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DietDoc – HCG Diet Doctors

Diet Doc Weight Loss created a doctor-supervised weight loss program without harsh rules!

Chicago, IL (PRWEB) February 22, 2012

Diet Doc Weight Loss announces a medically, supervised weight loss program that they claim is easy to follow, no harsh rules associated with typical diets.

Weight loss programs typically recommend that dieters only eat certain foods, or remove major food groups in order to lose weight. Diet Doc Weight Loss has removed harsh dieting requirements from their weight loss program, making dieting easy and without abnormal hunger or fatigue and most of all, no more harsh rules, claims Julie Wright, president of Diet Doc.

US News recently published it’s “Best Diets” report ranking some of the more well known diets, but left out a controversial diet “HCG Diet” as advertising a prescription drug is not permissible. If US News was able to include the (prescription) HCG Diet that doesn’t starve people by recommending 500 calories per day, the results would have been very different claims Ms. Wright.

Losing weight is not a simple solution, nor is it a one-size-fits all claims Wright. For people to lose rapid weight safely, not only should their medical history be taken, but also their lifestyle, age and gender. Many people, or non-weight loss trained physicians simply don’t understand that metabolism fights the body when dieting and that after 30 days, thyroid function is often reduced to 50% of normal due to dieting alone. Working with a true weight loss doctor is a completely different experience than going to a primary care doctor who has only 1 or 2 classes in medical school on dieting verses a highly trained weight loss doctor who has years of weight loss training reports Wright.

Diet Doc offers the modern day version of a 50 year old HCG diet and developed 4 other diet programs rolled into one that then personalizes the diet for every person to achieve an average of 1 pound of weight loss per day. Unsure which diet works best, with various fad diets, such as the raspberry ketone diet, Adele weight loss, metformin, the simple diet, diet mountain. The list goes on and on. None of these types of diets are doctor supervised and none listed have medical research to support their weight loss claims.

Diet Doc Weight Loss is a doctor-supervised weight loss program involving doctors, nurses, nutritionists and weight loss coaches who all work with patients unlimited while they are losing weight without charging additional. Diet Doc offers one month of prescription medication, one month of weight loss shakes, one month of weight loss cooking/salad dressing oil that is clinically proven to help dieters start burning fat within 30 minutes of consuming, along with the Diet Doc workbook outlining the modern-day version of the Diet Doc HCG diet and a cookbook, plus unlimited nurse, doctor and weight loss consultant support 6 days per week priced at under $275 reports Wright (one-time doctor and nurse fee of $159 to $199 not included in $275 fee).

Diet Doc HCG Diet and Weight Loss is passionate about helping people reduce their weight to avoid certain diseases and health conditions associated with being overweight. Diet Doc wants to keep their comprehensive, medically, supervised weight loss program affordable to many people, not just a select few. We often hear people comment that our pricing model is half of what other doctors are charging reports Wright. This is because our mission is to help people lose weight, train them on what specific foods will cause a weight loss reaction in their body. This is how they keep the weight off long term reports Wright. If we can do our best with each person, then we have gained the trust of many. This is how we make up for charging much lower than others states Wright.

*These weight reduction treatments include oral hCG or an injection of hCG–a drug, which has not been approved by the food and drug administration as safe and effective in the treatment of obesity or weight control. There is no substantial evidence that hCG increases weight loss beyond that resulting from caloric restriction, that it causes a more attractive or “normal” distribution of fat, or that it decreases the hunger and discomfort associated with calorie-restrictive diets. Results may vary and cannot be guaranteed. Medical supervision and compliance with our program is required.

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February 22, 2012, 5:02 AM EST

By Leslie Patton

Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) — Barbara “B.J.” Buckingham only joined Weight Watchers because her employer, the Cleveland Clinic, offered it for free. The reimbursement analyst has since shed 30 pounds and is halfway to her 168-pound goal.

“If my employer is going to go these lengths, I’m committed,” said Buckingham, 61.

After years of targeting individuals, diet companies are focusing on employers looking to cut health-care costs by slimming down workers. Weight Watchers International Inc. persuaded American Express Co. and NYSE Euronext to offer subsidized weight-loss programs for employees. Nestle SA’s Jenny Craig and Nutrisystem Inc. have programs that lured companies such as ATT Inc. and Wells Fargo Co.

“CEOs get it,” Weight Watchers Chief Executive Officer David Kirchhoff said during an investor conference last month. “They are tired of watching their health-care premiums go up 8 percent a year.”

The U.S. weight-loss industry may increase 4.5 percent to $65 billion this year, according to Tampa, Florida-based researcher Marketdata Enterprises Inc. Nearly half of the U.S. adult population is on some sort of diet, Marketdata estimates. More than one-third of Americans are considered obese, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.

Weight Watchers, which boosted revenue 25 percent to $1.82 billion last year, saw its share price jump 47 percent in 2011. Nutrisystem fell 39 percent.

