WEIGHT LOSS

I’m a GP – here are the 6 ways to really lose weight fast and why exercise won’t work

Losing weight can be hard work.

Most of the time, we attempt weight loss and diets to feel better about ourselves, but can fail due to our approach.

If you're trying to lose weight, it's not always an easy ride, with many differing factors getting in the wayCredit: Getty2

Dr Clare Bailey revealed her six weight loss tips - and why exercise might not be as helpful as you thinkCredit: The Sun

Now one GP has revealed the six ways you can really lose weight and why it won't help if you go to the gym.

Speaking to The Sun, registered GP Dr Clare Bailey said losing weight is a challenging thing to do, but added that those who need to do it should focus on how it will benefit their health.

She told Sun health: "When you look at it in that context it makes it much easier to focus on what you’re trying to do.

"If you have a plan, you're much more likely to reach your weight loss goals."

Dr Clare said it's also key to ask yourself what a difference weight loss will make to your life if you're overweight or obese.

The main risks of carrying too much weight, she said, include diabetes, chronic diseases that can affect your liver or even arthritis.

Here's Dr Clare's top six tips.

1. Cut down on sweets

Dr Clare said when it comes to sweet treats, it's not about never having them.

Most read in Diet & Fitness

She explained that if you have a sweet treat you really want, then you should have it after a meal in order to avoid a sugar spike.

"Choose chocolate if you can, but opt for the sort that is 70 per cent cocoa as this has the most health benefits," she said.

When it comes to cakes and pastries though, Dr Clare said you can swap out ingredients like flour for ground almonds instead if you're making them yourself at home.

Dr Clare, who works on the Fast800 programme added that these won't spike your sugar levels and said that another natural sweetener, is to use fruit to get your fix.

"Your sweet tooth will get less and less and you'll start to taste the sugar in things even more - even when there's less sugar in it.

"It's not good for you to have a lot of sweetners either, so try and remember that when it comes to drinks too.

"Stick to water, milk or herbal tea if you can."

She added that what you drink on a diet is also really important.

"People on diets often feel tired and it's usually because they are dehydrated.

"When you cut back on your calories I always advise people to add a litre more beyond what they would usually drink," she said.

2. Focus on timing

When it comes to when to eat, Dr Clare said there are tricks that can help people lose weight.

She explained that people who use intermittent fasting often have success. This usually refers to a 10-14 hour window without food.

"If you can reduce the window within which you eat then that helps reduce how much you are eating and gives the body a chance to go into ketosis.

"That’s when you’re fat burning and a lot of people find it helps having those rules in place."

The weight loss guru said that you should also try and avoid eating your main meal within three hours of going to bed as if you eat closer to bed time, it's more likely to be a bigger meal.

"You have to look at what you have earlier in the day, have a bigger breakfast, a good lunch and make your evening meal a lighter meal," she added.

Why exercise alone won't work

Exercise is key when it comes to a healthy and balanced diet, but Dr Clare said that it won't actually work if you want to lose weight.

She said that while it has huge benefits in terms of heart health and general wellbeing - it's not actually a good way to lose weight.

"It's great to get more active and to move more and it's great to do it with a diet programme.

"Exercise is a really tough way to lose weight and really what you're eating and how you're eating is key."

She added that people are usually surprised when she tells them that exercise isn't actually that helpful.

"We are constantly told to get on our bikes and do more exercise, but it's just a huge distraction.

"80 percent of losing weight is your diet and people need to know that," she added.

3. Add protein

Dr Clare said that if you're trying to lose weight, then adding protein is key.

This can be found in meat as well as tofu and eggs.

"When you cut down you need to be sure you're getting enough protein for your body.

"Eating more of it can help you to feel full and will help with cravings," she added.

4. Add fibre

Another important tip is to add fibre to your diet, Dr Clare added.

This can include small changes such as swapping out white rices and breads for wholemeal or brown options.

"This won't add calories but it's important for weight loss.

"Many people often forget about fibre as a food group and most of us don't eat enough," she added.

5. Go Mediterranean

This style of diet is something everyone should be prioritising, Dr Clare told Sun Health.

She explained that it's known as the healthiest diet in the world and includes wholefoods, plenty of vegetables and some fruits.

"It's all about knowing how to be healthy. Using slow burning fuels which don't lead to weight gain such as nuts, seeds and plenty of beans and pulses.

"All of these things contribute to the Mediterranean diet, including fish, oily fish, a little bit of dairy and a little bit of meat.

"The main point is that it's all foods that are not processed."

