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I. Unless you’re a trained professional in nutrition and metabolism, get professional help. If your weight is above ideal (body mass index above 24), you maintain a good relationship with your doctor, and he/she agrees with your weight loss plan, that should be your first source. Only if your regular physician cannot or will not help should you go elsewhere, either to a physician managed weight loss program or online with telemedicine. Telemedicine programs demand less time and travel, but usually offer less individual service. Telemedicine weight loss is good for independent people who follow instructions well and need less outside help implementing major diet and lifestyle changes.
II. Understand the process of weight gain and also the process of weight loss at a metabolic level. Fat is soft tissue specialized to store energy, like a gasoline tank. For prehistoric man, fat sustained the body through hardship when natural food supply was scarce: adverse weather, dry seasons, illness and injury, and other situations of famine. Our physiology evolved in a calorie poor world: no grocery stores and no restaurants. Our lifeline was the protein, energy, micronutrients, and water we ourselves could procure from mother earth. Seasons and geography being what they are, food was not always available. When food WAS available, because we didn’t have refrigerators and freezers, nature gave us fat. Any and all extra energy we consume is stored as fat to be mobilized for use when needed. Storage of extra energy as fat is a strong high-fidelity metabolic process. Just by breathing, thinking, and our heart beating, we consume energy around the clock. To stay alive, energy must be available to our body all the time. This metabolic fact has not changed, but the world HAS changed. We’re no longer in a calorie poor world, we are in a calorie rich world, a calorie overloaded world, a world of sugary drinks, doughnuts, pizza, ice cream, churros, french fries, birthday cake, and all the rest. The food industry profits from our consumption, and even more from our over-consumption, so their interest is in maintaining the status-quo. To lose weight, we must overcome the status quo. We must walk away from food. We must choose food that is not stored as fat. We must realize what in our own life has caused our own over-consumption. Whether it’s habit, reluctance to throw away extra food, social eating, business meeting eating, happy hour cocktails, snacking, or an escape from stress, we must radically and suddenly change. Don’t worry, no withdrawal.
III. Understand what food is, and read Nutrition Facts labels. Our body consumes three categories of nourishment, macronutrients, micronutrients, and water. About half our body is water, maybe more. Water is an essential for health and we shed it constantly in saliva, sweat, and by breathing, so drink plenty of water. Unless you have heart, lung, or kidney problems it is difficult to over consume water. Because hydration is a survival imperative, like hunger, the mechanism of thirst is powerful. Your body signals to you when it needs water. The three macronutrients are protein, carbohydrates, and fats. This description is simplified, but generally, protein is the structural and functional component of our body and carbohydrate (sugars) and fat are energy. Sufficient protein (1.5-2 g/kg/day) intake supports all body functions. Eating extra protein will not add to your health, but depriving yourself of protein alone will not likely help you lose weight. Carbohydrate (4 kcal/gram) and fat (9 kcal/gram) content of food are added for the total calorie content. Diminishing your energy (calorie) intake below the energy level your body consumes daily forces your body to meet its energy needs from stored fat. This and this alone is the key to healthy weight loss. You can do this by choosing foods that offer sufficient protein but are LOW in calories. Micronutrients like sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, phosphate, iron, vitamins, and minerals support cell health and metabolic processes but are available in most foods. Taking a multivitamin daily and eating generally available foods provides adequate micronutrient intake.
IV. Appetite suppressant medication. We won’t promote drug dependency, but medication is a powerful antidote to the combined forces behind generalized food overconsumption and the burden of extra weight. Consuming more energy than you burn over a sustained period of time is the only path to gain weight. This implies a habit of over-consumption over time. Humans are creatures of habit. To lose weight, long standing established habits must change. Lifestyle, food choices, social factors, environmental elements, and attitudes must be evaluated and sometimes changes completely. There will be resistance to changing habits and behaviors. It is not often easy. The food-industrial complex doesn’t want you to consume less or to eat healthier. From grocery aisle arrangements and retail displays to restaurant menus and broadcast advertising, big business and social factors support overweight and obesity. To convince yourself, “my better body is more important than my daily routine and remaining overweight,” to bring your own food and shop selectively based on Nutrition Facts, to order food online if necessary requires contrarian thinking and cessation or reduction of hunger. The quality of life you gain over time, the improved habits, the better health is worth resorting to help from medication and the money you spend on that medication. Appetite suppressant medication is prescribed temporarily, until you reach goal weight by improved habits. Those new habits, if sustained, will maintain your healthy weight. We prescribe phentermine, phendimetrazine, tirzepatide, semaglutide, or a combination of these. They’re safe and effective, each with its own activity profile that may be more or less suitable for you. These are not the only medications available, just our favorites. They’re all successful, and available from your physician, from medical weight loss centers, and by telemedicine.
V. Psychology. Contrarian goal-focused mentality must be adopted. If your weakness is chocolate, wine, desserts, a particular restaurant, buffet selections at regular business events, your kids’ events with ubiquitous snack foods, late night self reward eating after long workdays, or whatever, stopping cold-turkey demands total self-control. No deviation. Do not cheat yourself. Your body is the most precious item you’ll ever own, regain control over it rather than ceding control to businesses that want you to eat the food they market. Use medication as needed, get help from your physician or telemedicine service when needed, and do whatever it takes, but engage athletic training mentality and laser like focus on results. Only eat when hungry, avoid situations of temptation (where you know junk food will be), turn away food, walk away from food, throw food away. You will not starve. You do not need food if you’re carrying extra weight. Food has hurt you. Regarding food selection, our favorite is 10xdiet.com because it doesn’t require calorie counting or branded foods, just knowing Nutrition Facts that are on all packaged foods or can be easily searched online for every edible item. Perfect for busy schedules. Your body will thank you.
