Weighing Your Options – Understanding Your Weight Loss Journey

Weight loss is a tumultuous journey for anyone who chooses to take it. With all the new methods, cosmetic treatments, diet and exercise plans out there, it can be difficult to understand which route to take. Feeling comfortable in your body shouldn’t have to be so complicated, so read on for a breakdown of the three most effective options that will give you long-lasting results when you feel you’ve hit a roadblock.

Get the fat removed: liposuction and fat transfer

It is difficult not to get incredibly frustrated when it feels like you’re doing everything right, but there are certain areas where the fat just won’t budge with diet and exercise. Liposuction is made specifically for these areas, commonly around the upper and lower abdomen, breasts, flanks, calves, arms, upper and lower back, and buttocks.

The procedure removes stubborn fat deposits from targeted areas by inserting a suction cannula into the targeted area via incision and then breaking down and extracting the fat. As liposuction only requires small incisions, it means significant scarring is minimal and results look increasingly natural.  

Another popular method of body contouring is fat transfer. This method allows you to repurpose the extracted fat from liposuction and inject it into another area. This is a great method in cases where you have stubborn fat in one area that you would prefer somewhere else; for example, you have resistant fat around your abdomen that you want gone, but you also want a rounder and more peachy butt. In most cases, exercise and dieting result in a loss of fat around the whole body, and it is difficult to target specific areas quickly. Fat transfer allows you to sculpt and contour certain areas of your body while removing fat from undesired areas: the perfect package.

Fat transfer starts with liposuction. After the excess deposits are extracted, the fat is purified and then injected into the desired areas. One of the most attractive benefits of this surgery is that you can augment multiple areas of the body simultaneously, depending on how much fat is extracted. 

This is a great method of body contouring that can be seen as organic, as it does not require implants or fillers and simply uses fat that already exists in your body.

Breakdown your diet: dietary weight loss

When losing weight, most people know that they have to be in a calorie deficit, meaning you burn more calories than you consume. This seems simple enough, but you could easily be making up for calories with foods that aren’t actually that nutritious for you. 

A simple answer for this is to use what are called ‘macronutrients.’ Macronutrients are the nutrients in foods that will provide you with the greatest deal of energy and vary depending on each main food group. 

To create the most personalized diet for you and your goals, try using a macronutrient calculator, in which you input your fitness levels, age, weight, height, eating habits, and more. This, paired up with your fitness goals, will give you a breakdown of how many carbs, proteins, and fats you should aim to consume. This is a great strategy as it allows you to create a much more personalized dietary plan compared to fad diets and trends you might see and hear about online. 

Pair this with exercise

Effective weight loss with exercise is only attainable when you have the diet to match. So, when that is figured out, you are more likely to see results at the gym. Cardiovascular workouts are most effective for weight loss, as you burn fat quickly. However, weight training has become a popular route too, since you can both raise your heart rate and build muscle. For weight loss, compound exercises are great as they target multiple muscle groups at once instead of a single one. 

Regular exercise alongside a managed, balanced diet will help you lose weight naturally, safely, and steadily. Additionally, if you choose to contour your body with the help of fat transfer surgery, you will still need to establish a healthy exercise and diet regimen to avoid gaining weight and distorting the results of your surgery. 

We hope this three-step breakdown has helped you weigh up your options and realize that there are more options for weight loss than you may believe, which are sustainable, safe, and confidence-boosting.

Jenn Walker

About the Author

Jenn Walker is a freelance writer, blogger, dog-enthusiast, and avid beachgoer operating out of Southern New Jersey.

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Dr. Vanessa Rodriguez is a board-certified general practitioner with more than 15 years of patient care experience. She takes an integrative approach to patient care that considers the whole person – mind, body, and spirit – and is deeply committed to assisting her patients in achieving and sustaining optimal health. Dr. Vanessa is also a skilled writer and medical reviewer, specializing in preventive care and health promotion. Her articles are written in an approachable manner that is simple to comprehend and implement in one’s own life. Dr. Vanessa’s mission is to equip her patients and readers with the knowledge and resources necessary to live their greatest lives.

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