Case Studies
Fifty-four year old Sharon, with the help of our weight loss team, is now at the same weight she was before she had her first child. And she is even the same size. While others have gained weight during the pandemic Sharon has lossed 117 lbs. Over this past year she has been busy working remotely from home, helping with taking care of her two grandchildren and following the recommendations of our Doctors and personal trainer to reach her weight loss goals.
Sharon first started our weight management program by following our nutrition plan. She ate breakfast, lunch and dinner and enjoyed two snacks every day. On the weekends she would allow herself a cheat meal that included dessert.
For exercise the only thing that Sharon could really do was walk. She would walk about 10 minutes everyday. Over time she gradually increased the amount of time that she walked each day. Some days she would walk 10 minutes, other days she would walk 15 minutes. This increased to walking 15 minutes some days and on other days she walked 25 minutes. Now, she walks 60 minutes most days of the week. And she has started exercising with resistance bands to build a bit of lean muscle. Of course she does not want to get big and muscular like a weightlifter or football player. But she realizes that as we get older, we start to lose more and more muscle and that a little bit of training with resistance bands can help prevent this.
Sharon is now in the maintenance part of our program. Her goal is to maintain her weight loss to continuously improve her health, fitness and wellness. Now that things have returned to normal she is considering training for the Broad Street Run.
Jennifer started in our Philadelphia Medical Weight Loss Program about a year ago. It was the week of her 49th birthday, and she had an appointment for her yearly physical check up with her family doctor. Her Doctor told her she weighed 243 lbs and that her diabetes and high blood pressure were getting worse. The Doctor recommended that Jennfer schedule a visit with us to see if we could help her safely lose weight.
A year later Jennifer is 156 lbs and her diabetes and high blood pressure are stable.
Some of Jennifer’s main problems were that she loved carbs and sweets. She was a stress eater and she snacked late at night. Our appetite suppressant medications helped control her appetite so she didn’t have the urge to eat late at night and she didn’t crave carbs and sweets.
Jennifer’s weight loss plan started with the appetite suppressant medication Phentermine to help control her hunger and cravings. We also gave her a diet – a real food nutrition plan of what to eat and what not to eat. Jennifer eliminated processed foods, refined grains and sugars, and instead ate more fibrous vegetables, lean proteins and healthy fats. Jennifer downloaded a phone app and began recording everything she ate, removing any caloric estimation or guesswork. Then, once or twice a week, she would check her weight.
For exercise, we had to start slowly. Luckily she had a stationary bike at home and she started riding the bike for 5 minutes a few times a day. As her endurance improved she increased the time on the bike. These past few months she added a few exercises with resistance bands.
Jennifer was allowed to have the occasional slice of cake or piece of chocolate. But would always go back to tracking her food intake, logging in the exercise that was done each day, and just continuing on with her weight loss plan. Now she maintains her weight loss with just proper diet and sensible physical activity. In our Philadelphia Medical Weight Loss Center we keep up with the latest research and published articles to provide our patients with the best weight loss treatments.
According to recent literature, the most successful diet for weight loss is one that consists of “real food”—plants, whole grains, nuts or seeds (especially from animals eating plants), and natural meats. Just like the plan we had Jennifer follow. Processed foods such as sugars and flour should also be minimized in the process. That’s why we focus on having our patients eat real food.
On our website and youtube channel you will find a multitude of recipes and meal plans. We have recipes for smoothies, juice recipes, keto recipes, paleo recipes, low carb recipes and recipes for under 500 calorie meals. Research also shows that keeping a record of food intake is an important step towards weight loss. And that’s why we encourage our patients to track everything they eat and drink each day as part of their treatment plans.
Our weight loss plan is simple and effective. It’s all about eating real food and light physical activity like walking or riding a bike. And the weight loss pills help control your appetite and cravings and this makes it easier to follow the diet plan, If you would like help reaching your weight loss goals call us at 215-821-7336 and schedule your consultation.