The Principles of Weight Loss

We’ve done this before, and we’re here to help.

Many of our patients already know the principles of losing weight, but they can’t seem to lose weight. And it’s no wonder. Obesity is a serious, chronic medical condition that ensnares patients with a sedentary lifestyle and endless health complications. New Dimensions breaks the cycle, empowering patients through medical and surgical intervention and allowing them to make permanent changes in their lives.

Step 1: Screening

When we meet someone who’s interested in becoming a patient, we start by asking the following questions:

  • Is the patient ready for change?
  • Do they have motivation?
  • Are there any issues that may impact success?
  • How can we educate this patient about the risks and benefits of intervention?
  • Can we help patients decide between medical and surgical options?

Step 2: Losing the Weight

There are lots of tools to help reduce a person’s weight. They include:

Nutrition education
Many of the nutritional “facts” that patients find online or through other means are hindering their ability to have a sustained weight loss.

Nutritional supplements
These can include meal replacements, vitamins, other supplements.  After certain surgeries supplements are integral to ensure that patients are receiving enough nutrients.

Dr. Sabowitz says: “While we do offer meal replacements at New Dimensions, it isn’t the food that’s doing the magic—it’s the patient’s planning and knowledge of eating a portion of food with a balance of fats, carbs and protein. They plan to eat this food 24 hours in advance and stick to it. Failing to plan is the same as planning to fail.”

Medications or surgery
Because obesity is a chronic disease and not a lifestyle choice, many times nutrition and supplements cannot make a significant, permanent impact. Medications and/or surgery are the only proven methods for successfully controlling obesity.

Behavior modification
Over time, obesity creates a snowball effect of habits and behaviors that make it harder to return to health. Obesity causes weight gain and encourages a sedentary lifestyle, so treating the obesity makes it easier to change these negative behaviors.
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Exercise
You might not believe it, but your body was made to move, and it has to move to stay healthy. Exercise is not the primary factor for weight loss, but it is essential for keeping it off.

Step 3: Once the Weight is Off

Transition
Once they’ve recovered from surgery, surgical patients change hands from their surgeon to Dr. Sabowitz for lifelong care. After the weight is lost, the patient has to change the focus from weight loss to weight maintenance. This means creating a maintenance plan as well as a plan for unusual circumstances such as holidays or travel.

Maintenance
At New Dimensions, we’ve developed the CAP program (Control weight, Action weight and Panic weight). CAP gives both post surgery and medical weight loss patients individual action plans, so they know exactly what to do if a few pounds pop back up on the scale. When the patient reaches their action weight, they have a personalized action plan to get back down (usually just a few pounds from their control weight). If the panic weight is reached, the patient comes back to New Dimensions where we help to medically get them back on track.

Dr. Sabowitz says: “It’s easier to lose 5 pounds ten times, than to lose 50 pounds once.” + View Link
 Dr Sabowitz says: “What usually happens is, we lose quickly, we slow, and then we reach a plateau. We think we’ve failed, and we give up. But what happens any time you stop treating a chronic disease? What happens when a high blood pressure patient quits his medicine? It goes up. What about a diabetic? What about asthma? If you quit treatment, the condition comes back.”

Support groups
With New Dimensions, you’re never on your own. For the rest of your life, we offer the support and care of not only our doctors, but also your fellow patients. Support groups are a place people can voice concerns, ask questions, express frustrations and celebrate victories.

Lifelong care
While the CAP program helps patient plan how to handle any hiccups on their own, the staff at New Dimensions is always here to answer questions and keep patients moving forward or maintaining.

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