How effective are drugs in weight loss strategies?

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I strongly recommend not taking any of these weight loss drugs by yourself without consulting your physician or endocrinologist. You need to use such prescription weight-loss drugs in addition to, not instead of, a healthy diet and exercise.

Your healthcare provider may suggest a weight-loss drug for you in some cases. These include if you have not been able to lose weight through diet and exercise and your Body mass index (BMI) is greater than 30. This means you are living with a condition that involves having too much body fat, called obesity. When your BMI is greater than 27 and also have a serious medical problem linked to obesity, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, your doctor might advise weight loss medication.

Before choosing a medicine for you, your healthcare provider considers your history and health challenges. Then your provider talks with you about the pros and cons of prescription weight-loss drugs. These drugs are not for everyone. For example, you should not take prescription weight-loss drugs if you are trying to get pregnant, are pregnant or are breastfeeding.

How well do weight-loss drugs work?

Prescription weight-loss drugs that you can use for more than 12 weeks, called long-term use, lead to major weight loss compared with an inactive treatment that does not use medicine, called a placebo. The combination of weight-loss medicine and lifestyle changes leads to greater weight loss than lifestyle changes alone. Taking these drugs for a year can mean a loss of total body weight of three percent to 12% more than that lost with lifestyle changes alone. That may not seem like a lot. But losing five to ten percent of your total weight and keeping it off can have important health benefits. For example, it can lower blood pressure, blood sugar levels, and levels of fats in the blood called triglycerides.

What you should know about weight-loss drugs

Mild side effects, such as nausea, constipation, and diarrhea, are common. They may lessen over time. Rarely, serious side effects can happen. That is why it is important to ask your healthcare provider about all treatment choices. And ask about the possible benefits and risks of each drug. Weight-loss drugs can be expensive and are not always paid for by insurance. Ask your insurance company about your coverage. Many people gain back some of the weight they lose when they stop taking weight-loss drugs. But practicing healthy lifestyle habits may help limit weight gain.

How long do I take a weight-loss drug?

How long you take a weight-loss drug depends on whether the drug helps you lose weight. If you have lost enough weight to improve your health and you have not had any serious side effects, your healthcare provider may suggest that you take the drug long-term. If you have not lost at least five percent of your body weight after taking the full dose of a drug for three to six months, your healthcare provider will probably change your treatment. They may switch you to a different weight-loss drug.

What drugs are approved for weight loss?

Six weight-loss drugs have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for long-term use:

1. GLP1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists) medication.

2. Bupropion-naltrexone (Contrave)

3. Liraglutide (Saxenda)

4. Orlistat (Xenical, Alli)

5. Phentermine-topiramate (Qsymia)

6. Semaglutide (Wegovy)

7. Setmelanotide (Imcivree)

Most prescription weight-loss drugs work by making you feel less hungry or fuller. Some do both. The exception is Orlistat, which affects the way your body absorbs fat. It can cause side effects such as nausea and vomiting, diarrhea, belly pain, headache, tiredness

The FDA has approved Setmelanotide only for people age 6 and older who have obesity due to one of these.

Weight-loss drugs are not an easy answer to weight loss. But they may help you make the lifestyle changes that you need to practice to lose weight and improve your health. I can help you to customize your lifestyle changes along with dietary changes.

I hope this information will help you. Please revert in case of more queries.

Thank you.