Weight Loss and childrens activities

Biggest health problem in America? Childhood obesity...

What do we bring or align our kids teams with ?? Donut companies and fast food places.

As parents when we are responsible for bringing snacks and drinks are we thinking at all about these childhood obesity epidemic? The answer is that we should.

If you have children at the ages that make us responsible for their eating activities we really do need to show lots of responsibility.

Please do not forget to put June 19, Saturday, 3PM on your calender for our Patient Appreciation Day/Fashion show/Book signing...really fun event scheduled!!!

weight loss and choices

I just looked at the comment posted to my entry yesterday and this motivated me to talk again about "choices"...everyday we make choices....from what we wear to what we accomplish forst at work to what we are going to do after dinner. Some of these choices are made for us...for instance, a supervisor at work may tell us exactly what needs to be done first. However, most of the choices of our nday are dictated by ourselves.

What we eat and how we decide to exercised are our choices. By initiating a weight loss effort your are choosing to be healthier, look younger, feel better in your clothes, etc. However to get there you need to make choices that involve the forfeiture of high caloric foods, alcohol and old habits. Sometimes choices in life are in fact mutually exclusive...you cannot choose to be at that ideal weight and still choose to have 2 cocktails at night. Something gotta give.

When your choices buck normal human behavior it becomes more difficult Giving up high caloric food sources is not normal human behavior.

Still to the choices that make you feel better about yourself...these are much better long-term choices.

weight loss and miracle fat removal

Well, here we go again....I was watching a Fox News segment on some "miracle" machine that targets fat and through a cold laser technology emulsifies fat. Any non-medical person would have looked at this segment and come away with the belief that this is a breakthrough technology for fat reduction and weight loss.

We must separate body contouring from weight loss. Liposuction, laser fat emulsification and other similar procedures can perhaps make SOME of the fat appear to be less, but these are NOT weight loss procedures. As a matter of fact, ethically, if a patient is above a certain body weight, liposuction should not be offered to the patient.

Let me reassure everyone that there is NO miracle weight loss fat removal procedure. To lose weight and keep that weight off requires life-style changes and behavior modification. There is no easy way around this.

Shame on Fox News for doing these segments and not having some counter opinion offered to present the reality of the situation.

weight loss and holidays

Memorial Day weekend is here....doesnt it just seem that we were digging out of huge snows???

Okay, the challenge: how to approach a holiday weekend full of barbeques, gatherings, high caloric foods, alcohol abounding etc....

FOCUS on the reasons why you want to lose the weight...those reasons are very important to you...health, clothes, looking younger, self confidence, energy etc....these reasons are very dear to you. Are these reasons more important than the temporary satisfaction we feel eating unhealthy choices? Heck yeah!

Separate the fun of being around your friends and loved ones from the ingestion of high caloric food sources. You can do one without the other.

You are choosing to be healthier, happier, look younger etc...a GREAT choice...do not let old holiday habits derail your efforts.

weight loss and focus

First, please do not forget to put Saturday, June 19 2010 3PM on your calender....we will have a really fun time at our Charity Fashion Show/Patient Appreciation Day. We are asking people to donate clothes that do not fit anymore. From professional to leisure clothes, your donations will be greatly appreciated. We will provide free snacks, great music, entertainment and of course our Fashion Show. Bobby McJeys at the National Harbor right over the Wilson Bridge near the Gaylord. YOU ALSO GET A FREE VISIT FOR SHOWING UP AND MAKING A CLOTHES DONATION!!!

I want to discuss the word "focus" as this applies to achieving and maintaining a healthy weight. The gaining of weight requires no effort or focus whatsoever....basically pay attention to everything/everyone else in your life and you will find the weight going on. To lose weight requires focus...focus on your meal planning, focus on the avoidance of the derailing food sources, focus on scheduling exercise time, etc.

How do we maintain and NOT lose focus? Writing your weight down once a week next to your scale at home will allow you to see the reality of the weight situation...either good or bad. Try to think several times a day about how much better your life would be if you lost the weight you desire. Team up with someone/others who are on a similar mission to become healthier and happier by achieving weight loss. Buy a really great outfit that would look great on you at your desired weight and ha it prominently visible in your closet.

Focus on "you". Do not allow outside forces to make you lose this focus.

