Next Steps

• Attend a Seminar
• Medical Evaluation
• Psychological Screening
• Diet Evaluation and Recommendations
• Exercise Evaluation and Recommendations

The WeightWise professionals work for you, including the Physicians, Bariatricians, Dietitians, Exercise Physiologists, and Psychologists, to ensure not only a conveniently located program, but also a truly integrated path to reach your goals. Each professional is an expert in his or her own area but also has an intimate understanding of how his or her own area fuses with the overall plan – successful weight loss, maintenance of weight loss, and overall improvement in health.

Getting Started

Prospective members typically hear about Transforming Lives or the WeightWise Bariatric Program from friends, family, primary care physicians, or media outlets. Our website has a wealth of information . The next step is to reserve a seat at a free, nonobligational seminar. Reserve that seat now by calling our toll-free number, 1.866.WGT.WISE (948.9473) or by utilizing the seminar registration on this website. If you live a great distance away, call our toll free number and we will enroll you in our “long distance” program.

Seminars

The regularly scheduled seminars last approximately two hours and include a presentation from a surgeon regarding obesity, obesity related diseases,and operations to treat obesity. There will be ample time for questions and answers.

Attendees are encouraged to bring an interested family member or friend to learn about the program as well. Please register them as space is limited. To reserve your seat, call 1.866.WGT.WISE (948.9473).

Attendance at the seminar is the required first step to progress toward surgery with WeightWise. After attending the seminar, patients will be invited to make an appointment for an initial evaluation.

Physician Consultation

Your physician will assess your current health, try to identify the best weight loss option for you, and create a personalized program for pursuing that option. The program will vary to some degree from patient to patient but will always include an in depth laboratory analysis, diet consultation, exercise physiology visit, and for those pursuing surgery, a visit with our Psychologist, Dr. Keller.

Psychologist Consultation

Psychological testing and visits are important in preparing surgical patients for the psychosocial changes that accompany surgical weight loss. Don’t think of the psychologist as a gate keeper (possibly keeping you from having the operation), but as another important tool for the short and long term success of bariatric surgery.

Dietitian Consultation

Throughout our lives, most of us have been educated poorly about diets, the composition of different foods, and their impact on metabolism. Still, media outlets and even professionals espouse commercial or fad programs that offer very little chance of long term weight loss and/or maintenance.

Proper nutrition plays a big role in weight loss and weight maintenance. What you eat (and don’t eat!) can have a huge impact on things like hunger and weight loss. The natural thing to do when you are hungry is eat. One of the goals of your registered dietitians is to work closely with you to help you choose foods that keep hunger at bay, allowing you to be more successful in your weight loss journey.

Our registered dietitians also work with you to see where your nutritional knowledge is today and help you learn about the foods you eat and your behaviors related to eating. They not only teach you what you need to know about food and eating behavior changes for surgical or non-surgical weight loss, they also help to motivate and encourage you along the way! Some of the things members are taught include: foods to control hunger, proper eating behaviors, the importance of vitamin and mineral supplementation, and how to practice conscious eating.

Your nutrition team offers a variety of methods of education including one-on-one visits and group education classes. Your nutrition team is always here to help you through the struggles and adjustments that come with a change in lifestyle and commitment to healthful eating.

Exercise Physiologist Consultation

WeightWise recognizes the importance of a sound exercise program to accomplish sustained weight loss. We focus on the three pillars of fitness: flexibility, cardiovascular health, and strength training. Our exercise physiology program is individually designed to progressively introduce patients to these different fitness components and maximize the body’s response to exercise.

Our Exercise Physiologists utilize a state-of-the-art gymnasium filled with modern exercise machines, flexibility tools, and computerized assessments of the resting metabolic rate and VO2 (an overall score of the body’s ability to burn fat during exercise). Additionally, they also offer personal training.

Sleep Lab Evaluation

WeightWise believes undiagnosed or untreated obstructive sleep apnea significantly reduces the safety of operations. Heralded by snoring, Obstructive Sleep Apnea (a more dangerous disease than was originally believed) is one diease that is prevalent in morbidly obese individuals. Untreated sleep apnea increases the risk of anesthesia and post op complications. All types of sleep disorders can be detected during a sleep study at Foundation Surgical Hospital of Oklahoma, which measures the amount and quality of a person’s sleep.

Support Groups

At  WeightWise, we believe psychosocial changes are just as important as behavioral changes to obtain and maintain successful weight loss. Very few of your friends, family members, or coworkers will be able to relate to the changes required for effective long term weight loss. Support Groups (four or five per month) offer a friendly atmosphere where patients can discuss the “ins and outs of behavior change.” Support groups are critical to patients’ sucessful long term weight loss.