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Take Back Your Health
Experts in chronic medical weight management for preventing, managing and reversing health conditions.
We prescribe and manage chronic weight managment pharmacotherapy within a structured and comprehensive program for the best long term results.
We are a medical program, not just a prescription.
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Making Yourself “Hard to Kill”
Part of healthcare is preventative, or trying to keep people from getting sick, and another part is treatment once a person is sick or...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Jul 16, 20224 min read


The Double Epidemic: Mental Illness & Obesity
What is the link between depression and anxiety? If you are concerned about both, how do you address them both at the same time? Which came first? These are a few of the complex questions that many people face. Statistics show that about 43% of adults with depression have obesity (compared to all adults in America, of which 32% have obesity). Conversely, studies show that people with obesity have a 55% greater risk of developing depression. Thus, the relationship is said to b
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Jul 4, 20225 min read


Stress: Hidden but Harmful
Stress: it seems to have become an omnipresent thing in so many people’s lives for the past two and a quarter years or more. While stress...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Jun 26, 20224 min read


Shame, Anxiety & Weight Bias
Yesterday, it hit me once again; I failed my patients. In April 2020, faced with the start of the Covid pandemic, school closures, and...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Jun 18, 20223 min read


Body Image, Disordered Eating & Obesity
Obesity is a medical disease characterized by a chronic metabolic dysregulation of energy in which there is a higher than normal weight set-point that is defended by a host of metabolic adaptations. Obesity is a worldwide problem that causes not only medical consequences but also may cause disturbances in psychosocial functioning. This may be due to weight bias and stigmatization in part or whole.
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Jun 4, 20226 min read


Ending Weight Cycling, Part 2
Very Low Calorie Diets using meal replacements have been well studied as a medical protocol for both non-surgical treatment of obesity and for the treatment or induction of remission of Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus. They have been shown to lead to new 15 to 20% weight loss with an excellent safety profile using medical screening, monitoring, and nutritionally fortified medical food formulas in studies such as this one .
Valerie Sutherland, MD
May 21, 20223 min read


Out with the Old: Ending Weight Cycling
For better or for worse, managing weight is a lifetime journey. Obesity Medicine is the specialty of diagnosing and managing the chronic...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
May 7, 20225 min read


Exercise: Balanced is Best!
Exercise is very exciting because it so quickly changes how you feel and how your body works. While all types of exercise provide...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Apr 30, 20224 min read


Not Just Meal Replacements: Managing Macros
“Managing Macros” is a relatively precise way of doing a nutrition plan using grocery store food. I am doing a blog on it to illustrate...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Apr 24, 20226 min read


Obesity Epidemic During the Pandemic
People with the chronic condition of overweight/obesity who have lost a significant amount of weight benefit from longitudinal care and...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Apr 9, 20223 min read


Obesity Action Coalition: Setting the Record Straight
Losing weight and keeping it off is difficult enough for many reasons. Add to the intrinsic difficulty the mixed messages people get, the...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Apr 2, 20223 min read


Week 12: Maintenance
Congratulations! You have finished your sprint and you and it is time to settle in for the endurance portion of this journey. I wish I could say that you have finished your journey and arrived at your destination, but, like many things in life, weight and health management takes ongoing time and attention. Think of it as a very special garden. Year in and year out, as seasons change, it takes tools, processes, and work to keep the weeds from strangling what you have sowed. Re
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Mar 26, 20226 min read


Week 11: Transitioning to Maintenance
Congratulations! You are on week eleven! Keep in mind that while these blogs are written for a 12 week program, the length of your program may be shorter or longer than 12 weeks, and the blogs are applicable throughout the maintenance phase as well. The steps and progression are more important than the actual timeframe, since people are losing different amounts of weight, lose weight at different rates, and may need to take breaks during the weight loss phase or come back an
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Mar 19, 20226 min read


Week 10: Hitting the Wall
Congratulations! You have completed 9 weeks on a 12 week journey! You are three quarters of the way there! It is like mile 20 of a marathon, otherwise known as “The Wall“ in a marathon (so I have been told, since I have never run one). This when your legs feel like jello and you think there is no way your body can go farther. In weight loss, this is when you may feel like you are hitting a weight loss plateau. What is a plateau, and what should you do about it? Don’t despair,
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Mar 12, 20223 min read


Week 9: Deflecting Saboteurs!
You are doing great! You have completed 8 weeks of your program! By now, you probably have experienced significant weight loss and are feeling much better! You may be at the lowest weight you have been in a while, so any additional weight loss is getting below a weight you have been lately. This is great, but it can also lead some people to lose focus. Wherever you are in your journey, remember to keep “running your own race.” Many people, by now, notice that people around th
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Mar 5, 20224 min read


Week 8: Making Weight Loss Last
Congratulations! You have now gotten down all of the integral parts of weight loss! Look at all of the wonderful things you are doing:
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Feb 26, 20224 min read


Week 7: Celebrating Your Victories!
Congratulations! You are on Week 7 and half way through a 12 week program. This is a fun week. We are going to celebrate your victories! You have had many of them already and it is hard! Recognition and positive thinking is crucial for the adversity acceptance it takes to do something hard. We are all doing something difficult, swimming upstream and going against the grain. It is not easy, but it is worth it, and let’s see why!
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Feb 19, 20226 min read


Week 6: Take Back Your Mealtime
Congratulations! You are on your sixth week of your program! If you are doing a 12 week program, which is typical for women losing about...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Feb 12, 20224 min read


Week 5: Crushing Cravings
Your first four weeks are done! Time flies when you are on a program, for some. Hopefully, you have felt, like some others have, that this is, at least, not "as bad” as it sounded when someone told you about it! But, no matter what, making change is hard, so it is time for your first pep talk! At this point, your weight may be down about 5% from your starting weight. For example, if your starting weight was 250 lbs, it may be down 12 pounds. Celebrate this milestone! For com
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Feb 5, 20225 min read


Week 4: Exercise With a Purpose
Congratulations! After 3 weeks on the protein sparing modified fast, you are likely fully adapted to using ketones converted from stored...
Valerie Sutherland, MD
Jan 29, 20226 min read
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