When I work with a new patient, I try to find out what they want to achieve with nutrition. Patients see me for all sorts of reasons, and definitely not all body weight related reasons. But for patient with metabolic concerns, a common goal patients have is to lose weight. They come to me as a dietitian for weight loss.
People with weight concerns, especially adults, have usually been trying to lose weight for years. They've often tried everything from low calorie diets, popular trending diets, and general healthy eating to supplements, exercise, and alternative therapies. Maybe they have had some level of success that lasted a few months or a few years. But here they are again--seeing a dietitian for weight loss.
There still remains the hope that if they just find the right provider with the right advice or intervention, they will lose weight with more ease. And they reach out to me because they hope that maybe I can give them that weight loss. But I don't think I can do that. I wish I was a weight loss magician. I wish I can give people that promise of weight loss. While weight loss programs, products, and pills might seem to be guaranteeing weight loss, I won't do that. I am not a dietitian for unrealistic and unlikely weight loss.
I won't guarantee weight loss because the likelihood of a patient losing 5-10% of their body weight with diet alone is about one in 20. Their likelihood of losing more weight than that drops, and keeping the weight off long term drops even further. This is what the research says. The more a provider understands obesity, the less they will guarantee weight loss through diet. The less a provider understands obesity, the more promises you will hear.
If you have metabolic concerns, and the only outcome you want is weight loss, I am not the provider for you. If you want to improve your health, improve your labs, and lower your risk of disease, that we can do. Please reach out! While I am not the dietitian for weight loss, I am the dietitian for health.