She added that you should avoid foods that are highly processed and this would include things such as packaged sandwiches, pizzas and fast food.

6. Tell a friend

Often, people try and lose weight on their own, but Dr Clare said that telling people could help with your sucess.

She said that asking others for help is key.

"Find buddies and tell people you're doing it," she said.

"Encourage them to not push cakes and biscuits on you as it's just not kind," she added.

02

Weight loss treatments are not a permanent fix – that doesn’t mean they ‘don’t work’

It is often said that 95% of weight-loss measures don’t work. Only, it’s not true. Advances in behavioural treatments (such as cognitive behavioural therapy) for obesity and weight-loss drugs mean there are lots of approaches that help people lose weight.

In fact, weight loss is the easy part (relatively speaking). The problem is that when you come off a diet or stop taking a weight-loss drug, the weight will invariably creep back up.

To be clear, this does not mean that diets and other obesity treatments are useless. Far from it. In a recent study, published in Lancet Public Health, researchers checked in on participants five years after they took part in a 12- or 52-week WW programme (formerly called Weight Watchers). Although, on average, people’s weight had crept back up, some weight loss – about 2kg, on average – was sustained for up to five years.

Even this short time at a lower weight can substantially reduce a person’s lifetime risk of developing diabetes, heart disease and other weight-related diseases. But for people with obesity, and their healthcare providers, weight regain can be demoralising.

The stigma surrounding obesity, which views a person’s weight as their responsibility, means that this “failure” of treatment is often felt as a personal failing. This is not true. So why does the weight come back on?

Your brain doesn’t want you to lose weight

There are a few reasons why the weight creeps back on. First, our brain hates it when we lose weight. It considers this a reduction in our chances of survival, so it does everything in its power to drag your weight back up.

As you lose weight, your brain reduces your metabolic rate (the rate at which your body burns calories), making you subtly more efficient. The reality is, if there are two people of identical weight, one weight stable and the other having just lost weight, the latter will have to eat less food to remain the same weight.

It turns out that a hormone secreted from fat called leptin is largely responsible for this. One of leptin’s key roles is to let the brain know how much fat you are carrying. The more fat you have, the more leptin is produced. So when you lose weight, your brain senses the corresponding drop in leptin.

What is exciting is that scientists have shown that if you administer just enough leptin to fool your brain into thinking you haven’t lost any weight, then many of these weight-loss-related changes are mitigated. There is no treatment based on these findings yet –– but watch this space.

As well as these biological causes, each person with obesity has their own combination of psychological, social, environmental and economic factors that have contributed to them gaining weight. Most of these will not resolve during a weight-loss treatment.

People with obesity who have lost weight still live in an environment where energy-dense, nutritionally poor food is widely available, heavily promoted, cheaper and more convenient. Social activities often centre around food. We celebrate with food, commiserate with food, and use food as both comfort and reward. Eating less requires continuous thought and considerable effort.

Behavioural treatments for obesity, such as commercial group programmes or cognitive behavioural therapy, teach us strategies that can help us to manage this, but they don’t stop it from being difficult. They also can’t make our lives easier.

Daily stressors and life events can disrupt the healthy habits and routines that people establish when trying to lose weight, while drugs that work to target biological drivers only work while they are being taken. Surgery also works to address biological drivers, but biology fights back.

The environment is one of many factors that influence weight gain. simon evans / Alamy Stock Photo Chronic treatments

It is unrealistic to expect that a one-off intervention will lead to permanent weight loss. If we take the example of high blood pressure medication, which is very effective, no one is countenancing stopping the treatment once your blood pressure has normalised. It would simply come back up again. The same is true for weight-loss treatment.

Obesity is perhaps best thought of as a chronic relapsing condition. People with obesity need lifelong access to treatment and support. Rather than dismissing effective treatment options because of weight regain, we should be honest with people about what treatments can achieve and the likelihood of needing ongoing support. After all, chronic conditions require chronic treatments.

The prevailing view of society is that obesity is a simple problem: simply eat less and move more. Thus, people with obesity just need to be “fat shamed” into becoming thin. However, people with obesity are not bad, lazy or morally bereft; they are fighting both their biology and their environment. Obesity is not a choice.

03

What my weight loss journey taught me about how healthcare works

I'm a former fat person. Uncomfortable to read, even harder to write, but nonetheless true. Now, for the record, I don't believe that being fat is inherently bad. It is just an adjective — the same as slim, blonde, short, etc. Yet somehow, it carries a different kind of weight (no pun intended) when we talk about it. At least that's how I felt as a 300 pound woman, especially in sales.

