You want to learn about safe, effective ways to lose weight, but when you start to research online, you feel like you’re back in chemistry class! Case in point: The effect of carbohydrates on weight loss.

Let’s start at the beginning. “Carbohydrates” is a word commonly tossed around, but little understood. Fortunately, MedlinePlus provides this simple definition:

“Carbohydrates, or carbs, are sugar molecules. Along with proteins and fats, carbohydrates are one of three main nutrients found in foods and drinks. Your body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose. Glucose, or blood sugar, is the main source of energy for your body’s cells, tissues, and organs.”

Not All Carbohydrates are the Same – And Why it Matters to Weight Loss

However, not all carbohydrates are the same, and don’t have the same effect on your body. The Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health explains the difference as follows:

“The healthiest sources of carbohydrates—unprocessed or minimally processed whole grains, vegetables, fruits and beans—promote good health by delivering vitamins, minerals, fiber, and a host of important phytonutrients.

“Unhealthier sources of carbohydrates include white bread, pastries, sodas, and other highly processed or refined foods.  These items contain easily digested carbohydrates that may contribute to weight gain, interfere with weight loss, and promote diabetes and heart disease.”

If your objective is to lose weight by reducing carbs, start by removing these unhealthy sources from your diet. Moreover, doing so can have benefits of their own – such as reducing your risk for type 2 diabetes and metabolic syndrome.

What is a Low-Carb Diet?

A low-carb diet not only limits carbohydrates, it focuses on foods high in protein and fat. Many types of low-carb diets exist, each with varying limits on the type and amount of carbs you can eat. The most popular include the following:

• Atkins diet
• Ketogenic diet
• South Beach diet
• Paleo diet
• Zone diet

According to Mayo Clinic, “A daily limit of 0.7 to 2 ounces (20 to 57 grams) of carbohydrates is typical with a low-carb diet. These amounts of carbohydrates provide 80 to 240 calories. Some low-carb diets greatly limit carbs during the early phase of the diet. Then those diets allow more carbs over time.

“In contrast, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend that carbohydrates make up 45% to 65% of your total daily calorie intake. So if you eat or drink 2,000 calories a day, carbs would account for between 900 and 1,300 calories a day.

“Most people can lose weight if they limit calories and boost their physical activity. To lose 1 to 1.5 pounds (0.5 to 0.7 kilograms) a week, you need to eat 500 to 750 fewer calories each day.”

Of course, deciding exactly how many carbs you should eat depends on individual factors – such as your age, weight, level of physical activity and medical history.

Benefits of a Low-Carb Diet

According to Healthline, one major benefit is that a low-carb diet reduces your appetite.

“Hunger tends to be the worst side effect of dieting. It is one of the main reasons why many people feel miserable and eventually give up. However, low-carb eating leads to an automatic reduction in appetite. Studies consistently show that when people cut carbs and eat more protein and fat, they end up eating far fewer calories.”

Other benefits include:

• Studies illustrate that people on low-carb diets lose more weight, faster, than those on low-fat diets — even when the latter are actively restricting calories. This is because low-carb diets act to rid excess water from your body, lowering insulin levels and leading to rapid weight loss in the first week or two.

• A large percentage of the fat lost on low-carb diets tends to be harmful abdominal fat that is known to cause serious metabolic problems.

Is There a Down Side to a Low-Carb Diet?

Mayo Clinic points out that while low-carb diets – especially very low-carb diets – may lead to greater short-term weight loss, most studies have found that at 12 or 24 months, the benefits of a low-carb diet aren’t very large.

There’s also the possibility of becoming bored with a low-carb diet. If you’ve tried other types of diets and ultimately returned to your regular eating habits, a low-carb diet could join this frustrating list, making you feel like you’re destined to fail at any kind of long-term successful weight loss.

