Question:
How does Doctor keep records of weight loss?

I have never really gone to the Doctor in any regular fashion. I keep hearing that the Doctor wants past weight loss and gain. How do they get this information, espcially since in my case it was never really documented on a regular basis. And what can I do to get this information to him. I haven't really seen a doctor yet, I just moved back home. So, I am kind of in a quandry as to where to start and who to talk to?    — Karey H. (posted on August 7, 2001)

August 7, 2001
I'm in the same situation, have never really been to a doctor for my weight loss but maybe once or twice. My physician is writing a letter of regards to policy, including a list of my previous diet attempts and hoping we can get by, but if you're company's head strong about the diet, you may be doomed. So you're not alone.
   — Elizabeth D.

August 7, 2001
This is what I did. I made a list of every single diet I had ever been on...starting from the age of about 11, and approximate, as accurately as possible, how long I was on the diet and how much weight I lost. It was really interesting to go back and reconstruct all of this. I worked on it over a period of a few days. It looked almost like a spreadsheet, with the year, the type of diet, the length of time, and how much weight loss. When I really put my mind to it, I was amazed by how many (successful) diets I could actually remember being on. The longer I worked on it, the more I remembered. The finished document was very impressive. When my doctor looked it at she said "wow...you really have tried everything". And that is exactly what you want the insurance company to say. You have tried everything else. This is your last resort. Try listing them all and see how it looks. The insurance company may consider Weight Watcher's or Jenny Craig to be supervised. How about any of those diet center or diet clinic diets? Fen-phen was doctor supervised. I did the "daily injections of cow urine derivative diet", did you? That was doctor supervised. Some of the goofiest diets were doctor supervised.
   — Anne G.