Best Speciality for Weight Loss?

[FreeWeezy]

I mean not for myself, but to help others lose weight.

I just started med school and am really interested in the obesity epidemic. I don't want to do surgery so that's out. But I know some doctors run weight loss clinics/practices. Would I first specialize in internal medicine? Or something gastro related? Or something else?

Thanks so much for assistance.

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[ILikeDrugs]

You can probably get a lot of cardio done as an emergency physician since you're always up and about. Just don't go into radiology. You'll be on your a55 all day long.


I would think internal and family medicine, or you could become a nutritionist.

 

[indya]

bariatric surgery

 

[muhali3]

I think you can open up a weight loss clinic regardless of your specialty since "weight loss" is not a recognized field. But if you want to be the most qualified to open up a weight loss clinic then I would say go into Internal Med and do a Gastroenterology fellowship. Internal Med is not competitive but gastro is a competitive fellowship to get into iirc.

 

[LizzyM]

Internal Medicine/Preventive Medicine combined residency with an MPH. Learn the theories of behavior change and health communication and get some research skills that will be required to show that your treatments are efficacious.

 

[45408]

Bariatric surgery. Trying to do behavioral modification has a depressingly pathetic affect on weight loss.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

Bariatric surgery. Trying to do behavioral modification has a depressingly pathetic affect on weight loss.

Why would cognitive-behavioral restructuring have a pathetic affect on weight loss? It would seem that that would be one of the first things that one would want to implement in a weight loss plan. If you don't change the way people think about food and their overall health, will that person really get anywhere?

 

[muhali3]

Why would cognitive-behavioral restructuring have a pathetic affect on weight loss? It would seem that that would be one of the first things that one would want to implement in a weight loss plan. If you don't change the way people think about food and their overall health, will that person really get anywhere?

Obese people usually know that they shouldn't be eating so much, it's just kind of an addiction. CBT has been shown to not be very effective despite the patient's awareness of how their behavior is affecting their health.

 

[ILikeDrugs]

Obese people usually know that they shouldn't be eating so much, it's just kind of an addiction. CBT has been shown to not be very effective despite the patient's awareness of how their behavior is affecting their health.

That may be true, but if someone chooses to go to a weight loss clinic on their own accord, instead of just being told to lose weight by a doctor when a person goes in for a check-up, that person may be more motivated and more persuasive. It would just seem best to have a cognitive-behavioral restructuring component to a weight loss program.

 

[FreeWeezy]

I really don't want to do surgery so bariatric surgery is out--although I can obviously form relationships with bariatric surgeons for the very obese. Is internal med then fellowship gastroentrology my only option? Long term I'm interested in in combining diet (nutritional therapy) with exercise (personal training), but wouldn't want to limit my services to those who could pay out of pocket. Any ideas on specialty or subspecies?

 

[ILikeDrugs]

I really don't want to do surgery so bariatric surgery is out--although I can obviously form relationships with bariatric surgeons for the very obese. Is internal med then fellowship gastroentrology my only option? Long term I'm interested in in combining diet (nutritional therapy) with exercise (personal training), but wouldn't want to limit my services to those who could pay out of pocket. Any ideas on specialty or subspecies?

LizzyM gave you some other options and that about covers your options for what you want to do.

 

[morning]

Why IM and not FM?

 

[ArcGurren]

I really don't want to do surgery so bariatric surgery is out--although I can obviously form relationships with bariatric surgeons for the very obese. Is internal med then fellowship gastroentrology my only option? Long term I'm interested in in combining diet (nutritional therapy) with exercise (personal training), but wouldn't want to limit my services to those who could pay out of pocket. Any ideas on specialty or subspecies?

Gastroent involves a lot of procedures which are somewhat like surgery as well. You might want to think about your position on surgery, which will probably change anyway as you go through med school.

 

[oldbearprofessor]

I really don't want to do surgery so bariatric surgery is out--although I can obviously form relationships with bariatric surgeons for the very obese. Is internal med then fellowship gastroentrology my only option? Long term I'm interested in in combining diet (nutritional therapy) with exercise (personal training), but wouldn't want to limit my services to those who could pay out of pocket. Any ideas on specialty or subspecies?

Pediatrics. Primary prevention is the way to go. As far as a career that is FOCUSED on obesity, within pediatrics there are pedi GI and Nutrition folks who run obesity treatment clinics. Academic general pediatrics (with an MPH!) is a strong way to go to if you are interested in public policy.

In any case, obesity often starts in childhood, including early childhood. Pediatricians are at the forefront here both in dealing with individuals and in terms of public policy (e.g. advocating for improved school lunch nutrition and many other such things). The AAP has several committees that are very actively involved in these issues for example.

