Part – 2
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I am sorry to post it in a different category because I could post part-2 in same category
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Many therapies are in use for the management of bodyweight and these are:
Dietary therapy – Control on calorie intake
Physical activity – Increased physical activity has many benefits
Behavior therapy - This is mainly to change lifestyle in almost all cases
Pharmacotherapy - For high-risk patients and must be in consultation with Doctor
Weight loss surgery – In extreme cases a specialized Doctor may advice
Pharmacotherapy and Weight Loss Surgery is not in the scope of this write-up.
In most of the cases, first three therapies are to be included in the plan to make the plan effective to address the whole issue. It is not only loss of weight that will help us to maintain good health, there are other issues like High Blood Cholesterol, Fitness to carryout strenuous jobs etc.
Behavior therapy –
Our lifestyle follows a pattern. We all follow this pattern very comfortably because we are used to it. Any change in lifestyle makes us little uncomfortable and we resist change. In many cases, we have to convince a person and motivate him to adopt a changed lifestyle that will bring pleasure to his life by improving his health. With the help of all details, it is not easy to convince even a High-Risk person to change his behavior. Lot of counseling is required to motivate a person to adopt a slightly changed schedule for his own good.
The weight loss program become simple once a person is motivated to adopt certain steps to control overweight. Person who has adopted a weight loss program should monitor the whole process. Monitoring the process will help him to take more interest in the process. According to me, the whole process will be very simple to adopt, and success is guaranteed.
Shaping is technique where one set some short-term goals that get you near to the set goals. Shaping uses two important behavioral principles:
Continuous goal that will help one to have small achievements to achieve ultimate goal.
There should be rewarding system to keep the motivation level high. Self motivated persons can reward himself by buying a good book, a music CD of your choice, a collectors item or even a good tie.
Monitoring the process –
One-day dieting and physical activity is not going to produce any result. Result will be seen after some time and in some cases may be after several days. Weight will change in due course of time because of fluctuation of water and fat.
Whatever time one choose for physical activity, should be maintained to bring discipline in the process. It is also important to maintain calorie intake.
One should try to weigh oneself once in a week at a fixed time. Such time may be before food, after workout or just after wake up in the morning. It is important to weigh at the same time.
Good visual management helps a lot. One may use spread sheet to draw a graph for a fixed period to monitor the progress. Calorie intake may also be monitored by using table.
Avoid over eating –
Visible and easily reachable food will lead to unplanned eating. One can try following steps to avoid unplanned calorie intake:
Carry Tiffin box to office to avoid fast-food centre or canteen. Tiffin box should have food as per plan.
Plan to meet people in a non-food environment
Avoid eating in cinema hall or in front of TV to avoid unplanned eating
A non-spicy, low-fat soup should be included before lunch and dinner.
It takes almost 15 to 20 minutes to reach signal to the brain. Eat slowly so that you are satisfied with the food.
Drinking minimum eight glasses of water a day will help to eat less and one can get other benefits by drinking more water.
Please note that in some cases weight loss is not achievable in short time. In such cases, it is important to prevent further weight gain. Continue with the plan. Moreover, one should consult a Doctor if there is no effect after 3 months. Please be very honest to yourself and tell everything about your lifestyle to Doctor.
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We will look into other aspects in part-3. I may have to choose a different category.