8 Weight Loss Tips for People with Chronic Pain

Do you live with chronic pain? It isn’t easy to exercise when your body hurts all the time. You may put on weight as a result, which can worsen your pain and make you even less active. You might be frustrated by your lack of energy or inability to do things, so you eat more. This, in turn, increases your weight gain and chronic pain.

Ready to break this vicious cycle once and for all? Try these eight weight loss tips for people with chronic pain.

1. Stop eating processed foods: Fast food, frozen dinners, and packaged snacks tend to be high in salt, saturated and trans fats, high fructose corn syrup, and artificial chemicals. These empty calories don’t satisfy your body’s nutritional needs, so steer clear of them.
2. Eat more anti-inflammatory foods: Inflammation causes many types of chronic pain. Help your body fight inflammation naturally by eating more fruits and vegetables, whole grains, lean protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and spices like ginger and turmeric.
3. Stay hydrated: Replace all soda, fruit juice, energy drinks, and alcohol in your diet with water and herbal tea. Both are excellent for improving hydration, which you need for good physical and mental health. Herbal tea offers added benefits, including antioxidants, anti-inflammatory properties, and calming effects.
4. Improve your health with nutritional IV therapy: If your body doesn’t get the nutrients it needs through diet alone, try supplementing it with a nutritional IV drip. When combined with the other lifestyle improvements, this treatment can increase your energy levels and improve your mood—just what you need to start exercising.
5. Try low-impact exercises: Being sedentary is not a long-term solution to chronic pain. Incorporate whatever movement you can into your day, whether it’s a slow-paced walk around the block, gentle yoga stretches, or balance training. Aquatic exercises are also beneficial because the water supports much of your weight.
6. Visit the chiropractor: The key to exercising with chronic pain is to first treat the underlying cause of your pain. Chiropractic care is excellent at this. It’s a safe, drug-free, non-invasive way to relieve everything from back pain and sciatica to auto accidents and sports injuries.
7. Seek medical pain relief: Another pain treatment option involves using natural, plant-based injections to treat arthritis, joint pain, and muscle spasms. With your pain under control, you’ll be better able to exercise and lose weight.
8. Try a medical weight loss program: Need help getting your exercise goals off the ground? Medical weight loss can help. With a doctor’s supervision and guidance, you can customize a plan to help you reach your ideal weight quickly and safely.

The team at Effective Integrative Healthcare is here to relieve your chronic pain and help you lose weight—naturally! We offer a range of holistic treatments, each backed by scientific findings and administered by medical practitioners. If you’re ready to begin your weight loss journey, please contact our Crofton or Millersville, MD office and schedule your free consultation today.