Overview of treatment methods

There are two main treatments of obesity: surgical and medical. Together with your doctor you can decide which of these suits you the best. There are however guidelines for each respective treatment, which depends on how severe your obesity is and what other problems you have.

Medical treatments: Recommended mainly for those who have a BMI (a measure based on your height and weight) lower than 35 and includes:
    Exercise advice
    Dietary guidance
    Low-calorie diets
    Behaviour modification treatment
    Medicine (for patients with a BMI above 27)
Most often medical treatments are provided as combination treatments. This means that you and your doctor decide which of the above-mentioned parts should be included in order to give you the best conditions for going down in weight.

Medicinal treatments generally produce a weight reduction of approximately 8–10% of the original weight at the start of the treatment1. But there are also many who do not manage to maintain the weight when the treatment is completed. Good follow up and strong motivation in the individual is therefore important for the treatments long-term effect.

Surgical treatments: Can be considered for patients with a BMI higher than 35.

There is today no treatment that gives as equally as great a weight reduction as surgical treatment; reduction in weight after 1-2 years is 50–75% of the overweight. For a person who weighs 125 kg and is 1.70 m tall this corresponds to 30–40 kg. Surgical treatment has a positive effect on many of the complications that obese people often suffer from e.g. type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and joint pain.²

Results depend on which surgical technique you choose and how well you succeed in changing lifestyle. Therefore it is important that you follow the clinic’s advice and instructions for healthier living habits. The advantage of an operation is that the majority experience it as less arduous to live healthily after the operation. It is also important that you make sure that you keep up with the health follow-up return visits to the clinic.

Reference

Bray GA. Ryan DH. Drug treatment of the overweight patient. Gastroenterology. 2007;132(6):2239-52.
SBU-rapport nr 160. Fetma - problem och åtgärder.