Weight Management Program

The University of Illinois Medical Center Weight Management Program is a multidisciplinary, medically supervised weight loss program for overweight and obese patients. Our program is housed in the Nutrition and Wellness Center and includes staff from several departments, including Medicine, Surgery, Pediatrics, Clinical Nutrition, Psychology, Psychiatry, and Nursing.

Our treatment philosophy is based on the knowledge that obesity is not only due to a lack of self-control in over eating. Scientific studies have demonstrated that obesity results from a combination of genetic influences and predisposing lifestyle patterns that may lead to serious medical problems (e.g., diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, and osteoarthritis). Therefore, our treatment programs are physician-monitored and designed to improve health through sustained weight loss based on reasonable long-term goals.

A good indicator of how much fat you carry is the Body Mass Index (BMI). Although it is not a perfect measure, it gives a fairly accurate assessment of how much of your body is composed of fat.

Our Services

The Nutrition and Wellness Center offers quality care in the following areas.

Antithrombosis

Bone Health

Diabetes

Medical Nutrition Therapy

Rheumatology

Sleep Disorders Clinic

Smoking Cessation

Weight Management

Contact Us

If you would like to schedule an appointment,
please call 1-800-842-1002.

Nutrition and Wellness Center
Medical Center Outpatient Care Center, 1C
1801 West taylor Street (MC 531)
Chicago, Illinois 60612

NEWS

Weight loss for life

UIC's Nutrition and Wellness Center helps patients achieve and maintain weight-loss goals through healthy lifestyles

Since it opened four years ago, the UIC Nutrition and Wellness Center's Weight Management Program has helped more than 3,000 people improve their health by reducing their weight. Drawing on an array of resources and medical staff that reflects the multi-faceted nature of weight gain, the physician-monitored program emphasizes sustained weight loss based on realistic, long-term goals. "The education and counseling we do is key to the success of the program," says Director Elisa Stamm Kogan, MS. "Our clinicians provide a range of services that supports the work done by our physicians. Doctors can prescribe weight-loss medications and perform bariatric (weight-loss) surgery-but those are only tools that help individuals lose weight. What makes us unique is our integrated approach to weight loss."

Customized programs The WMP begins with a comprehensive medical and nutritional evaluation. Patients are then offered individualized treatment plans that incorporate nutrition education, physical activity and behavior modification. Patients also may be offered prescription medications and/or bariatric surgery as adjunct treatments. The bariatric surgery program has three surgeons who perform more than 250 cases each year. WMP patients have run the gamut, Kogan says. One 500-pound patient spent more than a year losing nearly 100 pounds in the medical management program before undergoing gastric bypass surgery. To date, that patient has lost almost 250 pounds. Another patient counts her success in burgers-she went from two large ones for lunch every day to one "junior" version. Two years ago, 150 employees of the University of Illinois Medical Center at Chicago lost 643 pounds collectively in a dietitian-monitored, 12-week program that focused on behavioral and lifestyle changes. "We don't put patients on diets," Kogan says. "Studies have shown that diets alone don't result in long-term weight loss. The WMP doesn't just help patients lose weight today, it teaches them the necessary skills to keep the weight off for the rest of their lives."

Rick Asa, UIC Alumni Magazine