Major Techniques for Promoting Weight Loss
According to the 2014 WHO report (2015), more than 1.9 billion adults around the world are overweight; of this number, more than 600 million people suffer from some form of obesity. Increased BMI is associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, musculoskeletal disorders, and some types of cancers, while childhood obesity is a key factor contributing to a higher likelihood of premature death and disability in adulthood (WHO, 2015). Meanwhile, overweight and obesity, as well as related non-communicable diseases are largely preventable. Major Techniques for Promoting Weight Loss
Today, a wide range of techniques is applied to eliminate excess weight in patients, including the promotion of various nutritional practices, involvement of patients in physical exercises; physiotherapy techniques; medicinal and surgical solutions, as well as an entire row of psychological methods of influencing the process of weight correction. However, the effectiveness of major techniques varies significantly too. Current paper is aimed at exploring current research in this field in order to identify the mechanisms and practical outcomes of weight correction approaches observed in patients who experienced medical or psychological intervention. From our standpoint, the criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of methods for promoting weight loss include the availability and admissibility of methods, their harmlessness, and the degree and stability of effects they produce.
Weight correction approaches and their effectiveness
Fighting overweight always requires solving two problems. First, it is necessary to reduce body weight to normal, and second, to maintain it at the proper level. Modern types of medical and psychological intervention easily solve the first problem. As Valek et al. (2015) state, patients who sincerely wish to lose weight and follow the instructions of a doctor, achieve success in 75% of cases. Unfortunately, the problem does not end there. The fact is that only 5% of patients manage to maintain the achieved results for 2 years (Hagobian & Phelan, 2013). It turns out that a return to the former weight is almost inevitable. Researchers see two main reasons for this state of affairs.
First, overweight is the result of well-established habits – unhealthy diet and hypodynamism. Therefore, if these habits do not change once and for all, overweight restores even after a successful course of weight loss therapy.Major Techniques for Promoting Weight Loss
Thus, the treatment of obesity through diet is based on the limited supply of energy to the body. However, analysis and scientific study of the popular and trendy diets has shown that most of them are either dangerous to health, or ineffective. For example, the principles of separate nutrition are not supported by modern scientific research, and macrobiotic food has a healthy effect only for a short time, while the treatment of fasting brings a person to a state of negative nitrogen balance and is generally dangerous to life and health side effects (Carels et al., 2011; Hagobian & Phelan, 2013; Stuckey et al., 2011). For example, 90% of people who adhere to a strict diet immediately return to normal menu that promotes rapid weight gain (Hagobian & Phelan, 2013). In this case the most effective and physiologically easy to fulfill is a full adaptation and transition to a low fat food regime, consumption of complex carbohydrates and reducing sugar intake (Valek et al., 2015; Stuckey et al., 2011). However, for effective weight loss, the changes in eating behavior cannot be considered a self-sufficient weight loss method, but should be combined with other methods (Valek et al., 2015; Hagobian & Phelan, 2013).
From this perspective, physical exercise is an acknowledged means of reducing the appetite in the afternoon and evening hours. In particular, with a proper increase of physical activity in conjunction with a change in the bad food habits, the weight reduction takes place much more successful. As multiple authors claim, properly chosen exercise increases the body’s energy consumption, accelerates metabolism, and makes the process of losing weight as comfortable as possible (Valek et al., 2015; Stuckey et al., 2011; Hagobian & Phelan, 2013). In a comprehensive program of weight reduction such additional methods as manual massage, vacuum massage, mesotherapy, mechanical lymphatic drainage, electrolipolysis, ultrasound therapy, reflexology, as well as medical treatment prove to be effective (Stuckey et al., 2011; Hagobian & Phelan, 2013). It should be noted that indications for drug therapy is BMI> 30 kg/m2 (Hagobian & Phelan, 2013). At the same time, according to Hagobian and Phelan (2013), the use of drug therapy in patients with obesity facilitates compliance with the recommendations on nutrition and promotes faster weight loss.Major Techniques for Promoting Weight Loss
However, second of all, changing eating habits and activity requires a sense of purpose, focus and serious effort, while most patients simply turn out to be unable to comply with the doctor’s recommendations in a long term (Hagobian & Phelan, 2013; Carels et al., 2011; Morton et al., 2011). Intense pace of modern life, generating a lot of conflict and frustration, contributes to overfatigue, development of chronic mental stress and depressed mood. In turn, meal becomes one of the ways to alleviate the mental discomfort and stress. As an inadequate form of psychological protection, and a means of solace and distraction, the reaction of overeating occurs in most overweight people (Stuckey et al., 2011; Hagobian & Phelan, 2013).
