For many patients, talking about weight loss with a healthcare provider's office is something to dread. They worry they’ll get scolded or lectured about their weight. Patients anticipate the conversations around losing weight will go nowhere and they will be left unheard.
For practitioners, it’s all about how you approach the weight loss conversation.
A strong foundation built on mutual trust and respect can help patients open up—so you can personalize their journey toward success. Here are some tips on getting the ball rolling:
Ground the Conversation in Health-Related Specifics
Bring up weight when it makes sense—when it’s truly relevant. Patients can feel powerless or demotivated when an abstract solution of “weight loss” is suggested as a broad solution to the very real and often very immediate weight-related symptoms or comorbidities like type 2 diabetes.
Working to create a truly personalized weight loss plan with clear, realistic goals is more useful for patients and helps them better visualize their success.
Probe About Cravings and Emotional Eating
If the conversation does turn to weight, ask the patient about their everyday stress levels. Let them know that you understand that it’s not always easy to take out the stress from life, especially when it comes from work or family. Emotional eating or stress cravings are pitfalls for any weight loss goals.
When it comes to treating obesity, one size does not fit all. For some patients, appropriate treatment means addressing their cravings that can be associated with emotional eating, which occurs when someone eats to cope with positive or negative emotions.1
CONTRAVE is an FDA-approved, non-stimulant, oral weight-loss medication to be used as an adjunct to a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical activity for adults with a BMI of ≥30 kg/m2 (obese) or ≥27 kg/m2 (overweight) in the presence of at least one weight-related comorbid condition (eg, hypertension, type 2 diabetes mellitus, or dyslipidemia).2
CONTRAVE is designed to reduce hunger and control cravings, so your patients can lose weight and keep it off.2†
† The exact neurochemical effects of CONTRAVE leading to weight loss are not fully understood.2
To see who may be right for CONTRAVE, please see Prescribing Information and our CONTRAVE patient profiles.
References: 1. Acosta A, Camilleri M, Dayyeh BA, et al. Selection of antiobesity medications based on phenotypes enhances weight loss: a pragmatic trial in an obesity clinic. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2021;29(4):662-671. doi:10.1002/oby.23120 2. CONTRAVE (naltrexone HCl and bupropion HCl) [prescribing information]. Brentwood, TN: Currax Pharmaceuticals LLC; 2023.
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