A Few Things Your Doctor Will Check If You Want To Lose Weight

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If you are serious about losing weight here are a few things your doctor will check:

A routine examination will be made, of course, of your heart. And your blood pressure will be taken, so that, if you have hypertension, you can be placed on a salt-free diet, and other diet necessary for your condition can be prescribed.

At one time, normal blood pressure was supposedly 100 plus your age. Now physicians believe that the perfect blood pressure is much lower, and they pay special attention to it in regard to obesity. Blood pressure is “the pressure exerted by the blood on the walls of the vessels in which it is flowing.” A lot of factors influence blood pressure, including the force of the heartbeat, the elasticity of the walls of the blood vessels, and the secretions of ductless glands.

The physician wraps the bag around the arm, uses a stethoscope to determine systolic and diastolic pressure. Systolic pressure, from 20 to 70 years of age, should average from 120 to 138 degrees, and diastolic pressure may range from 79 to 89 degrees. A slight variation is unimportant, except to the physician, who may learn a lot about your condition from it. 120 degrees, at 20 years of age, plus half a point a year, is a lot more accurate than the older method for systolic pressure. High blood pressure can be an indication of a dozen illnesses, including neuroses.

Your basal metabolism is important. While most obese people, in spite of their preconceived notions, have a normal metabolic rate, it still must be taken, in case there is hypothyroidism. The patient eats a light meal the night before, one containing very little protein. He should rest before the test and not be nervous or worried. The basal metabolism test is the method of measuring how much oxygen is used during an hour. Tests usually last about ten minutes, during which the patient breathes through a rubber mouthpiece from a tank containing a measured amount of air.

When the thyroid hormone supply is inadequate, the rate of oxygen used is reduced.
A chemical examination of the blood should be made. From a blood count, a doctor can learn if there are too few red or white corpuscles or platelets, and this tells the presence of disease. The hemoglobin test shows how much coloring matter there is in the blood-whether the blood cells are round and normal or distorted. Often, people who are too fat have anemia-the amount of hemoglobin in the blood is reduced below normal. Most people do not know that anemia and obesity can go together-but they can. The physician knows what medicine is indicated, and the things he prescribes help the blood, but do not add weight. It is necessary to check for a low basal metabolic rate determination. The determination of the glucose content of the blood is usually necessary, too.

A glucose tolerance test is important for the diagnosis of defects of carbohydrate metabolism. And a urine test is necessary, too. The normal person shows traces of sugar one hour after eating, and sometimes shows a slight trace after two hours. A poor sugar tolerance is present if glucose is found in large amounts, or continues into the third hour.

Sometimes other gland tests are made, though these are not often considered necessary.

These tests determine if the patient has obesity of the endogenous or glandular type-which is rare, and even then the glandular defect is practically always only an indirect cause of obesity. Reduction of weight without diet is almost impossible in glandular cases, even when hormones are given. The exogenous form of obesity can be cured by diet alone-and without glandular treatment.

Doctors will prescribe thyroid or other glandular drugs, when they are indicated. And most doctors will prescribe drugs that are either metabolic stimulants or appetite depressors. Benzedrine sulphate or dexedrine, or other appetite depressors, sometimes help control the desire to eat, or give a sense of well being.

Diuretics are often used especially in the beginning of a diet, to encourage the patient. These cause the excretion of a few pounds of water, and are often used if there is a great deal of water retention. If this is followed by a water-restricted diet, combined with salt restriction, a substantial reduction often results. Many people lose weight if less water and salt are used. Your doctor will tell you more about these.
Most doctors put their patients on a low-calorie diet, ranging from 6oo to 1,200 calories per day-and averaging around 1,000 calories-usually with a high protein content. Sometimes these diets consist of printed lists, which must be followed exactly. Other doctors believe that their patients have the intelligence to make up

their own diets, when full directions as to food restrictions are given. Dr. Feiner tells me that, for the average patient, he prescribes a 1,000-calorie intake, limits fluid to four glasses per day, allows no fruit except stewed fruits, and orders mostly high-protein food, with a limited number of cocktails and highballs, but no beer or wine. He gives medicine when indicated. He has successfully reduced hundreds of people. No secrets, he says. Just common sense, appetite depressors, glandular treatment, when indicated, and a sensible diet of three low-calorie meals a day.