This journey (or escape) from morbid obesity — and a host of health problems — pried open my eyes in a major way that shaped and informed my approach to employee benefits advising. But more on that later.

While being fat wasn't automatically a negative thing, it had accelerating health consequences. By the time I was in my mid-twenties I had severe obstructive sleep apnea, high cholesterol, pre-diabetes, inexplicable body acne, daily heart palpitations, and I was huffing and puffing my way through life looking for a medical solution to a lifestyle problem. By the time I was 28, my doctor wanted to put me on a life-long maintenance medication regimen just to get my symptoms under control. But the truth is, I really needed to lose weight.

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I had many outskirt conversations with a variety of doctors who tried medical intervention instead of tough love. I had a heart rate monitor strapped to me for several days in a row, had labs drawn incessantly and even did some stress tests to get to the root of this mysterious set of symptoms that were due, at least in part, to obesity.

In my heart of hearts, I knew that if I could just figure out how to lose weight, I could cure myself of much of this and replace the bills to hospitals and physicians with an increase in my grocery budget for fresh food or spend a little of my deductible money on a gym membership instead. I would certainly be better off financially even if I didn't lose a pound.

Finally, in 2015, I met another doctor whose bedside manner left much to be desired. I remember leaving his office in tears as I told him my diatribe of attempts through the system to figure out why I was so unhealthy. He looked me square in the eyes and told me I was morbidly obese and needed to lose weight. There was nothing else to be done unless I wanted to continue down this rabbit hole of doctors and prescriptions. I thought he was a total jerk. But some jerks are right, and this one certainly was.

Fast forward just a couple of weeks and my employer had posted a new "wellness" challenge for the entire company, intended to crown a winner for the most weight loss in a month. Given my competitive nature, I wasn't going to finish without ranking in the top three — but I clearly had no idea how to actually lose weight, so I went looking for information.

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Time and time again I came back to the same answer — it's a mathematical equation: energy in, energy out. Exert out more than you put in and, voila, weight loss! I used online calculators to figure out what a calorie deficit looked like for me and with the contest looming, adjusted my meals and cooking style to make sure I could get enough food from the number of calories I had given myself.

After losing 15 pounds and coming in second in the contest, I found more information online and joined fitness communities on social media platforms that taught me how to maximize my food intake and incorporate exercise. It took me 18 months to lose 150 pounds and become a competitive bodybuilder. (Yes, you read that right.) The only part of the healthcare system that helped me was the real-life version of TV's Dr. House who told me I was simply too fat. Every other healthcare professional I encountered offered me tests, prescriptions and blood work. but none of them offered a nutritionist, trainer, or lifestyle changes.

The reason I'm sharing all this highly personal information? As someone who runs a health insurance consulting business, I've seen how patients who even attempt to look to the healthcare system for good health are likely not getting nearly as much attention and resources as they actually need to be well. The system is not designed to keep people well; it is designed to keep people in the system. My deductible, coinsurance, and payer's contribution behind the scenes fund a system that remains profitable when we remain sick. And, in our line of work, I like to believe that I have cracked the code on how to get the best from the healthcare system without going bankrupt. (I did that, too, by the way, but that's another story.)

Read more: 3 ways to improve the healthcare experience

Before I owned my own company and worked as an insurance carrier rep, I believed I could influence change from the inside, and I know now that change can only happen outside of the entities that systemically work to keep people behind the doors and claims dollars flowing in.

It's not just about the strategies I've executed over the years as an adviser, although they have been incredibly effective and fortuitous for our clients. It's about my approach to the healthcare system and the way I consult with others on it. Frankly, the health plan benefits of the average, midsize employer are financially hurting the patients and employers that are paying the premiums, and while a wellness program may prompt a lightbulb for someone like me who is in it for the glory of the win, it isn't going to affect much change if your client's wellness plan or your health plan doesn't provide the education, tools and guidance to take the next steps into really improving a person's wellbeing. That's why nowadays I talk to clients about how to make their health benefits more accessible, more affordable and as distanced from traditional health insurers as possible.

Take reference-based pricing, which is going to save money on medical claims for a self-funded employer no matter what, because it means we pay less for healthcare. And as for the Direct Primary Care model that sits outside of the big insurance buildings, we've been witnessing talented and mission-driven physicians break out of the hospital systems and revert to simply delivering care to patients as it was always intended to be, and yes, this also saves money.

My experience allowed me to see how the system was keeping me unwell and so, I had to go it alone, but gratefully, I can now call myself an ally to those who are where I once was — and I know where to look for the solutions.

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