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VLCD & Medical Weight Loss: A Revolutionary Approach
VLCD & Medical Weight Loss: A Revolutionary Approach
by MASSI FAZLI, CLINICAL DIETITIAN
FEB. 2024
Are you considering starting a medical weight loss journey? Then you must ensure that you have the correct composition in your diet. As weight loss medication reduces your appetite, it is important that your diet has the optimal nutritional composition, ensuring that your weight loss is healthy and sustainable.
Therefore, there should be a focus not only on calorie deficit but also on the composition of your calories.
The combination of a Total Diet Replacement (TDR) at 750-800 kcal per day or meal replacements along with weight loss medication constitutes a strong strategy for weight loss.
The perfect partnership – the combination of a Total Diet Replacement or meal replacements with weight loss medication.
When you combine a Total Diet Replacement (TDR) at 750-800 kcal or use meal replacements along with weight loss medication, you have the foundation for a truly effective weight loss strategy.
Protein-rich meal replacements:
Since your appetite is inhibited or reduced by weight loss medication, the food you consume becomes even more important in composition. Therefore, meal replacements are the perfect choice for replacing 1-2 of your main meals during the day. This ensures that you get the correct nutritional composition, such as proteins, fibers, fats, as well as vitamins and minerals.
Total Diet Replacement (TDR)
Would you like to see even faster results, while still ensuring the correct nutritional composition? Then a Total Diet Replacement (TDR) is the perfect choice.
First and foremost, a lifestyle intervention or change with a Total Diet Replacement (TDR) helps you reset all your old habits in your diet pattern and calorie intake.
But it also ensures that you get the completely correct and essential nutritional composition and a program that is easy and simple to follow. The advantage of meeting the basic needs with a Total Diet Replacement, typically between 750-800 kcal, allows for adding 200-300 kcal alongside without compromising the rapid results of the program.
The benefits of this combined approach
You can potentially taper off your weight loss medication faster, as your goals for weight reduction can be achieved significantly quicker in an effective and safe manner.
Weight loss medication helps regulate appetite and increase feelings of fullness, which can make it easier to follow a Total Diet Replacement or a meal replacement plan because it helps reduce hunger and cravings for food. The combined approach enables a more efficient and faster weight loss process, which can increase motivation and maintain results over time. This symbiosis can be particularly beneficial for individuals with severe obesity who need an intensive and structured approach to weight loss.
Weight Loss Optimization: The Power of Medication and Meal Replacements Combined with Exercise
In addition to dietary changes, regular exercise is also crucial for a successful weight loss program for several reasons:
Exercise burns extra calories, which helps maintain or achieve a calorie deficit necessary for weight loss. Additionally, exercise increases metabolism, resulting in more efficient calorie burning, even at rest. This combination of burning and increased muscle mass contributes to a more toned body composition as well as stronger bones and muscles. Together, dietary changes and regular exercise constitute an effective approach to weight loss that not only creates a calorie deficit but also improves overall body health.
What happens in the body?
Calories can be obtained from various sources such as fat, protein, carbohydrates, or starch (also known as sugar) and alcohol. These calories are essential for the body’s energy needs. When the body experiences a calorie deficit, it begins to burn fat stores as an energy source. Fat is the body’s primary energy reserve, and during this process, fatty acids are released from fat cells and converted into energy through fatty acid oxidation.
At the same time, ketones are produced as a byproduct of fat burning, which can be used as fuel by the brain and other tissues. It is essential to maintain adequate levels of protein and nutrients in the diet to preserve muscle mass and overall health during the weight loss process, such as when using a Total Diet Replacement (TDR) or meal replacements.
Medical treatment for weight loss
Weight loss medication has revolutionized the approach to reducing weight and provided hope for many struggling with obesity. Medications containing Semaglutide, produced by companies like Novo Nordisk, include Ozempic, intended for diabetes treatment, and Wegovy, designed for weight loss.
One of Semaglutide’s key mechanisms is its ability to regulate appetite and satiety. It stimulates GLP-1 receptors in the brain, leading to an increased sense of fullness and consequently reduced hunger. It functions in the body as a satiety hormone typically produced in the small intestine. Wegovy, also known as semaglutide, is a GLP-1 receptor agonist that has been shown to have a positive impact on insulin sensitivity and helps improve overall metabolic health as well as weight loss. Therefore, Wegovy reduces appetite and lowers energy intake due to a reduced preference for high-fat foods. This is physiologically crucial for weight loss, as it assists in better controlling food intake and overeating.
Total Diet Replacement, an evidence-based diet
A well-documented diet such as a TDR (Total Diet Replacement) or a VLCD (Very Low Calorie Diet) can have excellent effects on weight loss due to its low calorie content.
This diet typically contains up to 800 calories per day and its function is to reduce daily calorie intake, which is significantly less than the average calorie intake for adults, which is around 2000-2500 calories depending on activity level, among other factors.
A TDR is usually composed of products such as shakes, soups, and hot meals that are nutritionally balanced and ensure that the body receives all the necessary nutrients to function optimally, and is also known as a full meal replacement.
There is a big difference between products called ‘Meal Replacement’ and products called ‘Total Diet Replacement’.
The requirements for a Total Diet Replacement (TDR) or a Very Low Calorie Diet (VLCD) are much greater, as you must be able to live solely on meal replacements for an extended period. Therefore, there are strict requirements for the content of, for example, vitamins, minerals, and dietary fibers. In contrast to slimming products and most dietary supplements, TDR products must be controlled by the Danish Veterinary and Food Administration and are thus subject to the same requirements as, for example, infant formula.
EU regulation sets some boundaries regarding the content of a VLCD. Intervals are established for the amount of protein and fat, carbohydrates, fibers, vitamins, and minerals that should be in the products, so the body gets what it needs throughout the day. Therefore, the common characteristics of TDR products are that they contain a high protein content, are low in fat and carbohydrates, and contain essential vitamins and minerals.
Sources:
Please notice: This article has been translated from Danish to English, the sources are therefore both from Danish and English written websites.
(1) www.hjerteforeningen.dk Dette bør du vide om Wegovy – Hjerteforeningen.
(2) www.wegovy.com Weight-Loss Prescription Medication | Wegovy® (semaglutide) Injection.
(3) www.sst.dk Wegovy (Semaglutid).
(4) www.pudmed.gov Clinical review of subcutaneous semaglutide for obesity.
(5) www.biotechacademy.dk Kroppens stofskifte.
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