart muscle)
• Severe type 2 diabetes

Types of Weight-Loss Surgery

Two common weight-loss surgeries include banded gastroplasty and Roux-en-Y gastric bypass. For banded gastroplasty, a band or staples are used to create a small pouch at the top of your stomach. This surgery limits the amount of food and liquids the stomach can hold.

For Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, a small stomach pouch is created with a bypass around part of the small intestine where most of the calories you eat are absorbed. This surgery limits food intake and reduces the calories your body absorbs.

Weight-loss surgery can improve your health and weight. However, the surgery can be risky, depending on your overall health. Gastroplasty has few long-term side effects, but you must limit your food intake dramatically.

Roux-en-Y gastric bypass has more side effects. These include nausea (feeling sick to your stomach), bloating, diarrhea, and faintness. These side effects are all part of a condition called dumping syndrome. After Roux-en-Y gastric bypass, you may need multivitamins and minerals to prevent nutrient deficiencies.

Lifelong medical followup is needed after both surgeries. Your doctor also may recommend a program both before and after surgery to help you with diet, physical activity, and coping skills.

If you think you would benefit from weight-loss surgery, talk with your doctor. Ask whether you’re a candidate for the surgery and discuss the risks, benefits, and what to expect.