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Weight is a major influencer of a person’s overall health, which may be Why more than 48% of Americans named losing weight as their New Year’s resolution last year. And yet, there is a lingering misconception that being overweight is a cosmetic flaw rather than a disease.
For many patients, managing weight is often tied to cultural influences. Whether we like it or not, food plays a significant role in our life beyond providing our bodies with fuel to burn. In fact, challenge yourself to name an event in your life that you didn’t either mourn or celebrate with food.
As physicians, we don’t describe patients as being an obese person; instead, we refer to a person as having obesity. Similarly, a patient with high blood pressure has hypertension; they aren’t a hypertensive person.
To determine if a patient has obesity, we use a measurement known as Body Mass Index (BMI) that is based upon a person’s height and weight. A BMI between 18.5 and 25 is considered to be at a healthy weight. A 25-30 BMI is considered overweight, and a BMI above 30 is considered to fall into one of three classes of obesity: Class 1 (30-35 BMI), Class 2 (35-40 BMI) and Class 3 (above 40 BMI).
When a person’s BMI exceeds 25, it can start to affect areas such as the hips and knees where extra weight equates to extra pressure. It also can affect liver and kidney function, sleep habits and mental health.
Almost everyone has tried at least one fad diet, and while initially promising, these quick-fix diet plans typically yield a short-term success. Many also believe exercise plays a role equal to that of diet, and while it is important, exercise should be considered a weight management tool rather than a panacea for weight loss. If you were to exercise 30 minutes five times a week, you’d be disappointed because it’s not going to drop huge numbers off your BMI.
Instead, the most significant influence on weight, in addition to caloric intake, is hormones. In fact, hormones are the primary reason some people lose weight easily and others don’t. Hormones also are why males generally lose weight easier than females.
Certain medical conditions — and some medications used to treat those conditions — also can be significant weight management influencers. For example, a Type 2 diabetic may struggle to lose weight, while a Type 1 diabetic can’t gain a pound, no matter how much they eat.
Despite these challenges, there are steps we can take for achieving a more healthy weight. The first is to be mindful of our goals and listen to our body. Before eating lunch, ask yourself, “Am I actually hungry or am I eating because I’m supposed to have lunch at noon?”
There also is a system known as the red light-yellow light-green light system that use as a guide for eating. Reaching the red light means one just finished eating and is full. When one reaches the yellow light, they might think, “Hey, I ate a little bit ago, but those cookies smell good.” The green light stage is when a person is actually hungry and needs to eat.
Weight management also can become more successful when we have an accountability partner with whom we can share our weight management journey. Accountability can help keep one focused on their goal, which should be achieving a consistent and healthy weight loss of 5% to 10% that can be maintained over time. That’s when the healthy changes start to happen. We start to see drops in insulin resistance and improvements in biomarkers and blood chemistry.
Once some of those changes occur, and we also see some positive changes on the scales, weight management can become a healthy way of life rather than a broken resolution.
Drew Payne, D.O., is a physician of internal medicine at Texas Tech Physicians and the Texas Tech Physicians Weight Management Clinic. He is also an associate professor for the Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center School of Medicine.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Tech Doc: Culture, hormones play important role in weight loss success
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