The Advantages of a Medically Supervised Weight Loss Program

If you’re reading this, it’s probably safe to assume you’re looking for a reliable weight loss program that will help you achieve long-term results. It’s probably also safe to assume you’ve tried a number of diets that made a lot of sense on paper – and perhaps achieved short-term results – but ultimately didn’t work for you. But don’t blame yourself! For most people, successful long-term weight loss isn’t a do-it-yourself project. Fortunately, a real solution is just a phone call or click away!

Solutions Weight Loss provides today’s most advanced weight loss medications under the guidance of William E. Newsome, M.D., Medical Director and co-owner of Solutions Weight Loss. From the very start of your medical weight loss journey with us, Dr. Newsome conducts your in-depth initial consultation, and will evaluate and prescribe for you the best treatment to achieve your goals. He brings his own personal weight loss experiences, and a lifelong dedication to health and fitness.

Solutions Weight Loss internal results prove our program is effective at driving long-term improvements to metabolic health and weight loss, with an average of 21% weight loss at 12 months; 19.1% at 18 months, and 18.9% at 24 months. Our members have also decreased their waist circumference by 7 inches, on average. These results are superior to the weight loss seen in clinical trials for GLP-1 medications. Regardless of which medication they take, our members have demonstrated significant and sustained results!

There are frequent reports of shortages of brand-name medications, such as Ozempic – developed specifically to manage type 2 diabetes, but used off-label for weight loss – and Wegovy – developed specifically for weight loss; as well as  Mounjaro – developed specifically to manage type 2 diabetes, but used off-label for weight loss – and Zepbound – developed specifically for weight loss. Our blog post – “The Benefits of Medical Appetite Control” – covers these medications in greater detail.

Due to high demand, pharmaceutical companies sometimes are unable to provide the supply needed. This situation will never be a concern when you choose Solutions Weight Loss! This is because semaglutide – the class for Ozempic and Wegovy, and tirzepatide – the class for Mounjaro and Zepbound – are generic ingredients. We prescribe and dispense both, offering high-quality compounded GLP-1 medications at an affordable price. You can leave our office with your medication the same day!

Just as importantly, you will have the ongoing support, encouragement and guidance of Dr. Newsome and our entire staff – all dedicated to your successful weight loss journey. During each return visit, we will ask you to step on the scale to assess your progress. Rechecks do not require an appointment, and you do not need to come every week! Some choose to return weekly for accountability, while others prefer to return less frequently to fit their schedule. Also, there are no contracts or obligations.

See what makes Solutions Weight Loss the #1 weight loss clinic in Florida! Schedule your consultation with Dr. Newsome here, or call 407-413-5503, and experience the benefits of today’s metabolic approach to sustainable weight loss! Don’t wait another day to start living your best life!

You’ve no doubt heard about the revolutionary medications to treat overweight and obesity: semaglutide and tirzepatide. But what are they, how do they work and which is right for your personal weight loss goal? Here’s what you need to know!

Similarities Between Semaglutide and Tirzepatide

Semaglutide is the active ingredient in the well-known brands Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelus. It is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist drug that has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) as an adjunct to lifestyle changes for weight management in adults who are clinically obese or overweight. Tirzepatide is also a GLP-1 drug that’s FDA-approved. It is the active ingredient in the popular brands Mounjaro and Zepbound. However, unlike semaglutide, it’s also a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor co-agonist, which means it’s in a class of medications that includes both GIP and GLP-1 receptor agonists. 

But before we delve into why this difference is important, let’s look more closely at the GLP-1 hormone. This hormone is released by the gut after eating. It’s a 30–31 amino acid peptide derived from the proglucagon peptide. GLP-1 helps with insulin release, glucagon suppression, gastric emptying and satiety. As Mayo Clinic states its effect in plain language, GLP-1 also slows the movement of food from the stomach into the small intestine. As a result, you feel full faster and longer, so you eat less.

Moreover, GLP-1 aids in lowering your body’s set point (the weight your body fights to maintain) by impacting areas in the brain to help increase your energy expenditure.

