Mindfulness In Medical Weight Loss

Mindfulness is a technique that involves being aware of the present moment without judgment.  Mindfulness is an awareness of your thoughts, emotions, body sensations, and environment without judging them.   It’s about being fully engaged in the present moment and accepting what’s happening.

Mindfulness can be a helpful tool in medical weight loss programs because it can help people become more aware of their bodies and emotions and can help them change unhealthy eating habits. Mindfulness can also help people learn to cope with stress, which can be a factor in overeating.

Here are some ways mindfulness can help with weight loss:

• Mindful eating:  a technique involves paying attention to the flavors, smells, colors, and textures of food, chewing slowly, and avoiding distractions while eating.  Examples of mindful eating practices include:
  • Eating one meal a day or week more slowly and attentively
  • Eating with your non-dominant hand
  • Eating silently for five minutes
  • Taking small bites and chewing well
• Improved eating behaviors:  Mindfulness can help people be more aware of their hunger cues and learn to savor their food.   Mindfulness can also help people enjoy their food more and feel less stressed about controlling their eating
• Reduced emotional eating:  Mindfulness can help with emotional eating and binge eating.
• Increased motivation to exercise:  Depending on the program, mindfulness can help people be more motivated to exercise.
• Reduced weight fluctuations:  Mindfulness can help people experience fewer weight fluctuations over time.

Mindfulness is a concept that originated in Buddhism and involves being fully aware of what’s happening in the present moment. It’s used in several therapeutic interventions, including cognitive behavior therapy and stress reduction.   One study found that mindfulness meditation combined with a behavioral weight loss program was more effective than a weight loss program alone.

 

Health and Wellness

Although used interchangeably, health and wellness have different definitions.  In medical weight loss programs and research, health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, while wellness is the active pursuit of that health through lifestyle choices, such as exercise, nutrition, and avoiding risky behaviors like emotional eating, binging, and sedentary lifestyle. 

What is your impression of your overall health?  Do you feel that your physical, mental, and social sense of well being is balanced and positive?  What are you actively doing in terms of wellness to achieve the level of health you desire?

Being obese or overweight increases your risk of developing serious health problems like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, diabetes, or heart disease.  Therefore, not maintaining a healthy weight can have a negative impact on your health and wellness.

The American Medical Association first recognized obesity as a disease in 2013. Since then, there’s been major progress in the field of obesity medicine. Now more than 5,200 certified physicians on the American Board of Obesity Medicine. In addition, new weight loss medications with far fewer risks than those of earlier generations have recently been FDA-approved, including GLP-1 receptor agonists.

Research has shown that a medical weight loss program is not only effective but instrumental in one’s weight loss journey. A study shared at the 2021 American Society for Bariatric and Metabolic Surgery annual meeting found that patients lost an average of just under one pound per week in medical weight loss programs where GLP-1 agonists like semaglutide are prescribed and dietary and behavioral counseling sessions every 4 weeks were offered.

Weight loss is most effective when intensive lifestyle interventions are incorporated.  Weight is determined by the interaction of your biology, genetics, and environment. It’s the result of how your unique metabolic system responds to things like the food you eat, the amount you sleep and exercise, and even the emotional stress you’re under.   The four pillars of metabolic health are food, sleep, exercise, and emotional health.

Addressing these lifestyle factors is an essential step in targeting the root cause of weight gain and helping you to reset your metabolic system so you can achieve sustained weight loss.

Without addressing the four pillars of metabolic health, you will not have successful and sustained weight loss.

What makes our medical weight loss program unique and effective is that is all aspects of the 4 pillars of metabolic health are addressed.  This makes our program very comprehensive, individualized, and effective.  You will have sustained weight loss because you will be provided the tools to lose and maintain weight and improve your health.

