January 15, 2025
By August Ryan; Reviewed for medical accuracy by Nielufar Varjavand, MD
When you look for information about managing your weight, it is easy to become confused. Online and in person, it is hard to avoid incorrect or even harmful advice. This blog post discusses tools like:
- Dieting;
- Exercise;
- Lifestyle changes;
- Weight-loss surgery;
- Medications for weight loss.
Drexel Medicine physician Nielufar Varjavand, MD, advised talking to your provider about your weight goals. What works for someone else may not work for you.
Physicians, dietitians and nutritionists can all help you better manage your weight. This blog can help if you want to discuss weight management at a medical appointment.
Medication, surgery and dieting
It is becoming common to hear about celebrities and other public figures using medications for weight loss. Someone you know may have used a medication like Ozempic or Monjourno to help them lose weight.
According to the National Institutes of Health, providers consider various things when giving patients medications for weight loss. These factors will be specific to your body, your health history, and your weight goals.
Your provider might recommend surgery to help you lose weight, as well. Like medication, they will consider your unique health needs to make this decision.
Even if medication is right for you, these drugs could have side effects. Surgery can be physically uncomfortable, and recovery takes time. As such, many people try dieting for weight loss.
Certain diets become trendy and information about them may pass quickly from person to person. Your friend might suggest a diet that helped them lose weight. While watching TV, you might see a new diet and advertisements for a related cookbook or guidebook.
Many people will restrict calories to lose weight, which is unsafe in the long-term. In other diets, you may not restrict calories, but you stop eating certain food groups (ex. fats, starches) that are traditionally associated with weight gain.
Your body needs a certain amount of calories and a certain balance of nutrients so that you feel good and stay healthy. Additionally, what works for someone else’s body, wallet, and schedule may not work for you.
All of these factors, plus others, mean restrictive dieting does not work well for long-term weight management. Researchers at The Ohio State University found that about 95 percent of people who lost weight with restrictive diets gained weight back within two years.
Making simple lifestyle changes to help you lose weight is often the first option health care providers suggest. Dr. Varjavand also emphasized: healthy habits are key whether you want to maintain your current weight or lose weight.
Improving your eating habits
Dr. Varjavand suggests talking to a health care provider about dietary changes that are best for your specific health needs. However, experts recommend that everyone should reach for more nutritious foods and drinks – and that does help with weight management.
The healthiest way to change your diet is to think of the basics: having less sugar and focusing on eating more fruits and vegetables. These changes can be easier to make and to keep up with than using a highly restricted diet for weight loss.
Dr. Varjavand recommends adding more fruits and vegetables to your rotation of meals and snacks because they are very nutritious, and because they are filling. If you are hungry at 3 p.m. and choose an apple to hold you over until dinner time, you will be full and less drawn to very sugary, processed snack options.
“As a start, I tell everyone: avoid sugary drinks,” Dr. Varjavand says. “Do not drink your calories. I know that takes a lot of getting used to, because it took me an entire year to stop having sugar in my tea.”
Dr. Varjavand recommends replacing sugary drinks with water whenever possible, to help you stay hydrated.
Adding in exercise
“In general, one should do about 30 minutes of physical activity a day,” Dr. Varjavand said. “It’s hard to be conscious of scheduling it and to make the effort to exercise – I fall prey to that, too. But it’s important to make the effort.”
If you build and keep up healthy habits, you’ll continue to be healthy and manage your weight.
Staying physically active, along with healthy eating habits, can help balance the calories you eat and the calories you burn. In turn, this can help keep your weight steady.
You can squeeze exercise into a busy day by walking or biking to school or work. You may be able to use breaks or downtime in your day to walk around the block or complete a free yoga class online.
It can also be helpful to make movement fun: join a recreational sports team or walking group. Enjoy active pastimes with friends. You may have so much fun that making time for exercise no longer feels like a chore.
“It doesn’t matter if you exercise in 10 minutes here and 10 minutes there, as long as you do it,” Dr. Varjavand said. “If you build and keep up healthy habits, you’ll continue to be healthy and manage your weight.”
Asking for support
Dr. Varjavand said that for many people, struggles with weight can be related to their mental health. Poor sleep can lead to weight gain and is a symptom of stress and mental health struggles. Additionally, mental health challenges can make it hard to build and continue healthy habits.
If you are having trouble with your mental health, use our resources to talk to your provider.
If weight loss or establishing your weight goals are troubling topics for you, consider finding a support group or talking openly with loved ones. Additionally, your health care provider can help support your weight management work.
“We can be a source of support and also someone to be accountable to and check in with,” Dr. Varjavand said. “We all need support, and for some people, their clinician is part of their support system.”