Potential Sales

While corporate clients present potential sales in the long term, any increase in revenue will be small until more businesses get on board, said Kurt Frederick, a San Francisco- based analyst at Wedbush Securities Inc.

Weight Watchers, founded half a century ago by overweight housewife Jean Nidetch, centers around meetings led by trained staff. Dieters use a point system for eating, with foods rich in protein and fiber counting less toward their daily limit, while fats and carbohydrates take up more.

Weight Watchers struggled through the recession, with revenue declining 8.9 percent in 2009. In 2011, the New York- based company boosted sales and profit using celebrities, such as Jennifer Hudson, to tout its programs.

Revenue from diet sessions has stagnated for three years as customers shifted to the cheaper online version, which more than doubled its sales during the same time. An online membership costs $18.95 a month, less than half the $42.95 for a monthly unlimited meetings pass.

At Work

While Weight Watchers first began holding meetings at worksites in the 1980s, last year it began “in earnest” to sell corporate programs, Kirchhoff said during a conference call this month. In 2011, the company’s so-called At Work business accounted for about 12 percent of its North American meeting attendance. The company holds 45,000 weekly weight-loss meetings worldwide.

Weight Watchers touts health-care cost statistics from other clients and tries to get companies to start programs at their headquarters and enlist their satellite offices later, Tom Futch, vice president of health care solutions at Weight Watchers, said in a telephone interview. It also advertises in HR Magazine and sets up at trade shows to sell its programs, he said.

Jenny Craig, which started its corporate wellness program in 2004, said it gives discounts to employees of some of these clients, which include ATT, Wells Fargo, CVS Caremark Corp. and Verizon Communications Inc. It sells its program as being personal — providing weekly one-on-one consultations. About 8 percent to 10 percent of its client base are corporate accounts.

Nutrisystem Meals

Nutrisystem gives people “perfectly portioned” meals without having to count points, calories or attend meetings, Meredith Bandy, a company spokeswoman, said in an e-mail. She declined to name specific corporate clients or say how much revenue that part of the business accounts for.

Starting this year, American Express began paying for its employees to join Weight Watchers for one year. In the past, it only offered a discounted program. So far, more than 5,200 workers have signed up in 2012, compared with fewer than 2,000 last year, said David Kasiarz, senior vice president of global compensation and benefits.

“We wanted to have something with broad appeal,” Kasiarz said. Charles Barkley has advertised Weight Watchers men’s program with the tagline “Lose Like a Man.”

Getting employees to sign up takes gentle persuasion. Hudson’s Weight Watchers counselor, Liz Josefsberg, gave a pep talk at American Express’s employee Weight Watchers fete on Feb. 2. Nutrisystem recently signed Janet Jackson to promote its diets, while Jenny Craig is using Mariah Carey.

Gaining Weight Back

Most dieters gain the weight back, which may not bode well for companies looking to reduce health-care costs over time.

“The question is, ‘Are the people who sign up for the program actually going to use it and lose weight?’” said Frederick, the Wedbush analyst.

It may be better if companies don’t cover 100 percent of the costs for workers to join diet programs, he said. NYSE Euronext is paying half of the cost for its employees to join. When people have to pay for at least some of it themselves, they’re more likely to stick with it because they “have some skin in the game,” Frederick said.

Weight Watchers declined to say how many corporate clients it has signed up, though it is fielding daily phone calls from interested companies, Futch said.

“It makes a lot of sense that they look at this channel,” said Mitchell Pinheiro, an analyst at Janney Montgomery Scott LLC in Philadelphia. Having corporate clients may even lend some credence to the weight-loss programs, he said.

“It creates better credibility,” he said. “You know this isn’t the celebrity bathing-suit diet.”

–Editors: Kevin Orland, John Brecher

To contact the reporter on this story: Leslie Patton in Chicago at lpatton5@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Robin Ajello at rajello@bloomberg.net

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AgriLife Communications   |  
Updated: February 21, 2012

COLLEGE STATION – Helping a beef producer become more profitable and identifying methods to make an operation more efficient are just two goals associated with a program offered by the Texas AgriLife Extension Service, according to organizers.

The Beef Partnership in Extension Program, also known as Beef PEP, began in 1996 to conduct applied research in cow-calf production management and teaches producers the benefits of implementing improved management practices.

 “Our goal with the Beef PEP program is to improve profitability and lower the cost of production,” said Dr. Tom Hairgrove, AgriLife Extension animal health specialist and program coordinator. “A producer in this program gets a complete examination of their operation and comes away with several methods to help improve their bottom line.”

AgriLife Extension specialists assist program participants with a variety of expertise. Specialists in the areas of forage, economics and animal health work with different producers in Texas. Representatives from Texas AM University’s College of Veterinary Medicine also assist in the program, while Pfizer Animal Health continues to sponsor activities with products and consultation.