The physician reviews your medical history and determines your obesity phenotype and prescribes medications like GLP-1 medications that are safe, well tolerated, and can be effective in losing weight.  GLP-1 can help patients lose up to 12-20% of weight loss in the first 3 months.  These medications act directly on the hunger and satiety centers in the brain and are effective at lowering your default weight (or set point).   The medical team also screens you for risk factors for obesity-related medical problems like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease.  They also screen for metabolic causes of weight gain like thyroid disorders and severe anxiety or depression and treat those conditions to help achieve sustained weight loss.

In addition to metabolic and medical screening, there is behavioral and nutritional counseling either 1:1 or in a group setting to achieve sustained weight loss.  You will work with a therapist, or psychologist to learn more about your thoughts and feelings about food and how to change those thoughts and feelings to help facilitate effective weight loss.

The next step is nutritional counseling with a registered nutritionist to educate and change your understanding of nutrition and metabolism.  You will learn how to read a nutrition label, prepare foods you enjoy in a healthier way, and to incorporate more water and macronutrients in your diet, as well as avoid unhealthy fats and processed foods in your diet.

Finally, we provide you access to personal trainers and exercise physiologists that can assist with improving your health.  The main difference between a personal trainer and an exercise physiologist is the scope of their practice: personal trainers focus on general fitness, while exercise physiologists specialize in exercise for people with chronic conditions or injuries.  Personal trainers focus on general fitness, such as building muscle, losing weight, and getting healthy. They work with people who are low risk and don’t have a history of disease or injury. Personal trainers can become accredited in less than six weeks.  On the other hand, exercise physiologists focus on exercise to prevent and manage chronic diseases and injuries. They work with people who have a variety of conditions, including chronic pain, heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes. Exercise physiologists are trained at the university level for over four years. They use scientific methods to design exercise programs for everyone.

Exercise physiologists are allied health professionals who can work in hospitals, private clinics, and other settings. They are often part of a multidisciplinary team that includes other health professionals, such as doctors, physiotherapists, and psychologists.

 

Motivators For Weight Loss

What are your motivators to lose weight?   Although it varies from person to person, most people want to lose weight to improve their overall health.

People have many reasons for losing weight, including:

• Health: Weight loss can help manage chronic health conditions, reduce medication dependence, and improve overall health.
• Body image: People may want to look better, fit into clothes better, or be skinny.
• Social support: Family support, emotional encouragement, and peer relations can be motivating.
• Self-determination: People may be motivated by inner determination and planning.
• Personal satisfaction: People may be motivated by the inherent satisfaction they get from doing an activity or seeing its results.

Other motivators include improving mobility and function, regaining normalcy, mindful eating, and positive attitudes and self-perceptions.

To stay motivated, it is important to identify and set realistic weight loss goals.  You can break down those overall goals into smaller attainable goals.  You can monitor your progress and reward yourself with non-food rewards when you achieve milestones.  You can use a fitness app to monitor your progress and obtain an accountability partner.  It is effective to be committed and plan for potential set backs.  Meal prepping and planning as well as setting an exercise scheduling can be effective tools to achieve progress.  Finally, having a sense of community and support is essential.  That is why our program includes a Facebook group where ideas and tips can be exchanged, experts can do live Q&As to educate, and community members can support others in their weight loss journey.

There are many barriers to weight loss, including physical, psychological, and environmental factors:

• Physical barriers: Physical pain, dietary restrictions, and hypothyroidism
• Psychological barriers: Lack of willpower, self-sabotage, negative body image, and emotional eating
• Environmental barriers: Time constraints, family issues, and lack of support
• Lifestyle barriers: Sedentary lifestyle, desk-based job, and difficulty sleeping
• Financial barriers: Inability to afford healthy food or gym equipment
• Goal-related barriers: Lack of clearly defined goals or unrealistic goals
• Health conditions: Menopause and premenstrual syndrome
• Other barriers: Past unsuccessful weight loss attempts, peer pressure, and lack of nutrition knowledge

To overcome weight loss barriers, you can try to develop self-regulation skills. You can also watch portion sizes and read food labels, choose lower-fat and caloric options, exercise, drink more water, and eat more nutrient-dense foods.