Weight Management

⮜ Return to Specialty Care

There is more to losing weight than just a diet. Our experts will help you find a program that fits your goals and lifestyle, ensuring you achieve optimal wellness.

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Welcome to Weight Management

Awards and Recognition

2020 Best of Topeka
Medical Facility

2021 Best of Topeka
Medical Facility

MBSAQIP
Medical Facility

ACS
Surgical Quality Partner

At the Weight Management Center, we give patients the tools they need to lose weight. We offer motivation and accountability, diet and exercise plans, medication therapy, and bariatric surgery. We build relationships with our patients and encourage them along their personal weight-loss journey.

Our program is accredited as a Comprehensive Center with Obesity Medicine Qualifications by the Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery Accreditation and Quality Improvement Program. It is the only center in Kansas, west of Kansas City, with both surgery and medical weight loss accreditation.

The Stormont Vail Weight Management Program is highly individualized since we know that there is no one-size-fits-all approach to weight loss. When you come to the Weight Management Center, we will work on developing the best plan for you and providing you with the support and motivation you need to meet your goals.

Education

Diet and Nutrition Counseling

We have developed a high-protein, moderate carbohydrate diet. We focus on helping you get the right amount of calories and macronutrients (protein, carbohydrates, and fats).

Our plan is all about moderation, and making healthy eating part of your lifestyle. That means you don’t have to give up your favorite foods — we’ll teach you how to incorporate them into your diet in a healthy way.

Everyone’s needs and preferences are different, so we will work with you to make sure you’re finding the foods and moving at the pace that is best for you. If you can’t make drastic changes right away, that’s OK. You may be able to focus on individual parts of the diet, such as increasing protein or water intake, during the first month. Then, you can add on the next piece, such as limiting carbohydrates, the following month.

As part of this individualization, we will also have you start a food diary where you log the type of food you’re consuming, as well as the time you’re eating it. If the diary shows that eating at a certain time of day or having certain foods just isn’t sitting well with you, we can tweak your diet plan.

Weight Loss Education

Losing weight can be a challenge, especially if you don’t know how to do it. Our goal is to provide you with the education you need to become your own weight loss expert. Even if you stop coming to the Weight Management Center, we want to make sure that you have the tools you need for lifelong success.

That’s why we don’t just tell you to eat better and exercise more — we teach you why and how to adopt a healthy diet and exercise regimen and give you support along the way. We teach you what foods to buy at the grocery store and how to incorporate exercise at home or in the gym.

At our clinic, we offer individualized appointments to check on your progress and discuss any issues or concerns you may be having. For example, we may discuss ways to cope with stress or we may prescribe an antidepressant.

While we do sometimes prescribe appetite suppressants, we do not recommend or encourage the use of other diet supplements — we want to help you lose weight by educating you on making the correct nutritional choices.

Treatments & Procedures

Medical Weight Loss

When diet and exercise changes aren’t enough, we may recommend that you begin medication to help you along through your weight-loss efforts.

The main types of medication we use are appetite suppressants. They do not cause weight loss themselves — they decrease hunger, so you are less likely to overeat.

Appetite suppression medications can be either stimulants or non-stimulants.

Stimulants increase activity in the brain. The most common stimulants we prescribe for decreasing appetite include:

Phentermine (Adipex-P, Suprenza)
Phentermine and topiramate extended-release (Qsymia)
Phendimetrazine (Bontril, Bontril PDM, Bontril Slow-Release, Melifiat, Obezine, Phendiet, Phendiet-105, Prelu-2)
Diethylpropion (Tenuate)
Vyvanse

Non-stimulants we commonly prescribe include:

Liraglutide (Saxenda)
Semaglutide (Wegovy)
Naltrexone and bupropion extended-release (Contrave)

Weight Loss Surgery

Bariatric surgery is a weight-loss procedure. It’s not cosmetic, like a tummy-tuck — it’s a medical approach to losing weight.

At Stormont Vail Health, we offer three types of bariatric surgery: Sleeve Gastrectomy (“the sleeve”), Roux-en-Y Gastric Bypass, and the Duodenal Switch (DS).

In order to have these surgeries, you must meet certain requirements for your body mass index (BMI) — a measure of your weight in relation to your height. You must have a BMI of 40 or above, or a BMI of 35 or above plus another chronic condition, such as high blood pressure, sleep apnea, arthritis, or diabetes.

Here at Stormont Vail, bariatric surgery is a team effort. You will regularly meet with a team of experts, including your surgeon, bariatric nurse practitioner, dietician, behavioral health specialist, and endocrinologist (specialist who handles metabolism issues and nutrition deficiencies).

We will be with you throughout every step, from preparing for surgery, to recovery, to maintaining a healthy diet and exercise habits for years to come.

Preparing for surgery generally takes three to six months. During this time you will meet monthly with your weight loss team while you complete your insurance requirements. During these visits you will work on diet changes that will prepare you for your new lifestyle after surgery.

Review the Bariatric Surgery Patient Handbook here

Learn more about these bariatric surgeries by visiting our Video Library .

Before & After Results

Curious about our Weight Management department's amazing results? See our impressive before and after weight loss transformations for yourself!

Weight Loss Gallery

A Peek at the Resources You Would Receive With Our Program

The Stormont Vail Weight Management team is your accountability partner with monthly visits creating a personalized and sustainable plan tailored to your individual needs. Below are just three examples of the type of resources you’d receive in this program. Take a look!

Recipe of the Month (March)

High Protein Breakfasts

Budget Friendly Healthy Eating

Health Library

Obesity

OverviewObesity is a complex disease involving an excessive amount of body fat. Obesity isn’t just a cosmetic concern. It’s a medical problem that increases the risk of other diseases and health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure and certain cancers. There are many reasons why some people have difficulty losing weight. Usually,…