AgriLife Extension specialists have one-on-one meetings with the producers, evaluating all aspects of an operation from finances, forage systems, and herd selection and breeding programs. From those meetings, a broad-view plan is developed for the rancher and specialists work in consultation for several months during the year.

“The bottom line of the Beef PEP project is to benefit Texas beef cow-calf producers,” said Dr. Steve Wikse, who started the program and is now a retired professor of veterinary medicine at Texas AM. “It helps them have sustainable operations. Even greater, the program helps build on the economic impact of Texas beef cattle operations.”

The first Beef PEP program had six study herds, Wikse said, successfully adding more than 100 pounds of weight gain on marketed calves.

“We gave each of those ranches scores on a scale of one to five,” Wikse said. “During this initial start of the program, drought conditions prevailed, but 80 percent of added gain came as a result of new methods implemented upon the advice of our consultation.”

In 2011, of the four herds involved in the Beef PEP program, the average herd size is 200 head. One of the first evaluations was finances of the herds, said Dr. Stan Bevers, AgriLife Extension economist in Vernon.

“The main thing producers need to realize is how important records are,” Bevers said. “It can be as simple as pen and paper, or putting financial information into an Excel spreadsheet.”

Bevers runs the data collected from the herds through the Standardized Performance Analysis software system. It generates specific production data showing a producer how much each cow is generating in sales and profit.

“Once you go through the records and start looking through each category, you come away seeing that costs are always higher than what you thought they were,” he said.

Bevers said an easy way to see how much costs are impacting a rancher’s bottom line is to take the Schedule F filed with a federal income tax return, taking expenses and divide that by the number of cows you have.

“Beef PEP allows us to come in and take a real-life situation in a county and bring in a professional with expertise related to specific areas, such as forage production,” said Mark Currie, AgriLife Extension agent in Polk County. “The program is also advantageous to us because we can take what we learn from it and apply it to other programs within Extension.”

Dr. Glenn Rogers, Pfizer senior manager for beef veterinary operations, said the program benefits everyone involved.

“We consider Beef PEP a program that can have a big impact on livestock health and the state of Texas,” he said. “Instead of focusing on just one disease, it allows us to showcase our whole portfolio of (livestock) health products.”

Pfizer has been a Beef PEP sponsor for more than 10 years and has been an active participant in the study herds, Hairgrove said.

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As Megan Muncy smoothes her sweatshirt over her abdomen, she can feel where rolls of fat once bulged underneath her clothing. 

Now 16, she knows the world through the eyes of an obese child. Megan knows what it’s like to be judged by her weight, to sit in silence and embarrassment and to stay home because there she’s safe from criticism.

“I didn’t have a lot of energy. I really didn’t want to go out and do anything with my friends,” said Megan.

At 14, Megan says she hit her high weight of 350 pounds. 

“I felt horrible about myself — that I even let myself get to that weight,” said Megan who tried endless diets and programs to lose weight over the years.                                       
She had the medical record of someone decades older than her, facing high cholesterol and high blood pressure, and was prediabetic.

Megan made a choice that would forever change her life, the way she eats and the way she sees herself. 

She chose to have gastric bypass surgery, a weight-loss surgery that can lead to extreme weight loss by altering the size of the stomach.

“We limit the size of the stomach to about the size of my fist. We actually bypass about 30 percent of the small intestine, and that is really where you absorb all your calories and nutrients,” said Dr. Marc Michalsky, a pediatric surgeon at Nationwide Children’s Hospital in Columbus.

Bariatric surgery causes a restriction in the amount of food a patient can eat, so they feel full faster and eat less, losing up to one pound a day. It is a drastic approach to weight loss, once reserved for adults who found no other way to lose weight.

More teenagers are choosing bariatric surgery, hoping to avoid a lifetime of obesity. In the United States, obesity is clearly an epidemic. A third of all American children are either overweight or obese. Many have been on and off diets and are now turning to their doctors for weight-loss surgery. 

“These operations turn out to be very safe. Adolescent bariatric surgery is actually as safe, if not safer, in this age group,” said Michalsky. 

In order to even be considered for the surgery, Nationwide Children’s Hospital requires patients be a minimium of 100 pounds overweight and be on a medically supervised diet for six months prior to the surgery. 

Michalsky said NCH performs about 30 bariatric surgeries on teenagers a year.  That’s a sharp increase since 2005 when she says only about five surgeries were performed each year.

Megan is now 16 and weighs 203 pounds. She says she is happy, healthy and no longer facing a life of obesity and diabetes.

“I can’t really have sugar, and if I do, it has to be a very small amount of it. I can’t have high-fat foods, so no fried foods or fast food,” said Megan.

Megan says she would like to lose another 25 pounds and works hard to eat right and exercise.

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