More and more Women are using acupuncture to lose weight. In traditional Chinese medicine, doctors believe that the overweight patients can be divided into deficiency and excess.

This excess cholesterol is due to overeating fatty foods or excessive consumption of alcohol. All of these can result in accumulation of fat. When overweight people have excessive phlegm and dampness, it means that their fat is producing phlegm and dampness which may turn into heat. This type of deficiency is referred to as spleen Qi deficiency, or kidney Qi deficiency. Qi deficiency leads to excess of yin and yin control the body. Fat people are usually deficient in Qi.

In a word, obesity is related to the hypofunction of the spleen and stomach. In addition, there are also congenital causes and natural obesity.

1. Excess of the Spleen and Stomach (Simple Obesity)
Main manifestations:
·Fat especially over the lumbar area
·Fat from an early age or with strong muscles
Accompanying symptoms and signs:
·Strong desire for food, excessive eating
· Flushed face, sweating and aversion to heat
·Fullness of abdomen and constipation
Tongue and pulse diagnosis:
·Normal or slightly red tongue with thin yellowish coating
·Forceful and slippery pulse

2. Spleen Deficiency and Excessive Dampness (Secondary Obesity)
Main manifestations:
·Obvious obesity in the face，neck and abdomen
· Loose muscles
Accompanying symptoms and signs:
·Pale face, aversion to cold
·Tiredness and weak extremities, sleeps excessively
·Anorexia, abdominal fullness,constipation
·Shortness of breath during exertion, slight edema.
Tongue and pulse diagnosis:
·Pale tongue with thin and white coating
·Deep, thready and slow pulse.

3. Primary Qi Deficiency
Main manifestations:
·Obesity with obvious fat in glutaea
·Loose leg muscles.
Accompanying symptoms and signs:
·Tiredness, desire to be quiet and aversion to movement
·Pale complexion, aversion to cold
·Normal or poor appetite,
·Shortness of breath when moving, scanty urine and edema.
·Female patients can have these symptoms before or after menstrual cycle.
Tongue and pulse diagnosis:
·Pale tongue with idented margins,thin and white coating
·Deep thready and slow pulse

Acupuncture Treatment

1. Deficiency Syndrome (No.2 and No.3 Above-mentioned Differentiation)
Treatment principle:
·Reinforcing Qi and resolving dampness
·Invigorating the spleen and nourishing the kidney
Acupoint selection:
Pishu (BL 20), Weishu (BL 21),Shenshu (BL 23), Zusanli (ST 36), Qihai (CV 6),Guanyuan (CV 4), Sanyinjiao (SP 6), Taixi (KI 3),Yinlingquan (SP 9).
Explanation:
·Pishu, Weishu and Zusanli are used to improve the stomach and invigorate the spleen to remove dampness and phlegm.
·Shenshu, Qihai, Guanyuan and Weishu are used to warm the kidney, reinforce the kidney Yang to invigorate the spleen.
·Sanyinjiao, Taixi and Yinlingquan are used to eliminate water and dampness.
·Zhongwan and Daheng can be used to treat abdominal fullness and anorexia.
·Baihui can be used to treat sleepiness and a heavy feeling in the head.
Method:
·Puncture Pishu and Weishu obliquely downward 1.5 cun.
·Puncture Zusanli, Qihai and Yinlingquan perpendicularly 1.5 cun.
·Puncture Guanyuan, Sanyinjiao and Taixi perpendicularly 1.0 cun.
·Apply the reinforcing method with warm needles. Leave the needles for 30 minutes.

2. Excess Syndrome.(No.1 Above-mentioned Differentiation)
Treatment principle:
·Resolving stagnation and reducing phlegm
·Clearing and quenching fire.
Acupoint selection:
Hegu (LI 4), Neiting (ST 44),Quchi (LI 11), Weishu (BL 21 ), Pishu (BL 20), Zhongwan (CV 12), Tianshu (ST 25), Shuidao (ST 28), Fenglong (ST 40), Yinlingquan (SP 9)
Explanation:
·Hegu, Neiting and Quchi can be used together to clear away the fire of Yangming meridian, inhibit hyperfunction of the stomach and intestine.
·Pishu, Weishu, Zhongwan and Tianshu can be used to eliminate stagnation in the stomach and intestine.
·Shuidao, Zhongwan and Tianshu can be used to resolve turbid phlegm.
·Add Zhigou (TE 6) for constipation, Liangqiu(ST 34) for hunger, and Yanglingquan and Taichong (LR 3) for liver-Qi stagnation.
Method:
·Puncture Hegu, Neiting and Quchi perpendicularly 1.0 cun.
·Puncture Pishu and Weishu obliquely downward 1.0 cun.
·Puncture Shuidao, Fenglong and Yinlingquan perpendicularly 1.5 cun.
·Apply the reducing method with strong stimulation. Leave the needles for 20 minutes. Give strong stimulation again when the needles are left.

Ear Acupuncture
·Otopoint：Lung, Large Intestine, Triple Energy, Hunger point, Thirst point.
·Method: Put Wangbuliuxing (Semen Vaccariae) on these points and fix them with plaster, then press them .Change the seeds every 3 days. Two months constitute one course of treatment.

Notes
·In addition to herbal and acupuncture treatment, exercise and healthy diet are also important. Exercise is the most important way to treat obesity.
·In recent years, doctors have begun using ear acupuncture to treat obesity because it is quite convenient. Stimulation of the ear points may lead to a change in the Hunger point, and may control the appetite, reduce the appetite, reduce food absorption and reduce fat.