The current view on obesity is that the focus should be on rehabilitating obese patients and cultivating preventative behaviors that they can instill in themselves and their children to stop weight gain from becoming a problem in the first place. Because of this focus on rehabilitation, methods such as exercise and diet programs, and counseling to work on eating behaviors have become favored over quick but risky fixes like surgery, and solutions that do not require lifestyle changes like diet drugs. Knowledge is the foremost solution to obesity today. Obese people and people seeking to lose weight are encouraged to know their body mass index, the percentage of fat on their bodies, their caloric intake, etcetera.
The idea of lifestyle changes is key to solving the problem of obesity, so these various figures help the person trying to lose weight to have a clear look at their status and define their goals.
The medical community encourages behaviors such as tracking daily food intake and exercise and working with medical professionals to change their daily routine to one that is healthy and more conducive to weight loss. The diet and exercise routine is the foremost solution in obesity because it requires the work and dedication of the patient himself, not the reliance on drugs, surgery, or other factors. Dieting to cure obesity should consist of cutting caloric intake and eating foods that jumpstart metabolism and provide energy. There is overwhelming evidence to support the effectiveness of exercise when paired with diet; studies conclude almost unanimously that diet and exercise will lead to more weight loss than diet alone. Another solution that has become increasingly popular and successful in the past decades is counseling. Obesity is often linked to genetics but is just as frequently caused by lifestyle, how we were raised, the people we’re with, our habits, and the foods we choose to eat. This is another place where knowledge plays a key role in weight loss. Understanding why one eats to excess or at inappropriate times can help change the behaviors. Counseling can also improve self-esteem, keep goals, and explore weight loss options that will effect each unique individual. The more we understand about our bodies and minds, the more control we have over them.
Counseling can also prove essential when it comes to keeping the weight off, which can be far more difficult a task than the initial weight loss. Counselors can help patients develop behaviors, goals, and continue to work towards the lifestyle they want. Though many diet drugs have had a run of success and popularity in the past, doctors approach them with caution. If patients are not able to change their behavior without drugs, medical professionals consider drug therapy to be effective, though many have side effects and insufficient research about their long term effects. Though there are many viable solutions to obesity out there, some still turn to less healthy proccesses such as eating disorders, smoking, and illegal amphetamine drugs like crystal meth and cocaine. Eating disorders are often developed out of the patients need for control and a severely altered self-image; nicotine and amphetamines decrease hunger, while the latter increases energy as well.
However, all of these so-called solutions can lead to over-dose, severe health problems, even death. The most important solution to obesity is prevention.
Children who are raised by overweight parents or in a lifestyle that does not teach them healthy eating and exercise habits are more likely to suffer obesity themselves. Fighting obesity means we have to learn healthy behaviors, understand why we eat, and care for our families in a way that will help them live a healthy, happy lifestyle.