How To Solve It

Problem Of Obesity And Its Treatment

The seriousness of the problem has led to several attempts at remedying it. No year goes by without some faddist dietary regime topping the bestseller list recommending the adoption of eccentric eating habit. However, there are some psychological intervention that have successfully helped the weight management of the obese, although, the drawback of the psychological interventions is that obese people do not maintain their reduction regime.

Interventions are recommended when a person has a serious BMI statistic and a risk of developing ill health. For people with a BMI of below 27kg/m2, clinicians recommend an increase in physical activity and a decrease in fact and sugar intake, coupled self-directed efforts to maintain weight loss and the taking of a doctor’s advice. For people with higher BMIs, the same intervention may be implemented but if this does not work, more dramatic measures may be adopted such as drugs or, for those with a BMI in excess of 40kg/m2, surgery ( this is called bariatric surgery). The side affects of surgery are considerable, but weight loss is produced more efficiently.



Initial success at weight loss depends on the goals of the person losing weight. First, people need to be motivated to lose weight. Secondly, they need to realise that weight reduction programs are designed for health rather than aesthetic reasons. For example, until recently, interventions were guided towards helping people achieve their ideal weight ( rather than a weight which would reduce the risk of ill health), current emphasis, however, is on reducing health complication and so a loss of 5-15% can be effective in producing this reduction, even though the patient/client may not be happy with having lost so little weight and expect a weight loss of 20-35%. One study which reported that weight reduction of 7kg/m2 combined with 150 minutes exercise a week reduced the likelihood of developing diabetes by 58%.

Psychological interventions

Obese people clearly have difficult in restricting their food intake. This difficulty is decreased during holiday periods which the overweight regard as high risk period because of family celebrations or national holiday celebrations. One way in which this difficulty could be relieved is by self monitoring, the act of closely observing what is eaten and when and in which contexts. Boutelle et.al (1999) examined the effect of self monitoring during this high risk holiday period in group of overweight individuals on a weight loss program. Forty-nine obese people who had been on the program for at least a month, were know to self monitor rarely and who were willing to be contacted in a two eek holiday period (Xmas and New Year) took part in the study. Self monitoring took form of examining food intake and taking weight measurements daily.



Two groups (intervention group and non intervention group) were observed and both groups were encouraged to do this basic level of self monitoring. However, the intervention group also received daily mailing from the researchers as well as one or two phone calls in each week in two week period reminding them to self monitor. Those in the intervention group not only self monitored more frequently but also managed their weight more effectively than did those in the non intervention group. Both group had difficult in managing their weight. However, those in the self monitoring group lost more weight and there was a strong associate between self monitoring and weight loss. The difficulty is maintaining weight loss is one of the most serious problems obese people face. Studies of 20 week intervention programs, such as the one described, have found that people can lose up to 9kg( around 9% of body weight) but when the intervention stops, people can regain as much one third of their weight in the following 12 months.

Clinicians, therefore, have focused their attention on how to achieve the maintenance of weight loss. This can be done by creative detailed behavioural plan for the client to follow, as well as by controlling the portions of food that client eats. Replacing normal meals and snacks with portion controlled meals, for example, can lead 8% reduction in weight over a sustained period of dietary regime control. The longer the intervention, the greater the weight loss, but most of the loss is seen in the first six month. The greater predictor of whether people maintain their loss is their ability to engage in physical activity. Those who do, tend to maintain their weight loss programs. Those who exercise at home are more successful at maintenance that is those who attend gyms or leisure center.

Related Topic

Self Improving
Self psychology
3 Key of Self Actualization
3 Key of Self Actualization Part 2
3 Key of Self Actualization Part 3
Stereotype: how parent explain science to boys more than they do to girls
Pro anorexic
Understanding school violence: The relationship between the bully and the victim of a bully
Csikszentmihalyi electronic beepers sound research
How to diet: Help for dieters
Autism
Who To
How To Do Things