B12 Injections and Weight Loss

Losing weight is a big goal for lots of people, especially around the beginning of the year. In fact, living a healthier life and shedding excess pounds tops many people’s New Year’s resolutions. 

Unfortunately, it takes a lot more than promises and best intentions to successfully lose weight. And most diet and exercise plans just aren’t designed to help individual women and men lose weight and keep it off for the long term.

At Jersey Integrative Health and Wellness in Pompton Plains, Boonton, and Jersey City, New Jersey, we help jump-start and optimize weight loss by addressing underlying issues that could be standing in the way of your efforts. In addition to custom eating plans, our team offers vitamin B12 shots to help every patient’s weight-loss journey be more effective. Here’s how B12 could help you finally lose that extra weight.

The science behind vitamin B12

Vitamin B12 is critically important for your health and wellness, playing a key role in the development of red blood cells, nerves, and DNA. Without enough vitamin B12, you could develop chronic pain, numbness, memory problems, incontinence, and depression, among other symptoms.

That’s not all. Vitamin B12 also plays a key role in cellular metabolism — the process your cells use to extract and process the nutrients they need to function normally. Without enough vitamin B12, your metabolism may slow down, so you don’t burn as many calories, and that can make it lots harder to lose weight. 

Low levels of vitamin B12 can also make you feel more tired, so it’s harder to get the exercise that can help you shed pounds. Many people with vitamin B12 deficiencies find they have low levels of energy that can lead to symptoms of chronic fatigue.

Ramping up your B12

We get some vitamin B12 naturally through the foods we eat. However, B12 is found almost exclusively in animal-based products, like meat, fish, dairy, and eggs. If you eat a plant-based diet, fortified cereals and some types of plant milk will likely be your only dietary source of vitamin B12. Even if you eat animal-based foods, some medical conditions and medications can interfere with your body’s ability to absorb enough vitamin B12, which means you can still be deficient. 

Many people think they can increase their levels of B12 with vitamin pills. The problem is, these vitamins need to pass through your digestive tract, and very little of the vitamin may wind up getting absorbed. If vitamin B12 isn’t absorbed, then it’s not available for your cells — and it won’t have any effect on your cellular metabolism, either.

Of course, you’ll get the most benefits from vitamin B12 (or any vitamin, for that matter) if you already have low levels of this important vitamin. As it turns out, vitamin B12 deficiency is not uncommon, and it gets more common as we get older. 

Vitamin B12 injections work differently. Injections deliver precise amounts of the vitamin directly to your bloodstream, bypassing the digestive tract so your body doesn’t rely on absorption through the gut lining. That means your body has “direct access” to vitamin B12, for optimized cellular metabolism and increased overall energy.

Hit your weight-loss goals this year

Being overweight takes a big toll on your self-confidence, and it also increases your risks for serious medical problems, like type 2 diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, and even some types of cancer. Losing weight is one of the smartest moves you can make for your overall quality of life.

At Jersey Integrative Health and Wellness, we use vitamin B12 injections as part of a comprehensive weight-loss plan, and we can tailor the dosage of the injections to suit each patient’s unique weight-loss needs and goals.

To learn more about our customs eight-loss programs, vitamin B12 injections, and other methods to help you manage your weight, call our office in Pompton Plains, Boonton, or Jersey City, or use our online form to schedule a consultation today.