How to talk to your healthcare provider about weight loss

For anyone who is living with being overweight or obese, weight loss is about more than changing a number on the scale. It is about making sustainable changes that can benefit many different aspects of your health.

If you are ready to lose weight, your first step should be partnering with a healthcare provider. This may be your primary care provider, who you see for routine healthcare appointments, or it may be a healthcare provider who specializes in weight loss treatment.

Once you have an appointment on your calendar, your next step is to think about the conversation you will have with your healthcare provider. Follow this guide, which includes questions to help you prepare for your appointment, things to keep in mind during your appointment, and how to evaluate how the appointment went.

Before your appointment

One of the keys to success for any healthcare appointment is preparation. Before your appointment, think about how you want to start the conversation. Some questions to ask yourself:

• What are your reasons for wanting to lose weight?
• Why do you want to begin weight loss now?
• Has a healthcare provider recommended you lose weight?
• Does your weight affect your mental or emotional health?
• Have you tried weight loss programs in the past?

During your appointment

It always helps to go to a healthcare appointment with a specific goal, or a list of priorities about what you want to discuss. If weight loss is the main reason for your appointment, bring that up first. If the primary reason for your visit is something else—such as a health condition you are managing—you may need to discuss that topic first and weight loss second.

Discussing another health condition or health concern may be a good way to bring up weight loss. Achieving a healthier weight can be helpful in the management of many health conditions. It can also help improve key markers of health, such as blood pressure, cholesterol, and blood glucose.

Be honest when talking to your healthcare provider. This includes being honest about why you want to lose weight, how your weight affects different aspects of your life, and your day-to-day habits and lifestyle. Also be honest about what approaches to weight loss you think will—or will not—work for you, such as weight loss methods you have used in the past.

Again, everyone is different, but weight can be an intensely personal topic to discuss. If you’re nervous about having this conversation with a healthcare provider, know that you are far from alone—many people experience similar feelings, though everyone experiences them in a slightly different way.

After your appointment

The first thing you should do following your appointment is take a moment to appreciate what you did. Talking to a healthcare provider about weight loss is a significant step.

Follow through with any recommendations or next steps from your healthcare provider, such as filling prescriptions, scheduling appointments with a specialist, or scheduling tests.

You will also want to spend at least a few minutes thinking about the appointment and how it went. Here are some questions that can help you get started.

• How do you feel about the appointment?
• Did you get what you needed from the appointment?
• What approach does your healthcare provider recommend for losing weight?
• Do you think this approach will work for you?
• Are there things you wish you said during the appointment?
• Do you feel this is the right healthcare provider to work with for weight loss?

If you do not feel confident about your healthcare provider’s recommendations for losing weight, or do not feel this healthcare provider is the right person to work with for weight loss treatment, consider finding a different healthcare provider.