Treatment for obesity can be done at home by changing your diet, exercise and behavior in order to lose weight. For those who struggle with this there are medications and surgeries that can help to treat obesity.
Prescription Weight-Loss Medication
Alongside diet and exercise, weight-loss medication can help. Without the help of diet, exercise, and behavioural changes, medication is unlikely to work. Weight-loss medication includes:
- Orlistat (Xenical)
- Lorcaserin (Belviq)
- Phentermine and topiramate (Qsymia)
- Buproproin and naltrexone (Contrave)
- Liraglutide (Saxenda)
Your doctor will monitor you while you take these medications. Be aware that it doesn’t work for anyone and the effects might fade over a long period of time.
Weight-Loss Surgery
The goal of weight-loss surgery is to limit the amount of food you can comfortably consume and decrease how much food and calories are absorbed into the body. Surgery will only become an option when other treatments have been ineffective. These surgeries include:
- Gastric bypass surgery — this is where a small pouch is created at the top of your stomach and is connected to the small intestine which is also cut. Any food or liquid will bypass the stomach by going directly from the pouch into the intestine.
- Lapascopic adjustable gastric banding (LAGB) — this is where your stomach will be separated into two pouches with an inflatable band. The surgeon then creates a small channel between the pouches by pulling the band tight. The band will keep the opening from expanding.
- Biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch — The surgeon removes a large part of the stomach and leaves the valve that releases food to the small intestine and the first part of the small intestine. They will then close off the middle section of the intestine and then attaches the last part directly to the first bit of the intestine. The surgeon will reattach the separated part of the intestine to the end of the intestine which then allows bile and digestive juices to flow through this part of the intestine.
- Gastric sleeve — this is where part of the stomach is removed to create a smaller reservoir for food. This is a much less complicated surgery than a gastric bypass or biliopancreatic diversion with duodenal switch.
Changing Your Lifestyle
- Cut calories
- Feel full on less — eat less of good food and still feel satisfied.
- Restrict certain foods — high carbohydrate or full fat food should be limited.
- Exercise — try to intense activity for 150 minutes a week.
- Keep moving — any movement contributes to weight loss. Take stairs instead of lifts, park further away from buildings so you have to walk.
- Counselling — change the way you think about food, diets and your own mental health.
- Support groups — find people who are going through the same thing for support.