Semaglutide for Weight Loss

Semaglutide’s single-action mechanism solely activates the GLP-1 receptor to regulate insulin and appetite. As our blog post – “The Benefits of Medical Appetite Control” – covers, one role of GLP-1 is to prompt the body to produce more insulin, which reduces blood sugar (glucose). For that reason, health care providers have used semaglutide for more than 15 years to treat type 2 diabetes – so while it’s relatively new as a weight loss medication, semaglutide is an established medication that has proven its effectiveness.

Tirzepatide for Weight Loss

As mentioned earlier, tirzepatide has an advantage over semaglutide in that it is a dual GIP/GLP-1 receptor co-agonist. GLP-1 and GIP are both incretin hormones, which are hormones that are released after eating. Tirzepatide works by mimicking their effects, offering a broader span of metabolic benefits and appetite control than semaglutide alone. GIP induces weight loss by stimulating satiety in the hypothalamus – the area of the brain that produces hormones that control hunger. This also includes telling the pancreas to release insulin after eating and signaling the liver to lower the amount of glucose it’s making. These effects help lower blood glucose.

Tirzepatide’s benefits for weight loss in adults are as follows:

• Enhanced appetite suppression
• Insulin regulation
• Increased metabolism

Which of These Popular Weight Loss Drugs is Right for You?

Considering the advantages of tirzepatide over the earlier-generation drug semaglutide, you may wonder why there’s even a choice! However, each person is different. What is effective or appropriate for one individual may not be right for you. The only way to know is to schedule an appointment with a doctor who specializes in medical weight loss.

If you are reading this, we assume you’re looking for a doctor who can successfully guide you on your weight loss journey. William E. Newsome, M.D., is Medical Director and co-owner of Solutions Weight Loss. From the very start, Dr. Newsome conducts your in-depth initial consultation, and will evaluate and prescribe for you the best treatment to achieve your goal. He brings his own personal weight loss experiences, and a lifelong dedication to health and fitness.

Solutions Weight Loss internal results prove our medically supervised program is effective at driving long-term improvements to metabolic health and weight loss, with an average of 21% weight loss at 12 months; 19.1% at 18 months, and 18.9% at 24 months. Our members have also decreased their waist circumference by 7 inches, on average. These results are superior to the weight loss seen in clinical trials for GLP-1 medications. Regardless of which medication they take, our members have demonstrated significant and sustained results!

You may have heard about shortages of the brand-name medications mentioned in this article. Due to high demand, pharmaceutical companies sometimes are unable to provide the supply needed. This situation will never be a concern when you choose Solutions Weight Loss! Moreover, the brand-name medication is very expensive. However, semaglutide and tirzepatide are generic ingredients. We prescribe and dispense both, offering high-quality compounded GLP-1 medications at an affordable price. This gives you the following major advantages:

• Not having to ask for an expensive prescription that your health insurance most likely won’t cover. During a 30-minute consultation, Dr. Newsome will determine which medication is most clinically appropriate for your individual situation.
• Upon determining the best medication for you, the prescription will be filled and you will leave with it that same day. Shortages of any brand-name medication will never impact your medical weight loss program.
• We understand that people have busy schedules that may not allow them to visit our office on a weekly basis. That’s why we can dispense up to 12 weeks of your weight loss medication at a time. We smooth the path to make your weight loss journey as easy as possible to follow!

The Take-Home Message About Semaglutide and Tirzepatide

There’s a lot to learn about these breakthrough GLP-1 drugs, but many articles are written in language that’s difficult for those without a degree in medicine to decipher. We hope we’ve been able to explain the similarities, differences and benefits of each in a way that gives you the information you need to take that all-important first step in achieving your weight loss goal!

See what makes Solutions Weight Loss the #1 weight loss clinic in Florida! Schedule your consultation with Dr. Newsome here, or call 407-413-5503, and experience the benefits of today’s metabolic approach to sustainable weight loss! Don’t wait another day to start living your best life!

