Weight loss works differently for everyone because each person is unique and has their own specific blend of DNA, environment, and lifestyle. Some individuals simply stop drinking sodas and drop 10 pounds with no issue, while others cut calories and increase their level of physical activity but cannot get the scale to budge. Must an individual experience a drastic weight loss to see some type of benefit?
According to the CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention), an individual needs to lose between 5% and 10% of their current body weight to begin to notice changes. They also have recommended that individuals who are actively pursuing weight loss should shoot for losing one or two pounds a week, but keep in mind that in the first week, the loss may be mostly fluids and not “real” weight.
Today, we are going to talk about major weight loss and the safest way to achieve it.
Drawbacks Of Weight Loss That Is Too Fast
When you significantly cut down on calories, you can end up with the wrong kind of weight loss. You can lose muscle instead of fat, which is counterproductive because the more lean muscle you have in your body, the more calories you burn even when you are at rest.
Also, many individuals experience weight gain because they do not learn healthy lifestyle habits, including how to eat healthy and the importance of nutrition and daily exercise. They end up gaining back the weight they lost and often become heavier than they were before they lost the initial weight.
Too-fast weight loss poses numerous health risks and could create a deficiency of vital nutritional elements your body requires to properly function, or it may result in gallstones or a sudden drop in blood pressure. Hair loss, dehydration, electrolyte imbalance, headaches, fatigue, and more are also possibilities.
Drastic Weight Loss Done Safely
Is there a way to experience dramatic weight loss without experiencing numerous unpleasant side effects? What forms of help are available for those who have tried to improve their health through weight loss but have been unsuccessful?
Some of the measures you can take to pursue major weight loss safely include:
- Using A Non-surgical Weight Loss Procedure
- If you are considering undergoing bariatric surgery to help you lose weight, you may wish to consider a non-surgical endoscopic procedure instead. Bariatric surgery patients regularly experience many of the health issues listed above because, after surgery, their weight loss can progress too fast.
The drastic weight loss achieved after bariatric surgery can be replicated using a non-surgical procedure such as the Orbera balloon or endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty; however, it will take a bit longer to shed the pounds.
- Working With A Qualified Doctor
- Choosing a qualified specialist who is trained in obesity management to perform your weight loss procedure will provide you with many advantages, including
- A doctor who understands the complexities of obesity will be aware of the potential for underlying factors that have historically hindered your weight loss attempts and can effectively address them.
- A knowledgeable support system that will help provide timely instruction and teach you strategies that will help you choose and implement lifestyle and behavioral changes. These consist of a nutritionist, exercise guide, dietician, therapist, etc.
- A comprehensive, personalized plan and backup support to help you achieve a drastic weight loss that is done safely and is sustainable.
- Making A Personal Commitment To Your Health
- One of the reasons that many patients are unable to sustain weight loss is that after they get to their goal weight, they revert to their previous habits that caused their issue to begin with.
- Setting Measurable Goals
- Breaking unhealthy habits is something that will take effort, time, and perseverance, but it can be done. A researcher at University College London published a study in the European Journal of Social Psychology that reported that it can take between 18 and 254 days for an individual to form a new habit, with the average being about 2 months. The study also reported that messing up once in a while did not derail the entire process.
Another expert from Miami University explained that things like breaking bad habits, losing weight, and running a marathon are all considered long-term goals.
If the patient focuses only on the long-term goal of achieving a dramatic weight loss, it becomes a big, overwhelming obstacle. The better strategy is to focus on short-term behavior changes that can be incorporated into their daily lives and that will impact their long-term goals:
- walking for 15 minutes every day,
- drinking 8 glasses of water, and
- going to bed early enough that they get at least 8 hours of sleep.
What Weight Loss Procedures Do Not Require Surgery?
Weight loss procedures that are performed endoscopically are non-surgical and do not require incisions or a hospital stay. These procedures are meant to be a tool that, when combined with patient efforts and lifestyle changes, will create the opportunity for safe but major weight loss.
The Orbera Balloon
The ORBERA® balloon system is an endoscopic weight loss procedure that uses a soft silicone balloon-like medical device to occupy space in the stomach. With less available capacity in the stomach, patients must adjust to healthier serving sizes, resulting in weight loss.
With the Orbera gastric balloon, patients can lose up to three times more weight than with diet and exercise alone, and it provides noticeable, effective, and encouraging results.
The Orbera balloon is placed in the patient’s stomach while they are under a light sedative. The deflated balloon is lowered through an endoscope that is placed down the patient’s throat and into their stomach. The balloon is then filled with saline until it gets about as big as a grapefruit. This usually only takes about 20 to 30 minutes from start to finish, and they can return home the same day. After six months, the Orbera balloon is deflated and removed using the same endoscopic procedure, only in reverse.
Orbera is a twelve-month program, with the balloon remaining in the stomach for only half of that time. Working with a qualified doctor and support staff to modify your eating habits during the six months the balloon remains in your stomach will help you form habits that will remain in place long after the balloon is removed. Long-lasting weight loss will result when you use the balloon as a tool and not as a quick fix. Patients who learn to take charge of their eating and lifestyle habits will be rewarded with major weight loss that is sustainable.
The Orbera balloon helps patients lose weight through
- Teaching patients how to recognize that they are full and reinforcing portion control;
- Helping Individuals feel full longer by taking up space in their stomach;
- Receiving support from a team of professionals to help guide and mentor them for an entire year.
Endoscopic Sleeve Gastroplasty
Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty is a relatively recent minimally invasive procedure for weight loss. A suturing device is introduced down the throat and into a patient’s stomach with the assistance of an endoscope. The doctor then uses sutures to reduce the size of the stomach from the inside, without the need for any incisions.
During gastric sleeve surgery, about 75% of the patient’s stomach is surgically removed permanently to make the stomach smaller. However, the less invasive ESG procedure reduces the size of the stomach by reshaping it into a smaller tube-like shape and placing sutures inside the stomach to hold the new, smaller shape.
By significantly decreasing the size of the stomach, ESG can deliver drastic weight loss potential without surgical intervention. Most ESG patients lose at least 18% to 20% of their total body weight in one year, but many have far surpassed these modest numbers. Endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty can be reversed if necessary but is also durable enough to remain permanent.
Major Weight Loss Can Be Achieved Through ESG And Orbera
Many patients who have had non-surgical weight loss procedures and have followed the programs and made the necessary lifestyle changes have experienced dramatic weight loss. Here are just a few examples.
Shawn, an Orbera weight loss patient, lost 128 pounds.
Amanda lost 58 pounds and Charlotte lost 43 pounds using the Orbera balloon procedure.
Many endoscopic sleeve gastroplasty patients reported losing more than 30 to 50 pounds, and a significant number reported losing more than 100 pounds.
Using a non-surgical weight loss procedure as a tool to further your efforts can be a safe and effective way to achieve major weight loss. At Simmons MD Advanced Weight Loss Solutions, we understand that losing weight is hard, but that is why we are here. We are here to support you on your weight loss journey and will provide you with the tools you need to lose weight and keep it off.
Contact us today to set up a consultation to learn more about these innovative non-surgical weight loss procedures. We would love to get to know you better and create a plan that will best help you reach your weight loss goals.
