The first thing that comes to mind for many people in the West is 'how can acupuncture have anything to do with losing weight?' or something along these lines. The real fact of the matter is that if we are being totally honest we would have to come to trust more of the ancient practices like acupuncture which is over 2,000 years old versus our more current (roughly 200 year old) health care system.

Acupuncture for weight loss is just another way to assist your body in dropping excess weight and other 'stuff' that you don't need to hold on to anymore. How this type of therapy works is by stimulating certain points in your body. Let's take a step back for a moment. You can learn all about acupuncture by clicking the text at left.

Acupuncture is practiced with the understanding that there is a life force that runs through our bodies. This life force goes by many names in various traditions, let's use chi as the one to refer to them all here. The philosophy is that a blockage in our chi or life force will cause us to be out of balance. When we are out of balance, our bodies do not function at their peak or optimum. Using acupuncture to help someone lose weight is a more modern take on an ancient discipline and we will discuss the ideas behind it here.

Since this is a somewhat medically-related article, we should get the whole talk with your doctor disclaimer out of the way first. As you probably would guess, this brief one page article and site is for your helpful information and education only. It should not be used as a substitute for a medical evaluation or consultation with your primary care physician. Okay, that’s that.

Similarly, I think it would be a bit naïve to think that you will be able to eat whatever you want, not exercise and have toxic thoughts, relationships or work and think that your weight will come off because you get acupuncture treatments. That would be like trying to detox your body and lose weight with an herbal detox when you are still eating two hamburgers and fries a day for lunch and dinner. Just isn’t going to happen.

What will work is eating a very sensible diet and sticking to your exercise program. If you don’t have one, start by walking. You can start walking just one mile each day. If you want to learn how to lose weight fast, you'll need to read some other literature as this is not the site for you. How acupuncture as a weight loss treatment fits in is part of this overall process. The acupuncture assessment itself, usually consists of the practitioner checking your pulse and looking at your tongue. These two parameters give the experienced acupuncturist the needed information on where to put the needles.

The acupuncture needles are placed in points along your meridians that are found to be the best places to unlock that chi or life force we spoke of. The notion is that the blocked chi is also relating to a blockage of your internal energy system. Your metabolism can be affected. And, as we know, a slow metabolism will cause you to put on weight. Or, at the very least, it will cause your body to slowly build up fat over time eating a diet that is calorically-speaking, actually right for you.

Another aspect to how acupuncture can help you lose weight is by way of how it affects your sense of satiation and cravings. When the right meridians are open and your chi is flowing properly, cravings for sugar and other high fatty or sweet foods will be abated. So, in this regard, the acupuncture works on the cravings for the bad things and also the speed at which your body metabolizes those bad things. We know that we shouldn’t eat things that are ‘empty calories’ or have little nutritional value, but those darn things just taste so good. With the acupuncture treatments, many people find their cravings disappear.

Let’s face it, we all have stress in our lives in one form or another. Sometimes it feels like it is all that is holding us together. When it comes to weight gain, stress is a big player. Stress causes our bodies to go into a fight or flight, sympathetically driven, cortisol-spiking phase. What all this means is that when we are living with stress, our body is acting like it is preparing for survival mode. In this state, any excess calories we ingest will be stored as fat, the body’s best warehouse for storing energy. This is a great strategy. The only problem is that being late for appointments or getting a bad review at work or having trouble in a relationship are not life-threatening issues that your body needs to respond with in this way. The acupuncture treatments for this aspect of the problem is to address the anxiety and stress-related issues. This means that acupuncture needles will often be place in areas on the head, face, ears and legs and feet to alleviate the blockage and flow of ease through your body. Combined, you can see how this ancient practice of acupuncture for weight loss is really more of a way to address the various areas or issues of blocked energy flow through your body that may be contributing to your weight gain.

Many people have various anxieties regarding both weight loss and acupuncture.  There are a variety of reasons for both.  The main issue with acupuncture, at least in our Western culture, is likely the fear of needles.  This roughly 6 minute video, helps to explain how acupuncture can be used to help with weight loss.