Healthy weight loss

In this post, you'll find the initial aspects and an essential approach to losing weight. If you want to delve deeper into the subject, in the post below, you'll find even more comprehensive content on the topic and some live interviews with renowned doctors and nutritionists.

A summary of the main points you should understand (and take into account) about losing weight.

Lose SOME weight and keep the GOOD results

Healthy Weight Loss Primer

(By Dr. Ícaro Alves Alcântara - icaro.med.br)

A large part of the appointments I make in my office have weight loss as their main or secondary objective. Many patients come to me wanting to lose weight, and even when they come with multiple complaints, the issue of weight is often one of the most prominent. On my website (icaro.med.br), the most visited sections are related, directly or indirectly, to weight loss. In addition, on my Instagram profile (@DrIcaroAlves), the topic is an important motivator for questions. Against this backdrop and following the success of Cartilha do Concurseiro, I began to receive requests to write an article with practical and objective guidelines on how to lose weight effectively and healthily. So I decided to write this article, in the hope that it might shed some light on the subject.”

✅ COMMON WEIGHT LOSS

Nowadays, there is a common trend:

Individuals who want to lose weight go to a doctor with the specific aim of obtaining a prescription for a (usually “controlled”) weight-loss drug, either orally or by injection, often combining it with other “aesthetic treatments”. They want this medication not only to promote great weight loss, but also to be fast.

Although these patients receive guidance on the importance of adopting healthy lifestyle habits, this guidance is often not emphasized enough, which leads to a lack of adherence to these habits, even if the medication is taken as directed.

It is common for these patients to experience side effects such as anxiety, palpitations, insomnia, headaches and intestinal disorders, but they often consider these to be acceptable and attribute them to the “normality of the drug”.

Although there is a weight loss, it usually differs from what was desired, and this weight tends to return as soon as the weight loss medication is stopped.

After going through cycles of losing weight and gaining it back several times, many patients give up using the medication, either because they develop illnesses, are intolerant of the side effects, or because they realize that the treatment simply “doesn't work”. At this point, some individuals seek ever more potent drugs, but often end up frustrated and in poor health.

✅ WHAT'S WRONG?

There are so many mistakes in this recipe for weight loss that to point them all out would result in a veritable book on what not to do to lose weight healthily. I'll try to stick briefly to the most important aspects:

Nobody buys a car without doing a lot of research first: evaluating the options available, your needs, payment terms and details in general, right? If you don't, there's a good chance you'll regret it in the future and buy a vehicle that won't suit you as you'd like. Similarly, a patient who is willing to take a medication without being listened to carefully, examined (where necessary), subjected to complementary tests and given full guidance runs the serious risk of being prescribed an inappropriate substance that either won't work or will cause undesirable effects.

Trying to lose weight without first adopting healthier lifestyle habits is as impossible as emptying a sink with the tap wide open: the water is going down the drain, but it's still coming in through the tap. You can use the most effective drugs and undergo the best and most innovative weight loss treatments, but at the same time, if your lifestyle habits slow down your metabolism and cause your body to accumulate fat and lose muscle, the end result is that you won't really lose weight.

There is nothing normal about having intolerable side effects when using a drug to lose weight. If this happens, something is wrong and needs to be changed: either the drug isn't right for you, or the dosage/posology is inappropriate, or you have disorders (even if not yet identified) that need to be treated.

The obvious: if weight starts to increase again as soon as a weight loss drug/treatment is stopped, this is a clear sign that the cause of the fat accumulation has not been resolved; in other words, as long as you don't treat it, you will continue to gain more and more weight. And the so-called “accordion effect” really does exist: the more a patient gains and loses weight in succession, the more difficult it becomes to lose weight, given the increasing resistance of the fatty tissue in the body.

Some of the preferred “controlled” weight loss drugs stress the body, cause rapid and excessive consumption of its basic nutrients and make it develop a “tolerance” to them (the body starts to need higher and higher doses and, in the absence of the drug, it doesn't work properly, producing symptoms).

Losing weight doesn't necessarily mean losing fat: the scales show the total weight of the body, which is basically made up of water, muscles, bones and fat. Many drugs, when incorrectly prescribed, cause rapid loss of water and muscle, which gives the layperson the false impression that they are losing fat because they are losing weight.

The excessive loss of water and muscle is always accompanied by the loss of important vitamins and minerals, which weakens the body as a whole, causing many signs and symptoms, such as low immunity, psychological disorders, weakness, dizziness, headaches, among others.

✅ TIPS FOR HEALTHY WEIGHT LOSS

No one can reach their ideal weight and keep it healthy without a minimum of discipline and planning/organization, as these two qualities are fundamental to achieving any goal in life. The problem is that most patients put their own health second in importance, which makes it easier to give up when faced with difficulties. You know that model whose body you admire and would love to have? Make sure he or she follows some basic rules to maintain their appearance, where excesses are exceptions and occasional (otherwise, they will depend on the constant use of substances, whose chronic and abusive use will soon cause illness).

Some people are slow to realize that there are no “magic pills” or “miracle treatments” in health. For those who have understood this and are willing to lose weight by truly eliminating fat deposits from the body, here are the main guidelines that work in practice:

✔️ Excess body fat is linked to the onset and maintenance of MANY diseases. Therefore, more than just an aesthetic issue, losing excess fat is fundamental to achieving and maintaining good health. There are more and more reports of patients who no longer feel various symptoms simply because they have lost weight in a healthy way.

