treatments and approaches

Source: National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases

Strategies for Weight Loss and Weight Maintenance

Dietary Therapy:

A diet that is individually planned and takes into account the patient's overweight status in order to help create a deficit of 500 to 1,000 kcal/day should be an integral part of any weight loss program.

Besides decreasing saturated fat, total fats should be 30 percent or less of total calories. Reducing the percentage of dietary fat alone will not produce weight loss unless total calories are also reduced.

Isocaloric replacement of fat with carbohydrates will reduce the percentage of calories from fat but will not cause weight loss. Reducing dietary fat, along with reducing dietary carbohydrates, usually will be needed to produce the caloric deficit needed for an acceptable weight loss.

When fat intake is reduced, priority should be given to reducing saturated fat to enhance lowering of LDL-cholesterol levels. Frequent contacts with the practitioner during dietary therapy help to promote weight loss and weight maintenance at a lower weight.

Physical Activity:

An increase in physical activity is an important component of weight loss therapy, although it will not lead to substantially greater weight loss over six months. Most weight loss occurs because of decreased caloric intake.

Sustained physical activity is most helpful in the prevention of weight regain. In addition, it has a benefit in reducing cardiovascular and diabetes risks beyond that produced by weight reduction alone.

For most obese patients, exercise should be initiated slowly, and the intensity should be increased gradually. The exercise can be done all at one time or intermittently over the day. Initial activities may be walking or swimming at a slow pace.

The patient can start by walking 30 minutes for 3 days a week and can build to 45 minutes of more intense walking at least 5 days a week. With this regimen, an additional expenditure of 100 to 200 calories per day can be achieved.

All adults should set a long-term goal to accumulate at least 30 minutes or more of moderate-intensity physical activity on most, and preferably all, days of the week. This regimen can be adapted to other forms of physical activity, but walking is particularly attractive because of its safety and accessibility.

Patients should be encouraged to increase "every day" activities such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator. With time, depending on progress and functional capacity, the patient may engage in more strenuous activities. Competitive sports, such as tennis and volleyball, can provide an enjoyable form of exercise for many, but care must be taken to avoid injury. Reducing sedentary time is another strategy to increase activity by undertaking frequent, less strenuous activities.

Behavior Therapy:

Strategies based on learning principles such as reinforcement that provide tools for overcoming barriers to compliance with dietary therapy and/or increased physical activity are helpful in achieving weight loss and weight maintenance. Specific strategies include self-monitoring of both eating habits and physical activity, stress management, stimulus control, problem solving, contingency management, cognitive restructuring, and social support.

Combined Therapy:

A combined intervention of behavior therapy, an LCD, and increased physical activity provides the most successful therapy for weight loss and weight maintenance. This type of intervention should be maintained for at least six months before considering pharmacotherapy.

Pharmacotherapy (Medications):

In carefully selected patients, appropriate drugs can augment LCDs, physical activity, and behavior therapy in weight loss. Weight loss drugs that have been approved by the FDA for long-term use can be useful adjuncts to dietary therapy and physical activity for some patients with a BMI of >= 30 with no concomitant risk factors or diseases, and for patients with a BMI of >= 27 with concomitant risk factors or diseases. The risk factors and diseases considered important enough to warrent pharmacotherapy at a BMI of 27 to 29.9 are hypertension, dyslipidemia, CHD, type 2 diabetes, and sleep apnea. Continual assessment by the physician of drug therapy for efficacy and safety is necessary.

At the present time, sibutramine is available for long-term use. (Note: FDA approval of orlistat is pending a resolution of labeling issues and results of Phase III trials.) It enhances weight loss modestly and can help facilitate weight loss maintenance. Potential side effects with drugs, nonetheless, must be kept in mind. With sibutramine, increases in blood pressure and heart rate may occur. Sibutramine should not be used in patients with a history of hypertension, CHD, congestive heart failure, arrhythmias, or history of stroke. With orlistat, fat soluble vitamins may require replacement because of partial malabsorption. All patients should be carefully monitored for these side effects.

Weight Loss Surgery:

Weight loss surgery is one option for weight reduction in a limited number of patients with clinically severe obesity, i.e., BMIs >= 40 or >= 35 with comorbid conditions. Weight loss surgery should be reserved for patients in whom efforts at medical therapy have failed and who are suffering from the complications of extreme obesity. Gastrointestinal surgery (gastric restriction [vertical gastric banding] or gastric bypass [Roux-en Y]) is an intervention weight loss option for motivated subjects with acceptable operative risks. An integrated program must be in place to provide guidance on diet, physical activity, and behavioral and social support both prior to and after the surgery.

Excerpted from: Clinical Guidelines on the Identification, Evaluation, and Treatment of Overweight and Obesity in Adults--Executive Summary

The National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, in cooperation with the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, released the first Federal guidelines on the identification, evaluation, and treatment of overweight and obesity. About 97 million adults in the United States are overweight or obese. Obesity and overweight substantially increase the risk of morbidity from hypertension; dyslipidemia; type 2 diabetes; coronary heart disease; stroke; gallbladder disease; osteoarthritis; sleep apnea and respiratory problems; and endometrial, breast, prostate, and colon cancers. Higher body weights are also associated with increases in all-cause mortality.

September 1998
Reviewed February 2010

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