You may be experiencing it now. Your clothes are getting tighter. The number on the scale keeps creeping upward. Your reflection in a full-length mirror is bearing less resemblance to the “you” in photographs from just a few years ago. Gradual weight gain is an insidious foe that takes over your body while you’re busy with the many demands of daily life. But what causes it, and can it be reversed?

First, we at Solutions Weight Loss assume you’ve been battling those extra pounds, but without long-term success – which, of course, leads to even greater levels of frustration! Learning about the causes behind gradual weight gain can give you valuable insight that will allow you to take the steps to regaining control! 

Age-Related Weight Gain

The popular adage, “age is just a number,” doesn’t hold up to reality. Getting older brings physiological changes that can affect weight, including the following:

• Your metabolism slows down
• Your body composition shifts
• Your hormone levels change

According to health writer Stephanie Thurrott in her article for Banner Health, “When your metabolism slows, you don’t need as many calories to keep your body humming along. That means your older self can eat the same diet and get the same amount of exercise as your younger self. But where your younger self could maintain a healthy weight, your older self finds that pounds are piling on. If you’ve cut back on your workouts, you’re tipping the scales even further.

”Adding to the metabolic slowdown is a shift in your body composition. As you age, your muscle mass decreases and your fat mass increases. Fat is less metabolically active than muscle – you don’t need as many calories to maintain fat as you do to maintain muscle.

“Hormonal changes can also lead to weight gain. Women tend to see hormone levels change quickly during menopause, while men see more gradual decreases in their testosterone levels over time.”

Moreover, as Rebecca Moran, MD – a family medicine physician at Banner Health Clinic in Phoenix, AZ – points out, most people exercise less frequently and with less intensity as they age, setting themselves up even more for gradual weight gain.

Eating a Diet Heavy in Highly Processed Foods/Fast Foods

Even if you haven’t yet reached your 50th birthday, eating like you did as a teenager can cause the pounds to add on. Making burgers, fries, fried foods, pizza, etc., the mainstay of your diet was bad enough then, but continuing to do so in adulthood is a guaranteed way to gain weight – as well as set up the conditions that lead to type 2 diabetes and other serious health issues.

We’re not being judgy here. Life is hectic, and it can be easier to grab lunch or dinner at the drive-thru of your favorite fast food eatery instead of cooking at home. But making it routine instead of once-in-a-while will eventually take a toll.

As WebMD bluntly states it, “Fast food is convenient and cheap, but you pay a bigger price in the long run. Those burgers, fries, and shakes usually have more fat, calories, and highly processed carbs than your body needs in one meal. This can quickly lead to weight gain and obesity if you eat it often.”

Eating Too Much Sugar

If we’ve just described your diet in the above paragraphs, you’re most likely also taking in too much refined sugar – which is often “hidden” in highly processed foods. Regularly consuming sugary foods and beverages may lead to weight gain and increase your risk of diabetes.

Some foods high in added sugars include:

• candy
• cakes
• soda
• sports drinks
• ice cream
• iced tea
• sweetened coffee drinks

In particular, Healthline points out that sugary beverages are the largest source of added sugar in the United States and are strongly associated with weight gain.

Having a Sedentary Lifestyle  

Inactivity is a common contributor to gradual weight gain, as well as chronic diseases. Working a desk job, watching TV, driving, and using a computer or phone are all sedentary activities.

As reported by Healthline, a 2018 study in 464 people with obesity and excess weight found their average daily sitting time was 6.2 hours on working days and 6 hours on non-working days. Work-related tasks were the largest contributor, followed by watching TV. Research has also shown that engaging in excessive screen time contributes significantly to unintentional weight gain.

Making a few lifestyle changes, such as exercising and sitting less, can make a big difference. For example, a 3-month study in 317 workers found that replacing just 1 hour of sitting with 1 hour of standing during the workday reduced total fat mass and waist circumference while increasing lean muscle mass.

