Treatment Approaches – Intensive Lifestyle Therapy Program

Calorie Controlled Plan

• Our calorie controlled option involves eating only “healthy” food that you purchase for yourself (for example, at your supermarket).
• If you and the Intensive Lifestyle Therapy (ILT) team select this option at your initial visit, one of our program dietitians will design an individualized meal plan with you. Then you will meet weekly with a dietitian to revise or update the plan as needed, and continue to work together on healthy eating strategies and behavior modification.
• All individuals choosing the calorie controlled diet are invited to attend weekly interactive groups also led by a ILT registered dietitian.

Food and Liquid Meal Replacement Plan

• Meal replacements, such as liquid meal shakes, are a well-studied tool to help people be successful with their weight loss goals. For some individuals who enroll in ILT, this becomes part of their treatment program. In this plan, liquid meal replacement shakes are combined with food that you purchase (for example at the supermarket).
• At the initial visit within CWMW, the CWMW provider will work with you to determine if this option is suitable/optimal for you. (This may not be appropriate for people who have only a modest amount of weight to lose, or certain medical conditions.) At your first visit to ILT, one of our program registered dietitians will design an individualized meal plan for you that includes meal replacement shakes as well as food.
• You will then meet weekly with a dietitian to revise or update the plan as needed, and to continue to work together on healthy eating strategies and behavior modification.
• All individuals choosing the food and liquid meal replacement plan are invited to attend weekly interactive group sessions also led by a ILT registered dietitian. This plan will be monitored by regular visits with a physician as well.
• When you have met your treatment goals, or at any time when you are ready, or at any time deemed necessary by the program staff, we will work with you to transition (often gradually) from meal replacements back to a full food plan (see Calorie Controlled Plan above).

Full Liquid Meal Replacement Plan

• Meal replacements, such as liquid meal shakes, are a well-studied tool to help people be successful with their weight loss goals. For some individuals who enroll in ILT, this becomes a part of their treatment program. In this plan, all of your meals are replaced by liquid meal replacement shakes for some time. This option is appropriate for a select group of individuals who have more significant weight to lose, particularly if they have serious medical conditions that necessitate weight loss.
• At the initial visit within CWMW, the CWMW provider will work with you to determine if this option is suitable/optimal for you. If it is determined that this is the best starting option for you, then one of our program registered dietitians will design an individualized meal replacement plan. Individuals on this plan consume a minimum of five nutritionally complete liquid shakes, along with 2 prescribed vitamin and mineral packets daily, which provide everything necessary for good nutrition.
• Participants in this plan also meet weekly with a dietitian to revise or update the plan as needed, and to continue to work together on healthy eating strategies and behavior modification.
• All individuals choosing the food and liquid meal replacement plan are invited to attend weekly interactive group sessions led by a ILT registered dietitian. This plan will be closely monitored by regular visits with a physician, as well as laboratory monitoring.
• When you have met your treatment goals, or at any time when you are ready, or at any time deemed necessary by the program staff, we will work with you to transition (often gradually) from meal replacements.

Prescription Medication(s) for Weight Loss

• When it is medically appropriate and/or medically necessary, we combine the healthy eating, restricted calorie program with an FDA-approved prescription for weight loss. These medications generally assist with weight loss by decreasing appetite or causing an early feeling of fullness. Because they cannot be co-prescribed with certain other medications or in certain medical conditions, the appropriateness of medication use is an individualized decision made by the CWMW provider with each patient.
• Participants in this plan also meet weekly with the program dietitian to revise or update their food plan as needed, and to continue to work together on healthy eating strategies and behavior modification.
• All individuals using prescription weight loss medications are invited to attend weekly interactive group sessions led by a ILT registered dietitian.
• This plan will be closely monitored by regular visits with a CWMW provider, as well as clinical exam and laboratory monitoring as needed depending on the medication.

Weight Maintenance Program

• Maintaining weight loss can be equally as difficult as losing weight. Once individuals have achieved their weight loss goal(s) through our program, our maintenance program will help promote long-term maintenance of weight loss.
• The ILT maintenance program involves weekly weigh-ins along with weekly interactive group sessions and is lower cost than the more intensive weight loss program phases described above.

Lifestyle Change Groups

• As above, all program participants are invited to partake in weekly group sessions designed specifically to help build skills for successful weight loss and a healthier lifestyle, as well as longer-term weight loss maintenance. Led by experienced registered dietitians, our groups discuss nutrition education, exercise and behavior modification.
• All patients receive education materials related to the weekly topic of discussion in the group. Group days and times are as follows:
• Wednesday:
• 5:15pm-6:15pm
• 5:45pm-6:45pm
• We believe the weekly individual visits to our program, the weekly group session, together with the physician monitoring, provide the kind of support that we know is necessary to be successful at weight loss and at forming healthier eating and exercise habits to last a lifetime.