Dr. Thomas J. Lane
Director of the Weigh Your Options,
The Hospital of Central Connecticut
Just as the clock ticks midnight on Jan. 1, resolutions are made to achieve personal goals or make lifestyle changes. A great number of resolutions are made, and broken, that revolve around weight loss.
If losing weight was as simple as “eat less, move more,” many of us would be at an ideal size. It is much more complex.
Obesity is a complicated medical problem, with many factors playing a part. Impacting more than one third of Americans, obesity can lead to heart disease, high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, arthritis, sleep apnea, stroke and other complications.
So, what is considered obese? Body mass index (BMI) is a measurement of height combined with weight. When your BMI exceeds 30 percent, you are considered obese.
Weight is gained when you consume more calories than you burn off. How you eat, what you eat and how active you are affects how your body uses calories and whether you gain weight. There are additional contributing factors.
If your family members are obese, you may have inherited a tendency to gain weight. Your family’s lifestyle and dietary habits can also contribute to obesity.
Busy lifestyles make it harder to plan and prepare healthy meals. The convenience of fast food, restaurant dining and prepared foods is sometimes too easy to pass up. But these foods come with a price, as they are often portioned too large, and are high in calories, refined sugars and saturated fats.
With work schedules and demands on our time, it may seem difficult to fit in regular exercise.
While making changes with diet, exercise, and self-management works for some people, others need accountability, guidance, and assistance to make a successful and lifelong change.
The Weigh Your Options weight loss program, presented by the Center for Metabolic Health at The Hospital of Central Connecticut, offers a variety of weight loss programs. These include very low calorie food plans and medical nutrition therapy counseling. During an initial information session, attendees learn about medical weight loss options:
- CORE – 1,200 calories or more meal plan, group education
- Take Off – less than 900 calories meal plan, group education
- On Track – maintenance/support class
These plans provide evidence-based clinical care to patients with obesity by using nutrition counseling, exercise counseling, and pharmacotherapy. Patients receive an in-depth personal assessment to evaluate the source of their weight-related issues.
A multidisciplinary team works with each patient to create an individualized care plan, addressing barriers to weight loss, medication-induced weight gain and binging behaviors. The program is tailored for patients with weight regain or weight plateau after bariatric surgery and patients with multiple chronic diseases who are interested in behavioral strategies and anti-obesity medications.
Once a plan has been designed, patients receive the proper tools and resources to successfully lose weight. Counseling, support, and regular evaluations guide patients on the path to success and better health.
What better way to start 2020 than with a plan to live a longer, healthier life?
Learn more about the Weigh Your Options weight loss program at a free informational session on Jan. 23. To register, click here.
For details about the program and future sessions, visit Whatwillyougain.org.
Dr. Thomas J. Lane is Director of the Weigh Your Options weight loss program at The Hospital of Central Connecticut.