BODY SIGNAL ALERT WEIGHT LOSS: TREATMENT
If your doctor determines that the loss of a few pounds is due to the aging process, he will probably recommend that you do nothing. Of course, many people who have struggled with their weight their entire lives will be thrilled at the fact that the pounds have seemingly come off effortlessly. If this continues, however, and is accompanied by weakness and malaise, your doctor may recommend that you increase your caloric intake with nutritious foods—not high-fat, high-calorie junk foods—and that you also step up your exercise program. The reason? Muscle weighs more than fat, and exercise serves the dual purpose of reducing fat stores and building up lean muscle mass, which will ultimately increase your strength.
If the aging process is not the culprit, your doctor will tailor your treatment to whatever underlying medical problem is responsible. Again, as with malaise, it’s important for you to be as specific as you can when you describe your symptoms to your physician, since this is what will ultimately help him to determine your treatment.
I want to tell you a story about a patient I once had who was about 60 years old and who had spent her entire life fighting and losing her battle with chronic obesity. She had been on numerous diets without success. Unfortunately, she ended up developing breast cancer—which can be more common in women who are overweight—and she subsequently underwent radiation and chemotherapy. In the process, she lost 50 pounds. At the end of her treatment, she was heartened to find that her cancer had been totally eradicated. She was healthy and doing quite well, so after her treatment stopped, she decided to continue to lose weight until she had lost a total of 60 pounds. To lose the extra weight, she followed the advice of her oncologist, who had recommended a low-fat, low-calorie diet to prevent a recurrence of her cancer.
All was well until she suddenly became concerned that the real reason why she was losing weight was that her cancer had returned. She became scared and returned to her old eating habits; she promptly gained back 30 pounds. She told me she was afraid to lose any more weight because everyone thought her weight loss was due to her cancer; therefore, she felt that as long as she gained weight, she was cancer free. She did remain cancer free, but her weight went up and down for many years. The moral of this story is: Despite past health conditions, if you lose weight and feel healthy, listen to your body. It’s telling you everything is working as it should.
*573\167\8*
Leave a comment
You need to log in to comment.