New Site!!!

THE BLOG HAS NOT DISAPPEARED!!!! IT IS NOW SOLELY ON THE WWW.SPDIET.COM WEBSITE....CHECK IT OUT!!! STILL BEING WRITTEN DAILY.....SEE YOU'ALL THERE!!!! ROBERT POSNER, M.D.

weight loss and diet pills

Every major news station was reporting yesterday about the FDA's evaluation of three new "diet pills" that may be approved soon. These will be prescription medications. The most notable one combines phentermine (which is used in our program) with an antiseizure drug , Topomax. The nickname for this antiseizure drug is called "Dopamax" because it causes many people, at certqain dosages to feel quite tired and dopey.

The others use antidepressant meds in combination with anroectics.

The talking heads on the news shows were doing a great job however of reminding people that weight loss is NEVER just using a pill. "Diet and exercise" were discussed as a necessary compnent of any long term weight loss effort.

We, at Serotonin-Plus will evaluate these medications carefully before deciding to include any of them in our protocol. Safety is first and foremost on our priority list and when a physician incorporates any new medications into a regimen he/she wants to be certain you are not posing any safety concerns. Stay tuned and we will provide you with as much updated information as possible. In the meantime, always remember that the permanent loss of weight is NEVER in a pill...it is in a lifestyle change.

weight loss and rewards

We have been rewarded with food from our earliest memories...how often did our parents "bribe"/reward us with food.."If you are good, you will get ice cream"..."if you finish your entire dinner, you get dessert.."

We have proceeded over the years to reward ourselves with food and alcohol...long day of hard work deserves a couple of glasses of wine...

Learning to reward ourselves and our children with things other than high caloric food or drink sources will go a long way in helping us and others with weight control. Other rewards may include a gift certificate for someone, a massage therapy session for ourselves, an item of clothing or jewelry that can be bought, etc...

Try to take food sources out of your reward system arsenal.

weight loss programs and pricing....

There was a comment yesterday posted asking about pricing issues, but I do not feel this is the correct venue to discuss pricing. Out number can be called: 703-866-4144 quite anonymously to discuss pricing.

We had a meeting with another physician from the Pennsylvania area who is currently doing a franchise medically supervised weight loss program but he is unhappy with it. The program involves the selling of a number of things...vitamins, supplements, food sources etc. He feels like he has to be a salesman to his patients.

The success of our program is rooted in the unique nature of serotonin supplementation, the use "real" food as opposed to prepackged foods and teaching behavior modification.

Costs, thru Care Credit this can done for as little as 125 dollars a month....

The cost of losing weight cab ne expensive but the costs of remaining overweight are much more.

weight loss and mood

When discussing weight control issues and mood, it is like the proverbial "chicken and the egg"..which comes first? When we are in a depressed mood, we often do not feel like exercising, being proactive in our health issues, etc. We often will resort to food sources as a treatment for our depression/anxiety. Conversely, when we are overweight, this frequently causes mood changes..we feel depressed about our appearance, our self-esteem suffers and the negative cycle continues...the added depression worsens the weight problem.

Breaking the cycle? Realizing at all times that losing weight and feeling better about our appearance can only help our mood. Intellectually, we know that food sources do not "treat" depressed moods, so thinking through these issues and not succumbing to the food sources is of paramount importance in not allowing the viscious cycle to continue.

Losing weight makes us happier...your efforts will be rewarded.

weight loss and summer

There are times of the year when weight loss efforts are obviously challenged...winter time when people are snowed in and there is less daylight/warmth to exercise outside, holiday season when there are many gatherings, etc.

We do not think of the summertime as presenting challenges but in fact, there are many opportunities to have your efforts derailed. Cookouts with the three "B's" ..burgers buns and beers, neighborhood gatherings where lots of high-caloric foods and alcohol are present, summer vacations at the beach where many food/drink sources appear.

If you are not at your goal weight, take a step back and see how you are managing your summertime eating/drinking patterns and ensure that there are not behavior patterns occurring that are derailing your efforts. Do not allow the summertime to sneak in unwanted behaviors.

Vigilance of your weight loss efforts require constant surveillance....do not let your guard down!

weight loss and immediate gratification

First, thanks to "Anonymous" for the very nice comment....sometimes as I am making all of these typos while writing this every morning I sometimes wonder how many people are reading this and whether it is making a difference for some...the feedback, either positive or negative, obviously alerts me that there are people reading this and the positive ones compel me to continue...

Today I wanted to throw out there the concept of humans being an "immediate gratification" specie. I really believe this is very much built into our genome. The primordial behavior to seek things that provide an immediate gratification....a food source, a fun activity, sex etc. This is often tempered however by another part of the brain that makes us think of the ramifications of the immediate gratification behavior and sometimes that part of our brain stops or delays the behavior.

As this relates to weight control, this does have a great impact because to a large extent the consumption of high-caloric food sources provides an immediate gratification then followed by self-flagellation for allowing ourselves to have given in to the primordial eating behavior. How many times have you made three trips to a buffet, including the last trip for a dessert and say to yourself: "I am so full, I wasnt even hungry..why did I do that?"

As best you can, try to allow the intellectual part of your brain to take over and control the primordial part that compels us to eat way past the point of satiation or make us eat food sources that derail our weight loss efforts. Instinctual behaviors can be quite strong but they can be overcome.

weight loss and negotiations

Do you ever find yourself "negotiating" concerning your food intake? "Well, if I allow myself to eat that high-caloric food source I will do Phase 1 tomorrow." Or something like 'I can have those 3 glasses of wine but I will exercise more tomorrow."

Keeping awareness of your food/drink intake and offsetting derailing behaviors with a response the next day/week is a necessary part of long-term weight loss. There will be many situations where you will be confronted with challenging food sources and if you do not think through these issues, weight is certain to go back on.

