Wellness Institute introduces new weight loss program

West Kildonan

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This article was published 10/01/2024 (633 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Wellness Institute, which is based at Seven Oaks General Hospital, is offering an alternative look at weight loss and management with the introduction of its new Weight Loss and Risk Reduction clinic.

The six-month-long program, which takes a holistic approach to each participant, combines health and exercise with mental wellness, nutrition, and specialized risk assessment. It’s aimed at those struggling with being overweight and the potential health conditions that can arise as a result, such as Type 2 diabetes.

The pilot program for the clinic was launched in 2019, and the final program was announced in November 2023.

Tom Pachal, manager of clinical services at the Wellness Centre (1075 Leila Ave.), said the program aims to treat obesity as the individualized health concern it is identified as by the World Health Organization (WHO).

“There’s no one easy solution for weight loss or weight management,” Pachal said. “Everybody has very different and unique lives, and there’s different challenges person to person, so what may be easy for somebody is the biggest barrier for another.”

Obesity and its contributing issues do not have one universal cause, he added, and professionals involved in the clinic ask questions that address all avenues of life for the patient.

“Commonly, especially with something like weight loss … it’s very multi-factorial, and it can come through a spread of different challenges and variables in your life,” Pachal said.

“So we wanted to look at everything, and there’s the main pillars of managing weight loss … lifestyle modification, health and behavior changes, and promoting those long term, sustainable changes to you and your lifestyle. That’s why, with our program, we work with a health coach, a clinical exercise physiologist, a registered dietitian, and there’s a cognitive behavioral therapist, and then there’s our medical doctor to oversee it all.”

Over the six months, the team “checks off the boxes,” for all factors — the physical, the diet, the relationship with food, mental barriers, stressors, and, eventually, goals — and molds the patient’s approach based on what’s best for the patient.

It’s different than the status quo of, for example, visiting a doctor’s office and getting one set answer, Pachal said.

“Maybe somebody goes to a gym and gets a personal trainer, but there’s no discussions on their eating habits, or their lifestyle and their stressors, their work/life balance, and all these other things that drive all these other variables that can influence weight gain or weight management,” Pachal said.

“It’s about, not being an extreme to one degree, but finding everything working, all together … taking the person as a whole, to make them feel heard and valued and okay. This is very catered just to you, and how we’re going to find the best way. Not only to get you results, but then make sure that they learned something and make them sustainable (in the long term).

“There’s many ways and it happens all the time that someone can find a quick fix solution where they may lose a lot of weight, or really increase some different health metrics and feel better, but then in a year, is that still there?”

The weight loss clinic at Wellness Institute has already been recognized internationally, and recently won a 2023 Program Innovation Award, presented by the Medical Fitness Association.

At press time, the program was open to those who are ready — and, Pachal stressed, being ready of their own accord is important — and interested. The six-month program does come with a fee, which is currently $249 per month.

Pachal says the Wellness Institute aims to keep the clinic affordable as possible as the program grows and progresses.

For more information, visit wellnessinstitute.ca/weight-loss-clinic