Monday, July 19, 2010

My doctor, my weight and cool stuff from Sweden

As noted in my last post, I was a crazy traveling person last week, including a day spent in Stockholm, Sweden at the International Congress on Obesity (ICO).  It was a big day for Weight Watchers for reasons that I will get to in a little bit.

Before, I talk about Sweden, I wanted to share my own personal experience with my doctor as it relates to my weight.  The year was 1998, and I was getting my first physical in many years.  At the time of said physical, I weighed about 40 pounds more than I do now, and I had both high cholesterol (the bad kind) and high blood pressure.  It was in that visit that my doctor told me that it was time to lose weight and get my lifestyle together, or I would be looking at a lifetime of medication.  Suffice to say, it was an alarming conversation for me and was a clear wake-up call.  I have to say that if there was one single event that pushed me to get my physical life together, it was this conversation with my doctor.

If there was one issue with that conversation with my doctor, it was simply that I did not know what to do next.  She gave me a target number of calories to consume each day, and sent me on my way.  To be clear, my doctor is pretty amazing, and I trust her implicitly.  She is an incredibly committed physician, and I don't blame her for not giving me more specific advice.  The reality of her world does not easily afford the opportunity to provide nutrition counseling for her myriad of patients.  Further, it's not obvious that this kind of weekly counseling would be the best use of her (or her nurse's) time.  What she did provide was a much needed push.  What she also provided was a reason for me to come back with better numbers:  my next physical.  In other words, my doctor played a critical role in my weight loss process in creating a sense or urgency and a sense of accountability to lose the weight.

The "doing" part of losing weight did not happen until I joined Weight Watchers as employee and member.  The week-in and week-out of participating in the program, keeping track of my points, attending my meetings and measuring my progress (or not) on the scale was what generated the actual results.  This is the Weight Watchers zone of excellence, and it delivered for me big time.

For me, the combination of my doctor and Weight Watchers is ultimately what made the difference.

So what does this have to do with Stockholm, Sweden?  For the past couple of years, a team of highly regarded academics in the UK, Germany and Australia have been working on a multi-country, large scale (n = 772) randomized clinical trial (RCT) efficacy study.  Here is how the study worked:

  • Doctor sees patient who is overweight and talks to the patient about the importance of losing weight.
  • Doctor randomly assigns patient either to 1) the "standard care" that ideally they would normally provide or 2) Weight Watchers.  In this case, "standard care" is defined by government public health guidelines that typically include having a nurse or nurse practitioner teach the patient how to follow a healthy diet and then have follow-up coaching visits.  Sadly, "standard care" does not always happen, often due to time pressures faced by over-burdened doctors' offices.  
  • The study was done over a 12 month period
The results?  Those who were assigned to Weight Watchers lost twice as much weight as those assigned to standard care through the doctor's office.  Further, of the 56% of those completing the trial (a really good result, by the way) in the Weight Watchers arm, 60% lost 5% or 10% or more.  A 5% weight loss is the point where medical benefits begin to evidence themselves, so this is a big deal.  That compared very favorably to 33% on the doctor standard care arm, again a 2X improvement.  To be clear, this does not mean that those who completed the Weight Watchers arm were actively doing the program each week for 12 months.  It merely meant that they showed up for the last weigh-in of the research project.  

Does this mean that Weight Watchers some how does a better job than doctors in treating patients?  Of course not.  What it does mean is that Weight Watchers has a structure in place that makes providing weekly support, education and weigh-in's very straight forward and easy to facilitate.  Further, Weight Watchers has meetings literally everywhere in each of its markets making it pretty convenient for the vast majority of doctors' patients.  What this study conclusively showed is that the combination of doctor and Weight Watchers is a winning one in creating weight loss that is significant from a health perspective.  The clear implication of this is that there is a valuable partnership to be formed between doctors and Weight Watchers.  

It worked for me, and the study showed that it can work for most others.  

What role (if any) has your doctor played in your weight loss process?  

Cheers,

dk

19 comments:

  1. My doctor prescribed WW to me so that my flex spending would cover it. It was that presription that made me get serious and attend meetings. I've lost 29 pounds in 12 weeks. WW works and I'm so glad my doctor helped me get started.

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  2. A huge part of the impetus to begin the wight loss journey. I am down 52.2 lbs (11 mos) but it was the fire that got me going

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  3. I think this is a good idea, especially with more company plans going to higher deductibles so that it is really costing a lot to be on so many meds..

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  4. My PCP has recommended I get a colonoscopy (ugh, but it goes with being in my fifties) and in a pre-procedure consult with the gastroenterologist nurse practitioner we talked about diet and weight. I told her I was going to WW. Here response was "keep it up. It's the best way for you to lose weight".

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  5. I lost 65 lbs with WW, but have gotten to the place where i am stuck!
    in fact i have gained a few lbs back
    i am still following the plan and writing everything down

    i am not sure about the extra 35 points
    i sometimes save them and eat them on sunday
    is that too much for one day?