Weight loss requires focus

weight loss and phentermine

Okay, Posner goes off again. This time it is against the state of Florida. We have a patient visiting there for awhile and we did a virtual phone visit with her and then tried to call a prescription for phentermine into a Florida pharmacy. No go...they wont take it down there. Highly controlled.

Okay, here is the point: Yes, phentermine is an amphetamine...a controlled substance. If abused, it can cause many problems. We are doliong out seven pills at a time...not seventy or seven hundrerd. We are using this medication in an incredibly responsible manner to help people in their efforts to lose weight. What is the nations largest bhealth concern? Amphetamine abuse or obesity? What is the cost to society of people abusing 7 pills of phentermine vs the cost to society of diabetes, heart disease, various cancers, strokes etc?

States, the givernment and insurance companies just dont get it...People need HELP in losing weight and one of the tools that can help jumpstart a persons weight loss efforts is the RESPONSIBLE usage of a prescription anorectic.

Allowing people to jumpstart their efforts motivates the person psychologically. Phentermine is just a part of a program....the other components are just as essential.

Book Signing--Fashion Show-Charity Event

Just a reminder that we have a very special day planned for Saturday, June 19 2010. We are having our Fashion Show for Charity and a book sigining of our new book The Serotonin Solution for Never Dieting Again.

This event will be held at Bobby McKeys Piano bar at the National Harbor and will start at 3PM. We ask that you bring clothes to donate if you have any that do not fit anymore or others that you want to donate. Our Fashion Show part will include patients of ours who have lost a considerabble amount of weight in the program and can now confidently wear something in front of others they never would have worn before.

Great music, free refreshments, and a FREE VISIT if you attend. Mark this date on your calender!!! Call us at 703-866-4144 if you have any questions!

weight loss and the different days of the week

Clearly there are differences in the ability to be resolve in your efforts to reach a happier and healthier weight. Mondays are probably one of the easiest because there are not that many temptations...parties, evening events, happy hours etc.

Obviously the reverse would be the case for the weekends...lots of opportunity to become involved with activities that will derail your weight loss efforts.

Try to identify the different days that do present the most challenge and crafy some strategies to negate the factors from that particular day(s) that will adversely impact on your efforts.

doctors and weight loss

Flying home now from a convention of aesthetics physicians that was held in Vegas.

So many phyicians in the field of making people look prettier and younger do not do "weight loss" as part of their practices. However, of all the things for doctors to do to help their patients look younger, getting involved with true weight loss is 'A-Number-One". What I mean by "true" weight loss is NOT subjecting people to 500 calorie a day meal plans and injections of chemicals of dubious merit. Shakes, bars and prepackaged foods are not a long-term weight loss solution.

At the convention we met a number of primary care physicians who are doing some aesthetic procedures in their offices. These physicians are coming out of the box from just treating disease states and starting to focus on prevention. Unfortunately insurance companies do not foster this type of attention because they do not pay for it and physicians, in order to stay in business cannot spend time on unreimbursed services....

All physicians should be ionvolved with helping patients lose weight. If we, as a profession , became more involved, some great strides could be made in this national epidemic.

weight loss and self esteem

There seems to be a direct correlation between weight control and self-esteem. We see this all of the time at our clinic...when someone makes substantial progress on his/her weight loss efforts, there is an astronomical rise on the self-esteem meter.

Of course we all want to lose weight for ourselves. It is usual to hear people say that "I want to lose weight for myself" but in reality, pretty much everyone does care about what other people think about them. When we are not at a weight we feel good at, we tend to also be concerned that others around us do not find us attractive or otherwise look at us with diapproval. The result of this negative cycle is a declining self-esteem.

Losing weight makes us healthier, gets us off of medications for co-morbidities, but there is a very positive effect on self-esteem that makes the weight loss even more rewarding

The Serotonin Solution to Never Dieting Again

Yesterday I saw for the first time the book that we wrote about weight loss. It is entitled: The Serotonin Solution to Never Dieting Again

This book was written by yours truly, Donna Eckenrode and Julia Yescavage. Contributing authors are Laura Balda, M.D., our national expansion Medical Director, Joyce Hair, M.D., a prominent GYN physician in Vienna, VA and Araba Sam, M.D., a prominent OB/GYN physician in our satellite center in Ft Lauderdale, Florida.

I had a chance to read the entire book as well yesterday (I am in Las Vegas at a trade show and the choice was to either read our or donate some $$$ to the Las Vegas economy and I chose the former...although I still did some of the latter as well!)

