{"id":16497,"date":"2021-04-01T01:05:40","date_gmt":"2021-04-01T05:05:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/caloriecontrol.org\/?p=16497"},"modified":"2021-04-01T13:07:39","modified_gmt":"2021-04-01T17:07:39","slug":"doctor-becomes-coach-helping-patients-weight-management-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/caloriecontrol.org\/doctor-becomes-coach-helping-patients-weight-management-health\/","title":{"rendered":"When the Doctor Becomes the Coach: Helping Patients with Weight Management and their Health"},"content":{"rendered":"
By: Keri Peterson, MD \u2014 <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n As a primary care physician, one of the most common issues I address with patients is how to manage their weight. \u00a0According to a Harris Poll conducted for the Calorie Control Council among over 2,000 U.S. adults, 72 percent of Americans want to lose weight and on average want to lose 38 pounds. \u00a0This presents many challenges to physicians for a variety of reasons.\u00a0 Achieving weight loss and then maintaining it is very difficult.\u00a0 According to the same Harris Poll, only 14 percent of people who have successfully lost weight have been able to keep it off for more than five years.\u00a0 The National Weight Loss Registry<\/a> notes modifying food intake and increasing physical activity as common changes made by individuals that successfully lose weight and maintain that loss.<\/p>\n Time constraint is one limitation for physicians.\u00a0 Obtaining a food diary and reviewing it is critical to understanding and counseling a patient on where to make modifications.\u00a0 This takes time and patience.\u00a0 One incentive to be aware of is that Medicare reimburses a number of lifestyle and weight management codes.\u00a0<\/strong> A few descriptions and coverage areas include intensive behavioral therapy for obesity which is a face-to-face behavioral counseling by a primary care physician (PCP) in a primary care setting for 15 minutes for patients with obesity.\u00a0 They will cover up to one visit per week in month one and one visit every other week for months two through six.\u00a0 Another is intensive behavioral therapy to reduce cardiovascular disease risk.\u00a0 This can be used for adults with well-known cardiovascular disease risk factors.<\/p>\n One of the perceptions among patients is that diet pills will help patients achieve sustainable weight loss, be it by \u201ckickstarting\u201d the process or getting the weight off and believing they will figure out a maintenance plan afterwards The Harris Poll found that 11 percent use dietary supplements to achieve weight management goals.\u00a0 Interestingly, adults aged 18-44 are more than three times as likely to use them as their older counterparts.\u00a0 This may be in part due to side effects of appetite suppressants such as elevation of blood pressure that are prohibitive to those with hypertension who tend to be older.\u00a0 It may also be due to the realization that they do not work to maintain goal weight over long periods of time.<\/p>\n A recent editorial (\u201cCounting Calories as an Approach to Achieve Weight Control\u201d) in The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA)<\/em> eloquently discussed how important it is to teach patients that by modestly reducing calories, they can lose weight.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/p>\n