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Weight Management
Ideas   
What I am going to
attempt to do here is give you my take on weight management ideas
that I have seen with some pros and cons of each.
First I need to say I have not found any magic that gets
around the need to eat less and better and exercise more.
At least that is what I would have said before 6/08.
It was then that I found the most exciting “new” alternative
development that I have lost 75 lb so far and it is actually not new
, but recently introduced here. It is called HCG.
Please click on
HCG for more information.
Even though it will seem like magic it is not, and even after
you lose the weight with the HCG you will still need to eat better
and exercise better to maintain it .
It will be much easier to maintain than with other things I
have evaluated before though.
Given that, for those of you who do not know me, I am obese(or was
obese- I am no longer).
Obesity is defined as a BMI (Body Mass Index) over 30 , and I meet
that definition. I have
been fighting this from the beginning.
I have been overweight my whole life.
If my mother was still alive she would still say I never lost
my baby fat. Some of
what I have learned over the years is that
#1- Nobody who is fat is unaware that they are fat and have not tried and wanted to be “normal” weight. It seems t
hat “normal” weight people do not realize this and feel a need to
tell us to lose weight.
#2- It is a constant battle, some days we are winning , and some
days we are losing. But
the battle wages on whether you give it a good fight or not.
#3- Different people
are heavy for different reasons-
-
Genetics- designing us to survive in famine, go long periods without
eating if its not available, but when it is available to eat the
most. To slow our metabolism so we can eat less than others and
still gain weight so we can survive those famine situations, and
when we eat store it as fat for those lean years.
-
Biochemistry- such as diabetes with its insulin resistance thus
making a higher insulin type state which builds fat and
hunger.
-
Dopamine deficiency- the thing that makes us crave carbs or other
Dopamine sources such as smoking, alcohol and drugs.
-
Environmental- such as influence by people around to eat and be
inactive. Or influences
by advertisement or junk food availability.
-
Too Busy- modern
lifestyle being fast paced and no time to exercise, or make better
food choices.
#4- That no matter why I am fat, or what my excuses or hurdles I
have come across that get in the way of my losing weight that the
simple fact is my health suffers whether I have a million excuses or
not. Or whether I am
frustrated with my attempts or I am making some progress but not
enough. It is not an
evil plan to do me in, it’s a matter of how to play the hand you are
dealt. I can also
say out of experience that the converse is true.
During Jan and Feb of 2003 I was stellar in my attempt to
lose weight- I was doing intense exercise daily if not twice a day
(started the exercise support email group
at the time), and I was eating 2 glucerna shakes and either a third
one or a salad (organic greens ) with some cut up chicken in it.
I lost 19 lbs and cut my insulin by 2/3 and felt the best I
felt as far as I could remember(until now).
Unfortunately I did gain that weight back plus some.
Now with HCG I have lost 75lb so far and have been off
insulin for several months.
So , I know it can happen !!
Its horribly unfair that I would have to go to that extreme
to make that difference, but that is the hand I am dealt.
Now to the meat of this discussion , what can be done.
Lets first talk about the exercise end.
Exercise has been found to be the best method of maintaining
weight loss. Many
people have said to me that their jobs were like exercise.
My answer is that no matter how active you ,,, the amount of
activity you do now and the amount of food you take in now support
you at the weight you are now.
So , there is room for improvement.
It is good to find the barriers preventing you from
exercising. For myself
I originally had the barrier that the gyms were not open as late as
I was available from work.
Then I joined Life Time Fitness which was open 24/7.
Then I found
that when I had a lifetime fitness membership , it was great for
when I went. But , if I
didn’t have the gym bag in my car and leave from work, I didn’t go.
If my butt got planted in the chair at home I was done for
the night. To get
around this barrier I instead invested some of the money that was
being wasted on good intentions at the lifetime fitness into some
equipment for my basement instead.
This had the advantage that it also was 24/7 but didn’t
require my gym stuff and took away the extra half an hour driving
time. I have also
recently joined The Novi Sports Club that is close to my house with
nicer equipment for a more intense workout and had 2 sessions with
Jimi – an outstanding Personal Trainer who has given me
different workouts than I have done on my own (
www.JimiVarner.com ) .
For information on the
email exercise support group
just click on the link above.
I will not discuss much about diets.
I think there are merits for both the low fat group and the
low carb group. I think
whatever you do , try it as a lifestyle change.
If you stick with mostly lean meats and nonstarchy vegetables
you will make both groups happy.
Please also check out Conferences section from the main menu-
from the biggest loser and from 10 years younger.
Medications that are out can be helpful but you have to still eat
less and exercise more.
Meridia is an appetite suppressant.
It is actually for short term use- under 2 yrs.
It is similar to Redux (which was taken off the market before
Meridia came out), and Phen Phen.
Redux was taken off the market for a small number of cases of
Primary Pulmonary Hypertension which is potentially fatal, as well
as a few cases of alleged valvular heart disease they blamed on the
redux but this was not conclusive.
Although Meridia is probably safe relative to Redux, and
definitely safer then the health hazards of obesity you still need
to consider it with some risk.
Xenical (and the over the counter version Alli is a medicine that
blocks the absorption of a significant amount of the fat you eat. If
you do not absorb it , you will get rid of it at the other end,,,,
hence the most common side effect of diarrhea, a yellow film on the
water in the toilet, flatulence.
However that in itself has a little benefit.
The amount of diarrhea is in proportion to how much fat you
eat. So there is some
adverse therapy to train you not to eat as fatty of food.
If you stick with a low fat diet it is usually pretty
manageable. If you
don’t eat a low fat diet you will be on the toilet a lot.
The Alli has less of those side effects.
There are a couple off label medications which have been useful in
losing weight. Off
label means they are FDA approved medications but have not gone
through the hoops to get the approval for weight loss,,, but
approved for something else.
First there is Wellbutrin which increases dopamine (a
neurotransmitter in your brain which when low makes you crave things
such as carbs, tobacco, alcohol, drugs).
This would be particularly useful if you are a smoker, or you
have strong carb cravings generally.
Another medication that is off label is Topamax.
Topamax is an anti-seizure medication, however has off label
use of preventing Migraines.
If you have Migraines this can be a very useful medication to
get 2 problems with one medication.
Another medication that some people have used is Metformin or
Glucophage. This is
also off label.
Glucophage is a medication to decrease insulin resistance and has
been associated with some weight loss.
If you are in that impaired glucose tolerance level- meaning
your sugar or glucose is not high enough to be called diabetic but
also too high to be normal, this medication can help put off the
onset of diabetes.
Another good diabetes medication called Byetta has probably the best
weight loss of the diabetes drugs and can be used off label for
people without diabetes.
The thing that separates Byetta from all the other
medications for weight loss is that statistically so far in studies
it has not plateaued at least with the 3.5 yr mark where as most
medications plateau at 6 –8 months.
Byetta is a gut hormone look alike which in addition to the
insulin regulation it slows gastric emptying so it uses more energy
to digest food and it goes to your brain to tell you your full.
There is some exciting new medications on the horizon but are not
out yet. As they are
discovering more mechanisms which effect appetite and obesity
through genetics research they are coming out with newer medications
to help fight it.
There is also hypnosis which can be used to help you .
I used to just use the same method each time,, but what I am
finding that different people have different reasons why they eat or
don’t exercise. So I
usually try to individualize it.
For more info go up to the services menu and click on
hypnosis. |
