Patients who are moderately to severely obese often seek weight loss assistance from medical programs based in hospital or clinic settings. These weight loss programs offer close supervision from doctors and nutritionists, and they also utilize a variety of fairly aggressive treatments to help patients achieve the large weight loss goals required to resolve obesity and maintain a healthy weight. If you enroll in a medical weight loss program, your prescribed diet, medications and counseling will be customized to meet your personal health needs.
Liquid Diet Replacement
Many hospital weight loss programs begin with an initial liquid diet phase. During this phase, patients consume protein shakes designed to meet their nutritional needs while also cutting calories to a minimum. A liquid meal phase is intended to jump-start weight loss and improve health criteria such as blood pressure and cholesterol levels.
Diet Medications
Some patients on medical weight loss plans are prescribed diet medications to assist with weight loss. Diet medications include both appetite suppressants, which help reduce hunger, and lipase inhibitors, which reduce the amount of fat that can be absorbed by your digestive system. Appetite suppressants are typically prescribed for no longer than 12 weeks and are used to initiate weight loss in the early stages of obesity treatment. Lipase inhibitors can be used for up to a year to control fat intake and encourage continued weight loss.
Behavioral and Nutritional Counseling
Psychological counseling is also vital to any obesity treatment program. Patients are provided with individual therapy to explore how their emotions affect their eating habits. If you are treated in a clinical weight loss program, you'll typically be provided with a variety of stress reduction and cognitive behavioral techniques to help you cope with difficult emotions and control negative eating habits. Nutritional counseling is also provided, and you'll be given individualized diet plans as well as in-depth education about long-term nutritional planning for a healthy and balanced diet.
Lifestyle Tips
Patients who are treated in medical weight loss programs have individualized outpatient diet and exercise plans. Over the long term, after the use of meal replacements or prescription medications, patients must transition to planning healthy, well-balanced meals and managing a consistent exercise program. Careful attention to nutrition and physical activity of at least 30 minutes a day are critical for reaching and maintaining medical weight loss goals.
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