Our second option is what we call the comprehensive weight loss plan. This is an intense 3 month program that has four components:
1) Regular meetings with a Medical Bariatric Physician (Dr. Finegold or Dr. Elhag). The Physician component also includes your metabolism testing (see tab);
2) A Health Club membership with weekly personal training sessions (Patients are expected to exercise at least 3 times weekly during the program at the facility);
3) regular meetings with a Registered Dietician, and
4) Monthly group behavioral modification meetings, conducted by a Clinical Psychologist experiened in weight loss.

We believe that either program can help you become successful, and have many years of experience with patients to back up that claim. The testimonials on our video are a mix of patients from both programs.

The Comprehensive Program is what we consider the “dream program” because it attacks the problem from every aspect. You get the benefit of Physicians trained in weight loss, measuring your metabolism and helping you pin point why you haven’t been successful previously. If you wish, and if you meet the criteria, you can benefit from medications that can be prescribed to help you safely lose weight.

You get the benefit of a Registered Dietitian reviewing your meal plans and teaching you about nutrition, helping you learn what you are doing wrong and educating you in ways to stay successful once the program is over. When people finish this program they know more about nutrition than 99% of the rest of the population.

In our group behavioral therapy sessions, we have licensed Psychologists implement a behavior program to help you stop, once and for all, the habits that cause you to keep regaining weight. We work on Stress eating, eating rates, meal planning and shopping, how to handle restaurants and eating while traveling, how to deal with family members that may be intentionally or unintentionally sabotaging your efforts, and how to make time for yourself in your busy schedule to do what you have to do--for you.

We have had many people tell us that they thought they were not going to get any thing out of the exercise part of the program, only to tell us at completion that they learned things that helped them kick down the doors that were barring them from success in the past.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we provide a structured exercise program.

Most people who have weight issues are intimidated by the thought of exercising. They are afraid they might get hurt, that they will look silly in a health club and not know what to do. They think the exercise will be unpleasant and aren’t motivated or disciplined enough to do it themselves.

We provide friendly environments to exercise in, with staffs that are helpful and respectful, and who make it fun to exercise. More than 60% of the people at our Gottlieb location have joined the health club once the program has officially ended and exercise and lose weight there. This is doubly remarkable when you consider that these people did not like to exercise before.

At our Elmwood/Melrose Park location we are partnering with the Gottlieb Health and Fitness Center. This facility is based at a Hospital and has many wellness programs. The exercise atmosphere is friendly and while the club has state of the art facilities, the people you find there are “real people”--many seniors, cardiac rehabilitation patients, and many employees of the hospital as well as members of the community. Our patients don’t feel intimidated and consistently praise the staff for their making them feel welcome. Doctor Finegold and Dr. Elhag are Primary Care Attending Physicians at the hospital next door and are very well known in the community.

At our Hoffman Estates location we are partnering with Multiform Fitness, located in the same shopping mall as our office. While Multiform Fitness is a somewhat smaller facility, it compensates for this with the quality of it’s equipment--truly demonstration grade--and it’s atmosphere is also very workout freindly.

Jeff Nelson, the owner and chief Physiologist at Multiform, closely follows his clients and tailors workouts that meet everone’s ability level. Novices need not fear, because Jeff is excellent at working with you and addressing all your fears. If you are a more experienced exerciser that still needs further help, Jeff can challange you appropriately.

In short, our comprehensive, exercise programs, attack the problem from every angle. The average patient has lost 30 pounds during the 3 month period (many quite a bit more). More importantly, most of them continue what they have learned and and continue to lose weight after the program has officially ended, several of them in excess of 100 pounds. We believe that they have learned their lessons for life and have gotten off the loss/regain merry- go- round.