For weight conscious grocery shoppers, sometimes the temptations lurking in each aisle can be too much. To help consumers stick to their healthy lifestyle goals, Houston, TX-based RediClinic has launched Weigh Forward, a medically supervised program designed to encourage lifelong weight management. The program is currently available at 29 Texas-area RediClinic locations inside H-E-B stores and was developed in partnership with weight loss expert David Katz, MD. 

The 10-week weight loss program is one of many preventive healthy programs available from RediClinic—which also includes smoking cessation assistance, vaccination delivery, blood testing and diabetes and thyroid screening services.

Weigh Forward provides patients with comprehensive information and counseling on diet/nutrition, physical activity and behavior modification. The diet/nutrition component includes weekly meal plans, with shopping lists of items that can be purchased in RediClinic’s host stores. The behavior modification component features a proprietary system developed by Dr. Katz that identifies each patient’s individual barriers to success so that each program can be customized to help the patient overcome them. Each program also includes an initial medical evaluation and regular biometric testing to ensure that patients are improving their health while losing weight.
 
“With more than two-thirds of Americans either overweight or obese, weight management is the most important and challenging health issue of our time,” said Dr. Katz. “Weigh Forward combines everything I have learned about weight management during 20 years of research and clinical practice with RediClinic’s unique grocery store platform to create a program that is effective, sustainable, accessible, affordable and family-friendly. It is dedicated to helping people not just lose weight, but also find health!”
 
The Weigh Forward program costs $499 when consumers pay up front, or $599 on a pay-as-you-go plan. Once enrolled, consumers receive 15-30 minute visits with a trained healthcare professional, a thorough medical evaluation including blood pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar, and other key biometric data collection at the beginning and end of the program, printed educational materials, 24/7 access to extensive online resources that include food and physical activity trackers and access to e-nutritionists and e-coaches, plus an organizational tool kit with a snack pack, pedometer and other conveniences.
 
Optional services, such as LipoB injections, dietary supplements and certain medical tests, are available at additional costs, though the company said the services are not required in order for consumers to achieve their weight loss and health gain goals.
 
According to RediClinic, Weigh Forward patients can expect to lose one to two pounds per week, or more. During the course of the program, consumers learn essential diet, nutrition and physical activity skills that will enable continued weight loss and tips to help keep the weight off after the program concludes. 
 
RediClinic stated that although a weight loss journey may start because of willpower, success comes with skill power. The skill sets taught through Weigh Forward include helping consumers identify and overcome weight loss barriers, identify nutritious foods, prepare quick and easy meals and increase physical activity.
 
Maintenance programs are available for those consumers who need ongoing support from RediClinic’s clinicians and through the program’s extensive online resources, which include access to e-nutritionists and e-trainers. The maintenance programs cost about $20 a month.
 
“There is a growing need for more effective weight management solutions, and our grocery store venue gives us an advantage in terms of convenience and the opportunity to help patients make better food choices,” said Web Golinkin, RediClinic’s CEO. “Weigh Forward is the first comprehensive, medically-supervised weight loss program to be delivered in a grocery store, and we believe it will set a new standard for sustained effectiveness.”
 
Dr. Katz, the program’s medical director, is an internationally recognized authority on weight management, nutrition and the prevention of chronic disease. In addition to his position at RediClinic, he is director and founder of Yale University’s Prevention Research Center, director and founder of the Integrative Medicine Center at Griffin Hospital in Derby, CT., and president of the non-profit Turn the Tide Foundation, which is dedicated to reversing trends in obesity and diabetes in adults and children.

Recently appointed editor-in-chief of the journal Childhood Obesity, Dr. Katz has authored more than 100 scientific papers, nearly 1,000 newspaper articles and 12 books, including The Way to Eat, The Flavor Full Diet and Nutrition in Clinical Practice. He also is the principal inventor of the Overall Nutritional Quality Index that is used in the NuVal nutritional guidance program to rate more than 100,000 food items based on their nutritional content. Dr. Katz is also a prominent voice in medical media. He is a health editor for the Huffington Post, a frequent guest on The Dr. Oz Show, nutrition columnist for O, the Oprah Magazine and on-air contributor for ABC News’ Good Morning America.