obesity medicine APPOINTMENTS

Using evidence-based strategies for weight loss, Dr. Kabir Harricharan Singh compassionately works with you to develop and implement a comprehensive and personalized weight loss strategy that’s uniquely tailored to your health, weight loss goals, and values by focusing on:

1. Diet and nutrition

2. Physical activity

3. Behavioral modifications

4. Weight loss medications and appetite suppressants, if and when appropriate

5. Surgical interventions, such as metabolic and bariatric surgery, if and when appropriate

6. Obesity-associated chronic diseases

7. Underlying, reversible causes of weight gain

Patients who have weight loss appointments with Dr. Kabir are guided to create a sustainable, long-term health and weight loss plan, rather than solely treating symptoms and hyper-focusing on the numbers on the scale.

When it comes to weight loss, there isn’t one perfect diet, exercise plan, or strategy. Everyone’s weight loss journey is different, which means every weight loss plan needs to be a little different from the next person’s. However, there are common themes that run through Dr. Kabir’s weight loss appointments, including following and teaching weight loss strategies that are:

• Evidence-based (uses credible information based on ongoing research to provide the most effective practices given the best available evidence).

• Effective (they work and there’s data to back it up).

• Comprehensive (targets multiple areas of health and well-being).

• Compassionate (there are no guilt trips here).

• Sustainable (something you can maintain and turn into new life-long habits).

• Personalized* (targeted for your specific health, values, and goals)

*This is for in-person Tennessee patients only. However, if you’re not an in-person patient, you can learn more about this concept and more in my education center.

The reason why you want to lose weight is completely up to you, but from a medical standpoint, losing weight offers a variety of medical benefits that can improve a person’s health, including preventing or managing over 200 complications and 13 cancers associated with obesity and overweight. (Sources: The Obesity Medicine Association and The Obesity Society.)

When it comes to creating a nutrition plan and/or dietary change for weight loss, studies have shown that it doesn’t matter if your diet is low-carb, low-fat, vegetarian, or vegan, to name a few, because the macronutrient (carbohydrate, fat, protein) makeup of our food isn’t essential for weight loss. The type of diet you choose is more important if you’re using it for non-weight loss health benefits, such as heart disease, diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc. In those cases, a specific diet may be beneficial for managing those chronic diseases and weight loss.

So, unless you have another health concern to consider, there isn’t one best diet or nutrition plan for weight loss. However, we’ll talk about important diet and nutrition strategies for weight loss and general health in appointments.

Seeing an obesity medicine physician for weight loss is like seeing a cardiologist for issues with the heart and vascular system. There are heart and vascular things your primary care doctor can manage, but there will be times they need to refer you to see a cardiologist because they have a much deeper knowledge of that system of the body. Obesity medicine physicians specialize in weight loss, dysfunction of the adipocytes (fat cells), and the disease of obesity.

The major differences between seeing a board-certified obesity medicine physician and someone else are that with an obesity medicine physician, you’ll receive:

1. Specialized knowledge. Board-certified obesity medicine physicians, like Kabir Harricharan Singh, MD, FAAFP, DABOM have undergone additional – and extensive – medical training and testing in the evaluation, management, and treatment of obesity and overweight through the American Board of Obesity Medicine. This creates a deep knowledge of the complex disease of obesity to properly and compassionately address the root(s) of the problem(s) and to help people lose weight and improve health in ways that are effective, sustainable, long-lasting, and backed by evidence. This can include guidance in diet and nutrition, physical activity, behavioral modifications, weight loss medications*, and surgical interventions.* *When appropriate.

2. Physician-monitored weight loss. Dr. Kabir works with you throughout your entire weight loss journey (excluding doing surgical procedures, but he does help after the surgery). As a practicing family medicine and obesity medicine physician, Dr. Kabir is uniquely qualified to understand a person’s medical history and obesity-related complications alongside which weight loss strategies, medicines, and procedures are effective and ideal for their situation. Physician-monitored weight loss with an obesity medicine physician is also ideal for people with certain chronic health problems that need to be evaluated and monitored by a physician before starting and during any new diets or workout routines and in the pre- & post-bariatric surgery phase.

3. Dedicated time. Obesity medicine appointments are dedicated to helping patients address and effectively manage the specific complexities of obesity and overweight, including how they affect other areas of life and health. The disease of obesity is complex, and having a doctor trained in this disease helps achieve better outcomes.

One way to tell if your doctor is board-certified is by looking for the letters DABOM or Dipl. ABOM after their name. However, not every board-certified physician has those letters after their name. So, you can go to www.abom.org to find a physician or verify credentials.

Our office accepts most insurances, but we recommend contacting our office to ensure we’re in-network. If you don’t have insurance, reach out to our office at 423-237-6964 (select option 2) for further information.

Yes! Dr. Kabir offers weight loss appointments for patients aged 12 and older.

Yes! Dr. Kabir happily offers Telehealth visits and appointments for weight loss and primary care. Reach out to our office at 423-237-6964, option 2, for more information and so we can ensure we’re in compliance with state laws.

Dr. Kabir prescribes all the FDA-approved anti-obesity medications (AOM) like Qsymia (phentermine-topiramate), Contrave (naltrexone-buproprion), Saxenda (liraglutide), Wegovy (semaglutide), Phentermine, and Xenical (orlistat). As more medications get approval, this list will change, but Dr. Kabir only uses medications that have good, evidence-based data that supports their effectiveness and safety.