Effective Weight Loss Strategies: Combining Diet, Exercise, and Medication

Each year, half of adults try to lose weight. Though many are successful at first, the pounds creep back, setting them up for a frustrating and disheartening cycle that often leads to experimenting with the latest fad diet or giving up.

Our Premiere Medical Center team understands that every weight loss journey is unique. We work closely with each person, learning about their lifestyle habits and weight loss challenges and creating a sustainable plan that works for them.

Though your plan is customized, successful weight loss depends on a few key elements:

Weight loss medication

Weight loss medications have been around for decades. But today you have new hope with semaglutide, an injectable drug that’s more effective than older weight loss medications because it works differently.

Your body naturally produces a hormone (GLP-1) when you eat. GLP-1 tells your pancreas to produce more insulin, which lowers your blood sugar and briefly stops the liver from sending more sugar into your bloodstream.

Semaglutide produces the same results by mimicking GLP-1. Lowering your blood sugar promotes weight loss because your body turns excess blood sugar into fat.

Semaglutide also slows food movement through your stomach, helping you feel full faster and postponing hunger pangs.

Diet and exercise

Yes, that’s the same weight loss advice you’ve heard for years. But diet and exercise are the foundation for success.

Weight loss medications can’t produce long-lasting results alone. They may temporarily boost the pounds you lose, but the weight returns if you don't follow a healthy lifestyle plan.

That’s why all weight loss medications, including semaglutide, are prescribed with a diet and exercise plan. The secret is how you approach diet and exercise — and that’s where our team can help with a plan tailored to your needs.

Diet

Your meal plan begins by setting realistic calorie goals. We reduce calories enough to achieve gradual weight loss while ensuring you consume enough to stay energized and get essential nutrients.

A diet supporting slow, steady weight loss gives you the best chance for success. However, a strategy that combines diet with medication allows you to get into the habit of balanced eating while losing weight faster.

Semaglutide typically reduces your appetite and weight in the first few weeks. While your diet slowly takes hold, semaglutide gives you the satisfaction and motivation of more significant weight loss within 4-5 months.

Exercise

Increasing your activity is the only sure way to burn more calories. But that doesn’t mean you must drag yourself through an exercise regimen you dislike. Instead, choose activities you enjoy enough to do daily.

Fun activities also burn calories. The calories expended depend on your total weight (the heavier you are, the more calories you use) and whether the activity is strenuous, but here are a few examples of what you can expect after 30 minutes of the following activities:

Slow dancing burns 90-125 calories; kick up the pace, and you burn 180-252. Casual swimming expends 180 to 252 calories, and an enjoyable walk is in the 107-159 range.

Love gardening and yard work? They burn 135-189 calories per half hour. You can say goodbye to anywhere from 210 to 693 calories if you go bike riding (depending on how far you go and how hard you pump).

Ready to lose weight?

Weight loss is always easier when you have the support of the caring Premiere Medical Center team. If you’re ready to start the journey toward better health, book a consultation online or call the Toluca Lake, California, office today.