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Inside Story
February 2016

My Weight Loss Journey: Unasked and Unanswered Questions

Author Affiliations
  • 1Department of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
JAMA Intern Med. 2016;176(2):163-164. doi:10.1001/jamainternmed.2015.7186

There are many weight-loss interventions currently available; some effective, some ineffective, and some harmful. The current Evidence to Practice section synthesizes the evidence on surgical interventions, devices, and pharmacological therapy. Throughout the process of editing the Evidence to Practice submission, I came face to face with my own struggle with weight loss. With a body mass index (BMI) (calculated as weight in kilograms divided by height in meters squared) greater than 30 and “failed” attempts with lifestyle modifications, I am a candidate for all of the interventions assessed in the Institute for Clinical and Economic Review’s (ICER’s) report.1 However, what is missing, and rarely discussed, is the human perspective. Thus, in this perspective, I am writing about my personal experience and the information I would want presented before I made an informed decision to pursue any of the proposed interventions.

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