When most people try to lose weight, they watch one number: the scale. But not all weight loss is...
Are 800 calorie diets safe?
By: Scottsdale Weight Loss Center
Published: January 24, 2019
Please Don’t Drink Your Calories if You’re Focused on Weight Loss
Liquid calories are fluids consumed as part of your daily diet that often go unnoticed and...
Rock Climbing: Lose Weight on the Wall
If your weight loss efforts have hit a wall, why not climb it? Rock climbing is becoming an...
Weight Watchers vs. Medical Weight Loss Programs in Scottsdale: Comparing the Results
Many residents in Scottsdale, Phoenix, and Glendale struggle with weight loss plateaus despite...
Arizona Medical Weight Loss Programs vs Online Programs: Which One Provides the Best Results?
The weight loss landscape has shifted significantly with the rise of digital health platforms....
Is Brown Rice Healthier Than White Rice?
Is brown rice better than white rice? Intuitively, one would think that brown rice is much...
It seems nearly everything we learned about obesity in training was wrong if we were taught anything at all. Medical schools and residencies teach the essentials of nutrition for the critically ill patients. When someone is hospitalized, they need adequate nutrition for healing: protein, essential fatty acids, electrolytes, vitamins, minerals, trace elements and water for recovery and healing. Then when we began outpatient medicine, we were flooded with patients with obesity and its consequences of diabetes, hypertension, hyperlipidemia, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease, cancers, and arthritis. Many of those conditions resolve with weight loss. Unfortunately, we were ill prepared to manage the underlying disease of obesity. If we had the knowledge, we never had the time to dedicate during a busy office visit to implement a successful weight loss plan. That is why the specialty of obesity medicine exists.
The NEJM article Myths, Presumptions, and Facts about Obesity dispels many of the beliefs we had about obesity and how to manage it. One of the common myths is that fast weight loss is unsafe and ineffective and that an 800 calorie diet cannot provide sufficient nutrition. Contrary to this myth, the article states, “within weight-loss trials, more rapid and greater initial weight loss has been associated with lower body weight at the end of long-term follow-up.” Furthermore, “a recommendation to lose weight more slowly might interfere with the ultimate success of weight-loss efforts.” In other words, the greatest weight loss at one year occurs in those that lost the weigh the fastest in the first six months of treatment.
An 800 calorie diet can be safe if it provides complete nutrition. It can also be unsafe when it lacks any essential nutrient. One main advantage of medical meal replacements is they provide everything needed for health while providing much lower calories. It is logistically impossible to provide complete nutrition on a whole food diet, and therefore, the weight loss will be much slower. In our experience, the ketones produced from more rapid weight loss also makes weight loss easier, probably due to lower levels of ghrelin, an appetite-stimulating gut hormone. Furthermore, the more rapid weight change results in a rapid drop in blood pressure and blood sugars, with the resulting need for lower antihypertensive and diabetes medications. So faster weight loss is easier for the patient results in more rapid improvement in health, and results in more sustained weight loss.
Nick
Nick's Story
"I wish I would have come here first. We spend all our time reacting to the next great weight loss tip or program. It might work for a while, but does not last and we end up yo-yoing from one fad to the next – as we gain more weight." Read More
Gina
Lost 44.5 lbs
"I had no trouble adhering to the meals and they really helped catapult my progress! The classes were so beneficial to me because they helped change my thinking about how I viewed health, nutrition, and fitness.
I will always have my relationship with Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. They truly helped me change my life forever." Read More
Lauren
Lost 60 lbs
"Dr. Ziltzer and everyone who I have come in contact with at the Scottsdale Weight Loss office have been so encouraging and I look forward to seeing them each week. It is now a year and 2 months later since I started. I am down 60 lbs., which is the average amount a 9-year-old weighs, it is crazy to think I lost a whole person! I feel amazing, I hit my goal weight in November 2021 just before Thanksgiving. Nothing on my body hurts anymore..." Read More
Chuck
Lost 66 lbs
"The best thing I did was call the Scottsdale Weight Loss Center. I have a lot more energy, I'm not hungry, and it feels great.
You can take it from me that this is a program that produces results. The staff is always positive, supportive, and never judgmental.
Your visits always result in positive reinforcement, no matter if you had a good week or a bad week." Read More
Emily
Lost 101 lbs
"Here I am at the lowest I have been since high school weighing in at 155lbs. I have lost 101 lbs, BMI of 39 when I started, to 21.6, and of course at body fat % of 47.1 to 26.5%. I told myself by my 30th birthday I wanted to be confident in the way I look and I owe it all to SWLC. The entire staff is so welcoming and they are rooting for you just as much as you are rooting for yourself...." Read More
Reviews
Meet Our Team
Robert Ziltzer, MD, FACP, FAAP, FOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Diana Bone, FNP-C
Specializing in Obesity Medicine
Craig Primack, MD, FACP, FAAP, MFOMA
Obesity Medicine Certified Physician
Kristen Ash, FNP-C, FNP-BC
Nurse Practitioner
Alicia Earley, FNP-C
Family Nurse Practitioner
