In France, the management of excess weight is no longer limited to calorie intake alone. The French National Authority for Health (HAS) recommends assessing each person’s overall situation, taking into account medical consequences, psychological health, eating habits and weight changes over time. This multifactorial approach redefines what it actually means to “slim down” outside the framework of a restrictive diet.
Anti-obesity medications: what the ANSM warns about regarding misuse
GLP-1 analogues, including Ozempic, have received increased media attention in recent years. The ANSM reminds patients that these medications must be prescribed and monitored by a doctor. Using them independently, without medical supervision, can lead to serious complications.
These treatments are not shortcuts to slimming down: they are part of a structured medical care pathway, reserved for specific clinical situations.
This pharmacological reality should be acknowledged before offering any dietary or exercise advice. Trying to slim down with unsupervised medication means ignoring the physiological mechanisms one is supposedly trying to correct. To explore the different approaches to weight loss and the principles behind them, the Dr Hackney website on slimming outlines several complementary strategies.
Balanced eating and slimming: moving beyond restriction
Most competitors publish lists of “allowed” and “forbidden” foods. This binary approach does not reflect current recommendations. The HAS advises addressing eating habits as a whole, not just what is on the plate.
The satiety signal: an underestimated tool
Eating slowly in a calm environment gives the body time to signal that it is full. This signal takes around 20 minutes to appear after a meal begins. Eating too quickly does not give this mechanism enough time to work, which can lead to eating more without actually feeling hungry.
Respecting your hunger and fullness cues is a more sustainable approach than counting calories. This means relearning to distinguish physical hunger from the urge to eat triggered by stress, boredom or habit.
Rethinking how you put meals together
Rather than drawing up an ideal shopping list, a few guiding principles are enough:
- Choose fruit, vegetables and minimally processed foods at every meal, varying colours and textures to provide a broad range of micronutrients.
- Do not skip meals: regular mealtimes help limit episodes of compulsive snacking and keep blood sugar levels stable throughout the day.
- Drink water regularly, including between meals, as thirst can sometimes be mistaken for hunger.
- Gradually cut back on ultra-processed foods rather than eliminating them abruptly, to avoid the psychological frustration that can trigger a rebound effect.
The goal is not to eat less, but to eat an amount suited to the body’s actual needs.
Physical activity and weight loss: why strength training makes a difference
Standard advice often boils down to recommending “more walking” or “cardio”. The HAS recommendations on prescribing physical activity for people with excess weight go further: they highlight the benefits of combining endurance exercise with strength training, gradually and according to each person’s abilities.
Strength training increases lean body mass, which affects basal metabolism. A body with more muscle uses more energy at rest. This factor is often overlooked in mainstream slimming programmes, which focus exclusively on immediate calorie expenditure.
Combining endurance exercise with strength training produces more lasting results than doing only intensive cardiovascular exercise. Gradual progression is key: increasing frequency and intensity step by step, according to what you can tolerate, helps prevent injuries and loss of motivation.
Sleep and weight management: a documented link that is rarely addressed
Professional recommendations for obesity care advise screening for sleep disorders, alongside psychological difficulties and eating disorders. This is explicitly included in the guidelines for specialist obesity centres.
Insufficient or poor-quality sleep disrupts hunger hormones. Ghrelin (the hormone that stimulates appetite) increases when you get too little sleep, while leptin (the satiety hormone) decreases. This hormonal imbalance can lead you to eat more, particularly fatty and sugary foods.
Adopting a more balanced lifestyle without addressing sleep quality means overlooking a direct physiological factor. A few practical adjustments can help: keep regular bedtimes, limit exposure to bright screens in the evening and reduce caffeine intake after mid-afternoon.
Care pathways and support: when to consult a professional
The HAS provides for care pathways of varying complexity depending on the situation. Follow-up with a GP may be enough for moderate excess weight without complications. For more complex situations (severe obesity, eating disorders or functional consequences), multidisciplinary support is recommended.
Sustainable weight loss depends on support tailored to the person’s overall situation, not on a single method applied to everyone. This may seem obvious, but it directly contradicts the standardised programmes sold online.
Consulting a healthcare professional can also help rule out possible medical causes of weight gain (hypothyroidism, polycystic ovary syndrome or side effects of certain medications). Ignoring these causes can lead to dietary and exercise efforts that produce no results, fuelling discouragement and excessive restrictive behaviours.
Losing weight and keeping it off is a long-term process. Current recommendations point towards a comprehensive approach in which nutrition, physical activity, sleep and medical follow-up work together. None of these factors works in isolation, and no pharmacological shortcut can replace this sustained effort.
