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Optifit - an alternative to surgery for extreme weight loss

 

POST FALLS — Since Leanne Wegner began eating Optifast food and working out under the Optifit program, she has lost 16 pounds, in addition to 10 pounds of fat. Wegner, a type-2 diabetic, saw her glucose level drop by 50 points, and she said she feels healthier and better about herself.

“I am smaller, my clothes are fitting looser,” said Wegner, who now weighs 220 pounds. “I wouldn’t wear shorts before, and now I would probably wear some long shorts.”

Dr. John L. Pennings launched Optifit with the program’s medical director, Dr. Cher Jacobsen, at the beginning of April. The 12-week program is completely supervised, uses both exercise and a strictly-controlled diet to maximize weight loss, and the most sophisticated technologies available to track weight loss and to calculate calorie needs.

“What makes it so successful is that it’s comprehensive,” Jacobsen said.

The Optifit program came from Pennings’ eight years of experience with weight loss surgery at Surgical Bariatrics Northwest. Optifast, with its pharmacy-grade products, was a nutritional component of his weight-loss program. Optifast has been around for 30 years. The national average weight loss for the product when used in a medical weight loss program is 52 pounds.

“Our personal experience meets or exceeds that,” Pennings said.

Wegner said the food tastes good, and is convenient. “You can just grab it and go and take it anywhere with you,” she said.

Pennings added customized resistance training to Optifast. When people are in low-calorie states, the body will rob energy from muscles. The resistance training builds the muscles to preserve lean body mass, he said. The third component, he said, is “know what you’re doing and measure what you’re doing.”

Throughout the program, the Optifit professional staff uses technological tools to find starting, middle and end goals for the participants. The program is for people who want to lose 40 to 60 pounds. Participants typically are suffering or are at risk of complications such as diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, arthritic abnormalities, intestinal abnormalities and sleep apnea.

Anyone intersted can attend a physician-conducted seminar and arrange for a consultation with a physician. At the consultation, a medical doctor reviews the participant’s health circumstances, itemizing and categorizing issues that may be related to obesity.

Body composition is precisely measured through an advanced “Bod Pod” and metabolism calculated through a calorimeter breath test. Protein and calorie needs are set, and then a treatment program is prescribed. Licensed and registered dietitians prescribe a diet — typically fewer than 1,500 calories — that ensures adequate protein, vitamins and minerals.

“We’re calorie restricting with precision to maximize the weight loss result while ensuring safety,” Pennings said.

Participants also engage in private twice-weekly 15-minute training sessions with certified Optifit trainers. You can start to enjoy the exercise if you do it faithfully, Wegner said.

“I’ve just seen the benefits of it,” she said.

Participants see a nurse once a week and a physician every four weeks. And they are also encouraged to attend noon or evening support meetings designed to educate and address behavioral challenges.

People who comply with the diet and exercise will lose the weight, Penning said, and then they can go into a less intense graduate program.

“This program is designed to help people rebalance and then move forward,” Pennings said.

The program is worth every dime, because not only does it restore health, it can reduce costs related to complications from obesity — such as the need to pay for medications and illnesses, larger clothing, and even the extra seat on an airplane, he said.

“Any time that you’re overweight, you have all kinds of health problems. You have to see the doctors more often, you have more medications,” said Wegner, who suffers from knee problems in addition to diabetes. “The medications can make you sick, too,” she said.

Those obesity-related complications are becoming more and more common, while patients are getting younger and younger. Nearly 70 percent of adults and 30 percent of children are overweight or obese. For the first time, the World Health Organizations has listed obesity as the greatest threat to human longevity.

“I have teenagers with adult-onset diabetes because of obesity,” Jacobsen said. “Children of this generation are the first in the history of the world that aren’t going to live as long as their parents.”

The Optifit program is the best non-surgical solution, she said. “As a primary care physician battling the ravages of obesity every day, I cannot recommend this program strongly enough. If you want to lose weight safely, quickly and effectively, and keep it off forever, this is the very best program for you,” Jacobsen wrote in Optifit’s answer to frequently asked questions.

And when the weight starts to drop, better health results, as does an improved outlook. “The health benefits are great, but a lot of times it’s (feeling better) how you perceive yourself,” Wegner said.

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