I am a fan of goals, though. Not just in the sporting sense, but as a futuristic concrete stretch to encourage effort and measure performance.
In the weight loss surgery world, a weight goal sounds simple enough, but commonly has a lot of emotion and coupled baggage associated with it.
"Why do you think that is your goal weight?"I will often ask... Here's what I often hear in response
* "That was the weight I got married, before we had our 2 kids"
* "That's the weight I think I need to get into my old clothes that are a size 5"
* "I think that weight will be good, because that will be 100 pounds less than I am now"
* "If I can just get under 200 I will be happy"
* "I need to get to that weight because my Doctor told me that to be healthy I need to be a BMI of 25 at the most"
"I don't know, what weight do you think I should be?" they often ask.
Conflicting information from well meaning sources, including the patient themselves, can lead to unneeded frustration and angst. And, the 'goal' they are pursuing may be nowhere close to what is reasonable and necessary. In fact, it's often less than what they are working toward.
Given that the fact this topic is a very important to clarify for us and for you as PCPs, I think it best to keep you all on the edge of your seats for a couple more days and give a complete answer to this multifaceted response in a part 2, to follow...
How do you typically respond to the 'goal weight' question, whether it's a surgical weight loss patient, or a non-surgical weight loss patient?
The answer may surprise you.
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| Photo by M Clock |
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