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How should I choose a clinic?

This is a frequently asked question. If your goal is to have your weight problem viewed as a serious metabolic problem and not a sales opportunity, here is what you look for:

The Right Doctor - Check to see if the doctor is board certified in a specialty related to the management of obesity and eating problems. These specialties would include family medicine, internal medicine, endocrinology and psychiatry. The American Society of Bariatric (weight loss) Physicians website can help you start your search.

Watch for Snake Oil - Avoid any clinic that tries to sell you "special" vitamins as part of their program. Vitamins, B-12 shots, and calcium tablets do not cause weight loss and such claims as "fat-burning", "energy-boosting" and "guaranteed pharmaceutically fresh" are key phrases that are designed to raise false expectations and sell ordinary products as if they have magical qualities (snake-oil). Magical claims and false expectations are forbidden by the Florida Board of Medicine.

Illegal Distribution of Controlled Drugs - Avoid any clinic where appetite suppressants are handed out by the office staff. Diet pills are tightly controlled substances and, in Florida, it is illegal for nurses or assistants to prescribe or dispense them to you. Florida regulations require the physician to personally check each bottle for accuracy of label and contents every time you receive the drugs. If you don't see the doctor doing this, you may be in illegal possession of a controlled substance.

Choice of Medication - Individualized selection and dosing of medication is necessary for safety and best results.  It is not a correct standard of care to give the same medication and instructions to all patients. Using a common example, "take two yellow pills in the morning, two at noon, and two more pills in the afternoon" is a very high dose, and the risk of side-effects much more likely than with a sensible, individualized approach. Clinics that dispense in this manner do so because (1) it is easier and faster to give the same instructions to everyone, (2) the selection of medication is based on profit margin to the clinic, rather than individual response, and (3) lack of knowledge about the many different medications available to help with weight loss.

Starvation - Avoid clinics promoting 500 calorie starvation diets, or claims of more than 2 pounds a week. There is a reason why rapid weight loss is specifically cautioned against in the Florida Weight-Loss Consumer Bill of Rights - it can cause serious health problems.

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