Compiled & reviewed by 
Dr.Sanjana V.B. Bhms,Dbrm,Cdn.

Tips for achieving your weight loss goal

   General tips:

·       Reduce carbohydrate [sugars] to moderate amount as the quantity as well as quality of food you take is important. Include whole grains in your diet.

·       Include moderate amount of healthy mono and polyunsaturated fat into your diet. Avoid saturated fats.

·       Avoid sugary sweetened beverages.

·       Reduce alcohol intake.The scientific data available till date do not strictly restrict alcohol intake considering it as a major cause of obesity. Even though most alcoholic beverages have more calories per ounce than sugar-sweetened beverages, there’s no clear-cut evidence that moderate drinking contributes to weight gain. While the recent diet and lifestyle change study found that people who increased their alcohol intake gained more weight over time, the findings varied by type of alcohol.

·       Yogurt - A study from the Harvard School of Public Health, which found that people who increased their yogurt intake gained less weight. Increases in milk and cheese intake, however, did not appear to promote weight loss or gain. More researches are needed in this area.

·       Nuts are rich in protein and fiber, both of which may help people feel fuller and less hungry. Nuts are rich in healthy fats and vitamin. Fiber helps in weight loss and reduce cholesterol and therefore reduce heart attacks and strokes.

·       Whole grains help weight loss

The weight control evidence is stronger for whole grains than it is for fruits and vegetables. Avoid processed grains.

·       Choose good proteins

 Some proteins are good for weight loss. Replacing red and processed meat with nuts, beans, fish, or poultry seems to lower obesity and the risk of heart disease and diabetes

·       Consume more Fibers

As fibers slow down digestion, they help to curb hunger. Many fruits and vegetables are rich in fibers.

·       Lower carbohydrate, higher protein diets may have some weight loss advantages in the short term.

·       Reduce stress and stress related hormonal imbalances [cortisol] which may lead to obesity

·       Treat medical conditions like hypothyroidism,polycystic ovarian syndrome[PCOS] and Cushing’s syndrome which are diseases contributing to obesity

·       Promote physical activity through exercise programs and games. Physical activity has great role in weight loss. It also helps to improve mental health reducing stress

  Role of physical activity in weight loss/obesity management

    Promote physical activity through exercise programs and games. Physical activity has great role in weight loss. It also helps to improve mental health reducing stress. Stress and emotional upsets are one of the risk factors for obesity and other diseases like cancers. Physical activity reduces the impact of stress and helps prevent obesity. It also burns calories and help in weight loss.

Physical exercise or training can reduce fat mass & plays a significant role in energy expenditure and affect hormonal concentrations (insulin, cortisol, growth hormone, catecholamines, testosterone etc.) and metabolites (free fatty acids, lactic acid, triglycerides etc.).

 Leptins and role of physical activity

 Leptin is often discussed with obesity. What role does leptin play in obesity? Does physical activity help in reducing the impact of leptins in obesity management?

 Leptin is a hormone your adipose tissue (body fat) releases that helps your body maintain your normal weight on a long-term basis. It can regulate hunger by providing the sensation of satiety (feeling full) and helps in reducing food intake and help weight management. Leptin acts on your brainstem and hypothalamus chiefly to regulate hunger and energy balance.

 The level of leptin in your blood is directly related to how much body fat you have. Leptin levels increase if your body fat mass increases over time, and they decrease as your body fat decreases over time.

Having obesity results in high levels of leptin (hyperleptinemia). High leptin levels in obese can cause a lack of sensitivity to leptin, a condition known as leptin resistance.

 Leptin resistance causes you to feel hungry and eat more even though your body has enough fat stores. Leptin resistance thus further contributes to obesity and causes additional weight gain.

  Leptin resistance results in a decrease in the ability of leptin to suppress appetite or increase your body’s energy use.This may lead to obesity, depression, fatty liver and cardiovascular diseases eventually.

  The effect of physical exercise on leptin concentrations is currently controversial. Several researches reported that exercise may result in reductions in leptin levels, depending on the duration and calorie expenditure whereas others have reported no change in leptin concentrations.

   Leptin is a hormone, still not fully studied and understood by the medical science. However, according to certain research studies [6] , we believe that  intense ,long term exercise trainings has some role in reducing leptin levels and obesity. Further extensive researches are needed in this regard.

   Some research data shows that zinc-deficiency exerts a negative influence on leptin concentrations and that zinc- supplementation improves leptin levels.

Your mental health is important in weight reduction

   Stress may play a major role in the development and maintenance of obesity in individuals who have increased glucocorticoid [hormone] sensitivity. Individualized obesity treatment strategies are needed in such people.

  Cortisol is one of the main hormones involved in the biological stress response. Cortisol, a glucocorticoid (GC) hormone, is known to cause a redistribution of white adipose tissue [fat] to the abdominal region and also increases appetite with a preference for energy-dense food .

   Patients who are chronically exposed to high levels of glucocorticoids, as in Cushing’s syndrome or when using high doses of exogenous GC [as drug], develop abdominal obesity, metabolic syndrome, and eventually cardiovascular diseases .

  Cognitive behavioral therapy [CBT] has a great role to play in your weight loss journey. Cognitive behavioral therapy can help you manage stress and address emotional and psychological factors that may be working against your obesity reduction goal.

  It is a psychotherapeutic treatment to change the disturbing and negatively influencing thought pattern. It is a personalized or individualized approach helping the obese people achieve accept and maintain healthy weight.

   CBT motivates the person to adopt a lifestyle helping weight control. In order to avoid regaining of excess weight patients need to maintain a persistent neutral energy balance. CBT helps in that in integration with other weight reducing methodologies and strategies. This may be used to treat even patients with severe obesity.

   The CBT therapist and the patient may have to work as a team with recommendations for a specific diet and exercise habit for the patient and some cognitive strategies and procedures.

 For example, it involves the patient  with an active role in organizing plans for weight reduction sessions, doing  homework, establishing a pattern of regular eating etc.

 Do special diets help in weight loss?

·      Mediterranean diet

·       Flexitarian diet

·       Jenny Craig diet

·       Volumetric diet

All these diets have their own role in weight loss. Diets are prescribed in a customized way considering individual particulars and choices.

             REFERENCES

1)    https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/obesity-prevention-source/obesity-causes/diet-and-weight/ 

2)    https://www.who.int/health-topics/obesity#tab=tab_1   

3)   https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/obesity/causes/#:~:text=Obesity%20is%20generally%20caused%20by,by%20the%20body%20as%20fat.

4)   https://www.cdc.gov/healthyweight/assessing/bmi/childrens_bmi/about_childrens_bmi.html

5)   https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5958156/#:~:text=In%20the%20past%20years%2C%20evidence,in%20the%20development%20of%20obesity.

6)    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3827558/