Weight Loss Specialist

What makes a medical weight-loss program different than other plans?

South Sound Preventive Medicine offers a weight-loss program that’s based in medical science, not fads or fad dieting. It delves much deeper into the mechanisms affecting weight loss than the conventional and reductive “eat less and exercise more” approach.

Each person is unique, and weight loss strategies that work for one person may not work for another.  Effective weight-loss programs are not “one-size fits all.”

Do I need to see a doctor to lose weight?

Obesity is not a personal failure or lack of willpower.  Obesity is not simply an increase in body fat weight.  Obesity is a chronic medical disease that affects all bodily systems and brings with it life-threatening complications, including:

• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Heart Disease
• Stroke
• Cancer
• Sleep Apnea

In addition, being overweight or obese can negatively affect your emotional and psychological health, your sleep, and your relationships. Because it’s a chronic medical condition, obesity requires a long-term medical solution—not another fad diet.

Scientific research shows us that fat cells are like glands, producing hormones and other substances that affect bodily functions. These biochemicals increase inflammation, which causes physical pain, zaps your energy and increases your risk of disease.

At South Sound Preventive Medicine, we take into account the latest research when devising a weight-loss plan for you.  

What is involved in a medical weight-loss program?

A customized weight-loss plan is designed with your unique medical, familial, and psychological history in mind. To understand your needs, you first undergo a thorough medical workup, which includes a medical history and physical exam, lab testing, and body composition measurements.  In certain cases, we will also order an EKG (a heart tracing) or we may recommend consultation with other specialists.

At South Sound Preventive Medicine, we offer leading-edge nutrition guidance as well as medications to help control your appetite or to rebalance metabolism.  You are monitored closely when taking these medications to make sure you experience no adverse side effects.  

Once you’ve lost the weight, South Sound Preventive Medicine is available to help you keep the excess weight off, which is paramount to achieving long-term health. 

How successful is this process? 

A better question is “How do I define success?”  If you define success as “x” number of pounds lost in “x” number of months, you might want to reconsider your definition of success! How many fad diets are out there that make such promises?  We believe this measure of success is misguided and does not get at the core issues surrounding this disease.  Think about it: how many times have you lost “x” number of pounds in “x” number of months by depriving yourself as you followed some sort of calorie-restrictive diet?  What happens when you are sick and tired of all of the deprivation and you give up in frustration?  How many more times are you willing to do suffer such pain and discouragement?

The truth is, those with obesity do not have a weight problem.  This is a disease.  And as such, there is a better way of measuring success than measuring a number on a scale. Consider these measures instead:

• Do I have more energy?
• Do I look forward to my day, feeling refreshed and energized?
• Do my joints feel better?
• Do I sleep well?
• Can I think clearly throughout the day?
• Do I look natural or do I look “puffy” and bloated?
• Is my body free to move in the ways I want it to do?
• Can I do the things I want to do?
• Have I overcome cravings for sugar, alcohol and junk food?
• Have I come to make my health my most important priority, recognizing that without my health I can’t enjoy anything else?

These are much more important measures of success than “x” number of pounds in “x” number of months, wouldn’t you agree?