Weight Loss and Discretionary Spending

I had a patient yesterday tell me something that made me kind of stop in my tracks yesterday. As a primary care physician, there is very little that someone can tell me that would make me pause wordless for a bit. In my role as a family physician for now over 24 years, I have heard many stories that would be considered "shocking" to most laypeople, but yet, my role is to be completely non-judgemental, provide sound medcial/psychological insights, and help the person through their medical or psychological crisis.

Okay, back to the story, which will not be shocking, so sorry for those readers out there who are now waiting with baited anticipation. Anyway, a very nice nurse patient in our weight loss program, told me in the course of our visit: "Dr. Posner, you were my birthday present and mother's day present". I guess I have been to Las Vegas once too often, so this initially sounded like some sort of Vegas-ian (new adjective coined by Posner) themed movie script. Quickly however, she laughed and explained that as opposed to her spending money on a clothes outfit, vacation, jewelry, or other, she elected to spend the money on our weight loss program. She was not happy with her aesthetic look, felt low energy, didn't like how she looked in her clothes, and noticed her blood pressure creeping higher. She then made the decision to spend the monies she would have spent on "pleasurable" things on our program instead.

This anecdote gave me a somewhat different perspective on how some people view making a decision to get some jump-start help in losing weight. Making your self healthier and happier with your appearance is probably one of the best expenditures one can make on themselves. Being healthier and looking more fit will allow you to have much greater fun on your vacations, take different types of vacations,allow you to feel a boost in self-esteem and pride, make you want to be around others, etc. So, if any of your loved ones are experiencing weight issues and their health or psychological condition is faltering because of that, suggest that Dr. Posner be their present to themselves! (And I am NOT available on E-Bay!)