 

[DrBowtie]

I really don't want to do surgery so bariatric surgery is out--although I can obviously form relationships with bariatric surgeons for the very obese. Is internal med then fellowship gastroentrology my only option? Long term I'm interested in in combining diet (nutritional therapy) with exercise (personal training), but wouldn't want to limit my services to those who could pay out of pocket. Any ideas on specialty or subspecies?

If that's really your focus, I wouldn't bother being a doctor.

GI you'll be doing lots and lots and lots of scopes.
FP you're not going to have time to talk with people extensively about it if you aren't doing cash only.

 

[LizzyM]

Pediatrics. Primary prevention is the way to go. As far as a career that is FOCUSED on obesity, within pediatrics there are pedi GI and Nutrition folks who run obesity treatment clinics. Academic general pediatrics (with an MPH!) is a strong way to go to if you are interested in public policy.

In any case, obesity often starts in childhood, including early childhood. Pediatricians are at the forefront here both in dealing with individuals and in terms of public policy (e.g. advocating for improved school lunch nutrition and many other such things). The AAP has several committees that are very actively involved in these issues for example.

As for not wanting to limit yourself to those who can pay out of pocket... well, that is pretty much it because third party payers are not too keen on paying for physician directed weight loss although there are some insurance plans that require a 6 month unsuccessful attempt at non-surgical weight loss before authorizing bariatric surgery so you could be someone who supervises that sort of thing but for the ordinary overweight person (someone with 20-40 pounds to lose, not 140... or more) there aren't good ways for docs to get reimbursed for that.

 

[bonsaipalmtree]

Endocrinology- if you're interested in hormones and weight loss.

 

[LaZigeuner]

Endocrinology- if you're interested in hormones and weight loss.

Becoming an endocrinologist to work with obese people is my big motivation for going to med school (though I'm not ruling out the possibility of any other specialty).

 

[justdoit31]

depends on when you want to have the impact...

Peds- get em early, some hospitals even have obesity clinics for children

Family- get em later in life as you find out triglycerides are high or they are pre-diabetic.

Endo- as mentioned above hormonal- just remember that people with these hormonal issues usually have difficulty lossing weight so be encouraging and not condeming.

 

[nycfuture2013]

I don't have an answer for you, but before I read your message I thought you were wondering what you should specialize in because you want to lose weight.

 

[MossPoh]

You'll spend nearly every waking moment of your work life dealing with fat people if medicine is your career. They are possibly the most frustrating population to deal with when it comes to weight loss. It is easier to sell cheeseburgers than hard work.

 

[nlax30]

Like others have said there is no official "weight loss" specialty so you can do weight loss really no matter what field you end up going into.... from a practical standpoint some fields may lend themselves to running a weight loss clinic than others but certainly no requirement to go into a specific field.

I've been with an FP and Gen surgeon who both were involved with some sort of formal weight loss program through their office. One was based off of that medifast program, the other was the doc's own program that involved calorie limits and sometimes some help from big pharma.

But I echo the others... IM, FP, or even Peds are all good choices depending on which segment of the population you want to focus on. No need to do GI or Endo unless you're also interested in those facets of medicine and/or wish to also treat those sets of issues along with weight loss.

 

[surftheiop]

I know a doctor who has always been really into nutrition/diet/exercise/etc, he is a ER doc and works a couple shifts a month and then has a nutrition/diet practice that he sees patients for several days a week. When he has fewer patients, then he picks up more shifts.

 

[morning]

You'll spend nearly every waking moment of your work life dealing with fat people if medicine is your career. They are possibly the most frustrating population to deal with when it comes to weight loss. It is easier to sell cheeseburgers than hard work.

When it comes to weight loss...why would you work with people who aren't fat?

I'm sure there's got to be amazing clinical research to be undertaken in the obesity genre, but you'd have to be in an academic setting for that, not a homegrown clinic, right?

 

[Danlee07]

i would work with them...so they don't get fat?

There are manyyyyyyyy mesomorphs who down two cheeseburgers and large fries with soda after a workout because they can... but they're not ectos when they're 50, they're gonna be bulging out fat everywhere while the ectos don't..

 

[Damon125]

You can get the services of the some personal fitness trainer to lose your unnecessary body weight in an effective way. You can also start some regular exercise plan or participate in some sports activities for the successful weight control.

adamprowse fitness trainer

 

[Reckoner]

You can get the services of the some personal fitness trainer to lose your unnecessary body weight in an effective way. You can also start some regular exercise plan or participate in some sports activities for the successful weight control.

 

[joonage]

You can get the services of the some personal fitness trainer to lose your unnecessary body weight in an effective way. You can also start some regular exercise plan or participate in some sports activities for the successful weight control.

Digusted Bun does not like necro-bumps.