Weight Loss and Why Your Doctor may never help you
I was talking to one of the doctors on our team last night and asked the question on how it would be best to introduce a weight loss program to a doctor who had not seen it before. What I found may surprise you a bit.
I was told that it is close to impossible to get into a doctor’s office these days. That it didn’t even matter if you where a pharmaceutical rep, you would probably not get in unless you knew them personally. She suggested that our doctors are very busy people and they don’t like to be sold to. I said then how do they find out about programs or new therapies that may assist their patient care? Answer: They either read about it or get curious themselves or hear it from a patient or another doctor.
I had asked this question because we found out in Seattle that the doctors where very hard to get into their offices. Now the ones we did get into already knew the nurse that I was working with and readily admitted they did not have a weight loss solution for their patients. For instance they told us that the average OB/GYN patient having a baby put on more than 50 extra lbs per pregnancy and often that 50 lbs was still there when they became pregnant with baby number two and added even more weight.
So what advice does the medical profession offer? Eat less, exercise more. Or surgery is the other option. Then even with surgery you need to go directly to a bariatric clinic to have that offered because your family doctor most likely will not offer that solution either (mine certainly didn't even with a BMI of 43). Very few offer any kind of program for lifestyle change and weight loss coaching what so ever. That is why we do what we do. My personal experience was that my doctor never offered me any real solution except medications. Those very same medications had side effects that may help my blood pressure but they would also most likely slow my weight loss attempts even further.
What is a person to do? When they go looking there is all kinds of snake oil and potions. How are they to know? Doctors say eat less. Physical trainers say you can work it off. Then there is the lap bands and gastric bypass solutions. But no one offers a planed program that gets the weight off quickly and easily. Heck no wonder it took me over 20 years to find a solution to my weight even though it has been available for nearly 30 years.
Down 94 lbs and in better shape than I have been in 30 years and it took me less than 7 months to do it. No surgery, no diet pills, and now with the weight off I can concentrate on physical training and continue to improve my longevity and optimize my health. Is your doctor giving you an answer on what to do with your health or are they just giving you another pill? Share your story with me, I would like to know. Have questions about how to have your doctor help you? Just ask I have the information that if really looked at will show them how effective our program is.
Contact us now if you want more information we love to help new people reach their goals.
I was told that it is close to impossible to get into a doctor’s office these days. That it didn’t even matter if you where a pharmaceutical rep, you would probably not get in unless you knew them personally. She suggested that our doctors are very busy people and they don’t like to be sold to. I said then how do they find out about programs or new therapies that may assist their patient care? Answer: They either read about it or get curious themselves or hear it from a patient or another doctor.
I had asked this question because we found out in Seattle that the doctors where very hard to get into their offices. Now the ones we did get into already knew the nurse that I was working with and readily admitted they did not have a weight loss solution for their patients. For instance they told us that the average OB/GYN patient having a baby put on more than 50 extra lbs per pregnancy and often that 50 lbs was still there when they became pregnant with baby number two and added even more weight.
So what advice does the medical profession offer? Eat less, exercise more. Or surgery is the other option. Then even with surgery you need to go directly to a bariatric clinic to have that offered because your family doctor most likely will not offer that solution either (mine certainly didn't even with a BMI of 43). Very few offer any kind of program for lifestyle change and weight loss coaching what so ever. That is why we do what we do. My personal experience was that my doctor never offered me any real solution except medications. Those very same medications had side effects that may help my blood pressure but they would also most likely slow my weight loss attempts even further.
What is a person to do? When they go looking there is all kinds of snake oil and potions. How are they to know? Doctors say eat less. Physical trainers say you can work it off. Then there is the lap bands and gastric bypass solutions. But no one offers a planed program that gets the weight off quickly and easily. Heck no wonder it took me over 20 years to find a solution to my weight even though it has been available for nearly 30 years.
Down 94 lbs and in better shape than I have been in 30 years and it took me less than 7 months to do it. No surgery, no diet pills, and now with the weight off I can concentrate on physical training and continue to improve my longevity and optimize my health. Is your doctor giving you an answer on what to do with your health or are they just giving you another pill? Share your story with me, I would like to know. Have questions about how to have your doctor help you? Just ask I have the information that if really looked at will show them how effective our program is.
Contact us now if you want more information we love to help new people reach their goals.
Tags: coach, obesity, doctors, exercise, health, lose, loss, morbidly, obese, physical
Add a Comment
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Comment by Rick Dorey on May 29, 2009 at 11:48am -
Great response and questions.
