Maintaining a healthy weight is crucial for your health and quality of life, but you can’t always reach a healthy weight on your own. A number of factors, including your age, body composition and medical conditions affecting your metabolism, can make it difficult, if not impossible, to lose weight. At One Life Health & Performance in Palm Beach Gardens, FL, we offer a medical weight loss program to help you achieve your ideal weight. Here’s what to expect.

What to Expect From a Medical Weight Loss Program

A Detailed Breakdown of Your Body Composition

You can expect a detailed breakdown of your body composition from a medical weight loss program. Your body composition describes how much of your weight is fatty tissue, lean tissue and water and can be calculated by stepping on a special scale that sends electricity through your feet but you won’t feel any pain during this. Knowing your body composition is crucial for weight loss.

It allows us to determine your basal metabolic rate (BMR) and total daily energy expenditure (TDEE) more accurately than if we only knew your weight. Your BMR reflects the number of calories you would burn at total rest in 24 hours; your TDEE reflects how many calories you would burn throughout the day going through your usual routine. This allows us to create a meal plan that will keep you full and energized while allowing for sustainable weight loss.

A Thorough Review of Your Medical History

Another component of your medical weight loss program is a thorough review of your medical history. Before your appointment, make a list of all over-the-counter and prescription medications you are taking, including the dose. Some of the drugs you take may play a role in your inability to lose weight. We also need insight on any medical conditions you have so we can tailor a weight loss plan you can stick to.

A Thorough Review of Your Lifestyle

We will also discuss your lifestyle thoroughly. If the cause of your weight gain or inability to lose weight is a mystery, we may be able to pinpoint something in your diet that can explain the weight gain. For example, it is not uncommon for people to gain weight consistently because they started drinking alcohol regularly but didn’t consider the calories in alcoholic beverages or they overestimated how much exercise they did regularly.

A Diet Plan

The most important aspect of any weight loss program, whether it is overseen by medical professionals or not, is your diet. The old adage “you can’t outrun your fork” exists for a reason. There isn’t enough time in a day to exercise enough to overcome consuming too many calories if you eat an extra slice of pizza and bowl of ice cream on top of what you usually eat.

For example, a single slice of a large cheese pizza contains 270 calories. There are 285 calories in 4.7 ounces of chocolate ice cream. That’s a total of 555 calories above your daily needs. You would have to walk two hours and two minutes to burn those calories off. If you had two hours free, would you spend it walking? Would you find time to ride your bike for over 72 minutes to maintain your weight? Realistically, you probably wouldn’t.

Foods That Will Be Included in Your Diet Plan

When crafting your tailored diet plan, we will take into account any and all dietary restrictions you have. Weight loss diets fail so often because they aren’t sustainable. We want to put you on the path of success for life. If you can’t eat or drink dairy because you are lactose intolerant, we will develop a meal plan that provides you with enough protein to keep you full for long periods of time from legumes and lean meat.

If you are a vegan because you want to protect the environment, we will develop a completely plant-based diet for you. We will also work around any allergies and will not recommend you eat foods you don’t enjoy eating for the sake of weight loss. It is possible to eat delicious, nutritious, satisfying meals that help you lose weight by providing you with plenty of protein, healthy fats, fiber and slow carbs.

A Workout Plan

Your diet is the most helpful tool for achieving significant weight loss and maintaining a healthy weight once your weight loss journey is complete. Nevertheless, exercise is an important tool for weight loss and a key part of improving or maintaining your health. We will provide you with a workout plan you enjoy so you will stick with it throughout your weight loss journey and for the rest of your life.

Remember, we will be discussing your health and lifestyle before we develop a weight loss plan for you. Let us know of any injuries you are currently suffering from or have recovered from but are afraid of reaggravating. Also, communicate the types of physical activities you prefer. If you loved lifting weights in college, we will craft a plan that focuses on resistance training. We will also account for your favorite cardio exercises in your plan.

