The intentional weight loss is meant for reduction of total body mass for improving overall fitness and well being, or to look smarter. For an obese individual, weight loss can be attained by attaining negative energy balance, i.e. consuming more energy than gaining from food etc. This kicks off a reverse cycle of using fats and glycogen stored in muscles to recycle back to cells to produce energy.

Weight loss is intended for preventing diseases, improving athletic performance and looking attractive. There are several approaches recommended by different health and nutrition specialist to attain optimum weight loss. We will discuss most common approaches here:

Physical Exercise
Physical exercise, especially aerobic exercise, is a good option for attaining weight loss. However, only exercise won’t help. The purpose is to bring the body into negative energy balance; hence if you start exercising and increase your diet to multiples of your normal diet, you won’t be able to lose weight. The body weight can also be reduced without exercise only by controlling food intake, but an aerobic as well as weight training exercise is necessary to have a healthy and fit body. Exercise along with diet control is an excellent combination for optimum weight loss.

Therapy or Drugs
Drugs and medicines interacting with body’s processes responsible for weight gain are also used for weight loss as advised by a qualified physician. This can be combination of supplements and drugs that reduce appetite, reduce the absorption of fat and reduce body mass. The food supplements used for the purpose are normally fiber-based and contain cellulose that can satisfy appetite but is not absorbed during digestion. Such drugs or supplements are also known as Appetite Suppressants. Bee Pollen is one of the natural appetite suppressants.

Now days, there are many TV commercials and internet advertising promoting several weight loss drugs, but usually these drugs don’t address actual causes of obesity. Instead, they provide temporary solution as they recommend reduction in consumption of carbohydrates and fats. The use of such drugs for indefinite periods without proper guidance of qualified physician may increase the risk of side effects that are normally not covered in advertisements promoting these drugs.

However, this doesn’t mean that all the drugs that claim weight loss are of no use. There are several natural therapies and drugs with demonstrated weight loss effect naturally and used by humans since ages, but it is very difficult to establish the authenticity of claims and find the right drug. Hence, reliance on a qualified physician and adopting other methods of weight loss are recommended.

Surgery
With advent of modern medical sciences and surgical procedures, surgery has also become popular method of weigh loss now days. There are two main types of surgery that are performed for the purpose of weight loss.

Liposuction
In this procedure, the fat is sucked from beneath the skin by using a device inserted in the skin. The nozzle of the device is connected to suction pump. The nozzle is moved under the skin to come into contact with the fat, which is then sucked by suction pump. This process can result in considerable cosmetic problems as it may leave ripples under the skin. The results are also temporary as the actual cause of weight gain is not addressed.

Stomach Stapling
In this procedure, a substantial portion of stomach is removed and remaining portion is stapled resulting in very small stomach. This process is very dramatic and reduces the physical size of the stomach. Thus the recipient of this treatment will be able to eat less after stapling. When the food intake is reduced, the weight loss can be achieved permanently.

Although after effects of this procedure have not been studied in depth, hence nothing can be said about long term health hazards associated with this procedure.

Crash Dieting
Crash Dieting refers to intentional restriction on eating for more than 12 hours except drinking water. The body burns fat stored in the body to get required energy resulting in significant weight loss in short time. The side effect of this technique is that the body tries to preserve stored fat as its defense mechanism and dissolves lean muscle tissue to produce energy. Thus, this technique is not regarded as better option for weight loss.

Consuming Low Fat Diet
There is a misconception that intake of fatty foods do increase weight. No doubt fat has big role in weight gain, but it is not the intake of fat that contributes mainly in weight gain. Hence, the effect of eating so called low fat diet, which is itself quite heavy in fat, does not contribute significantly to weight loss.

Low Carbohydrate Intake
This is a recent technique advocated by Dr Atkin and claimed to be the most effective method to lose weight permanently, safely and without suffering pain of hunger. It is also claimed to be good for general health.

As the name suggest, low carbohydrate intake means restricting the intake of carbohydrate in diet. It does not suggest, in any way, eating high fat diets. Several studies show effectiveness of this method without any considerable side effects. The method suggest phases of restricting carbohydrate intake:

First Phase
The first phase is about converting your body to burn fat in order to get energy instead of burning carbohydrate. To achieve this state, drastic cut in carbohydrate intake is required. This phase lasts for a few weeks to a few months depending upon individual objectives.

Second Phase
If you are a little over weight and just want some weight loss to maintain you figure, you can directly go to this phase bypassing the first phase. There are a few do’s and don’ts of eating. The tips are summarized below:

• Don’t eat processed food, i.e. any food you get in a packet. The processed and preserved foods contain high levels of hydrogenated fats, carbohydrates, and sugar. Hence they are not regarded as healthy foods
• Don’t eat margarine. It contains many chemicals that have unknown effects. Instead, you can eat natural butter, but in limited quantity
• Don’t eat white flour products like breads, muffins, doughnuts, and other bakery items. These foods can activate your fat production mechanism and don’t contain any essential nutrients. Also avoid whole grain foods like rice
• Don’t eat processed meats or farmed salmon. These meats contain high levels of antibiotics and other chemicals that may disturb natural balance of body
• Don’t eat genetically modified foods
• Don’t drink carbonated drinks as they contain harmful chemicals worse than sugar itself
• Drink a plenty of water
• Eat plenty of meat and fish grown in natural environment. The meat of animal nurtured naturally contains less harmful chemicals and pure at most
• Eat a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. Although it is difficult to get natural fresh vegetables and fruits in many parts of world, especially in USA, they can be got with a little effort. At least, you can easily find fruits and vegetables that are certified for being spray-free
• Eat eggs, the pure organic or free range type. Organic or free range eggs are easily available. It is wrong notion that eggs mainly contribute to cholesterol. It is only 20% of total body cholesterol that comes from food intake, the rest is produced by liver