Although I agree that doctors are busy and like the rest of us they have a limited amount of time, I still think that we have to change the way they look at patient care. My hope would be that they start to look more at preventative medicine. Know that there is even articles now coming out during this move on health care that suggest that a doctor who does not take that time to cover an entire history may be liable for malpractice.
I don't believe that doctors are be overly liberal with the offer of surgery either. I am working with a local bariatric group here that is very careful and specific in the way they handle preparing people for surgery. I just know that they also shared that general practice doctors are very reluctant to suggest a surgical option even with the morbidly obese whose lives are at great risk if they don't loose the weight.
I am in the industry of assisting people with coaching for behavioral change and weight loss towards optimal health and longevity. No smoke an mirrors just research proven techniques and methods. However given the epidemic size of the problem of obesity and the common belief that if it doesn't come from their doctor it must be snake oil and patches, we do work towards bringing the medical profession on board.
We are in a quick fix society. Many people want the easy way out of bad personal choices. They choose to blame social conditions rather then personal responsibility. At the same time there are people that struggle to find something they can trust to solve their problems as well. I know I was one of them. I was just a short step away from going in to find out what my surgery options where as I thought I had tried everything.
So would my industry suffer, not until long after I am gone I think. And if in the long run people lived happier/healthier lives then it would be all worth it. You see yes I do make a living at helping people but that was not the main motivation, I wanted to find those people that where scared to death their weight was going to kill them (like I was) and help them solve that struggle once and for all.
I don't blame doctors for peoples choices, I just am going to search for the way to get them on board to solve the problem. We need them, we need health insurance to back legitimate weight loss programs, and we need programs that help educate people more on the costs of obesity. All that said though we still need to help people like themselves enough to take their own responsibility for their health for any of it to work.
Thanks Amanda for your consideration and in depth response. It helps to hear that at least it got someone else thinking today! :=)
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Comment by amanda on May 29, 2009 at 11:15am -
Rick,
Interesting post. I think you brought up some points that many of us might not have considered. I know when I think of doctors, I tend to hope they are up on the latest and the greatest techniques. But I suppose that depends on their access to new information and their ability to test it out. Both of which seem very dependent on time available. (And with the way healthcare are right now - I'm not sure time is something they have.)
I wonder if some doctors have given up on weight loss advice - not necessarily because they are behind the times - but because they are often ignored or because they aren't being asked about it. I would be curious to find out how many patients flat out ask their doctor - "I'd like to lose weight, what should I do?"
In a time when "weight loss" as an idea is always thrust into our lives via every medium (listen to passersby - they're always talking about diets, going to the gym, or feeling fat) - it's difficult to take all of the hype seriously. There are millions of pills, regimens, exercises, etc that promise weight loss - it's overwhelming. Perhaps patients feel they can get information elsewhere and don't even bother asking their doctor for weight loss tips any more? Also - asking doctors about weight loss advice would involve admitting all of the unhealthy things that people do to someone that might 'judge' them.
And conversely - doctors do not have the time to research every new idea. I'm guessing they simply cannot afford to give the efforts to researching and testing all of the promised weight loss programs. Personally, I would actually prefer that they focus on patient care and diagnoses than chasing the news. The idea that they are broken records saying: eat less, exercise more - makes sense, right? It's the most ancient/pure regimen.
I'm a little hesitant to believe that doctors are being overly liberal with their offering of weight loss surgery. I'm not sure, of course - but I'd assume that doctors would recommend everything else before they would suggest such a huge, invasive procedure. What I've heard is that patients often beg or demand the surgery, thinking it's a quick fix. (Of course, it is quite the opposite - and involves a lot more effort than some may think.) Perhaps when doctors are asked, they mention all of the options and gastric bypass seems like the most appealing choice because it seems the most effective. I think people are very trusting of surgery because it is so complicated and permanent - they may think that it will be a sure weight loss solution. I would be more likely to blame patients for the rise in surgery than doctors.
But maybe you are right and doctors should be trying to offer more comprehensive advice. It would involve taking another entire history of the patient (what diets/regimens have you tried, etc.) and then working with them on an individual basis - right? Isn't everybody's body different? How much effort would this be for doctors? In addition - there is an entire industry dedicated to health/weight loss coaching etc. An industry, that I think (correct me if I'm wrong) you are actually a part of. Wouldn't your industry suffer if doctors started offering health advice? Or does your industry market specifically to doctors?
Either way - thought-provoking ideas. Thanks.
-Amanda
© 2009 Created by Marie
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