According to the National Institutes of Health, more than two-thirds of men and women and one-third of kids in the United States are either overweight or obese.
That’s a tremendous number of unneeded pounds putting people at risk for life-shortening diseases such as diabetes, heart disease, and stroke, and increasing the risk of chronic conditions such as arthritis.
Whether you’re motivated to lose weight to improve your figure, your health, or both, you’ve undoubtedly been frustrated by traditional diets. Simply restricting your calories can, indeed, result in short-term weight loss. But almost without fail, that shed weight returns and you end up heavier than you were before your “diet.”
Kimberly Bolling, MD, a caring and experienced internist in Bowie, Maryland, wants you to reach a healthy weight and maintain it for life. Here’s why medically supervised weight loss is a better and more effective way to improve your health and figure.
One of the flaws of calorie-restriction diets is that they’re only sustainable over the short term. If you eat fewer calories than you burn, you lose pounds and inches. But, when you eat fewer calories than you burn, your body feels stressed and believes that it’s being starved — and it is.
Therefore, once you introduce a normal number of calories back into your diet, your body holds onto them and immediately stores them as fat. That explains the yo-yo effect of calorie restriction diets: You lose weight, your body starves, you gain weight; you lose weight, your body starves, you gain weight; on and on, ad infinitum.
With medically supervised weight loss, however, you don’t just go on a diet: You change your diet. You learn to focus on foods that nourish your body and support its functions, and to avoid foods that cause inflammation and cause you to store fat.
Dr. Bolling takes the time to find out what kinds of foods you love the most, so she can help you discover healthy alternatives. A whole new world of flavors and textures opens up for you so you can eat healthy — for life — while feeling satisfied too.
Another advantage to medically supervised weight loss is that you can lose a tremendous amount of weight in a short period without triggering the starvation/weight gain cycle that occurs with traditional diets. Under Dr. Bolling’s careful observation and guidance, you may lose up to 30 pounds in your first two months.
Quickly losing a significant amount of weight may give you the sense of possibility you need to continue with the program and maintain a healthy weight. If you’re healthy, Dr. Bolling may also be able to help you get through that first hump of significant weight loss with medications that control your appetite or help you burn fat.
You can also choose a slower approach to permanent weight loss, one that emphasizes lifestyle changes only. Dr. Bolling helps you find the approach that works best for your goals and your health.
Fad diets promise big results, but many of them come with big risks too. When you cut out major food groups — or focus on eating only one or two foods to quickly drop pounds — your body may not get the nutrients it needs to maintain healthy organ function.
Dr. Bolling conducts tests both before your weight loss program, and then intermittently during your weight loss and maintenance phases to make sure you’re healthy and safe. She may also recommend supplements to augment the nutrients you get from your new whole-foods diet.
Athletes use coaches to push them to excel and develop their bodies to the highest degree possible. Medically supervised weight loss provides you with a coach — and an entire team — that’s dedicated to helping you achieve your weight and health goals.
Expect to check in with Dr. Bolling about once a month so she can evaluate your progress and be sure you’re healthy too. She then weighs you, takes measurements, and makes any necessary adjustments to your exercise and diet routine.
A support team has been shown to increase your chances of achieving and maintaining any goal — including weight loss.
Find out how our team can help you shed pounds and keep them off for life. Call our Bowie, Maryland, office today at 301-352-0090 or request an appointment online for medically supervised weight loss today.