In general, today there is irrefutable evidence of connection between the emotional state and overweight. In this regards, the value of psychotherapeutic methods lies in the very fact that they allow rejecting overnutrition consciously, and at the same time solve a whole range of psychological problems that contribute to overeating. The use of different methods of psychotherapy gives excellent results in weight loss, not only in patients with alimentary-constitutional, but also with endocrine form of obesity of varying degrees. In this case, the irreversible loss of body weight makes from 10% to 40% (Carels et al., 2011; Cox et al., 2013; Morton et al., 2011). Thus, for instance, a pilot study by Cox et al. (2013) among 44 overweight African American women with quite modest response to obesity treatment not only established correlation between weight management efforts and chronic stress, but also demonstrated that the involvement in a group 12-week psychological adaptation and stress-management program may result in a significantly greater percentage of baseline weight loss, as well as greater decrease in salivary cortisol.Major Techniques for Promoting Weight Loss
Driven from this dependency, one of the most common methods of emotional stress therapy is coding. Encoding typically serves to introduce strong emotions into the unconscious, such as those associated with the pleasure obtained from eating small portions of food; it is also possible to encode persistent fear for obesity or the joy of self-awareness as a fit person (Carels et al., 2011; Cox et al., 2013). The best results are brought by a combination of these two techniques (Cox et al., 2013), however, by itself, coding without complying with nutritional recommendations is not effective (Carels et al., 2011; Cox et al., 2013). In addition, the downside of this approach is that individuals maintaining fit body often remain the same miserable and depressed people they were as before coding. Therefore, the percentage of secondary weight gain is over 60% (Cox et al., 2013).
On the other hand, during the cognitive therapy in the treatment of obesity, a therapist focuses not so much on weight loss but rather on the change of attitudes and behaviors that lead to obesity. The patient is taught to produce concrete skills that allow one not only to reduce, but also to constantly monitor the weight, such as the ability to assess the significance of events and situations realistically, produce alternative explanations, check oneself for maladaptive assumptions and hypotheses, and ultimately, test more adaptive ways of interacting with the world (Valek et al., 2015; Carels et al., 2011). Besides, as Valek et al. (2015) mark, the easing of depressive symptoms as a result of cognitive therapy eventually results in the simplification of the process of psychological maturation. For instance, in a study by Carels et al. (2011), 54 overweight adults with BMI exceeding 27 kg/m2 who had taken part in the 14-week habit formation and disruption program demonstrated on average only 1,5 kg weight gain during the next 6 month of no-treatment follow-up period. Major Techniques for Promoting Weight Loss
According to another study by Morton et al. (2011), highly efficient concentration of positive deviance factors could be observed through the group impact formed in the individual’s workplace environment. The researchers confirmed that the motivation derived from the team weight loss competitions is more promising despite certain limitations than conventional workplace educational and behavioral programs in weight correction. In over a 3-week period, the competing group achieved nearly twice greater percentage of weight loss than the control group where participants had individual objectives (Morton et al., 2011).
Overall, as Valek et al. (2015) sum up, the psychological factors associated with weight loss maintenance include positive mood, emotions, and appropriate goals; ongoing self-monitoring, and internal drive for weight maintenance; long-term flexibility, and the ability to manage external stimuli.
Conclusion
Today, the effectiveness of weight control is proven to be associated with the level of individual’s mental discomfort and stress. Therefore, in most cases, it is not sufficient to radically change eating habits and physical loading, but rather involves the ability to cope with stressful situations without harm to health, as well as the skill to remove the adverse mental stimulation in an acceptable manner. From this perspective, complex application of various approaches has confirmed its efficiency. Thus, while only 5% of patients manage to maintain the achieved weigh loss for 2 years after dieting and training adaptation in the frameworks of conventional individual behavioral programs, a combinations with psychotherapy shows significantly higher results.
Depending on the method applied, the irreversible loss of body weight may reach makes from 10% to 40%. Here, the most promising results are provided by methods associated with stress management technique, as well as cognitive techniques aimed at increasing the objectivity of world perception in obese patients. At the same time, the particular influence of group methods in still understudied and the existing reports bear certain limitation, including subjectivity biases. Overall, basing on the data explored, the most effective methods of psychocorrection aimed at addressing the problem of overweight should simultaneously involve such objectives as:• creation of a stereotype of nutrition and behavior of a fit person;Major Techniques for Promoting Weight Loss
• correction of the stress-related overeating issues;
• elimination of addiction to high-calorie foods, development of indifferent and calm attitude towards them;
• training of understanding of one’s own body signals to satisfy the correct needs.
The opportunities of achieving these goals through one single program and the possible long-term effects of such program should be further researched through longitude studies.Major Techniques for Promoting Weight Loss