Why is it so hard to keep weight off once losing it?

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William McCarthy
Medical Director, Nova ABC Weight Loss Clinic, NOVA ABC Weight Loss Clinic
www.novaabc.com  
703-494-1020

Dr. William McCarthy is the Medical Director at the NOVA ABC Weight Loss Clinic

Dr. McCarthy has been in private medical practice in the Northern Virginia area since 1976.  He received a BS (Magna cum laude) at Xavier University in Cincinnati, his M.D. degree at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C, and served his internship and residency in Family Practice at the University of Wisconsin Hospitals in Madison, Wisconsin. Dr. McCarthy is board certified in bariatric medicine, which is the medical specialty of weight  disorders.  At this time, there are only approximatly 300 board certified bariatricians in the United States.

 
 He has served as the Chief of Staff and board member of Potomac Hospital here in Woodbridge.  He founded the nationally recognized Continuing Medical Education program at Potomac Hospital and served as it director for over twenty years.  He has been repeatedly voted by his peers as one of the top physicians in the D.C area in the Washington Consumer Checkbook.  Dr. McCarthy has also served as a board member of the Northern Virginia Foundation for Health and Medical Care and on the board of Physician’s Care insurance.  He was the team physician for the Prince William professional baseball team for many years, chosen by the Pirates, Yankees, Cardinals, and White Sox.   Dr. McCarthy has an outstanding reputation as a physician and educator, known not only for his broad knowledge of medicine, but also as a compassionate and caring physician.  After years of treating the health consequences that were brought on by excess weight, Dr. McCarthy decided to shift the focus of his care to the treatment and prevention of the actual cause of these medical problems.  Dr. McCarthy has attended numerous conferences, intensively studied the most current medical literature, and has spent time working with well known, experienced bariatricians in order to enhance his knowledge in the science of weight loss, metabolism, nutrition, exercise, and behavioral aspects of weight control.  He now dedicates his experience and knowledge to those who lives and health are adversely affected by their excess weight.

Why is it so hard to keep weight off once losing it?

This video is about obesity and weight issues in our society, which is now recognized by the medical profession as the world's #1 health problem. I will answer your questions about the impact of excess weight; the consequences and what can be done about it.

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Host: Why is it so hard to keep weight off once one loses it?

Dr. William McCarthy: Losing weight is really going against everything the body is made for. Our bodies are geared to eat. It's self preserving. Body fats serves a purpose, is to store fat. Our bodies are made to go through famines, wars, new ice-ages or global warming. We are made to live without food for extended periods of time, but the reverse side of that is our body is made to hoard food. So, when times are good, we eat. Right now, we are in the time of plenty. There is food everywhere. So, in order to lose weight, we have to sit there and be faced with all of the same foods. We have patterns of behavior, we have genetics, we have all of these things that we are fighting. We have eating habits that have been developed from childhood. So, once we lose the weight, we don t change any of these factors, we don t suddenly become a thin person and just forget it. That s why weight is put back on so quickly once a person loses weight. It's a continual effort to lose weight. I really almost look at it as trying to keep weight off, it's almost as if we take an alcoholic to the bar, sat him there and say, You can't have a drink. So, when we try to lose weight, we have to look at it long-term, we have to make permanent changes otherwise, if you do what you have been doing, you will regain the weight.

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