VIDEO: Lifestyle intervention critical for obesity prevention, treatment

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Prevention is really centered on lifestyle intervention. So, dietary strategy, physical activity and behavior that support healthy weight as well as identifying any factor that could be contributing to weight gain — meaning genetics, weight-promoting medications, weight-related comorbidities, sleep dysregulation stress. There’s so many different factors in our environments that can promote weight gain. So, identifying those factors and addressing them before they promote weight gain is ideal. Of course, in terms of managing obesity, we use the same strategies. However, the problem with lifestyle intervention for managing obesity is that by the time most people develop obesity, it’s very hard to lose a clinically significant amount of weight without a medical intervention. So, lifestyle factors are absolutely the cornerstone of prevention, and they’re also the cornerstone of treatment. But for treatment, we generally require a full medical evaluation and medical treatment for the vast majority of people with obesity to be able to lose a clinically significant amount of weight.