Metabolic@GSMC

weight management service!

Several of our specialist associate GPs have undertaken further training in bariatric medicine in order to provide comprehensive, compassionate and effective care, individualised to your unique health and lifestyle needs. They love empowering patients to be in control of their health and will equip you with the resources you need to achieve your health goals.

The Metabolic program provide patients with a safe, non-judgemental, medical lead, evidence-based and patient-centred weight management service.

Why Metabolic@GSMC?

Being overweight or obese is a major risk factor for many metabolic health conditions, such as heart disease, cancer or poor mental health. Rather than focussing just on weight, we focus on health, as health is an important enabler of our patients being able to live the life they want.

It used to be thought that people who were overweight or obese were just lazy or making poor choices about what to eat. However, through scientific research, we now understand that living with obesity is actually a chronic disease, just like asthma, diabetes or high blood pressure, rather than a choice that people make.

There is a complex interaction between our genetics, physiology, psychology, environment and lifestyle that regulates our weight. Fortunately, just as we have developed effective treatments for many chronic conditions, we now have effective treatments for people living with obesity.
There are lots of myths out there about how to best lose weight; it can be confusing and difficult to know what information you can trust. Unfortunately for most people, trying to control their weight is a lifelong, difficult and at times, depressing journey, often resulting in their weight yo-yoing.

This yo-yoing occurs because our bodies are programmed to defend us against weight loss. When a person tries to lose weight, the body will try to restore its weight to its “set point” of body weight, by increasing hunger, decreasing fullness and decreasing incidental activity.

In order to be successful at controlling weight in the long term, we must overcome the body’s natural tendency to protect itself against weight loss. The key to this is feeling full and avoiding hunger. If you are hungry, you will be driven to eat, no matter how good your self-control is! But if you feel full and satisfied, then you can make the body think that it is more comfortable at a lower set point of body weight and so long-term weight control becomes a realistic and achievable goal! There are effective, evidence-based interventions to help people avoid hunger.

Phase 1

As we understand that weight loss is much more than simply exercising more and eating less, we need to identify and understand the underlying medical and non-medical causes of weight gain that apply to the individual, explore a patient’s goals and develop a unique management plan that treats them as an individual and is backed by medical science.

Phase 2

This phase is where we implement the plan and make sure it's working effectively. This involves regular catch-ups, to check in on how patients are doing, problem solve & make any necessary adjustments to your treatment plan.

Phase 3

Once patients reach their goal weight, it is important to focus on maintaining it. We provide the tools and knowledge to successfully keep the weight off in the long-run, and provide early intervention should there be any little hiccups along the way.

Treatment Plans

Treatment plans can include nutritional information, medications, counselling, physical activity and much more. Health coaching is also used to support patients throughout their weight management journey, along with the Valita App (https://youtu.be/ME_EJo3Tgd4). We can link patients in with our network of dietitians, psychologists, physiotherapists, exercise physiologists and even bariatric surgeons as required.

Metabolic@GSMC Appointments

1^st appointment ~45 min to complete initial assessment and development of treatment plan

2^nd appointment ~30 min to confirm dietary plan and other treatments

3^rd appointment ~15min to review implementation of treatment plan

Review appointments ~15min fortnightly until target goal achieved

Maintenance appointments – every three months as required

MetabolicPLUS@GSMC

The demand for the program has exceeded our expectations and this has resulted in significant wait times for people to access the program. To address this challenge, we are trying a new format based of shared medical appoints (SMAs). We are calling this new version of the program ‘metabolic plus@GSMC’.
Shared medical appointments involve bringing together a small group of people with a shared medical condition to manage their health. In this instance the health issue is being overweight. metabolic plus @GSMC will involve 6-7 people plus a nurse facilitator (Laura) and a GP (Dr Louise Sterling) meeting for 90 minutes every fortnight for 6 sessions. During a session information relevant to weight management will be shared along with each person having a consultation with Dr Louise Sterling in front of the entire group. Research has shown that this format of providing healthcare is highly rated by participants with people valuing the opportunity for peer support, spending more time with their healthcare team and shared learning from observing each other’s consultations. Confidentiality within the group is very important and is an essential requirement for participating.
Following your initial assessment with Laura and Dr Louise, you will be invited to choose between continuing with either the traditional Metabolic@GSMC (traditional GP consultation model) or the new metabolic plus@GSMC program (SMA). The choice will be entirely yours!

Fees

The initial assessment fee is $375 with your Medicare rebate determined by which MBS item you are eligible for (i.e. the rebate for item 707 is $306.25) – please check with the reception team to confirm.

As the metabolic plus@GSMC program is a new service, we are keen to get feedback from participants about their experience of the program, including what works well, what might need tweaking, and any ideas for improvements. As such, the first round of the program will be bulk-billed with no out-of-pocket cost to participants. The original Metabolic@GSMC program will attract the usual fees.