5.30 Obesity and Weight Loss Guidelines
In this HeartStrong.com video, we are going to talk through the guidelines from the ACC/AHA/TOS (American College of Cardiology, American Heart Association, The Obesity Society) about clinical treatment and risk on cardiovascular health of being overweight and obese.
Guidelines written by these societies act as a reference for healthcare providers. Unfortunately, they do not always say what is ideal for heart health, but more what they think is realistic for most people. These guidelines are “evidence based” meaning they incorporate randomized clinical trials and other research. They DO NOT include research that is poorly designed, biased or recommendations based on anecdotal experiences.
Having said that, there certainly could be methods out there or remedies for weight loss that HAVE NOT yet been proven or researched thoroughly. These will NOT be recommended in the guidelines due to the lack of evidence. They may or may not be effective for weight loss.
The most recent guidelines were published in 2013 in the journal Circulation. Now remember these guidelines are directed at practicing clinicians with medical training and not the general public, but I will make them understandable here in the video for everyone.
These three societies came together and met for weeks to write this 70-page document summarizing all that we know about the risks of overweight/obesity and the best approach to losing weight. These guidelines act to help clinicians out there seeing patients have the best understanding of the right treatments. No clinician can read and interpret correctly all published research articles on every topic. That is why these guidelines come it quite handy.
Having a good understanding of this guideline document is important for you during your weight loss period, so you know why certain things are recommended the way that they are.