The benefit of the management of overweight and obesity in pharmacies:
Consequences of being overweight:
People who are overweight or obese are more likely to develop a number of serious illnesses, most of which result in reduced life expectancy. In addition to the physical consequences, obesity has significant psychological and social consequences.
- Diseases associated with excess weight:
People who are overweight are more likely to have a number of diseases and health problems such as type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, cancer (esophagus, pancreas, colon-rectum, breast cancer after menopause, endometrium, kidney) and also osteoarthritis, gallstones, gastroesophageal reflux disease, asthma, respiratory sleep disorders, depression, non-alcoholic liver disease, kidney disease, urinary incontinence as well as reproductive disorders.
The initial assessment:
In the pharmacy, we retrace the patient’s weight history and carry out an initial assessment including an assessment:
- Functional signs and factors favoring overweight and obesity
- Co-morbidities (type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, osteoarthritis, dyslipidemia, sleep apnea and risk factors using the following tests:
- Lipid profile, blood sugar (preferably fasting), and blood pressure measurement
- The patient’s eating habits and level of physical activity
- Psychological and social stress and lifestyle, environment, family and social factors, including ethnicity, family history of obesity, overweight and certain diseases (cardiovascular disease, type diabetes). 2, hyperlipidemia or hypertension)
- The desire and the motivation to change. Knowing the patient’s motivations can help tailor communication with them. Defining the patient’s motivation is a key step in encouraging the patient in their efforts.
During consultations, it is useful:
- Define the person’s conception of their weight, diagnosis and possible reasons for the weight gain. In our current environment, women condemn themselves to achieve an ideal of thinness almost impossible to obtain. Appropriating this concept of ideal weight loss can lead to dissatisfaction with your body and your diet, addition with other psychological issues like guilt, shame, and depression. In addition, the perception of being very overweight or having obesity is associated a lower desire to lose weight compared to the perception of being slightly overweight
- Explore their beliefs about diet, physical activity and weight gain that can be barriers to weight loss
- To be aware that people from certain ethnicities or certain socio-professional categories have higher risks of obesity and have different beliefs about what a balanced diet is and a different attitude towards management of overweight
- Identify what the patient has already tried to control their weight, the result and what they actually learned from this experience
- To define if he is ready to make changes in his lifestyle
- From defining your self-confidence to making changes
Therapeutic advice in the management of a weight loss process:
Therapeutic goals of weight loss:
The concept of the management of obesity does not only mean that it is necessary to take care of patients with obesity but that it is also necessary to consider the development of overweight in people of normal weight, the progression of overweight to weight loss. obesity in overweight people and weight gain in people who have been overweight or have had obesity in the past and have lost weight on purpose.
The management of obesity involves the following four main strategies:
- Prevent weight gain. Prevention is probably the most effective approach to manage weight problems.
- Maintain the weight. Long-term weight maintenance not only applies to those who have recently lost weight, but is also an important part of
all weight management programs - Treat comorbidities. Managing the morbidity associated with obesity can improve health in particular, whether or not significant weight loss has been achieved
- Promote weight loss. Pharmaceuticals specializing in slimming and their patients must admit that a moderate but lasting weight loss, of the order of 5% to 15% of the initial weight, is of great medical benefit if it is maintained over the long term
In the case of weight loss, there are two different therapeutic phases:
- A phase of weight reduction: weight loss is obtained when the energy balance is negative for a sufficient period of time, which implies a reduction in energy intake and / or an increase in expenditure
- A phase of weight stabilization: whatever the strategy chosen, the weight curve ends up describing a plateau. The energy balance is balanced (inputs = outputs). The
subject consumes as many calories as they can expend based on lean mass and physical activity
Follow-up and prevention of relapses:
In all cases, follow-up is essential. The objectives and advice will therefore be adjusted according to the results and the difficulties. Setting achievable goals, encouraging a variety of activities, highlighting the pleasure, dating and well-being aspects are all elements that are likely to keep patients motivated. A relapse is not the end of this or that activity, but the return to a sedentary lifestyle.
Long-term follow-up:
Continuous monitoring is particularly necessary to prevent weight gain and / or to monitor the consequences of excess weight and treat comorbidities.
Advice on diet or physical activity also requires long-term monitoring and support. The follow-up must be individualized. Regular and prolonged follow-up during the first months helps prevent relapse.
For more information about a dietetic consultation in our Pharmacy, you can reach us at 04.68.54.74.88
