Obesity Therapy

People battling obesity can be helped best by an accountability partner or therapist who guides them throughout the weight loss process. With therapy, you can attain your body image goal.

What Is Obesity? What Is the Cause of Obesity?

The accumulation of extra body fat results in obesity. It is quantified and measured using BMI (body mass index), a value derived from a person’s mass (weight) and height. To be considered a healthy adult, you need to have a BMI anywhere between 18.5 and 24.9. Those under a BMI of 18.5 are underweight, while those above a BMI of 25 are overweight. With a BMI of over 30, a person falls into the obese category.

Typically, obesity has three subdivisions:

• Class One: BMI of 30 to less than 35;
• Class Two: BMI of 35 to less than 40;
• Class Three: BMI of 40 and above. It can also be in the “severe” or “extreme” obesity class.

BMI is a useful way to gauge obesity in a person, but it isn’t a reliable way to assess one’s overall health. Why? This value does not take into consideration the factor in the natural variations in body types and the ratio/ density of muscle to fat. Though people continue to argue about the legitimacy of using BMI as a measure of obesity, it helps to appreciate that calculations aren’t needed to gauge overweight or obesity. Extra deposits of fat, coupled with bad health, are often the major factors in identifying these conditions. For instance, with BMI, a 5′ 9″ man weighing over 203 lbs. is in the obese class. Simultaneously, many pro athletes and muscle builders are over this weight, yet they have less than 10% fat in their bodies. Given this development, classing a person as obese based on BMI isn’t reliable.

As the debate on gauging obesity rages on, recent studies categorize about 40% (over 1/3) of grown-ups in America as obese. This number keeps rising yearly, and the rates are much more in various developing nations, thanks to an array of factors. These include the growth of industrial economies and the middle class and rising dependency on fast and processed food. Compared to natural and unprocessed dishes, such a food packs way more calories, yet it lacks important nutritional components.

Everyone is prone to obesity. However, females are more inclined to be obese than males.

Approaches Used in Obesity Therapy

The approaches leveraged in the treatment of obesity vary. From watching food intake and physical exercise to acupuncture, hypnotherapy, behavioral changes, and surgeries, there’s no shortage of solutions. However, it helps to understand and identify that every instance is considered to be unique, and there’s no one-for-all solution. Varying approaches work for various people, meaning that while an obese individual may find nutrition and physical exercising plan to work, another might require different or extra resources and support. A health issue, such as thyroid disease, can undermine the weight loss process.

Generally, obesity counseling entails an array of treatments in addition to watching food intake and exercising. Many psychotherapists understand that a single approach will not cut it in addressing obesity in a person. In light of that, treating obesity in a person with a merger of strategies is not a new thing in the sphere. Today, several solutions are combined with diet suggestions and exercising plans. Experts can identify the best combinations for users.

Therapy for losing body mass will reveal what you have to do to attain your ideal weight. Behavioral counseling is a typical strategy for assisting overweight persons. It is considered to be an excellent tool for cultivating various habits aimed at a weight loss in obese people. This approach goes beyond merely helping obese individuals decide to change; it aids them in determining how to make the necessary change. The process of behavioral change also falls on therapy seekers. They have to keep tabs, set a goal, and address any hiccups.

Behavioral therapy has many elements. Check them out.

• Determining a sensible base weight loss goal;
• Exploring hindrances to realizing them;
• Increasing physical activities;
• Nutritional information;
• Developing eating plans that promote weight loss;
• Determining the cause of detrimental relations with food;
• Identifying any binge food, if present;
• Learning the cause of unhealthy diet choices;
• Building coping mechanisms and techniques for dealing with unhealthy eating to attain a weight loss goal;
• Finding ways to continue with weight loss in the long term;
• Recording overall daily diet and exercise activities that the behavioral therapist monitors periodically.

Sometimes, the behavioral therapist might include medication to go together with professional therapy to boost weight loss success. This conclusion comes after they identify your underlying cause of weight gain and what works best for you.

Why Should You Consult a Therapist?

If you are an obese individual and intend to change by shedding some of that weight off, you should have a person you can be accountable to either regarding the food you eat or exercise. A therapist, in this case, can help you to stick to your goal. The right therapist will also identify the life change you need to lose excess weight.

For people suffering from hormonal, mobility, or thyroid issue, therapists might be the only way to achieve real weight loss. In the majority of cases, obese people with these health problems try all possible ways to lose base weight naturally without success. As such, they order a specialist to direct them on what to do, that is, surgical procedures, behavioral therapy, or medication.

Another reason you should order a therapist is the numerous serious health complications associated with obesity in a person. Obesity puts you at risk of developing over 60 chronic diseases, including diabetes, stroke, and high blood pressure. Many of these conditions can affect your overall well-being and decrease your overall quality of life. They can also cause a vicious cycle that hinders healthy weight loss by impeding movement and, consequently, exercising.

Some obese persons have a health issue (s) that does not allow them to diet or work out. Problems like stress, depressive disorder, and hormonal imbalance may also impede healthy weight loss efforts. Sometimes watching your food may help you fight obesity, but it’s not the solution to obesity. The high chances are that you will gain the weight back.

We cannot pinpoint just one source of obesity. However, seeing a therapist can help you get to the root of the issue and address the cause. While there are persons biologically inclined to obesity, the majority of base weight issues are emotionally-driven. Post-traumatic stress disorder, anxiety, and even depressions can push a person to seek unhealthy food to cope and prevent them from maintaining a healthy body weight.

How much you weigh doesn’t determine your worth as an individual. However, the weight can negatively affect your life’s quality if it tips over the healthy average. So, if you’ve struggled with obesity, contact a qualified therapist in order to get over it. He/she can help you figure out your healthy weight loss deterrents and how you can control or conquer them.

Tips for Finding the Right Therapist for You

As you start searching for a therapist, ensure that you learn the treatment options that the professional offers. With this knowledge, you can order the professional therapy method that suits your life, problems, and goal best. It is also best to go with a therapist you are most at ease with.

It’s hard to tell if you will click with your therapist in the beginning. But with time, you must have the relationship, trust, and support you need to achieve your goal. Before you settle on one person, set up appointments with a few therapists first. These meetings will enable you to compare their therapy approaches, personality, comfortability, background, and so on.

One issue you’ll address when you begin going to professional therapy is impractical weight loss projections. An unfeasible goal is considered to be one of the biggest hurdles that obesity therapists address in an obese individual. There’s a massive difference between what a person expects to lose and what they actually lose in many cases. Additionally, every individual has their constraints, whether physical, whereby exercising is hard or genetic, where biological composition makes weight loss difficult.

Addressing an irrational goal during therapy also involves understanding what body mass loss can and cannot do for you. A drop in base weight can boost your health and life, but it doesn’t translate to career success, happy relationships, etc. Having a talk about your expectations with the expert at the start of treatment can help you overcome your issue.

Need more resources like this? On our website, you can find a library of useful information about psychology and therapy. We can also help clients choose online therapy through our detailed descriptions of therapy services and their benefits.