The book is a reality-based book about weight loss. No shenanigans, scams or false hopes. So many books in the weight loss genre are all about the hype...including some cutsy name that always includes the word: DIET

As you have heard from me ad nauseum (thats a great word..makes it sound that you want to puke if you hear it again) weight loss is about life-style changing NOT dieting. The book includes chapters about childhood obesity, african americans and weight issues, exercise, chemical contributions to weight control issues and a number of other topics very pertinent to weight control issues.

We will have a formal book signing event in the near future and will announce this. Until then, feel free to stop by and pick one up....I am of course prejudiced beyond belief about this, but I think it is a really good read. I dont think Oprah will put it on her book club list, but perhaps we can make it to the top ten best sellers in Burke, VA!!!

weight loss and alcohol

I know I deliver this message often but it is such an important ppart of the life style change needed for long term weight loss, I had to bring it up again: Alcohol.

For many people, it is almost ritualistic to have a glass or several glasses of wine before dinner. At the weekend social event, golf course, etc., alcohol almost always seems to accompany the event taking place.

Alcohol derails weight loss efforts. No ifs, ands or buts about it. There is something aside from the caloric content of alcohol that slows down metabolism and adveseely affects weight loss efforts. When patients come in for followup visits and there is no apparant reason why weight was not lost my first question always is about alcohol usage.

We tend to use alcohol as a relaxing agent....it is a legal substance that is relaxing and calming. However, the usa of this will slow down your efforts to lose the weight to become healthier and happier.

weight loss and protein bars

Recently I have been asked a number of times about the use of protein bars as meal replacements.

First, there are a number of protein bars that are high in carbs and fats..especially the ones touted to be for "energy". These will not be conducive for your weight loss efforts.

Second, we have found that the most successful weight loss efforts occur when people up the amount of "real" protein that is consummed. Obviously, it is much easier to open a wrapper on a bar than cook a hard boiled egg but it is apparent that protein consummed in the form of chicken, turkey, fish, lean red meat etc seems to help weight loss efforts more than the use of "protein bars and shakes".

The loss of weight requires lots of work and planning the real protein intake adds yet another task to your day but the results are worth it!

weight loss and hope

We hope for many things....health, happiness, financial success, our favorite team to win a championship, a great relationship, etc. Some of the things we hope for are completely out of our hands, some have a partial impact by our actions and others a much more direct relationship to our involvement.

As you are watching your favorite football team, you can wear your lucky jersey, perform your pregame ritual behaviors, which TV you will watch it on, etc, but sorry to say, what you do will not impact the very least on the results of the game.

Turning to health, happiness, personal relationships, there are many things we can do to impact on these. Certainly, maintaining a weight that makes us healthy and happy goes a long way in helping us achieve the things we hope for. When a food source appears that derails your ability to be healthier and happier, think of the concept of your hopes and dreams, and how the healthy weight will help you achieve the things you hope for...is that food source really worth it?

Weight loss and support

From family to friends to work colleagues there are are a number of people in your lives who are in a similar situation of trying to lose weight. Having support of people is incredibly important. From strategizing non-boring menus to organizing morning exercise groups, having support along the way of your journey to health and happiness can be very helpful to achieve your goals.

Do not be afraid to be aggessive in organizing this or apporaching other people who you feel comfortable broaching this subject. Others will have helpful hints for you as you will for them. At times, it is a senstive issue, but something simple as posting a sign or having a segment in a monthly newsletter that goes out to your company...feel free to be aggressive to reach out to others. Not only weill you help yourself, but your friends and colleagues will be helped as well.

Yesterday I was at the beach and saw a group of people exercising together. They seemed to be having great fun. Making exercise time fun or reducing the boredom of sticking to a high protein high vegetable dietary plan can be helped incredibly by having company/support along the way.

weight loss and empathy

In order to have empathy or understand another's medical issue, do you need to have experienced that problem yourself? If you have never suffered from the pain of a kidney stone, can you understand what that must feel like to have this type of pain? If you have never experienced the loss of a loved one prematurely, is it not possible to understand the grief and depression that accompanies this loss?

When it comes to weight control issues, I am certain that everyone of you have friends who seem to have no difficulty managing their weight. They can drink alcohol, snack on high-caloric foods and otherwise pay little-no attention to their food intake. Can these people understand the struggles that most people have achieving and maintaining a healthy weight? Do you find yourself feeling a bit jealous or upset with them?

