The most important distinction to make when you are looking to start a weight loss program is that losing weight is not the goal! Decreasing the amount of fat on your body (improving your body composition) is!

Everyone thinks that achieving a target number on the scale will satisfy them and make them feel happy with their body and increase their health and vitality. What you need to understand is that your weight is just a number on a scale that literally fluctuates all day long depending on what and how much you ate and drank all day; as well as how much you’ve urinated and pooped out that day. Weight tells you nothing about what your body is actually made of known as your body composition.

Weight will also increase as you put on lean body mass (muscle) from increasing your activity and/or if you started out dehydrated and gain needed water; both are examples of positive changes in body composition that would actually lead to increased weight (pounds) on the scale. At TAO, patients often see a mild decrease in weight on the scale but a significant decrease in pounds of fat and inches from their bodies that results in the reduction of clothes size—Many patients lose significantly more pounds of fat than they do pounds on the scale.

Some “diets” that restrict calories result in loss of muscle and water and can show loss of weight on the scale and either result in very little fat loss or in some cases fat gain. Even though the number on the scale went down, this would be seen as a negative change in body composition and the person could actually go up in inches or size. Weight on the scale is certainly is not a measure of health or progress and often leaves you feeling confused and frustrated and feeling like all your efforts are for nothing.

At TAO, we utilize BIA machines that measure your body composition when you begin your fat loss program and monitor it as you come in at each visit to show you your progress in losing fat and improving your body composition. At each visit, you can see your water levels, fat-free mass, and fat mass in pounds. Between visits, the most important measure is how you are feeling and how your clothes are fitting you.

Then next most important distinction to make when losing weight at TAO is that our programs are not geared towards restriction or elimination (unless you have allergies or sensitivities to certain foods). Our programs are geared towards ensuring proper nourishment with both micro and macronutrients that the standard American diet is severely lacking and can lead to a host of symptoms that present diseases and dysfunctions. Many patients who come in claiming to eat a very healthy diet often have been misinformed by media or outdated nutritional advice that is leaving them deprived of essential nutrients and their bodies working against them. Common symptoms are fatigue, depression, anxiety, sleep disturbance, pain, excess fat, hormone imbalance, infertility, PMS, GI symptoms (IBS, IBD), inflammation, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia, hypertriglyceridemia, insulin resistance, pre-diabetes, diabetes, autoimmune disease. We put the emphasis on flooding your body with the phytonutrients vitamins and minerals as well as essential amino acids and essential fatty acids that often help to reverse most of the above symptoms and prevent future chronic disease.

At TAO, we utilize to approaches to improving body composition and decreasing fat mass and your size:

First Line Therapy Program (FLT)
Imagine waking up every morning feeling great! You bounce out of bed with the kind of energy that will take you from morning to evening. You have the confidence to finally get to all of those things you have been putting off. You are gaining control of your health and control of your life. First line therapy is used as both a weight loss program that is sustainable for the rest of your life and is also used as the maintenance program after completing 30, 60 or 90 days of The Healthy Transformation Program.
FLT is based upon using therapeutic lifestyle changes (TLCs). A therapeutic lifestyle means you live your life in a way that improves your health and ultimately allows you good health, full function the absence of disease well into old age. There is a lot of misinformation out there regarding a healthy lifestyle and healthy nutrition which is just plain wrong or outdated. Working with Drs Hinchey and Yimoyines to learn the FLT program will ensure that you are following the most up to date, university studied nutritional program that provides you with the knowledge you need to make healthy lifestyle choices each day going forward. Not only does the FLT program work as a healthy weight loss program but is also helps to both reverse and prevent chronic disease AND IT IS MEANT TO FOLLOW FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. IT IS NOT A DIET; IT IS A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE CHANGE.

EVIDENCE OF SUCCESS OF THERAPEUTIC LIFESTYLE CHANGES IN PREVENTING AND REVERSING CHRONIC DISEASE:

• 91% of type 2 diabetes cases could be prevented by the adoption of healthy habits and life style choices

• The National Institutes of Health (NIH) recommends lifestyle changes as the most important and cost-effective way to lower cholesterol.

• Lifestyle changes are now recommended as the “first line therapy” for the major chronic diseases in our society such as: heart disease, stroke, diabetes, cancer, arthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer’s disease

Lifestyle choices are OFTEN the key to many symptoms that are not classified as disease: fatigue, stress-related symptoms, hormone imbalance, and many others.

The program includes Proper nutrition, movement therapy, and stress management.
Nutrition: focused on eating! 3 meals, 2 snacks; Proper nutrition, no calorie counting, focused on servings of each food group per day for your individual metabolic needs based off your BIA reading and activity level.

Exercise- any exercise you like to do. Most people do not need to do more than engage in a walking program that can easily be done at home.
Stress management-We offer everything from simple visualization or breathing techniques to yoga or meditation classes, to visits with our integrative mental health therapist or psychotherapist.

IT doesn’t matter if you are old or young, man or woman, in great shape or have never exercised before—this program can help you increase your energy, improve your shape, reduce your health risks, and maximize your overall well-being. So let’s get started on your way to achieving vitality, longevity, and optimal health today with the first line therapy program!

Healthy Transformations Program
The Healthy Transformation Program is a NEW science-based, physician-guided lifestyle program designed for healthy, long-term, sustainable weight loss. This is an accelerated program that results in about 4 pounds of weight loss per week.

Focused on limiting specific carbohydrates, and emphasizing healthy protein sources and nutrient-dense foods, The Healthy Transformation program also includes nutritious protein supplementation as well as supplements to maintain digestive health. Clinical studies have shown The Healthy Transformation program helps patients lose weight and improve body composition (muscle-to-fat ratio) by boosting metabolism to burn fat while maintaining muscle mass.

Shedding excess body fat, particularly belly fat, improves heart health, energy, mood, and self-image. For many people, losing weight isn’t the biggest issue, but keeping weight off is. The Healthy Transformation program establishes healthy habits that can be maintained for life to establish long-term wellness, unlike crash diets that stimulate weight loss, but slow down metabolism and lead to the weight coming right back when the diet is abandoned.

The program includes an easy-to-follow guide, body composition testing to monitor progress, sample menus, recipes, basic exercise guidelines, tips on goal setting, and online support.