Ask the Docs
I Need To Lose Weight… For Good This Time!
Lesley Glover, MD
We’ve all been there. We are very good for a little while. We diet, we exercise, we lose weight. But then it’s somebody’s birthday. Or we go out to dinner with the family. Or (happy sigh) the holiday season comes. And instead of enjoying one meal off our “diet”, the weekend passes, then a week, then another month, and before we know it, we’re back to square one with our weight loss. The people who are most successful at long term weight loss are those who change their lifestyle through diet, exercise, and behavioral modification. Most people are aware of the importance of diet and exercise when trying to lose weight, but changing your behavior is another very important part of the process.
Studies have compared different diets such as the Atkins diet, the Zone diet, and the Weight Watchers diet. No single diet turns out to be much better than any other. Any diet that reduces the number of calories you eat can help you lose weight — as long as you stick with it.
Physical activity works the same way. You can walk, dance, garden, or even just move your arms while sitting. Many people also respond well to personal training, to help them learn to increase their physical activity in a supervised and safe manner. What’s important is that you increase the number of calories you burn by moving more. And you have to keep doing the extra activity.
If you go on a diet for a short time, or increase your activity for a while, you might lose weight. But you will regain the weight if you go back to your old habits. Weight loss is about changing your habits for good.
There are medicines and surgery to help with weight loss for people who have not been able to lose weight through diet and exercise. But it is important to remember that weight loss treatments do not take the place of diet and exercise. People who have these treatments must also change how they eat and how active they are.
Losing weight requires lifestyle intervention – a combination of diet, exercise, and behavioral modification. The goal of behavioral therapy is to help patients make long-term changes in their eating behavior by modifying and monitoring their food intake, modifying their physical activity, and controlling things in their environment that can trigger eating. Some ways to do this include individual or group therapy, self-monitoring with food diaries and activity records, nutritional education and meal planning, and monitored physical activity.
To lose weight, you have to eat less or move more. Doing both is even better. People try to make weight loss more complicated than that, but it really isn’t. The problem many of us have is getting ourselves to consistently do the things required for us to lose weight. This is where behavior modification comes into play. If you would like help with this process, please give our office a call at 561-721-1953. We are implementing a weight loss program to include dietary management, personal training, and behavioral modification, and we would love to help you through this process.
If you have any questions, please contact us at Family Medical and Wellness Center (561) 721-1953.