✔️ In order for body fat to be used up or eliminated by the body, it is essential that it circulates properly, which implies its transportation through the blood, and most of the blood is made up of water. It is therefore essential to maintain adequate hydration, consuming at least 3 liters of fluids throughout the day, in a well-distributed manner.

✔️ Regular physical exercise is essential as it plays a triple role in the weight loss process:

• It speeds up metabolism and energy expenditure, promoting the burning of fat to generate energy. Surplus energy from food is usually stored in the form of fat.
• It encourages an increase in muscle mass, which, even at rest, consumes energy for its maintenance and functionality. This explains why having more muscle is generally associated with less fat.
• Improves blood circulation.

✔️Não there is no effective and healthy weight loss without a well-functioning intestine, because it is the intestine that controls what enters the body through food and a large part of what is eliminated. It's worth noting that every medicine or supplement ingested is absorbed by the intestine before it enters the bloodstream to take effect. This means that an improperly functioning intestine may not absorb medicines properly, reducing their effectiveness. The tip here is to always eat at least 30g of fiber a day, obtained from sources such as leaves, cereals, fruit, seeds, vegetables, etc., distributed over the various meals of the day and accompanied by an adequate intake of water.

✔️O human organism has been genetically programmed to receive food at most every 3 hours. Therefore, anyone who goes more than 3 hours without eating during the day is “forcing” the brain to instruct the body to store as much energy as possible at each new meal. In other words, skipping meals causes the body to turn as much as possible of the other meals into fat. As a result, those who eat less frequently tend to consume larger quantities of food at each meal, which contributes to an increase in their fat stores.

✔️A lack of sleep and stress impair the release of leptin, a hormone that signals the brain to “stop eating”, i.e. the feeling of satiety. As a result, people who don't get enough sleep or have high levels of stress tend to experience an increase in appetite during their waking hours.

✔️ It's not necessary that all weight loss drugs are stimulants, causing tachycardia, palpitations, high blood pressure, insomnia, anxiety, among other side effects. What works best to achieve and maintain your ideal weight is to consistently cultivate healthy lifestyle habits (as presented in “Living: what it takes” on my website). Today, there are excellent drugs that help in a more balanced way in healthy weight loss processes. They act in a more natural way, moderating appetite, promoting the burning of fat to generate heat (thermogenesis), reducing calorie intake, stimulating the preferential use of fat for energy production and facilitating the elimination of fat, among other actions.

✔️ Seek the support of an experienced doctor in your weight loss process. It is preferable that this support involves a thorough and attentive evaluation, including taking a detailed medical history, carrying out the necessary complementary tests and periodically monitoring the details and results of the treatment. The best professionals are not necessarily those who prescribe only “novelties”, but they are certainly among those who know how to listen to the patient with real interest and take the time to do so. They pay attention to the details of each individual's clinical condition, because it is in the individual details that the success or failure of most treatments lies, something that very short consultations do not allow.

In addition, the support of nutritionists, physical education teachers and other competent health professionals has proved to be an important ally in weight loss treatments. After all, each of them has in-depth knowledge of their specific area of study and activity.

✔️ During treatment, whether it be with medication, aesthetic treatments or both, it is essential that you inform your doctor if you experience any undesirable symptoms. Some of these symptoms may require adjustments to the form of use, the dosage or even the replacement of the medication in question. In other cases, the combination of other drugs or supplements can be beneficial and, in some cases, necessary. For example, the whole process of losing weight can generate an excess of free radicals, increasing oxidative stress, and in this scenario the joint administration of antioxidants is usually advantageous for the patient. Therefore, open communication with your doctor is essential to ensure effective and safe treatment.

✔️ Try to set realistic and achievable goals. It is not uncommon for patients to want to achieve a weight and body build that are simply not compatible with their biotype. In some situations, clinics and professionals may encourage the belief that you are outside your ideal weight and body build, even if you are not. Always remember that the pursuit of aesthetics should never compromise the promotion and maintenance of health. It's important to maintain a healthy balance between your aesthetic goals and your general health.

✔️ Aesthetic treatments and drugs for fat loss can basically be categorized into three types: those that reduce the formation of fat deposits in the body, those that promote increased expenditure of stored fat and those that facilitate the elimination of fat. There are countless substances that can have one or more of these effects, with thousands of possible combinations, always depending on each individual case.

✔️ To list just a few of these substances, whose efficacy has been proven, we include: lipoic acid, ashwagandha, caffeine, caraluma fimbriata, carnitine, cassiolamine, centella asiatica, green tea, citrus aurantium, coenzyme Q10, creatine, faseolamine, garcinia, ginseng, gymnema silvestre, irvingia gambonensis, HMB, koubo, pantethine, pholia magra, resveratrol, sesamine, slendesta, tribulus terrestris and ubiquinol. It's important to note that these substances should only be prescribed by doctors who understand how to use them and, when necessary, combine them in a way that suits the patient's specific case.

In short, losing weight in a healthy way is perfectly possible and often even easy, as long as you have discipline. This involves burning fat while maintaining or increasing muscle mass, which can only be achieved by practicing healthy lifestyle habits on a daily basis. For those who follow these principles, aesthetic treatments and slimming drugs/supplements, when well recommended by a competent doctor, can be effective accelerators and enhancers of this process.

However, for those who believe that they don't need to make changes in their lives and that medications and treatments are enough to lose weight, one piece of advice is to keep a considerable financial reserve, capable of covering all the costs of these treatments and supplements throughout their lives, and, eventually, medications for the various illnesses that can arise as a consequence of this lifestyle.

The choice is in your hands. Do your part and make conscious choices.

Dr. Ícaro Alves Alcântara