Overweight & Obesity
Overview
Simple obesity is excessive fat accumulation from energy intake exceeding expenditure, with BMI above standard and no specific endocrine cause. Chinese medicine links it to overeating rich sweet foods, sedentary habits, impaired spleen movement with internal retention of phlegm-damp and lipid turbidity, stomach heat with damp obstruction, liver constraint, or spleen-kidney yang deficiency. Sustainable diet and exercise are central; acupuncture and ear acupressure may assist.
Pattern differentiation (clinical patterns)
Internal Excess of Phlegm-Damp
Obesity with heavy tired body, chest-epigastric stuffiness, poor appetite and sleepiness, greasy or slippery white coating, slippery pulse.
Dry dampness and transform phlegm; regulate qi and disperse stuffiness.
Stomach Heat with Damp Obstruction
Polyphagia with easy hunger, solid overweight build, dry mouth and bad breath, dry stools, greasy yellow coating, slippery rapid pulse.
Clear the stomach and drain heat; transform dampness and unblock the bowel.
Connections
Daily care & prevention
Set realistic, gradual goals (for many people about 0.5–1 kg per week is sustainable). Eat a balanced calorie-controlled diet, cut sugary drinks and high-fat/high-sugar processed foods, get enough protein and vegetables, and eat slowly. Combine aerobic and resistance exercise, sleep well, and track weight and food. Acupuncture may use Tianshu (ST25), Zhongwan (CV12), Zusanli (ST36), and Fenglong (ST40), with ear points as an adjunct.
When to seek medical care
Do not self-use laxatives, extreme diets, or unregulated weight-loss drugs. Seek evaluation for marked edema, menstrual irregularity, rapid unexplained weight gain, or palpitations, fainting, or disordered-eating tendencies during weight loss.