Not only can losing weight help you reach your body goals aesthetically, but it can also help boost your energy levels, improve your sleep and enhance your mood. Weight loss can also help prevent serious health complications like stroke and heart disease. It is for this reason that it is important for those with underlying health conditions to understand their weight loss options and know that there are safe, healthy ways to boost their weight loss journey.

There are a number of health conditions, often underlying, that can stall your weight loss progress. Diabetes, underactive thyroid, polycystic ovary syndrome and stress and anxiety are just  a few of the medical reasons that can cause weight loss difficulties. 

Diabetes

Losing weight can be extremely beneficial for diabetes sufferers. Shifting the excess fat around the waist can enhance the way your body processes insulin, causing it to work more effectively. Those with Type 2 diabetes could be motivated to lose weight as it could lead to requiring fewer diabetes medications or even total remission. 

However if you are taking insulin to manage diabetes and control blood sugar, it can be easy to revert to snacking to prevent hypoglycemia. Regular snacking can easily lead to weight gain and unhealthy food routines, something that can be tackled by structuring a healthy meal plan. It is important for those with diabetes to regularly eat healthily and exercise (regardless of trying to lose weight), however weight loss medication can sometimes help to support this.

Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome

Although incurable, the symptoms and complication risk of polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS) can be reduced greatly through losing weight. It is important for those with PCOS to monitor their weight gain as they are at higher risk for obesity. In many cases PCOS causes women to over-produce insulin– leading to similar weight gain issues as seen in diabetes sufferers.

PCOS can be controlled somewhat through eating healthily, not smoking, exercising regularly and taking the correct hormone medications. The risk of obesity can also be managed through a healthy, safe prescription weight loss programme.

Underactive Thyroid

Hypothyroidism, or underactive thyroid, is caused by thyroid glands failing to produce enough of the thyroid hormone. This causes the metabolism to slow down which, in turn, can lead to weight gain. A slow metabolism means that the body burns fewer calories and struggles to convert food to energy. This can then cause tiredness– one of the main reasons that people reach for sugar, carb-heavy or ‘cheap and easy’ foods.

Without treatment, or sometimes even with treatment, hypothyroidism can make weight loss almost impossible. Along with the right treatment and a healthy diet, weight loss tablets can assist with making losing weight possible despite dealing with underactive thyroid.

Stress and Anxiety

While in many cases stress and anxiety can cause rapid weight loss and lack of appetite, it is possible for low mood, depression and other mental health issues to cause the opposite. When struggling mentally many people revert to ‘comfort food’ often consisting of sugar, carbs and ready-to-eat processed meals. Finding the motivation to exercise and prepare healthy meals from scratch can be difficult, and ‘easy’ food (or the brief high from a sugar rush) becomes a coping mechanism. This can lead to weight gain and lack of energy– a vicious circle that can increase the symptoms of depression.

Mental health is something that is very important to consider regarding weight loss. Prescription weight loss tablets should only be used in conjunction with a healthy diet and exercise.

Services and Elegant Slim

Here at Elegant Beauty Clinic we provide a bespoke weight loss management service, designed to help boost your weight loss when teamed with exercise and healthy eating. As a qualified medical professional and pharmacist, Shikha is equipped to consult, diagnose and prescribe medication suited to your underlying health condition. Our aim is to use clinical assessment to understand, and help you understand, your body and the reasons why you may be struggling to lose weight. Our special venous blood test allows us to accurately assess whether your weight loss is being stunted by a health condition. If appropriate, we will prescribe one of the Elegant Slim weight loss programmes.

We offer a range of prescription strength weight loss programmes here at our clinic that can be tailored to suit your needs; Elegant Slim Pen – (Saxenda), Elegant Slim Tablets (Mysimba) and Elegant Slim Capsules (Xenical). If required or requested we can also design a bespoke diet and nutrition plan. We also offer a range of holistic care to support healthy weight loss, including IV drips and boosters.

For more information on these additional treatments plus details on Elegant Slim visit elegantclinic.co.uk/slim.