acupuncture for weight loss

[tara]

Has anyone tried acupuncture to help with weight loss and have any successes?

There is a lot of information about it online that seems to indicate that it's actually pretty helpful, and calming, too (if you can be calm while you're jabbed with a bajillion needles).

I'm hoping to get a first-hand (or at least second-hand) experience from someone before I go in for my own bajillion needle jabbing.

[Paplo]

I think that diet and exercise are your only real way to weight loss. If you want to get more energy or shrink your appetite they have safe, good pills for that like phen-d. the needles will only add holes and air LOL

[tankini]

See while I agree that diet and exercise are the "meat and potatoes" of weight loss, I do believe treatments like acupuncture can assist and have their place with weight loss as well. With acupuncture, they put needles into parts of the body where endorphins are released and this helps relieve stress and helps calm and relax the body. This in turn helps the body deal with it's stress and frustration and anxiety that can trigger overeating and binging on fattening foods. Also your endorphins affect the digestive and hormonal systems so acupuncture can help re balance the organ systems that are running too fast- or too slow—i.e., the metabolism and the will power. Basically what I am saying is don't knock it until you try it, it just might help you. I know people that have had it done for various reasons, not just weight loss and it has helped them with improving their lives in an indirect sort of way.

[sarah]

See while I agree that diet and exercise are the "meat and potatoes" of weight loss, I do believe treatments like acupuncture can assist and have their place with weight loss as well.

Well said! There are a lot of extra complementary activities out there that can make those "meat and potatoes" efforts a lot more effective!

[tankini]

Well said! There are a lot of extra complementary activities out there that can make those "meat and potatoes" efforts a lot more effective!

Thanks

[bigbobby]

Any extra efforts that you can make to help your weight loss along are good, especially when they're something that are as good for you as acupuncture. You can have that done while you cure headaches and get a lot of other benefits from the process, too.

I think weight loss is really something that you need to attack from all sides, otherwise it gets dragged out too long and you'll lose your motivation.

[bigbobby]

Acupuncture is effective in making it easier to lose and maintain that loss if the patient is willing to change their lifestyle. The exact mechanism by which acupuncture works is unknown but we know that acupuncture needles inserted into specific points on the body and in the ear release endorphins which have a calming and relaxing effect that makes it easier to deal with stress, frustration and anxiety that can trigger overeating and bingeing on fattening foods.

Does laser therapy work in the same way? I just noticed that you said that acupuncture is used on the ear for weight loss and that's one of the places that they use lasers for the same goal. I wonder if the two are connected in some way.

[kellykatt]

Does laser therapy work in the same way? I just noticed that you said that acupuncture is used on the ear for weight loss and that's one of the places that they use lasers for the same goal. I wonder if the two are connected in some way.

I imagine it works on the same overall principles and points. I wouldn't think that they're exactly the same, but if you look into acupuncture and laser treatments for weight loss, they both seem to be geared toward the same points in the body. So it sounds as though one's a very modern, high tech take on the more traditional method.