Estimated read time: 1-2 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
SALT LAKE CITY — A recent study shows most doctors overestimate how much weight their patients will be able to lose. So, why are these doctors overly optimistic?
According to the study reported by MSNBC, doctors thought 55 percent of their patients were "likely" or "very likely" to follow instructions and lose weight. But three months later, only 28 percent had lost two pounds or more.
Dr. Sherman Smith with Rocky Mountain Associated Physicians said, "Hunger is a powerful motivator to break rules." Smith says the vast majority of people who go through non-surgical methods of weight loss do not see any significant change for the better.
"They can lose anywhere between no weight and 10 percent of their excess body weight, which ends up being about five percent of total body weight," he said. "Those are averages if you measure these outcomes three years later."
So, why do doctors seem overly confident? Smith says it's difficult to say exactly why.
"A physician looking at a problem [with] a patient and saying, ‘You're obese. We need to improve this,' [will] shoot for the stars to try to do as well as possible," he said.
Also, patients may not feel as optimistic as their doctors do. Smith says it's hard to provide a patient without outside motivation to lose weight without surgery.
"That rarely happens, maybe 2 to 3 percent of the time in really highly motivated, exercising individuals." He says even animals have a tendency to maintain their obesity without surgery.
