Hormone

• But type “setting a weight loss goal” into any online search engine and you’ll likely be left with more questions than answers.
• They’ll typically use a body mass index (BMI) calculator to confirm a “healthy” weight and provide a goal weight based on this range.
• Most sales pitches will suggest you need to lose substantial amounts of weight to be healthy – making weight loss seem an impossible task.

Using BMI to define our target weight is flawed

• So it’s no surprise we use measurements and equations to score our weight.
• BMI classifies bodies as underweight, normal (healthy) weight, overweight or obese and can be a useful tool for weight and health screening.

fails to consider two critical factors related to body weight and health – body fat percentage and distribution
does not account for significant differences in body composition based on gender, ethnicity and age.

How does losing weight benefit our health?

• Losing just 5–10% of our body weight – between 6 and 12kg for someone weighing 120kg – can significantly improve our health in four key ways.
• But research shows improvements in total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol and triglyceride levels are evident with just 5% weight loss.
• Excess weight is linked to high blood pressure in several ways, including changing how our sympathetic nervous system, blood vessels and hormones regulate our blood pressure.

• A meta-analysis of 25 trials on the influence of weight reduction on blood pressure also found every kilo of weight loss improved blood pressure by one point.
• Research shows just 7% weight loss reduces risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 58%.
• In one study each kilogram of weight loss resulted in a fourfold decrease in the load exerted on the knee in each step taken during daily activities.

Focus on long-term habits

• An analysis of 29 long-term weight-loss studies found participants regained more than half of the weight lost within two years.
• When we lose weight, we take our body out of its comfort zone and trigger its survival response.
• Read more:
  What's the 'weight set point', and why does it make it so hard to keep weight off?

losing weight in small manageable chunks you can sustain, specifically periods of weight loss, followed by periods of weight maintenance, and so on, until you achieve your goal weight
making gradual changes to your lifestyle to ensure you form habits that last a lifetime.
Setting a goal to reach a healthy weight can feel daunting. But it doesn’t have to be a pre-defined weight according to a “healthy” BMI range. Losing 5–10% of our body weight will result in immediate health benefits. At the Boden Group, Charles Perkins Centre, we are studying the science of obesity and running clinical trials for weight loss. You can register here to express your interest.
Dr Nick Fuller works for the University of Sydney and has received external funding for projects relating to the treatment of overweight and obesity. He is the author and founder of the Interval Weight Loss program.

Orphan designation: 5-[4-[2-(5-(1-hydroxyethyl)-2-pyridinyl)ethoxy]benzyl]-2,4-thiazolidinedione hydrochloride Treatment of adrenoleukodystrophy, 18/11/2016 Positive

• In the past century, there have been three waves of opposition to transgender health care.
• In 1933, when the Nazis rose to power, they cracked down on transgender medical research and clinical practice in Europe.
• In 1979, a research report critical of transgender medicine led to the closure of the most well-respected clinics in the United States.

The 1930s − eugenics and sexology collide

• In the field of sexology – the study of human sexuality, founded in 19th century Europe – scientists were excited about research on animals demonstrating that removing or transplanting gonads could effectively change an organism’s sex.
• Several trans women also received care at the institute, including orchiectomies that halted the production of testosterone in their bodies.

• Nazi ideology was based on another prominent field of science of that time: eugenics, the belief that certain superior populations should survive while inferior populations must be exterminated.
• In fact, Hirschfeld’s sexology and Nazi race science had common roots in the Enlightenment-era effort to classify and categorize the world’s life forms.
• But in the late 19th century, many scientists went a step further and developed a hierarchy of human types based on race, gender and sexuality.

The 1970s − making model citizens

• In 1966, Johns Hopkins became the first university hospital in the world to offer trans health care.
• By the 1970s, trans medicine went mainstream.
• Nearly two dozen university hospitals were operating gender identity clinics and treating thousands of transgender Americans.
• Jon Meyer, a psychiatrist at Johns Hopkins, was skeptical of whether medical interventions really helped transgender people.

• Meyer and Reter believed that gender-affirming surgeries were successful only if they made model citizens out of transgender people: straight, married and law-abiding.
• In their results, the authors found no negative effects from surgery, and no patients expressed regret.
• They concluded that “sex reassignment surgery confers no objective advantage in terms of social rehabilitation,” but it is “subjectively satisfying” to the patients themselves.

The 2020s − distrust in science

• Legislators have removed books with LGBTQ content from libraries and disparaged them as “filth.” A recent law in Florida threatens trans people with arrest for using public restrooms.
• Donald Trump’s campaign platform calls for a nationwide ban on trans health care for minors and severe restrictions for adults.
• But widespread distrust in science and medicine in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic has affected how Americans perceive trans health care.

• Instead, many trans activists today call for diminishing the role of medical authority altogether in gatekeeping access to trans health care.
• Medical gatekeeping occurs through stringent guidelines that govern access to trans health care, including mandated psychiatric evaluations and extended waiting periods that limit and control patient choice.
• For now, trans health care remains a question dominated by medical experts on one hand and people who question science on the other.

G. Samantha Rosenthal does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.

• NEW YORK, Jan. 22, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- PhysicalMind Institute, a pioneering Pilates & Posture & BodyMind Exercise company, announces it is offering to gift WW its 80Bites program.
• The positive results from these new miracle weight loss drugs means the public now knows that hormone regulation is the key to weight loss, not burning calories or counting Points.
• "In what the NY Times has dubbed the 'golden age of medicine', we have the potential to eliminate the obesity epidemic.
• "Now that WW is going into the drug dispensing business, they need an eating program that works with the medication.