Medical Weight Loss
Overview
Many things contribute to weight gain. Despite what some say, it's not as easy as decreasing the caloric consumption. The body has a tight regulation on its energy storage, so decreasing calories can sometimes slow your metabolism and sabotage the weight loss process. We offer a customized weight loss plan specific to your needs. As an integrative health clinic, we think it’s important to incorporate all aspects of your health; mind, body, and spirit. Weight loss is a lifestyle change, it’s undoing a lifetime of bad habits to help you gain sustained weight loss.
As a society, we consume too many simple carbohydrates and sugars. Carbohydrates increase blood glucose levels, which increases insulin making it more difficult to lose weight. Insulin is a hormone that promotes the uptake of sugar (glucose) by your body’s cells. Insulin can also block fat burning and increase fat storage, so overeating a diet high in sugar or carbohydrates can increase insulin and promote more fat storage.
Exercise is also important and we must change our views on what's considered good exercise. Many think step counting or walking is sufficient, this is not the case. If cardio is the exercise you prefer, you must increase the duration and intensity of your workouts. For cardio to be effective you must elevate your heart rate to 80% of maximum for 45-50 minutes. Most people can’t devote that much time to working out. A better way is weight training, increasing the muscle mass will increase your metabolic rate, burning more calories at rest. We will come up with a plan for you that will optimize your weight loss potential.
We must also consider other possibilities for weight gain. Hormonal abnormalities is something that warrants consideration in any weight loss program. Sex hormones can be great for keeping a youthful appearance, but too much of some and not enough of others can increase fat production or make it difficult to lose weight. Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone must be balanced. Other hormones involved with weight gain, such as thyroid, growth hormone, Insulin, leptin, ghrelin, and cortisol should all be considered as well.
Medications are often needed for weight loss, but we must also account for any medication you're currently taking. Medications you take for other issues can also affect your ability to lose weight. We will look at your current medications to assess their potential to cause weight gain. We will also try and determine the best medication or combination of medication to help you get to your goals.
Mabry Medical is a comprehensive weight loss program. We'll customize a plan to meet your needs and as you progress through the program, we can make changes as needed to optimize your weight loss potential.
Parts to our program
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Medication- Several medications can be used. We usually start with Phentermine if there's no contraindications, but there are others we can add to help based on your unique needs.
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Diet- We need to stabilize your blood sugar, we can do this by decreasing your carbohydrates and increasing your protein intake.
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Exercise- We like to lift weights and not as much cardio. Most people that use cardio, fail to workout with the intensity and for the length of time it takes to burn fat as a fuel source. With resistance training you can get a good workout in 30 min.
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Other- Some people have other issues that cause them to gain weight such as, thyroid issues, menopause or perimenopausal states, and stress related issues just to name a few. We can address these issues if needed.
What makes us different
What makes us different from other medical weight loss programs? It’s first important to understand that weight loss is a very complicated specialty. Weight loss is far more complicated than the cookie cutter approach most programs offer. The weight loss industry is worth 71 billion dollars annually. This industry is full of promises of quick easy fixes, everything from supplements, to meal replacements, to weight loss appliances that guarantee some form of weight loss miracle. The truth is there’s not an easy quick fix. To lose weight takes hard work and dedication, It also takes someone that is well versed in the body's regulation of energy storage. We’ve been providing custom weight loss programs in Northwest Arkansas for 8 years. We will determine the right combination of medication, diet, and exercise to help you accomplish your goals.
We Measure Body Composition
Body composition is used by health professionals to evaluate a person’s weight by breaking it down into its core components: fat, protein, minerals, and body water.
It describes your healthy weight more accurately and provides a better glimpse into your overall health than traditional methods like BMI & weight.
Body composition analysis can accurately show changes in fat mass, lean muscle mass, and body fat percentage.
You may not have heard of body composition before, but you’re probably familiar with BMI. What’s the difference? Body Mass Index (BMI) is a popular method used to assess the health of an individual by comparing the amount of weight they carry to their height: BMI – kg/m2
Despite the widespread use of Body Mass Index in clinical practice, BMI has many limitations and is a poor tracking tool for weight change because there’s no way to identify if changes in your weight are in fat or muscle. Predicting health or mortality using a single number such as BMI oversimplifies health and ignores important factors that contribute to optimal health.
When you set out to get healthier, you likely focus on losing fat and gaining muscle. The weight scale and BMI cannot tell you how much of your weight loss is fat, muscle, or body water, but body composition can.
Bio-impedance Analysis
BIA is much more sophisticated than your bathroom scale, but just as painless-and almost as quick. BIA is a simple procedure performed in our clinic in a matter of minutes with the help of a sophisticated computerized analysis.
Measurements are taken with the bio-impedance analyzer, which uses electrodes similar to EKG electrodes. The analyzer calculates your tissue and fluid compartments using an imperceptible electrical current passed through electrodes your holding and standing on.
Lean tissue, which is over 70% water, is a good conductor of electrical current. Fatty tissue, which is low in water, is not. Thus, the resistance to the flow of electrical current measured by the analyzer can be used to calculate the body composition. Optimal body fat ranges from 15% to 25% for women and 10% to 20% for men.
Semaglutide
This is a once weekly injectable medication that's been a game changer for weight loss; however it’s been out of reach for most because of cost, until now!
Semaglutide is now available through compounding pharmacies at a fraction of the cost.
This is not the same semaglutide formulation you will find in Ozempic or Wegovy, and it is not FDA approved.