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  6. When I lost weight (130 lbs) over a two-year period with WW, my doctor was encouraging. The best part was that as he admittedly was gaining weight at the same time, I could recommend WW to him!

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  7. Yeah!!!! Weight Watchers...i have been a lifetime member since 1987...i have lost and gained and lost and gained but by having weight watchers as a part of my life...i always seem to stay within a certain range and dont stray too far from the program for too long...i am sure that if i had not started the program when i did, i would definitely be obese now...so i am thankful...right now i am at goal and plan on staying there...thanks for Weight Wathchers...keep up the good work.... Brenda in Indiana

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  8. Wonder if anyone in Nc has used the flex spending to pay for weight watchers' weekly fees?? Joyfull in N.C.

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  9. My doctor saw me about 50 lbs into my weightloss journey (around 1 year in) and 2 years and 90 more lbs later I am close to my doctors goal but not yet the healthy weight range. I am going to keep working the plan because I want to work for weight watchers one day since it has truly given me my life back.

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  10. I complained to my doc last summer that I haven't been able to budge my weight for 7 years. She asked if I was active. I am! She told me to 'stop eating'. (I looked at her like she had grown horns) She said again 'no really 'Stop eating'. Such truth!! I joined WW 3 months after that and have lost 25 lbs. It works. A sheet with a 7 day diet on it from the doc (I remember my mom coming home with those) wouldn't have worked.

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  11. It was my son's pediatrician he said baby looks great but what are we going to do with mommy. He pulled out a perscription pad and it said join for free @ weight Watchers. I joined the next night and lost 63lbs!!!!

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  12. I'm a repeat WW offender. Last time I didn't get to goal, got my daughter instead. Talk about your Non Scale Victories!! This time got my BMI down to "normal" category from obese. I want a little more distance between me and BMI 25 but I'm loving it!

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  13. What made me come to WW was the fact that my OB/GYN informed me in April that I had put on 20 pounds in 1 year! He told me that I needed to joined WW or some other program like that. Needless to say, in less than a week I was a WW member. I joined in April and have dropped 44.6 pounds as of last Thursday. My WI in on Thursday morning so I am hoping to have lost some more this week!

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  14. My hubby has serious heart problems and his doctors all recommend WW because it's so sensible. Stan lost 65 pounds and for the first time took control of what he put in his mouth! I'm Lifetime at goal for about 4 years and have recently gone from the top of the goal range to the middle. I would never have been a size 6 without WW! - Maryann

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  15. Well, both my mom and I are very overweight and our docters are always telling us we need to lose some serious weight. well, my mom realized that she had gotten to the point that if she didnt lose weight it would kill her early in life. i knew she couldnt stay commited by herself so i joined WW with her. in 8 weeks ive lost 21 pounds and am very happy.

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  16. Once again--further proof that WW is the BEST. Every doctor should have a prescription pad with WW written on it. It's a life-changer.

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  17. Hola, excellent findings for Weight Watchers! Reading parts of the article brought to mind some of the experiences I’ve had with the medical community. Plus, it was nice to see the sample number, along with the other stats; reminded me of my years in graduate school studying mass communication, especially as it relates to health communication and obesity (quantitative research and thesis flashback).

    As for the doctors, I’m blessed to have some in my family. However, they were not the only people I visited during my obese years for medical consultation, before losing 136 lbs. I will say that several of the doctors played a critical role in expressing the seriousness of my health complications.

    Yet, in terms of the “how to,” support, emotions, nutrition, etc., that seemed to be outside the scope of what the doctors I visited could do for me. Although the medical community plays a key role, it wasn’t until I made a decision, after a lot of prayer and ok, kicking and screaming inside, that I put together a strategy that would work long term. Weight Watchers is one of the biggest pieces to that puzzle, gracias!

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  18. My story much like yours. Went to new dr. for physical on April 1, 2009. It was not an April Fool's joke.He had same message for me as did yours, only added that I was "this close (fingers pinched close together)to being pre-diabetic. I finally "got it." He told me he wanted to see me every 90 days and recommended WW. Having become a Lifetimer 31 years ago, but maintaining goal weight for about one week and returning 25-30 times to "start over," albeit unsuccessfully, I finally returned with commitment to actually follow the entire program. I owe my dr. and WW a lot, but the drive actually needs to come from within. While I've not returned to my original goal, dr. is satisfied with my weight loss. I "holding" right now. Has anyone read Dr. Aronne's book, The Skinny? Maintanence section is fascinating. WW needs to study/evaluate Aronne's research. Thank you.

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  19. My doctor agrees I need to lose weight, enough so she's been supportive with me doing WW and asked me to consider gastric bypass. My thing is- I'm giving WW the wholehearted try. Gastric bypass is extreme and there is still the chance of overeating and gaining back the weight. I need to learn HOW to eat right and to learn how to be healthy active. My doctor has said since I've started WW, my cholesterol dropped 16 points in 2 months. Go me!

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