The InStriv weight loss program distinguishes itself as a no-exercise-required plan, acknowledging that not everyone can engage in physical activity due to various constraints. While the importance of physical activity in a healthy lifestyle is recognized, InStriv focuses on the principle that approximately 90% of weight loss is attributed to dietary choices, with only about 10% resulting from physical activity. Therefore, while exercise is not discouraged, it is not a prerequisite for achieving weight loss with InStriv.
Understanding the Science Behind Weight Loss Medications
Medications for weight loss have been around for decades. Newer medications, known as second-generation medications, are significantly more effective. Patients can achieve a 15% to 25% weight loss with these novel medications, compared to 5% to 10% with first-generation oral medications. These new medications fill a gap that wasn't addressed before 2021. Previously, 5% to 10% weight loss could improve glucose control, blood pressure, fatty liver disease, and cholesterol numbers. However, with 15% to 25% weight loss, some of these conditions can be reversed or put into remission.
The Role of GLP-1 Medications
Many of the newer anti-obesity medications are GLP-1s. These medications are highly effective at decreasing appetite and resetting the patient's set point, the weight a body defends. The body fights for adiposity because it thinks you are starving yourself.
The Complexities of Obesity and the Brain-Gut Connection
Obesity is a complex condition with multiple neuroendocrine pathways in which the gut and brain affect how you eat and store fat. Some doctors may tell patients to eat less or walk more, but that's an old paradigm. It’s not about willpower. We now know about the brain signals our patients are fighting and how biology works against us when we try to lose weight.
How Weight Loss Medications Improve Health Outcomes
The goal is to improve health outcomes, not just lower BMI or the number on the scale. Visceral fat, which overlies the liver, heart, pancreas, and other organs, has been shown to increase inflammation, which can lead to the development of insulin resistance, cardiac disease, and fatty liver disease, among other conditions. These medications are thought to decrease inflammation.
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Addressing Multiple Health Conditions Simultaneously
Patients often have multiple complex conditions happening at once, such as diabetes, hypertension, high blood pressure, and sleep apnea. Treating obesity can cascade down to treat all these other conditions. Research has suggested that these medications may benefit other conditions like depression, Alzheimer's disease, dementia, and Parkinson's disease. However, this research is still in its early stages.
The Impact on the Relationship with Food
Many patients describe intrusive thoughts about food, often called food noise. They are always thinking about when they’re going to have their next meal and what they’re going to eat. The thoughts can become almost anxiety-provoking. But with the new anti-obesity medications, GLP-1s in particular, food noise appears to lessen. Regardless of how much weight they lose on these medications, patients feel more in control of their relationship with food because the brain’s food reward mechanisms quiet down.
A Word from an Expert
Jorge Moreno, MD, specializes in treating obesity and obesity-related conditions. As an assistant professor of medicine (general medicine) at Yale School of Medicine, he is interested in helping prevent chronic disease. Moreno can relate to his patients’ struggles with weight: Having had obesity himself in college, he subsequently lost 50 pounds. “My patients have gone through the world with a lot of stigma, bias, and blame, thinking obesity is their fault,” he says.
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