What to Do if You’ve Tried to Lose Weight on Your Own

Regardless of your age, making healthy changes in your lifestyle will help improve your overall health and well-being. But as you perhaps already know from experience, a significant weight loss may not necessarily follow. Don’t blame yourself, and don’t give up! A real solution is just a phone call or click away!

Solutions Weight Loss provides today’s most advanced weight loss medications under the guidance of William E. Newsome, M.D., Medical Director and co-owner of Solutions Weight Loss. From the very start of your medical weight loss journey with us, Dr. Newsome conducts your in-depth initial consultation, and will evaluate and prescribe for you the best treatment to achieve your goals. He brings his own personal weight loss experiences, and a lifelong dedication to health and fitness.

Solutions Weight Loss internal results prove our program is effective at driving long-term improvements to metabolic health and weight loss, with an average of 21% weight loss at 12 months; 19.1% at 18 months, and 18.9% at 24 months. Our members have also decreased their waist circumference by 7 inches, on average. These results are superior to the weight loss seen in clinical trials for GLP-1 medications. Regardless of which medication they take, our members have demonstrated significant and sustained results!

You may have heard about shortages of brand-name weight loss medications. Due to high demand, pharmaceutical companies sometimes are unable to provide the supply needed. This situation will never be a concern when you choose Solutions Weight Loss! Moreover, the brand-name medication is very expensive. However, semaglutide and tirzepatide are generic ingredients. We prescribe and dispense both, offering high-quality compounded GLP-1 medications at an affordable price. 

See what makes Solutions Weight Loss the #1 weight loss clinic in Florida! Schedule your consultation with Dr. Newsome here, or call 407-413-5503, and experience the benefits of today’s metabolic approach to sustainable weight loss! Don’t wait another day to start living your best life!

If you’ve been struggling with your weight for years, you’ve heard it many times over: “All you need to do to lose weight is eat less and exercise.” Of course, you know from frustrating experience that this bit of well-worn advice is for all practical purposes useless.

While it’s true that in order to lose weight you must consume fewer calories than the body needs each day – creating what’s known as  a ‘calorie deficit’ that forces the body to burn stored fat for energy (resulting in weight loss) – doing so increases hunger. What do we want to do more than anything else when we’re hungry? That’s right – eat! So you’re already set up to fail on any kind of calorie-restricted diet that depends solely upon willpower. In fact, the number one reason people quit dieting is hunger!

Now consider what happens to your self-esteem when a willpower-based diet fails yet again. It plummets, instead of your weight! You consider yourself a bad person, weak-willed, etc. You can’t lose weight because it’s your fault! But here’s some good news – it’s NOT your fault! Today’s medical weight loss medications can treat those living with overweight and obesity by controlling your appetite – thereby making it possible to follow a low-calorie diet without constant feelings of gnawing hunger!

Medications to Treat Overweight and Obesity

Weight loss drugs with the active ingredient semaglutide or tirzepatide are increasingly popular for chronic weight management as part of a medication-managed approach to weight loss. They are once-weekly injectable medications that are U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved for use in adults, and adolescents age 12 and over.

Semaglutide belongs to a class of medications known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, or GLP-1 RAs. It mimics the GLP-1 hormone, released in the gut in response to eating. Consumers know semaglutide by the brand names Ozempic – developed specifically to manage type 2 diabetes, but used off-label for weight loss – and Wegovy – developed specifically for weight loss.

One role of GLP-1 is to prompt the body to produce more insulin, which reduces blood sugar (glucose). For that reason, health care providers have used semaglutide for more than 15 years to treat type 2 diabetes.

But GLP-1 in higher amounts also interacts with the parts of the brain that suppress your appetite and signal you to feel full. When used in conjunction with diet and exercise, it can cause significant weight loss – and a reduced risk of cancer, diabetes and heart disease – in people who are obese or overweight. Its benefits for weight loss are twofold:

• Appetite suppression
• Insulin regulation

Moving on to tirzepatide, Christina Palmer, MD, writes the following about this ingredient and how it works in her article for GoodRx. Consumers know tirzepatide by the brand names Mounjaro – developed specifically to manage type 2 diabetes, but used off-label for weight loss – and Zepbound – developed specifically for weight loss.

