Are you among the millions of Americans struggling with weight and seeking effective solutions? The MUSC Health Weight Management Center offers leading-edge programs designed to help people lose weight, optimize their health, and improve their quality of life. Extra weight is not a character flaw; it's a complex problem that can impair your health and overall well-being. MUSC Health understands this complexity and provides a range of programs to meet individual needs, emphasizing long-term lifestyle changes for sustained success. If you’re unsure about the best path for you, a Weight Management Care Coordinator is ready to help you learn more about the weight management offerings.
Comprehensive Weight Management Options at MUSC Health
MUSC Health believes in a team approach to weight loss and maintenance. Their strong interdisciplinary team evaluates patients before surgery and provides education and treatment after surgery. This team delivers surgical, medical, nutritional, and psychological care, considering lifestyle changes following surgery.
Non-Surgical Weight Loss Programs
If bariatric surgery is not the right choice, MUSC offers non-surgical weight loss options through its Weight Management Center. These programs focus on:
- Coaching on Diet and Lifestyle Changes: The center provides expert guidance on making sustainable changes to your diet and lifestyle behaviors. This includes developing healthier diets that consider cultural concerns and personalized activity plans that are effective and convenient.
- Weight Loss Medications: MUSC Health offers a variety of weight loss medications to assist you on your weight loss journey. Nurse practitioner Amanda Clark explores a range of medication options for people who want and need them, including treatments for health conditions linked to weight.
- Nutrition Classes: Nutrition classes are offered in person and online, teaching participants how to diversify their plates with fruits, vegetables, proteins, and grains, and how to mix colors of food by choosing from different color groups.
- Support for those on Weight Loss Medications: Given that new anti-obesity drugs work by making people feel full more quickly, slowing digestion, reducing cravings and decreasing the desire to eat and drink, the Weight Management Center has added services for people taking the new weight loss medications. Dietitian Tonya Turner emphasizes that "with less quantity, quality becomes critical," referring to nutritional intake for people on anti-obesity drugs.
Bariatric Surgery at MUSC Health
For individuals who meet the criteria, MUSC Health offers advanced bariatric surgery options. Robotic surgery at MUSC Health is making life-changing procedures, such as the most complex bariatric surgeries, accessible to more people than ever before. The first step on your journey to bariatric surgery is to determine if bariatric surgery is right for you. If it is, then there are steps that you need to complete on your journey.
- Types of Bariatric Surgery: MUSC Health offers several types of weight loss surgery, including sleeve gastrectomy, gastric bypass, and duodenal switch. Monther Altiti, M.D., leads Lancaster’s bariatric (weight loss) surgery program and performed a sleeve gastrectomy on Miranda Watts, which removed about 80% of her stomach. That restricts how much she can eat and reduces her appetite by changing her gut hormones.
- SADI-S Procedure: The Single Anastomosis Duodenal-Ileal Bypass with Sleeve Gastrectomy (SADI-S) is the most recent procedure endorsed by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery.
- Revision Surgery: After an interdisciplinary team evaluation, MUSC revises previous bariatric procedures for complications or conversions to another procedure.
The Surgical Journey and Aftercare
The surgery is not a quick fix. It requires mental preparation and lifestyle adjustments. Watts encourages other people considering bariatric surgery to look at facts, not just fears. People who have weight loss surgery in Lancaster will soon have a support group, Watts said.
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- Pre-Surgical Evaluation: MUSC’s strong interdisciplinary team evaluates the patient before surgery.
- Post-Surgical Care: The team provides education and treatment after surgery, considering lifestyle changes.
- Support Groups: Support groups help patients navigate the mental challenges of adjusting to a new lifestyle after surgery.
Specialized Programs
- Wellness Works Program: The Wellness Works Program is both the pediatric weight management program and lipid disorder treatment center for MUSC's Children’s Health. As a family-centered, lifestyle-oriented program, the Wellness Works Program is appropriate for any child or adolescent ages two through 21 who has abnormal weight gain or any child or adolescent with any type of lipid disorder, regardless of weight status (high cholesterol, high triglycerides, familial hypercholesterolemia, etc.).
- L.E.A.N. Training Program: The MUSC Weight Management Center launched a training program to better educate medical and other healthcare graduate students in how to deliver an evidence-based obesity intervention.
The Importance of Lifestyle Changes
Successful long-term weight loss should be based on a healthy diet and exercise. Exercise is crucial to the long-term success of a weight loss program. The process of losing weight and growing accustomed to new ways of dealing with food can be difficult.
Amanda Clark, a nurse practitioner at MUSC Health, emphasizes that weight loss is a journey, not a quick fix. She proudly shows her before and after photos to others who are struggling with weight to show them what’s possible. “They're like, ‘What did you do?’ And I was like, ‘It wasn't just one thing. It was definitely a progression.’ There's not a magic something. It’s a journey that when you figure it out, you're like, ‘Oh, this makes good sense. This is so simple."
Setting Realistic Goals
Watts encourages people to set goals that are not numerical goals. She advises, “Do you want to fit into a pair of pants you wore three years ago? That could be your first goal. Do you want to be able to go to your child's game and sit in a comfortable chair and not the bleachers? Set small, realistic goals."
Accessing MUSC Health Weight Management Services
Virtual visits are available depending on appointment type. Call 843-792-3046 to schedule a new patient visit.
- Free Program Orientation: Schedule a free program orientation to learn more.
- Weight Management Care Coordinator: If you’re unsure about the best path for you, a Weight Management Care Coordinator is ready to help you learn more about the weight management offerings.
- Contact Information: For more information, call 843-792-9200.
- Wellness Works Program: For questions about the Wellness Works Program, please call 843-876-0444
- Medicaid Program: Those interested in participating in the Medicaid program should call (843) 792-5431 and leave a message with their name and phone number.
Resources and Educational Materials
MUSC provides access to educational resources, weight loss tools, and information about their weight management services.
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- Dietary Guidelines: The Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend the DASH eating plan as a model for healthy eating for everyone.
- Online Resources: Access educational resources, weight loss tools, and information about MUSC's weight management services. Plus, information about current obesity-related clinical trials.
- Nutrition Services: MUSC Nutrition Services has approximately 30 Registered Dietitians that help patients reach their health goals.
MUSC's Commitment to Addressing Obesity
The MUSC Weight Management Center understands the health problems and high costs associated with the rising rate of obesity, and that without better insurance coverage, individuals who arguably need obesity treatment the most are the ones who are least likely to be able to afford it. They also know that healthcare providers are often not adequately trained to effectively treat obesity in their patients.
MUSC alumnus and Charleston native, Dr. Patrick O’Neil, Ph.D., director of MUSC’s Weight Management Center, said eating less means focusing more on what you consume.
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