When you can't avoid drinking occasions

What follows combines several people's visits into one reconstructed account. It is not any one person's story, and anything that could identify someone has been removed.

How do people describe it when they come in?

With drinking occasions and late nights again and again, they don't wake up refreshed and can't get a grip on their work during the day.

They mention their body feeling heavy before they mention weight. Many also say something was flagged at their health checkup.

What do we set as the goal?

We don't set the number on the scale as the goal. We look at which direction the fat built up around the belly and the numbers flagged at your checkup are heading.

Even at the same weight, the strain on the body differs depending on where the fat has built up. So we start by separating that out in the body composition test.

Will you tell me to stop drinking?

We won't tell you to stop. If you set rules you can't keep, all that's left is the failure to keep them. Instead, we decide together on principles you can stick to within those occasions.

We start with two things: choosing protein over rice or noodles when you pick bar snacks, and drinking plenty of water while you drink.

For diet, a staff member who is a licensed dietitian works with you one-on-one, planning to fit your circumstances — cutting carbs and adding more nuts and plant-based protein.

How do we treat it?

We don't use herbal medicine with only weight in mind. We work on reviving the body's own energy and on reducing the fatigue and drained feeling that come during the process.

And we check in regularly. Based on how your life went in the meantime, we keep revising the diet and exercise plan. We don't set it once and leave it there.

How did people do?

Many first mention that the day after drinking is less hard. Weight moves after that.

We track progress not by weight but by what decreased and what remained. If the number went down only because you lost muscle, that isn't a success.

What are the limits of this approach?

As long as you can't cut back on drinking, treatment goes that much slower too. We tell you that plainly.

If something was flagged at your checkup, we'll guide you to get that care as well. We don't manage those numbers in its place.

If you share the same concern

1. Where fat has built up matters more to your body than the number on the scale.
2. We won't tell you to stop drinking — we set principles within those occasions.
3. Protein for bar snacks, plenty of water while drinking — start with these two.
4. We don't set it once and leave it; we keep revising to fit your life.
5. If the number went down only because you lost muscle, that isn't a success.

We don't look only at the number on the scale. Why the weight went up differs from person to person, so we start by finding that reason.

If you keep losing weight and gaining it back, come and see us. Before the number on the scale, we first look for why the weight went up. It's different for everyone.

Because there are many possible causes, progress differs from person to person, even with the same care.