As physicians, I do believe we have a better sense of what people go through even if we do not experience these issues ourselves. Treating patients everyday, you get a great feel for the frustrations, control issues, mood contributions and all of the other factors that are involved with weight control.

Maintaining a healthy weight is one of the most difficult goals for many people. If it wasnt' 68% of America would not be overweight.

weight loss and relative start of happiness

When we attend parties gatherings of friends/family/events, we tend to eat high-caloric food sources. When we feel sadness we often will reach for high-caloric food sources as some sort of consolation. Why is it that during extreme moods of either direction we still tend to reach for food as a source of treatment?

There is an immediate gratification from the ingestion of a high caloric source. The immediate sugar rise produces a bit of a euphoric feel for some. This of course is quickly followed by the self-loathing sensation thats comes from having given in to the temptation and waylaying your weight loss efforts.

On the happiness side, we tend to celebrate around food sources. This is tradtional...whether it be raing the glass of alcohol to toast someone or eating a celebratory cake, we tend to go high-caloric when we are having fun.

Recognizing the situations and adjusting to these in a smart way will allow you to reach your weight loss goals allowing you to become happier and healthier.

weight loss and control

Check out the comment to yesterdays blog entry....the entry is about "control"...how it seems to be the case that the compulsion to eat or the food itself seems to control us as opposed to us controlling the food intake. Why/how does this happen?

There are many things that occur during the day that are not under our control..from the inclement weather to a traffic jam on our commute to a foul mood of a supervisor..often our entire day is full of things/events that are beyond our control.

One of the few things that really is under our control is the food and liquids we ingest. However, at times, it seems that we lose control of this as well. Due to chemical cravings, psychological issues, etc., we often lose control of the ability to make the right choices to be happier and healthier.

Try as best you can to always remember that YOU are the "boss" when it comes to food sources you ingest. YOU decide to bypass the high-caloric derailing food sources (notice I didnt use the words "sweets, treats or goodies") in favor of something that will be much healthier and allow you to look so much younger and feel so miuch better. YOU can exert control and you will be rewarded for this!

weight loss and a mission

Good groggy morning...got in from the west coast late last night and I am shaling the cobwebs out to get to that office and start seeing patients.

Thanks to you, our wonderful patients, we have an incredible practice. Daily, we get the chance to help so many great people who are striving to become healthier and happier. Yes, it is a business and we have to be profitable, but the mental "profit" of seeing so many people put smiles back on their faces because of a heightened self-esteem and confidence is amazing.

To be able to expand our program to people outside the DC area is really fun. Weight problems in America are epidemic. Yesterday, I had lots of downtime in the airport and had a great chance to "people watch". First, it is incredible how many obese/overweight people you see walking around. Many have children with them who are also overweight at an incredibly young age. Then you see the eating patterns in the airport. The aforementioned people seem to gravitate to the least healthy eateries in the terminal.

Losing weight is very difficult yet necessary to prolong life and kkeepm us healthy. Somehow in America we have allowed our instinctual part of the brain to override the intelligent part that tells us to be healthy and live longer.

I LOVE being back home and LOVE being in that office seeing you, my patients. As much as it is fun to open up centers elsewhere, my heart resides here in Burke and I just wanted to thank you all once again for allowing me to be a part of your quest for health and happiness.

weight loss and food combinations

Sorry for the late posting...did i freak everyone out by NOT having something written by 6am??? Laughing...I guess I am an early morning person.....coming back from California now so pardon the late start.,,,

I am at the airport eating and i am noticing that so many food choices appear in combination almost like you MUST have the combo...meaning..cheesze burger AND fries....steak AND mased potatoes...peant butter AND jelly.....macaroni AND cheese...

The point here is that you do NOT have to always do the associated combination food source. Restaurants will be happy to switch the side dish to something else....pick some vegetables with the steak.....do not always feel the need to eat cheese as part of the meal...break up the combination things that make that meak a derailing weight loss ecperience.

Please check out the comment posted to yesterday's entry,..a very well written peice about exersize and weight loss.

weight loss and "dieting"

I saw the cover design for our new book coming out..The name of the book is "The Serotonin Solution to Never Dieting Again" As you all know from my previous rants, losing weight and keeping that weight off is NOT a matter of "dieting". Every book about weight loss that comes out includes the word "Diet" at the end. When we use the word "Diet" we envision a limited period of time in which we will change our eating behaviors. Often there is a "fad" associated with it...from The Grapfruit Diet to The Cookie Diet....fads mean a radical departure from a normalized dietary intake to something that is not realistic or sustainable.

