weight loss and accountability

One of the reasons that people lose weight in a medically supervised program is the accountability that people feel. While in a program, once a week the person needs to get on a scale in front of a medical professional. This produces a psychological motivation to be successful in losing weight, as there is some sort of desire not to "disappoint" the medical practitioner. Clearly, in reality, you are the one paying the physician for your visits, and presumably, the physician and staff do not feel disappointment at all if your weight does not come down aggressively. Rather, the medical staff tries to figure out how the weight loss could be more aggressive. However, when someone weighs him/herself at home, there is no one else to see the results. Pressure is off.

How can we, the Serotonin-Plus staff, keep that motivation going after your formal visits are complete? As much as we tell you there is no "finish line" when it comes to your efforts to lose weight, often when people leave their formal visits, a finish line is perceived and slowly the person starts returning to the old behaviors that caused the weight problem to begin wth.

I strongly suggest that when you leave your formal visits, you still schedule a once a month visit to our office to get the INBODY scan perfomred. This will cost you NOTHING. Put this in your schedule as an appointment similar to when you had your fromal visits here. Do not miss that "appointment". JUst show up, tell the front staff you want a body composition test, and we will be happy to do this for you. No charge. If you see a weight gain over 5 pounds that occurred since your last visit, we can then have you stay for a formal appointment with us. We will provide one week of medication, get you refocused and motivated and those 5 pounds will take you one week to lose. This one real visit will cost you far less than another 12 week program because of a 20-30 pound gain. If the weight is remaining under control each month at the scan, then no one-time formal visit is needed....your body scan is free of course.

Perhaps the above suggestion will create a psycholgical accountability that will help you maintain the weight loss you worked so hard to achieve.