Weight Loss With Science

BEING overweight is now a medical crisis across the world, and almost every family is feeling its impact, not necessarily in a good way.

As a wellness coach, I have for many years been on the quest of helping both men and women get the body they desired and deserved, and this, I have believed, could only be achieved through a healthy diet and working out consistently.

I have always been against weight loss pills and fad diets, and I still am.

However, on my journey, I have met some ‘go getters’ who start working out and get their diet right, but still find it really hard to shift the weight.

I have come to realise that various factors contribute to and affect the process, some of which are hormonal imbalances, emotional, stressful work and lives, while for some, it is hereditary.

I also know that when you are frustrated trying to achieve a weight loss goal, you usually end up trying dangerous methods, like diet pills and fad diets, or giving up completely.

There had to be a way for science to help the journey. Nothing can take away the place of a healthy diet and an active lifestyle. However, there had to be a safe way to jumpstart the process.

There is a way, and it is called Medical Weight Loss management. I first heard about medical weight loss (MWL) at a medical spa in Lagos and decided to research it.

What is medical weight loss (MWL)? To start with, MWL is not about liposuction, gastric bypass (an operation where the size of the stomach is reduced) or any other surgery, or is it about diet pills and drinks.

It is a monitored programme based on medical scientific principles that target the root causes of weight gain, helping patients achieve the desired weight loss and sustain a healthy weight permanently.

A major result of a sedentary lifestyle and poor nutrition is a slow hepatobiliary system, which is made of your liver, gall bladder and bile ducts, and is essential for digestion.

When this system is not functioning well, the result is a slow metabolism that in turn leads to weight gain or the inability to effectively lose weight.

The MWL approach is a threefold combination of Lipotropic vitamins and minerals that are taken orally and intravenously through injections. This ensures that the nutrients and minerals are not lost during the cooking and digestion process.

A change in lifestyle is also an integral part of the process with fitness and nutrition plans and the necessary support to help you achieve your goal.

The oral medication is an appetite suppressant that helps reduce the amount of food consumed. This is important because, as we all know, portions have to be reduced when you are on the weight loss journey.

Lipotropics are natural fat burners and are naturally produced in the body in small amounts, with a primary function of breaking down fat during metabolism.

They are energy boosters (energy is released when fat is metabolised) found in the Vitamin B family and in foods, like eggs and milk. These vitamins are necessary for the maintenance of a healthy liver.

They also help the growth of healthy blood and nerve cells, as well as proteins in the body.

For a majority of us, our diets are high in fat from the small chops, dodo, fried chicken and ofada stew we eat regularly. Our bodies just don’t produce enough of these vitamins to keep up with the processing of this amount of fat, and so the system is exhausted and in some cases shuts down.

This leads to fats and bile becoming trapped in the liver, blocking fat metabolism, which leads to one putting on weight.

It can also cause other severe problems, like cirrhosis (scarring of the liver, which leads to liver damage).

The combination of the oral medication and the vitamins means that during the programme, portion sizes will reduce, while the vitamins will help the body burn stored fat.

This should make it easier for you to make healthier food choices, as your motivation for eating is now not hunger, but to fuel the body.

The extra energy you will have from the burning of stored fat will also make exercising easier.

On the programme, clients come in for an initial consultation with a physician and based on the result of their blood test and weight loss goals, a course of treatment is prescribed.

Patients also meet with a wellness coach, with whom lifestyle change plans are designed to help them make the necessary adjustments and learn new habits that will help them keep the weight off.

During the course of the programme, clients are monitored weekly by their physician and their lifestyle goals are reviewed by their wellness coach every two weeks to ensure they stay on track and hit their target.

This keeps the programme well rounded, because you cannot and should not stay on medication for a long period of time.

It is the key lifestyle changes you learn and put into practice during the course of your treatment that will help you keep the weight off permanently.

I have seen people shrink before my eyes while having good energy levels, which allows them to keep active lives.

A downside is that for the first couple of days, one might suffer from slight insomnia. However, as your body adjusts to the medication, your sleep patterns will also regulates, usually in about two days.

Another potential downside is that one might get lazy on the programme and abuse it by not adhering to the lifestyle changes.

This increases the potential of putting the weight back on after the treatment and labeling the programme as a failure.

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