The Keys to a Successful Workout Plan

There are two keys to a successful workout plan – progressive loading and discovering what you like. Progressive loading involves stepping up the intensity of your workouts over time to build muscle. This could mean benching 55 pounds 15 times this week, 18 times next week and 21 times in the following week. In terms of cardiovascular activity, like swimming, it could mean increasing the distance over time or completing the same distance faster.

Remember, muscle is 2.5 times more metabolically active than fat. When you incorporate progressive loading into your workout routine, your muscles grow and you will burn more calories at rest. You also burn calories at an increased rate after your workout as your muscles rebuild themselves. Discovering physical activities you enjoy is also a key component to a successful workout plan because people rarely stick to unenjoyable activities.

Hormone Therapy

You can also expect hormone therapy in a medical-based weight loss program. Often, weight gain occurs due to imbalanced sex hormone levels or imbalances with other hormones. If we suspect a hormonal imbalance based on your age or symptoms, we will test your serum hormone levels to ensure everything is in order. If it’s not, we will put you on hormone therapy to restore balance to your body and give you the best possible chance for success.

How Much Weight Loss You Can Expect

You can expect to lose up to 40 pounds in 17 weeks with a weight loss program in a medical setting. How much weight you actually lose depends on how much weight you have to lose and how well you stick to the program. If you stick to the weight loss plan we provide, you can lose all of your excess weight and achieve your ideal weight. However, if you take breaks from the program, you may maintain your weight for some weeks or even gain weight.

How Quickly You Can Expect the Weight Loss to Occur

As with how much weight you lose, how quickly you lose weight is up to you. We can give you a plan but we can’t make you stick to it; we give you the tools for success and you have to implement them to get the results you want. Typically, people lose one to three pounds per week during the first month of their weight loss journey. However, not all of the weight you lose will be fat. Some of it will be water and carbs stored in your muscles and organs.

When you consume more calories than your body needs for fuel, it starts to store the excess energy in the form of glycogen. Glycogen is a chemical compound that comprises one gram of carbohydrates and three-to-four grams of water. When you exercise, your body looks for that stored fuel first. Let’s say you walk and burn 100 stored calories (25 grams of carbs). You are also losing 75 to 100 grams of water, or over a quarter of a pound.

How Much Fat You Can Realistically Expect to Lose Weekly

Although you can expect to lose between one and three pounds weekly, particularly when you start out, not all of this weight loss is going to be fat. To burn a pound of fat, you must create a deficit of 3,500 calories. This can be accomplished through eating less than your body needs to maintain its fat reserves, moving more or a combination of both.

As a good general rule of thumb, it is realistic to create a daily deficit of 500 to 1,000 calories. This works out to one to two pounds of fat loss weekly if you stick to the guidelines laid out in your program. Since most of us are busy adults with hectic professional lives and responsibilities at home, caloric deficits are primarily achieved through diet. The great thing about focusing on diet rather than exercise is you can still lose weight on days you can’t work out.

How to Cut 500 Calories From Your Diet

As stated previously, your new diet will incorporate foods designed to keep you full for long periods of time and fuel your body so it can work out when there is time for workouts. The easiest way to cut a significant number of calories from your diet without feeling like you’re missing out on anything is to cut back on the calories you drink. For example, if you drink one 12-ounce soda daily, you’re taking in 150 calories that provide no nutritional value.

Eliminating your daily can of soda and changing nothing else about your life would result in losing over 15.6 pounds of fat in a year. Another easy way to cut calories from your diet is to halve the portion of pasta or rice you usually eat and fill up with carbonated water or low-calorie vegetables when you feel a little hungry but aren’t ready for a full meal.

Take the First Step in Improving Your Quality of Life Today

If you’re sick and tired of struggling to lose weight, you may need professional help. With a medical weight loss program, you will receive a detailed breakdown of your body composition, information about your resting metabolism and an actionable plan that will allow you to lose weight and change your lifestyle sustainably so you can maintain a healthy weight. Set up an appointment with One Life Health & Performance in Palm Beach Gardens, FL today to take the first step in changing your life.