The first step in addressing any health-related problem is a thorough assessment to understand what’s going on. For example, when you go to the doctor with a fever, rather than just blindly prescribe a medicine, he/she does a full assessment to understand the cause of the fever and treat it appropriately.

This is why the first phase of weight management is assessment and evaluation.  This phase is particularly important because one-size-fits-all solutions just don’t work. We want to learn about what contributes to your weight, and how to build an individualized program that works for you.

During this process, we are able to:

• Get to know each other. We want you to feel comfortable with us and we want to get to know you. We try to learn about who you are, your place in life, your goals, your health, your strengths, your worries, and so forth.
• Learn about your health and weight.  Learning about the ups and downs of your weight over time, we build an understanding of the particular factors and “root causes” that contribute to your weight gains. We want to learn what contributes to your difficulty with managing weight, so that we can help you address it for the long term.
• Learn about your knowledge, skills, patterns, motivations, and other factors that play in to weight management and wellness. By understanding where you stand, we can build a responsible, achievable, and individualized path forward, specifically for you.

This is an essential opportunity to build a strategic and individualized plan.  The biggest mistake and misconception that we’re all told is that there is a “magic” treatment out there – i.e., something that fits everyone perfectly.  There isn’t. Rather, there are many effective treatments; some work well for one person but not for others, and vice-versa.  We want to figure out what type(s) of treatments might be most appropriate, effective, and acceptable to YOU.

This process of understanding you as a unique individual is ongoing, but this formal assessment process is usually completed within 3-5 sessions (2-4 weeks), on your terms and within your schedule.  This may include one-on-one sessions with a physician, a behavioral health specialist, a dietitian, and an exercise specialist, depending on your circumstances and preferences.

At the end of this phase, you will be presented with a detailed report that includes your history, laboratory results, and a comprehensive description of what contributes to your weight/health difficulties, and a plan for moving forward. This report is customized for you based on our detailed assessment. It will also contain numerous resources that may be useful for you.

We will help you incorporate these findings into your life to build an effective and sustainable path to address your weight and health over the long term.

To learn more, come in for a FREE information session.

To learn about the Phase 2, click here.