Day 6

Weight Management Program

I guess I should explain exactly what kind of diet I am on.  This is a medically supervised meal replacement plan.  It's only 800 calories a day using shakes and soups instead of food.  It essentially takes the choice out of eating.  You use only the products on the plan, or you try something else!

Each shake/soup is approximately 100 calories.  So I need to eat/drink eight times throughout the day.  I also must drink a minimum of 64 oz of liquids daily.  I was thrilled to find out that included no-calorie sodas, crystal light, etc.  I also take a potassium supplement - this nasty, cherry flavored liquid.  It has to be prescription grade, apparently the pills don't work as well.  The most bizarre thing is during the first few weeks we need to drink two or more cups of bullion every day.  This helps put sodium back into the body.  The meal replacements are pretty high in sodium, so I was surprised by this, but I am just hoping the doctors know what they're talking about!

Here is a quote from the website:

The Weight Management Program offers effective medically supervised weight loss. It's more than just a diet—it's a lifestyle change.

The goal of The Weight Management Program of San Francisco, Inc. is to provide you with a safe, significant weight loss method under close medical supervision. Medical screening and monitoring are integral parts of our program. Additionally, we'll work to educate you on how proper nutrition and physical activity work together to keep your weight down. We'll also teach you the skills and habits necessary to help you maintain a medically sound weight.

Once you've reached your weight goal, we encourage you to join our Maintenance Program, designed to help you make the adjustment to living in your new, lower-weight body. 

What Our Patients Can Expect: 

You'll be taught the skills to keep off weight. You'll attend weekly health education classes to learn techniques for supermarket shopping, ordering in restaurants, and many other difficult situations. You'll receive frequent monitoring by medical staff. You'll focus on what you can do, not what you can't. 

The same skills and habits developed to lose excess weight work to improve other risk factors (like high blood pressure and Type 2 diabetes) linked to being overweight. So your overall health can improve. In turn, becoming healthier is itself a strong incentive to maintaining one's weight loss.

What happens during the Weight Loss Phase of your program?

During the weight loss phase you will be on a 800-calorie prescription using meal replacements. You will come in weekly for medical monitoring and for a one-hour lifestyle change class. During the classes we will provide you with techniques to help you lose weight and we will teach you the skills that you will need to use to keep the weight off during the maintenance phase. Classes and medical visits occur during the early evenings.