To lose weight and keep that weight off requires a life style change, NOT a "diet". We all intuitively know this yet we are all searching for the magic "diet" that is easy , allows us to go back to old behaviors when "over, etc. I hate to be the bearer of bad news but no such thing exists. Losing weight and keeping that weight off requires lots of work and behavior modification/life-style changes. We must get rid of the word "Dieting".

weight loss and planning

We plan our days often like a script of a movie...what time we need to awaken, what time we leave for work, what will we will wear, when we will take vacation time, when do we need to visit a family member..etc....we plan lots of things.

Sometimes we do not find ourselves planning our food intake...we make that decision on the fly. It may be a matter of wandering down to the work cafeteria, deciding after our chil'd baseball game what fast food place to drive thru, etc.

One of the elements that is vitally important to long term weight loss is planning what you are going to eat. If you will be in an airport over lunchtime, what places in the terminal will provide you with healthier choices? If you will be home late from attending a child's sports event, what will you provide to you and your family for dinner?

All this requires "planning" and I suggest that on Sunday, take out a piece of paper and plot out your week in advance so you may identify the "challenges" of the week and make your plans to NOT allow these challenges to derail your efforts.

Long tyerm weight loss does require planning and mentating though all the issues, including the busy schedule of yours that would tend to put you back into old eating behaviors.

Weight Loss and Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day! I certainly wish you all a great day. When holidays and recognition days arrive , usually food is part of the occasion. Whether it be the restaurant out or making the meal in the house, a central piece of any holiday is the food part. Well, here comes Posner again trying to "spoil" the day, but I am really not. I just want to point out that if Mom (or if you are "mom" then 'You") have a weight control issues, do NOT make this day about high-caloric food sources. Showing mother love and affection does not require yoo to bring or feed her high caloric food sources. Plenty of hugs, time together and gifts of pictures, or other non-caloric gifts are BETTER than bringing cakes, cookies and other food sources that would harm Mom's weight loss efforts. Do you really want to contribute to elevating the risk factors for heart disease? Think about it: when you bring high-caloric foods to a person who has weight control issues you are hurting them. When you love someone, that is the very last thing you would want to do.

Pleas try to separate a fun family gathering from the need to have everyone eating high-caloric foods. With America being 68% overweight, the effort to become healthier and happier starts with the family unit.

Once again, Happy Mothers Day!

There was a question about clothes donations for our event. Please call Jennifer Johns at: 703-866-4144

The Serotonin-Plus Fashion Show..FREE VISIT!

Just a reminder that on Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 3PM at Bobby McKeys at the National Harbor, Serotonin-Plus is sponsoring a Fashion Show for charity....we are collecting clothes that will help many people who cannot afford them...a motivational day as well for our patients who can now wear something they are proud to be seen in...attesting to the confidence that weight loss can help a person achievc.

We want all of our patients. friends and family to attend and we are offering a FREE visit to any of our patients who show up for the event! A hundred dollar value!!! Please mark this day on the calender. It will be sooo much fun!!!

weight loss and pleasing others

Thanks agian Brown Sugar 722 for the very insightful comments...one of the points was about "pleasing others" when it comes to food intake.

We have all been in the situation of feeling that we want to please, or even not offend a person offering up some high-caloric food sources to us. Whether it be a dinner gathering at a friends or some function involving realtives, we will often have offered up to us some high caloric food source and to say "no" is akin to insulting our relative or guest.

This is something we have to readjust our mindset about.....it is not "selfish" for us to follow a path to health and happiness, and derailing food sources will get in our way as a barrier. Not that you have to get angry at the person, but quite frankly, it is relatively insensitive for the friend or relative to proffer up a hjigh-caloric food source if it is pretty easy to see that weight control may be a problem for us.

Do not feel that you "owe" anyone the need to eat foods that will harm you. Politely say "no thank you".

weight loss and inspiration

I lovede the comments posted yesterday and would encourage everyone to read these...it was a different viewpoint about reality ashows such as the Biggest Loser....the concept was that the show serves as an inspiration to others.

