How Meal Replacement Helps to Manage Obesity-Related Disorders

Obesity is linked to a number of diseases that kill millions of Americans each year including chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), diabetes, osteoarthritis, high blood pressure (hypertension), and heart failure.  

Thankfully, obesity is a curable disease. A weight loss strategy, properly managed by a medical professional, can include a meal replacement plan that can reduce the daily intake of calories and reduce body fat and body weight of obese patients over time.

What is Obesity?

Obesity occurs when a person has an abundance of fat in their body.  Obesity can be measured in a number of ways including body mass index (function of your height and weight), waist circumference, leg and arm circumferences or via an electrostatic scan of the entire body.  People are considered obese when they have BMI measurements of over 30 or the results of an electrostatic scan reveal that they have more than 25% body fat.

Currently, in the United States, obesity has reached pandemic proportions affecting approximately 40% of the population. The root causes of obesity are poor dietary choices and larger than recommended portions sizes for meals and snacks. To a lesser extent, a lack of physical exercise also plays a role.

What is a Meal Replacement Plan?

Meal Replacement Plan is an eating strategy consisting of alternatives to an individual’s usual eating habits.  Usually, an individual on a meal replacement plan will drink shakes and eat prepared foods with smaller portion sizes and different combinations of macronutrients than they would before they started the plan.  For the purposes of weight loss, the most effective plans are very low-calorie diet (VLCD) plans.  People following a VLCD plan eat and drink up to 60% fewer calories per day than the recommended daily calorie intake. The VLCD plan consists of prepared meals and shakes with higher protein content to reduce hunger.

“The root causes of obesity are poor dietary choices and larger than recommended portions sizes for meals and snacks.”

Using Meal Replacement Plans to Tackle Obesity

Meal replacement plans provide healthy choices and smaller portion sizes to obese patients.  By doing so meal replacement plans reduce daily calories and effectively eliminate the two factors that most cause obesity.

Medical research, in the form of clinical trials and secondary reviews, supports the use of a meal replacement plan for rapid weight loss.  Under the watchful eye of a doctor with experience in weight management, a VLCD meal replacement plan consisting of shakes and prepared meals is more effective than other weight loss methods.  In fact, VLCD plans are effective in reducing weight and keeping it off in both the short term (less than one year) and long term (greater than a year).

By reducing body weight and most importantly body fat, people with obesity can reduce or eliminate the symptoms they experience from obesity-related diseases.  These diseases include:

  • Diabetes
  • Gallbladder disease
  • Heart disease
  • Hypertension
  • Osteoarthritis 
  • Sleep apnea and other breathing complications
  • Some cancers (uterine, breast, colorectal, kidney, and gallbladder)

In addition, reducing obesity reduces the risk of:

  • High blood cholesterol
  • Hirsutism (excessive hair growth)
  • Menstrual irregularities
  • Pregnancy complications
  • Some psychological disorders 
  • Stress incontinence

In addition to all of the above benefits, reducing obesity in an individual can also reduce their exposure to social discrimination against obese persons.  Reducing the stigma and social discrimination associated with obesity can have a positive effect on a person’s quality of life.

Dr. Amir’s Weight Loss and Metabolism Center

Dr. Amir’s Weight Loss and Metabolism Center’s program is proven scientific medical weight loss. The program features both in-person and telehealth plans to meet your needs.

You take control of your weight loss goals with a specialized plan that is tailored to your physique, lifestyle and food preferences. We serve adolescents, adults and families alike with full medical consultations, goal setting, individualized programs to fit your health status and needs. Dr. Amir is a Cleveland Clinic Trained and Board Certified Obesity/Weight Physician with  Advanced training from Harvard and Cornell Obesity programs with 18 years of general medical experience.

If you are looking for a program that can be tailored to you and is based on medical science, then contact Dr. Amir’s Weight Loss and Metabolism Center today for a first consultation.

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