Jack Silberman says that losing weight is more than mind over matter. In many cases it's matter over matter; training the body to find its new norm.
"I've been in the fitness industry forever and I've never seen anything so wonderful in my whole life," said Silberman, owner of InShapeMD in East Brainerd.
After 30 years in the health and physical education industry, he said he'd heard enough about "killing people with boot camps" to lose weight. "I've watched how people have struggled," he said. "I knew there was a better way."
That better way is human chorionic gonadotropin, more widely known as HCG, a doctor-prescribed injection that Silberman said tricks the body into burning the "abnormal" fat - usually gathered in necks and waistlines -- that people are so ready to see gone. Clients lose as many as 30 pounds in a month, he said.
Silberman said his clients in Chattanooga lost 10,000 pounds in 2011 with HCG and are on track to beat that record in 2012.
InShapeMD clients work with a doctor, nurse practitioners, medical assistants, weight loss coaches and personal trainers in two-month stretches. The first month they lose weight. The second month they reset their brain's old food and metabolism habits with exercise and nutrition so the new weight becomes the body's norm.
Clients can repeat the two-month process to lose more weight and re-tune the body.
"This is a complete medical program to supervise them so that they can have the greatest success," Silberman said. "When you do finally get to that weight where you need to be, you're going to be there for the rest of your life."
InShapeMD weight loss coach Sylvia J. Greene, 56, is a success story herself. She lost 60 pounds after joining the program in January 2011, and then coached her husband through the program. She uses her experience of beating age, menopause and hormones to encourage her clients.
She calls, texts, emails and meets in person with clients to talk about weight-loss goals, feeling hungry and what's next. She makes them keep trying.
"Don't give up on this. You can do this," she said. "I'm very honest, though. I tell them it's not the easiest thing I've ever done, but it's the best thing I've ever done."
She said the program eliminated her cravings for unhealthy food.
"I simply did not have them," she said. "Your body no longer fights to get back to that old set point."
Greene helps clients choose new recipes, daily menus and fresh seasonings that help their bodies stay in fat-burning mode. In fact, InShapeMD's success seems to lie in the new diet as much as HCG. The simple meals of fruits, grilled chicken and fish, and salads invite the rest of the family to participate instead of forcing the dieter to eat a strange meal alone.
"Everything that's on the diet would be extremely wonderful for everyone in the family to eat," Silberman said.
Such a diet will level cholesterol and could eliminate blood pressure medications and sleep apnea, saving clients money, he said.
"They're all positive side effects," said Silberman. "We're in the weight loss business, but yet we're seeing lives changed because of the program."
Silberman said he'd like to catch patients going in for a $10,000 lap band surgery 30 days before their scheduled operation.
"The chances of them ever going to lap band surgery would probably be zero," he said.
InShapeMD is located at 6231 Perimeter Drive, Suite 113 in East Brainerd. For more information call 475-5088 or visit www.inshapemd.com.
A BUSINESS MOVE
InShapeMD owner Jack Silberman said he's exploring ways to bring savings and changed lives to local businesses to help them lower on-the-job risks and health insurance costs that come with obesity.
"We're going to hopefully save the company a lot of money," Silberman said.
InShapeMD would screen employees and offer memberships at nearly half the regular cost if the business agreed to offer its employees incentives, he said.
"That's where we want the owners to invest their money," Silberman said.