Weight Loss

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The initial consult for the weight loss clinic involves a focused medical evaluation for diseases related to obesity and causative factors, along with a physical examination. In addition, the medical professional will obtain a weight history, which includes past diet attempts, and may conduct a thorough psychological history.

Many patients come to the clinic with undiagnosed diabetes, high cholesterol, thyroid disorders, abnormal liver tests or obstructive sleep apnea. Additional testing may be recommended depending upon the medical history and physical findings.

Overall, the physician management of obesity may include:

• Behavior Modifications (diet and exercise)
• Pharmacotherapy (weight-loss medications)

Diet and exercise are often the front-line of defense when it comes to weight-loss, and most individuals affected by obesity do struggle with this; however, diet and exercise should be the first place for you to start. Regardless of treatment choice, lifestyle modification through diet and exercise is essential to the success of any weight-loss program.

Diet

It seems simple, right? We just need to control the calories that we consume. Unfortunately, deprivation from foods we are used to eating is difficult to accept by our bodies and minds. In addition, when dieting, the body reacts very quickly by activating compensatory mechanisms that increase appetite and slow metabolism. This makes dieting even harder. As a result, the weight-loss achieved by diet alone is about 5 percent of total body weight.

Dieting today is not what “dieting” was 10 or 15 years ago. With the integration of technology, you can easily log your daily caloric intake and keep track of what you eat. There’s even a mobile app that allows you to take a picture of your food and it will tell you how many calories are in it!

Physical Activity

Physical activity is an important addition to diet, as it boosts metabolism and increases weight-loss. Physical activity is particularly important in helping to maintain weight-loss long-term.

There are many tools available to help you find the right exercise for you. From smartphone apps to full-service fitness centers equipped with all the bells and whistles, you can easily make exercise a part of your daily routine. Start slow by simply going for a walk each day and build up to more intense exercises such as jogging, swimming, biking, weight lifting and more.

Although everyone is hopeful for a fast and easy way to lose weight, nothing has been shown to replace a prudent, calorie-controlled diet along with behavior modification and an increase in physical activity as a cornerstone for all obesity treatments. Other options, such as the use of weight-loss medications, can be considered if weight-loss levels out at a still unacceptable range or if medical problems are not adequately controlled.

The next tool that can be used to achieve weight-loss and health improvement is medication. Medical Weight Management may be offered to individuals affected by obesity who have failed to achieve weight-loss through diet and exercise alone.

Currently there are several medications that are approved by the FDA for weight-loss:

• phentermine products (Adipex-P® or Lomaira®)
• orlistat (Xenical® or alli®)
• naltrexone HCI AND bupropion HCI (CONTRAVE®)
• phentermine- topiramate ER (Qsymia®)
• liraglutide injection (Saxenda®)

Patients are given the opportunity to revisit a topic or obtain more information on an area of interest during follow-up visits. The frequency of and interval between follow-up visits is determined on a patient-by-patient basis. Frequent visits (every 3 to 4 weeks) are encouraged until initial weight-loss goals (5 to 10 percent of body weight) are achieved. At that point, less frequent visits are typically scheduled as needed for individual patients. However, since obesity is considered a chronic life-long problem for many individuals, periodic continual follow-up is recommended.

The best weight-loss results are achieved with a comprehensive program involving physicians, dietitians and behavioral specialists providing individual guidance and treatment. Most importantly, the major weight-loss benefit is the improvement of diseases caused by obesity. Although weight-loss achieved by diet, exercise and medications seems modest, research has shown that weight-loss as low as 5 percent of initial body weight can lead to favorable improvements in blood pressure, cholesterol, glucose levels and insulin sensitivity. The risk of developing heart disease is reduced the most in patients who have impaired glucose tolerance, type 2 diabetes or high blood pressure. Moreover, this beneficial effect can be carried on for many years after losing weight.

Unfortunately, Scott Medical Solutions is unable to accept any health insurance plans for the weight loss program, as most major health plans do not provide coverage. Our pricing for the program is as follows:

Initial Visit: $135.00

Follow-Up Visits: $80.00

If you have any questions, feel free to call our office to speak with our knowledgeable staff!