I do not think you need to do this on a day-day basis...but as I have mentioned ad nauseum, WRITE your weight down on a clipboard next to your scale once a week and if that weight has gone up, have a PLAN as to what you are going to do to get this down again. We get into the most trouble with weight control when we stop thinking about it. We find ourselves resorting to old behavior problems and this results in weight gain.

Always try to keep on the forefront of your mind why you are choosing to be healthier and happier and implement the necessary steps to make yourself successful.

weight loss and changing your life

First, I want to thank the people for the very nice comments yesterday....well appreciated!

I want to ask each of you this question: How would your life change if you lost all the weight you want/need to lose?

Would you be healthier and life longer with a higher quality of life? Would you look lots younger? Would you be able to move around easier? Would you rid yourself of medications? Would people treat you differently? Would you have a greater potential for professional advancement? If you are single would your social life improve? If you play sports such as tennis or golf would your game improve? Would you have more energy? Would you fit into some of those very fashionable clothes that are in your closet that you cannot put on?

As yourself these questions and more....and if your crystal ball tells you through these answers that the entire quality of your life will change for the positive, then embrace your efforts to lose weight, look at food sources that would derail your efforts as saboteurs and do what it takes to become happier and healthier. It is an excellent choice to lose weight.

weight loss...."starting and stopping"

It never seems to be a good time to "start a diet"...whether it be a birthday coming up...a vacation trip..business travel etc...it is difficult to find a good time to "start".

As mentioned frequently, losing weight and keeping that weight off is NOT a "diet"..it is a life style change...and it is never easy to find the time to change lifestyle. We build our lifestyle based on many factors...how we were raised, the things that make us comfortable and happy, how we enjoy our leisure time etc. Part of our lifestyle certainly includes how we appraoch our eating behaviors.

It is ALWAYS a great time to start living a lifestyle that will make you healthier AND happier. The day to "start" was yesterday and the day to stop is NEVER...once you lose that weight you will smile lots more. You will have tremendous amount of energy and you will look years younger. All great stuff!

weight loss and restaurants

I know I have covered this topic but my experience last nite emphasizes this issue: Choose restaurants wisely if you are on a mission to lose weight. I went to a place called the Melting Pot....lots of people raved about it...you cook your own food at your table, their desserts are heavenly etc.

Okay, the famous food critic, Posner, will give you his review: BAD

I always tell my patients if you are going to ingest food or drink sources off of your dietary plan,make sure it is worth it..meaning high quality food...a very ezquisite dessert...a fine wine....not a three musketeers bad, Boones Farm wine or other cheap sources of calories.

Back to this restaurant...cheese appetizer in a pot with bread to put into it....cheese was no better than velvetta.....main course marginal....and then they tout these chocolate molten desserts with marshmellows and other things you dip into the chocolate....once again, I thought it was NOT worth the calories....

Anyway, I know this is only my opinion but I ask all of you to evaluate your choices of restaurants and try to leave off the lost places which are known solely for their high-caloric dishes...choose places that provide high quality protein in a wonderful atmosphere.

weight loss and holidays

Once again a reminder....you have/are working very hard to lose weight and feel healthier and happier. This weekend will present lots of challenges...every event you will attend will challenge you with food and alcohol choices that will tempt you to stray off your path of winning the battle.

Learning how to celebrate holidays and events without partaking of extraordinary amounts of high caloric food sources is difficult. Being around lots of people drinking alcohol and consuming tremendous amounts of calories and not joining in is very challenging.

At all times, try to remember why it is so important for you to lose weight and stay steadfast in your approach to not allowing in the derailing food choices that place you in an unhealthy situation.

Weight Loss and motivation

"There is no food that will taste as good as your weight loss feels"

I would like to take credit for that line but I lifted off of someone else....but I do like what this points out....Food is an IMMEDIATE gratification that perhaps gives us some sort of instantaneous "high" but then we tend to self-loathe as we gain weight and realize that the instant gratification is not worth the long-term consequences.

When you lose weight, you become healthier, higher self-confidence and self-esteem, look younger, fit into your sexy clothes again and you feel more energy...all of these feel GREAT and in fact MUCH better than the immediate "rush" we get from a food source.

Before ingesting a food source that you know will derail your efforts, think about the line above and repeat to yourself that statement...that food source does not taste nearly as good as the weight loss will feel.

weight loss and safety

An overweight person's main motivation to lose weighjt is to become healthier. Many people in our program have been recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes mellitus, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, etc and they were told that weight loss will make these dangerous medical entities either resolve or be much better with weight loss.

It is unsafe to be overweight. Very unsafe. Aside from the diabetes/heart disease risk factors a number of cancers are more highly prevalent in overweight/obese people....breast, gastic, pancreatic and colon to name a few.

When I have new patients enter the program, much of the concern is about its' safety. Even more prominent are other physicians who, when they are approached by a patient about doing our program will tell them that "diet pills are unsafe and I dont know anything about that serotonin and it probbaly doesnt work."

I want to reassure everyone that after 8 years, 10,000-plus patient experience and being a board certified internal medicine doctor for 26 years, it is MUCH SAFER SHORT AND LONG TERM to be in a medically supervised program helping you lose weight than remaining overweight being administered multiple medications for the obesity co-morbidities. When people lose weight , their diabetes, blood pressure and cholesterol improve dramatically. Looking at the risk/benefit ration of a weight loss effort under supervision even with prescription anorectic medications, it is not even close...losing weight under these circumstances is MUCH safrer than allowing to remain overweight with the co-morbidities.

So when a physician or self-professed knowledgable friend (lots of them now with the advent of the internet....makes everyone an expert, right?) tries to tell you that a weight loss program is "unsafe", think twice about the veracity of this.