"When beginning treatment with a patient, one of the first things I take into consideration is where the individual is currently in their weight loss journey, their individual motivation and other factors that may or may not impact their ability to make changes," she said. "Sometimes that’s not even a nutrition-related problem."
Instead, it may be about helping them establish a personalized pathway to make the necessary changes. For example, professionals can help patients set SMART goals, said Snyder: Smart, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Timely goals unique to them.
Goldberg also encourages his patients to track their food and beverage intake in an online application or website.
"It makes everything much more objective," he said. "I can see exactly what and when they are eating and drinking and how many calories they consume each day, which typically proves to be very helpful for both of us."
Fad Diets
Professionals can also help you avoid "fad diets", which may not be healthy or effective for long-term weight loss.
"Unfortunately, many fad diets that people attempt are quick fixes," he said. "Many can cause short-term weight loss, sometimes rather quickly. But the weight that was lost often returns, and many times people can gain even more weight than their initial starting weight."
Fad diets can be severely restrictive; they're not something patients can maintain long term, said Snyder. Severely restricting a specific food group could be problematic.
"Once their diet goes back to baseline, they quickly regain any weight or body fat that they lost and potentially get into a negative cycle of weight loss, weight gain, weight loss, weight gain, from one extreme to the next," Snyder said. "That's how we end up with yo-yo dieting."
In addition to not being healthy, that cycle fuels frustration and makes patients feel like they can't achieve their goals and their efforts are pointless.
Making Weight
Obesity and weight gain don't only affect people's health. For military service members, they can impact careers.
"When a service member exceeds his or her service-specific body composition standards, there are potential consequences to whether they're considered deployable," she said.
"Career risks can include not being promoted, but the biggest and most obvious risk would be being released from service," said Goldberg.
"The bigger concern is the associated health risks that go with being overweight or obese," said Snyder.
These include an overall increased risk of mortality, high blood pressure, heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, gallbladder disease, osteoarthritis, sleep apnea, certain cancers, mental illness, and body pain, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
To remain in check, Goldberg recommends service members see a registered dietitian to assess their current dietary intake and habits, eating a diet consistent with the plate model, and exercising between 150-300 minutes per week.
Contact TRICARE for more information about coverage of weight management services available to beneficiaries.