Treatment options to manage weight

Healthy eating is important for everyone, regardless of someone’s size, weight or health status. Try focusing on whole foods/unprocessed foods more often and limit the amount of ultra-processed foods. 

Consider the following questions when starting your health eating plan:

These questions may provide clues to why you are overeating throughout the day or choosing unhealthy foods. Your healthcare professional can then help you transition to healthier ways of eating and developing a more sustainable relationship with food.

Physical activity is one of the best things you can do for your health. Regular daily movement, even small amounts, can result in health benefits for people of all sizes, such as improving cardiometabolic risk factors. 

Start by adding a little extra movement into your everyday life. If you sit a lot during the day, standing up and moving around for a few minutes every hour can make a difference. So can walking to the shops or taking the stairs, if possible. Even doing small things can mean a lot. The goal is to have 150 minutes of physical activity a week. You can build up toward this goal by gradually adding new activities and routines into your obesity care plan.

Our body and mind are deeply connected, and behavioural therapy is an obesity treatment option that takes this connection into account.

Behavioural change support can be an important part of everyone’s obesity treatment. The main goal of behavioural therapy is to help people living with obesity make changes that are sustainable, promote positive self-esteem and confidence, and improve health, function and quality of life.  

Behavioural interventions are the actions that are taken to support changes. Education focused on the following topics can support you in your obesity management journey: 

Obesity medications, when combined with diet and exercise, can allow patients to achieve a healthier weight. Treating obesity with medication is no different than treating other chronic diseases, like diabetes, high blood pressure or asthma, with medication.

There are different obesity medications available and they work in different ways. However, all of the obesity medications should be used in combination with diet and exercise. Some obesity medications work by blocking absorption of some of the fat in the food eaten. Other obesity medications work on two separate areas of the brain to help control eating (appetite and cravings). Another class of obesity medications works by causing individuals to feel fuller and less hungry.

Gastric bypass and other weight-loss surgeries—known collectively as bariatric surgery—involve making changes to your digestive system to help you lose weight. Bariatric surgery is an obesity treatment that can lower your appetite and the amount of food you can comfortably eat in one sitting. They've been shown to change the body's metabolism and hormones, both of which play a major role in how your weight is regulated. For example, the hormonal changes from bariatric surgery work to prevent weight regain.

These are some of the obesity treatment options that healthcare professionals have in their toolbox. All treatment options carry a risk and can cause side effects. They may not be suitable for everyone. Your healthcare professional will help you consider all your options to create a personalized obesity care plan. But they can't predict how you'll respond to the different treatments that they recommend. We're all different and that means our response to the treatments will be highly individual too.

Your healthcare professional may adjust your obesity care plan depending on your body’s response and your health needs. Different types of treatments may become more or less relevant as you make progress or experience roadblocks. That is why your obesity treatment plan should be tailored to your needs and may evolve over time.