Treating 5 pounds like 50....

Yesterday I had two patients return to us who had previously done great in our program. Both lost around 50 pounds about a year ago. One person that came back gained back all 50. The other gained 5.

Both were somewhat embarrassed about coming back, but I reassured them that we understand completely how hard it is to maintain weight loss, as we are so naturally built to be a weight gaining organism. As much as we stress that there is no "finish line" when it comes to weight loss efforts, psychologically, we are always looking for that finish line so we can start going back to some of the old, more fun, eating behaviors.

Anyway, for the patient that gained 5 pounds, perhaps 1 or 2 visits to refocus, give some pills, and the person is right back to where he wanted to be. In the case of the 50 pound weight gain, this will take months (again).

Point here is treat the 5 pounds as urgently as you would treat the 50: If you do not allow more than 5-10 pounds to go back on before you make an aggressive move (calling us, on your own, doing phase 1, etc) then there is no way you can allow yourself to put back on 20, 30 40 or more pounds back on.