Tirzepatide promotes weight loss by decreasing your appetite and prolonging feelings of fullness – which allows you to eat fewer calories. It is unique because it’s the first combination of two classes of medications: a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist and a glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) receptor agonist. Therefore, tirzepatide is known as a dual GLP-1/GIP receptor agonist.

GLP-1 and GIP are both incretin hormones, which are hormones that are released after eating. Tirzepatide works by mimicking their effects. This includes telling the pancreas to release insulin after eating and signaling the liver to lower the amount of glucose it’s making. These effects help lower blood glucose.

In addition to helping lower blood glucose, tirzepatide helps with weight loss in the following ways:

• It signals to the brain that you’re full – so you eat less.
• It slows the movement of food through your stomach – so you feel full longer.

Other similar injectable weight loss medications only mimic one incretin – GLP-1. It’s thought that because tirzepatide acts like two incretins, it can cause more weight loss than current alternatives. Researchers have studied how effective tirzepatide is for weight loss – for people with and without diabetes.

Medical Weight Loss in Orlando – It’s Rocket Science – Not Willpower!

As we say at Solutions Weight Loss, these breakthrough medications take weight loss into the realm of rocket science, and out of the old, self-defeating dependency on willpower! However, one other major drawback to the self-directed diets you may have tried previously is that you were on your own.

William E. Newsome, M.D., is Medical Director and co-owner of Solutions Weight Loss. From the very start of your medical weight loss journey with us, Dr. Newsome conducts your in-depth initial consultation, and will evaluate and prescribe for you the best treatment to achieve your goals. He brings his own personal weight loss experiences, and a lifelong dedication to health and fitness.

Solutions Weight Loss internal results prove our program is effective at driving long-term improvements to metabolic health and weight loss, with an average of 21% weight loss at 12 months; 19.1% at 18 months, and 18.9% at 24 months. Our members have also decreased their waist circumference by 7 inches, on average. These results are superior to the weight loss seen in clinical trials for GLP-1 medications. Regardless of which medication they take, our members have demonstrated significant and sustained results!

You may have heard about shortages of the brand-name medications mentioned in this article. Due to high demand, pharmaceutical companies sometimes are unable to provide the supply needed. This situation will never be a concern when you choose Solutions Weight Loss! Moreover, the brand-name medication is very expensive. However, semaglutide and tirzepatide are generic ingredients. We prescribe and dispense both, offering high-quality compounded GLP-1 medications at an affordable price. This gives you the following major advantages:

• Not having to ask for an expensive prescription that your health insurance most likely won’t cover. During a 30-minute consultation, Dr. Newsome will determine which medication is most clinically appropriate for your individual situation.
• Upon determining the best medication for you, the prescription will be filled and you will leave with it that same day. Shortages of any brand-name medication will never impact your medical weight loss program.
• We understand that people have busy schedules that may not allow them to visit our office on a weekly basis. That’s why we can dispense up to 12 weeks of your weight loss medication at a time. We smooth the path to make your weight loss journey as easy as possible to follow!

The Take-Home Message About Medical Appetite Control

Revolutionary advancements in medications that control appetite and work on key underlying metabolic pathways to support sustained weight loss are now reality – and can help you achieve what willpower alone could not. However, one old idea about weight loss still holds true – losing weight and keeping it off is better when you have the help and encouragement of a friend – one like Dr. Newsome and his entire Solutions Weight Loss team!

See what makes Solutions Weight Loss the #1 weight loss clinic in Florida! Schedule your consultation with Dr. Newsome here, or call 407-413-5503, and experience the benefits of today’s metabolic approach to sustainable weight loss! Don’t wait another day to start living your best life!