Treatment of obesity

There are 3 goals to attain in a weight loss programme. These are

1) Preventing further weight gain

2) Gradual weight loss

3) Maintaining final ideal body weight.

The most effective was to achieve the above goals requires a change in eating habits, exercises and increase physical activities, and good social support. In general, studies shows tht only about 20% of obese people who start a weight loss programme lose weight and maintain it for 2 years. The problem seems more of a problem of maintaining weight lost rather than losing weight itself.

One of the most common reasons for failure of a weight loss programme is that lack of motivation. If you are not fully motivated to lose weight, you should not even bother to start. There are no magic pill for weight loss, only better or lousier methods. For example, if you think that keeping a food diary is just too much of a chore, then you may not be motivated enough to go through a successful weight loss programme.

How fast to lose weight and how much weight should you lose? For most people, a weight loss of 10% over a period of 6 months would be ideal. After the loss of the first 10% of body weight, weight loss would usually slow or even stagnate die to the lower energy expenditure associated with lower body mass. The caloric intake and exercise programme will need to be reassessed at that point. Obesity are usually considered “treated” after a 2 year period where the likelihood that any lifestyle changes that was implemented would be permanent.