Obesity is not an uncommon situation, and the backbone to obesity management is lifestyle change. Staying active, eating a healthier diet, decreasing caloric intake. Not that easy to do.

Obesity is not an uncommon situation, and the backbone to obesity management is lifestyle change. Staying active, eating a healthier diet, decreasing caloric intake. Not that easy to do. On occasion we use medications to help with that, and there are medications that augment the effect, or make the effect of all the lifestyle changes a little bit better and help you on your weight loss journey. It’s important to note that when you take these medications you take them regularly, and you follow the advice provided by the physician who’s prescribing them.

Some of these drugs have some side effects that generally tend to go away fairly quickly and the side effects are fairly minimal. The important thing to note is that with obesity drugs generally we’re taking them for an intermediate time frame. Several weeks to months, and taking them regularly will very much help you.

Your pharmacist can be a great assist to you in better understanding some of the pharmacologic or drug choices in obesity management, and they can answer any of the questions you might have. Your pharmacist can be a great resource for any questions that you have about obesity or any of the agents that may affect obesity. Often seeing a local family physician or a physiotherapist in conjunction with a registered dietitian and athletic therapist is a great option to take control of this conditionSmart Food Now and exercise is also optimal for overall health.    Presenter: Mr. Bill Semchuk, Pharmacist, Regina, SK

Local Practitioners: Pharmacist

Obesity can be defined medically on the basis of your body mass index. A body mass index over 30 is a medically defined state of obesity. A BMI of 25 to 30 is considered to be overweight. An ideal body mass index is somewhere in the range of 21, 22, that range. It differs a little bit depending on your ethnicity, but as it goes up and it gets into the high 20s and definitely beyond the 30s, it starts to carry with it a lot of medical risks. The medical risks of obesity include an increased risk of vascular disease, heart attack, stroke, peripheral vascular disease, an increased risk of cancer of the reproductive organs and colon cancer, amongst others, an increased risk of mortality directly associated with the degree of obesity.                  

There are also other issues such as effect on reproduction, joint damage, particularly back and lower limb, which correlate with the degree of obesity as well. 
If you have any questions about obesity, the measurement or treatment of it, please do discuss it with your primary care practitioner. Presenter: Dr. Richard Bebb, Endocrinologist, Victoria, BC

Now health Network Local Practitioners: Endocrinologist