A fun guide to losing weight: how to reduce your weight without losing your appetite. What do weight loss and time travel have in common?

 


The AGA made a guide on how to use drugs to treat obesity in November 2022. This guide helps doctors use drugs with other ways to help adults with obesity lose weight and be healthy.

 More people in the US are obese now than in 2000. Obesity can cause many health problems like heart disease, stroke, diabetes, liver disease, and some cancers. Changing your lifestyle is the best way to lose weight, but it may not work for everyone. Drugs can help you lose weight too.

 This guide says that doctors should use drugs with lifestyle changes for obese adults (with a BMI of 30 or more or 27 or more with health problems) who do not lose enough weight with lifestyle changes alone.

 None of these drugs should be used by women who are pregnant. Some people with eating disorders should not use these drugs or use them carefully. Do not use them if you have bulimia nervosa and watch out if you have binge eating disorder. This guide does not include Xenical (Orlistat). The AGA says do not use Orlistat for weight loss.

 Things to think about? Losing weight is hard. Many things affect how much weight you can lose, like your behavior and your body. You may want to lose as much weight as surgery can help you lose, but drugs can only help you lose about 15% of your total weight. The most important thing is to have realistic goals and know that losing weight is good for your health and your life.

 Doctors should talk to patients about how losing weight can improve their health and well-being. They should not focus only on the number on the scale. Obesity is a disease and a risk factor for other diseases that need to be treated.

Cost is a big problem for patients who need these drugs. People who have less money may have more obesity. There are some ways to help patients pay less for these drugs, like coupons or cards.

 It is also good to know that most of the studies on these drugs were done on white people who are not Hispanic. We do not know if these drugs work the same for other people, but we do not have a reason to say they should not use them.