During any long-term weight loss program there can be a certain degree of muscle and/or bone mass loss. We offset this loss through proper nutrition, resistance training, and hormone optimization, which is instrumental in increasing muscle mass and bone density long-term.

No, this is a myth. When in a caloric deficit, fat loss occurs all over the body. No amount of crunches or situps will yield lean six pack abs. You must reduce the excess body fat cover those abs and this is done by being in a caloric deficit.

We tell our patients that they should not feel like they are on a “diet” during the weight loss process. The reason for this is two-fold. 1) The changes you make during your weight loss journey need to be lifelong habits that you can sustain. If you carry with you healthy habits, then you never have to worry about playing a game of catching up with your weight regain every few months. Therefore, we hold your hand every step of the journey with our dietary counseling to make sure these are habits that you are sustaining in the long term, so you don’t rebound after you hit your goal. 2) Any time you feel restricted, you will want and crave whatever it is that is being restricted. It is human nature to want what we can’t have, and this applies directly to dieting. If you tell someone they can never eat sugar or carbohydrates again, they will almost certainly end up binging at some point as their will power declines. For this reason, we try to prescribe a dietary framework that is balanced and not overly restrictive to the point where people feel they cannot live their lives.

The benefits of sleep in all areas of health cannot be understated. It is one of the most common facets of weight loss that tends to be neglected. In short, sleep deprivation increases the stress hormone cortisol. When cortisol levels are elevated and for too long, this can lead to fat gain around the midsection, water retention, blood sugar dysregulation, and cravings for sweet and salty foods. All of these downstream effects make it much harder to lose weight consistently.

All weight loss journeys will have their ups and downs. Some weeks you may lose 3-4 lbs and other weeks you won’t see any change on the scale. The important thing is to consider weight loss over the long-term. The whole goal is not to lose as much weight as possible in a short time period. What we want to see for you is consistent FAT loss, not WEIGHT loss. This means slowly losing fat, while changing your lifestyle habits, so you can sustain a healthier body composition forever, rather than yo-yo dieting on and off for years. We would much rather see our patients get to their goal body weight in a year with healthy changes and keep it off forever, than have them lose a lot of weight in 3 months, but then gain it all back 2 months later. With all that being said, staying motivated is as simple as seeing the changes to your body happen in real time. Therefore, we recommend in addition to the scale, taking weekly progress pictures as well as weekly measurements of your body will keep you motivated as you slowly see the changes happening.