Dec 06, 2024
I am Dr. Mollie Cecil with UHC Medical Weight Management, and I am here today to provide you with ideas and tips concerning your healthy weight.
1). Is the healthcare community guilty of treating patients with obesity differently?
At UHC Medical Weight Management, we believe in providing person-first language and are dedicated to calling out and fighting weight stigma whenever we see it. This includes such things as always saying that a patient has obesity or that a patient is diagnosed with obesity, not that a patient is obese. After all, we do not say that patients with cancer are “cancerous!”
Unfortunately, medical coding and billing have not yet fully embraced the evidence-based treatment of obesity as a disease. Because of this, you may see diagnoses on your notes or in your chart that are not phrased in a patient-first way. For example, insurance companies only accept obesity diagnoses with specific words.
As a result, you may see a diagnosis of “morbid obesity due to excess calories.” This is biased language. “Morbid” is a harmful word, and obesity is much more complicated than eating too much. However, without this specific diagnosis, many insurance companies will not pay for weight management services.
The healthcare community is also guilty of treating patients with obesity differently from patients without obesity. It is common for healthcare providers and workers to “blame” all of a person’s health issues on obesity, which can lead to missed diagnoses and bad health outcomes. Some healthcare providers are also not sensitive, so patients may be uncomfortable discussing their weight or getting important screening exams such as pap smears and mammograms.
All communication your outside providers receive will emphasize person-first communication and sensitivity. We encourage you to let us know if you experience weight stigma or weight bias. It is vitally important that you trust your healthcare team, especially your weight management team, and we want to know if you are not comfortable.
2). Many of us think we may know what the benefits of losing weight are, but tell us some things we need to know?
Losing weight lowers the rate of sick fat and fat mass disease. It can reverse some conditions, such as diabetes or high blood pressure. It can help people move better and feel better. Losing weight can also:
- Lower the risk of several cancers, including colon and breast
- Improve mood
- Improve sleep
- Improve energy
- And many other things!
The goal of medical weight management is to improve quality of life, decrease the complications of obesity, and prolong life. It is not about fitting into society’s expectations of what a body should look like. Your body is an amazing thing, no matter what your weight is or what it looks like. Your body can change many times during your life, but your worth as a person never changes. You matter!
Thankfully, even modest weight loss can make a big difference in a person’s body. Losing even 15% of your weight (30 lbs. in someone who is 200 lbs., for instance) can make a big
difference in your health. Medical weight management is about making your body feel and work better and live longer.
3). What happens to your body when it loses weight?
One of the most challenging things for people is the “yo-yo” effect. Most people will experience weight regain to some degree after losing weight. The amount a person regains varies and is determined by the same factors that led to the development of obesity in the first place.
Additionally, your body does not want to lose weight. Until the past 30-50 years, it was not a good thing for a person to be able to lose weight easily. People needed to hold on to weight, especially fat tissue, to survive during times of famine. Those of us who are alive today are alive because our ancestors survived famine, which means that our bodies have mechanisms to fight weight loss.
When you start to lose weight, the following changes happen:
- Chemicals that tell your brain you are hungry increase.
- Your body’s resting energy burn rate decreases.
- Your body becomes more efficient at exercise, and it takes more exercise to cause the same energy burn.
As a result, you want to eat more. Your body uses less energy. These are expected normal responses to weight loss. These are not markers of personal failure. This is your body doing what human bodies needed to do for thousands of years to survive!
This content was originally posted on the WDTV News website here.
Please note, the information provided throughout this site is not intended or implied to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. All content, including text, graphics, images, and video, on or available through this website is for general information purposes only. If you are experiencing related symptoms, please visit your doctor or call 9-1-1 in an emergency.
