Treatment for Obesity and Being Overweight without Surgery

Medically reviewed by: Eric Venn-Watson, MD

Being overweight and obese are epidemics in the United States. These conditions are also a major health concern worldwide, affecting nearly two billion adults globally. In 2016 alone, 40% of women and 39% of men were classified as overweight. Obese women represent 13% of the global population, while obese men represent 11%. 

These numbers are staggering, especially given that being overweight or obese can often be preventable, treatable conditions. In the U.S., obesity and being overweight are major contributors to several of the leading causes of death, like heart attack, stroke, cancer, and diabetes. 

Despite the rising popularity of trends in dieting like veganism and low carbohydrate intake, our weight as a population is continually on the rise, and our waistlines as individuals keep getting larger. Increased weight leads to a myriad of health problems, some of which can be life threatening.

We’ll discuss what is considered overweight and obese, the risk of disease associated with these conditions, and non-surgical treatment options for losing weight and regaining your health. 

What is Considered Overweight and Obese?

Whether you are overweight or obese is largely determined by your own body size, bone structure, and activity level. 

For instance, a person who is 5’3” and weighs 175 pounds may be overweight while that same weight on a taller person may not make them overweight. 

As such, there is a method of determining whether a person is overweight or obese based on the percentage of body fat they carry. This number takes into consideration a person’s height compared to their weight to determine their true body fat percentage. 

Your body mass index, or BMI, is calculated by dividing your weight by your height squared, then multiplying that number by 703. For example, a person who is 5’3 and weighs 120 pounds would calculate their BMI like this:

(120/63²) x 703 = 21.25, thus this person’s BMI would be about 21. 

A person with a BMI between 25 and 29.9 is considered to be overweight. A BMI of over 30 is considered obese. In addition to BMI, the location of an individual’s weight is of equal importance. 

Weight carried around the midsection is especially dangerous. Women who have a waist measurement of over 35” and men who have a waist measurement over 40” are at an increased risk of developing weight-related illness. 

If you are overweight or obese and have a large waist measurement, you are at much higher risk of developing weight related illness like the ones mentioned below. 

Weight-Related Illness

Being overweight can cause a host of health problems, including mild conditions like feeling tired, lethargic, sad, and having general malaise, to more serious conditions that can be life-threatening such as heart disease. 

Metabolic Syndrome

Being overweight can put you at risk of developing metabolic syndrome, which refers to an entire cluster of illnesses that place a person at a much higher risk of having a heart attack, stroke, and/or developing diabetes. 

Metabolic syndrome includes:

• Insulin resistance. When the body can no longer produce enough insulin, or cannot effectively use the insulin being produced, it has become insulin resistant, which can lead to diabetes. 
• High blood pressure. High blood pressure, also called hypertension, is a condition in which the force of the blood against the walls of your veins is too high. This can cause damage to the heart and blood vessels, which can lead to a heart attack or stroke. 
• Excess body fat around the waist. Being overweight and/or obese is dangerous, but when it is combined with excess body fat around the waist (as referenced above) the individual’s chances of weight related illness is dramatically higher. 
• High cholesterol levels. High cholesterol levels refer to an excess of cholesterol, a waxy substance, found in your blood. Too much bad cholesterol, or LDL, can cause a build up in your arteries that makes it hard for blood to pass through. This can lead to blood clots, stroke, and heart attack. 

To avoid these conditions, it’s important to maintain a healthy weight. However, if you are overweight or obese, you’ll need to lose weight before you begin maintaining your weight.

Treatment for Obesity and Being Overweight, Without Surgery

Although there are surgical options for helping you lose weight, they aren’t necessarily the best method of weight loss for every person. If you’d prefer a more natural method of weight loss, you have options. 

The most important factor in being successful in any weight loss program is being patient.  Non-surgical weight loss takes time and effort, and it's easy to become frustrated. 

Here are some methods of non-surgical weight loss to help you lose weight and maintain your overall health.

Exercise

Cardiovascular exercise is an effective means of losing weight and increasing heart health. Completing 30 minutes of light to moderate cardiovascular activity per day can help you burn calories, reduce stress, elevate oxygen levels, and feel better. 

Cardiovascular activities include walking, running, rowing, cycling, and swimming. There are many others, and your own ability level will determine which works best for you. 

A Healthy Diet

Eating a diet low in sugar and unhealthy fats, and high in fiber, fruits, vegetables, and whole grains can help you lose weight. On average, you must exclude 500 calories from your diet per day by means of exercise, eating lower calorie foods, or a combination of both, to lose one pound of fat per week. 

A healthy diet can not only help you lose weight, it can help you feel better and assist you in building and maintaining better overall health. 

Increased Healthy Fats

Another great option for maintaining a healthy weight naturally is increasing healthy fat. This can sound counterproductive -- why would you increase your fat intake to lose fat? 

However, increasing a particular fatty acid, known as pentadecanoic acid (aka C15:0, pronounced see-fifteen), may help you achieve your health goals.

Fatty15 and Healthy Weight Maintenance

Anytime you begin a weight loss journey, you’ll face challenges. One of those challenges can be maintaining your overall health while you lose weight. You may look for supplements to help you in your journey. One such supplement contains pentadecanoic acid (aka C15:0). Higher C15:0 levels have been associated with a lower risk of obesity. 

Pentadecanoic acid is an odd-chain saturated fatty acid that an increasing body of evidence supports may be the first essential fatty acid to be discovered in 90 years.† This healthy fatty acid can help support your overall health and wellness by improving your cellular health, and you can easily add it into your daily health routine with fatty15.*† 

With the addition of fatty15 in your diet, you can support your cellular and health, including:*†  

• Healthy metabolism. Being overweight and/or obese can affect your metabolism and leave it sluggish. By naturally binding to receptors (called PPARs alpha and delta) throughout your body, fatty15 helps to support your metabolism, kick-starting it so your weight loss journey can be more effective. 

• Heart health support. For people who are overweight and/or obese, heart health is a major concern. Studies support that fatty15 may help you maintain healthy cholesterol levels, which can be beneficial to your heart health.

• Decreasing snacking between meals. Like other saturated fats, fatty15 appears to trigger your vagus nerve to help decrease hunger between meals. 

Fatty15 is available as a once a day supplement to help you maintain healthy weight and general health and assist you on your journey to feeling better. 

To learn more about C15:0 and how it can support your metabolism and beyond, explore the science of fatty15 here. 

Fatty15 Customer Testimonials

 

Sources:

https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/obesity-and-overweight

https://www.cdc.gov/cdctv/diseaseandconditions/lifestyle/obesity-epidemic.html

https://caloriecontrol.org/healthy-weight-tool-kit/bmi-calculator/

https://www.heart.org/en/health-topics/high-blood-pressure/the-facts-about-high-blood-pressure/what-is-high-blood-pressure

https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/high-blood-cholesterol/symptoms-causes/syc-20350800

https://www.jlr.org/article/S0022-2275(20)33595-1/fulltext