Being inspired to lose weight and keep that weight off is a great thing. The "inspiration" has potential from coming from without and within. Family members, friends, business colleagues can serve as an inspiration by finding the fortitude to dig down deeply inside and change lifestyle and beahvior patterns to become happier and healthier. Often, the inspiration needs to come from within, meaning that you have to find ways of inspiring yourself, and perhaps watching others who you do not know on a tv show can help this along.

Stay inspired, stay committed and achieve your goals to become happier and healthier. There is no food source that will taste as good as your weight loss will feel.

weight loss and reality shows

Sorry..I must rant this mornign a bit about "reality" shows that involve people trying to lose weight. What is at all "reality" about someone being filmed and PAID to lose weight?

Here is reality: we all have jobs, families, stress issues, etc...if we find ourselves in a weight control problem, no one is paying us or putting us in front of a camera to lose weight. Reality is that after a long stressful day at work you may have to come home and bring your child to a practice that finishes at 730 pm and you have had no time to even think of preparing dinner. Reality is that you may travel for your work and find yourself at meetings where the only available food choices are sandwiches and chips.

Reality is that to lose weight and keep that weight off a life-style change and behavior modification is required...and reality is that this is difficult to achieve. BUT..if you can do this, you will in fact become healthier and happier.

weight loss and vacations

I have covered this topic before but feeel that I need to address this again as recently I have seen a number of patients who took vacations that challenged their weight loss efforts.

Clearly "vacation" means relaxing, enjoying yourself and having a good time. Counting every calroie coming is NOT a "fun" activity. Part of the fun of every vacation is partaking of food sources that are different than the "norm".

However, certain vacation choices will derail your weight loss efforts more than others: the "all inclusive" resort which provides as much alcohol as you want for no added charges....a cruise ship where the food is bountiful and you pay nothing extra to attend that glorious midnite buffet....honkey tonk beach trips which place you right on the boardwalk with the wonderful choice for lunch of either a large pizza or cheese fries.

There are so many wonderful places to vacation that would be more compatible with your quest to lose weight or at least maintain while you are gone. Always choose places where you are paying per meal or per drink, NOT included with your price. Choose places where it is less known for its food but more known for the qulaity of the hotel/beach etc.

When you are in a weight losing mode, you can still choose great vacation spots, but not set yourself up for failure on the scale.

weight loss and happiness

Do we feel happier when we lose weight? I think the answer is that when we intentionally lose weight and see the results, a much higher level of happiness occurs...we feel more energy...feel more youthful...feel more attractive to ourselves and others. We come off of medications, less back pains, exercise is easier, compliments from friends and family...all of these make us happier.

Compare that happiness to the happiness that ingestion of a high-caloric food source gives us...the immediate gratification of the food source quickly wears off leaving us self-loathing at times and not happy with ourselves at all.

You know what will make you happier...so pursue that goal of weight loss realizing that there is no doubt at all that the weight loss will make you ultimately much happier than any food source can bring you.

weight loss and swimsuit season

May is here and Memorial Day will signify the start of the summer season. The country club and community pools open and then we have about 3 months of usage.

For a number of people who are experiencing weight control issues this is somewhat of a traumatic time because of the concern/self-consciousness about being seen in a bathing suit. Weight control problems can be hidden somewhat by the choice of work clothes and evening wear, but when it comes to pool time, a bathing suit will be obviously more "revealing".

Weight loss, as much as we all say, is "for us" but there is a part of every one of us that does in fact have sensitivity to what others think about us...whether it be professioanl achievement or personal appearance, we do care.

For many reasons, it is important to lose weight, the least of which should be what we look like in a swimsuit. Reality? It is important to us.

Yet another motivation for losing weight.

weight loss and being able to empathize

In your circle of family and friends inevitably there may be one or several people who do NOT struggle with weight control issues. You have seen these people drink alcohol, eat high-caloric food sources and perhaps not exercise. The nature of their metabolism is such that weight control is not an issue.

How do you feel about these people? Do you feel resentment? Jealousy? When you are with them and they are imploring you to join in with the eating/drinking festivities, do you feel angry?

It is a normal human emotion to feel this way at times. "Why me?" with the slow metabolism?

As physicians I do feel we have a responsibility to act as somewhat of a "role model" for our patients..i.e. not smoking, trying to maintain a reasonable body weight etc.

Try to NOT feel resentment at people in your world who have no weight control issues but at the same time kindly reinforce to them that you are on a weight control mission and need their help...not their sabotage!