Okay, this has been bugging me for a little while, and I want to get your experiences/opinions. IP is advertised as a "medically supervised" diet plan; this is one of the big selling points to give it credibility, and presumably one of the factors in the high cost.

My clinic is run by a chiropractor, and while I'm a big fan of chiropractic care, I don't view that as "medical supervision." He can't do blood work or order a thyroid test or a metabolic panel or anything. And never once has anyone checked my pulse or blood pressure or anything other than my weight and body composition (however reliable that is).

Further, I've never actually laid eyes on this "medical supervisor." I presume that he's somewhere in the clinic, probably treating chiro patients, but the coaches and staff at the Diet part of the clinic are just regular, non-medically-trained people who have trained to be coaches - people like you and me.

Don't get me wrong - I love my clinic, and the coaches are terrific, but I can't help but feel this "medically supervised" thing is just a gimmick.

What are your thoughts?

The clinic I used to attend always had at least one RN on duty as one of the coaches (it is not part of a chiropractor's office). When I started, the RN required me to provide documentation from my regular doctor permitting me to be on the IP protocol due to a something that I checked off on one of the forms. They will take blood pressure every visit if needed (mine is low so they only did it the first visit) but they use an automatic home test machine so the non-nurses don't have to know anything about taking blood pressure. When I would see a non-RN coach, I got the usual script and up-sale. When I would see the RN, I got good information with medical explanations and no up-sale but rather more options.

I suppose if you take it back to basics, the protocol was designed by a doctor, and if the coach needs help, they can call in to the main office and someone there will have a medical background, so in a long distance sort of way it is indeed medically supervised.

Considering some posters here have become coaches and have posted that there is very little training ... it seems to me this is marketing B.S.

One of the main reasons anyone embarking on a PSMF type of diet needs to be medically supervised is due to pre-existing medical conditions and especially the medications that come with them.

High blood pressure and diabetes medication need to be carefully monitored as a morbidly obese person rapidly drops lbs on such a diet.

I think the "medically supervised" is more a marketing plan.
First clinic I NEVER saw a doctor even in the office. The coach I saw had a medical BILLING background. The next clinic, the coach was supervised long-distance by an RN. Now, same coach/new clinic, it is in a chiropractor's office.
I've, for specific reasons, purchased product from a clinic with an acupuncturist (who had some traditional medical schooling) and from a person who worked out of a GP office.

Basically, by using the "medical supervised" marketing plan, IP goes into offices that have somewhat of a built in client base (doctors with overweight patients, chiropractors with health conscious patients or injured patients that temporarily can't exercise). I've not seen IP advertise in the same way that Weight Watchers or Metabolic Research Center or Jenny Craig (no tv or newspaper ads). More typically it is via "educational seminar". This is in the US. I've gotten the impression it works a bit differently in Canada.

I've also heard that the products are "FDA approved" which is why they were sweetened with sucralose instead of stevia.

Sometimes I hear some things that sound good yet might be just some stuff coaches are making up.

The only thing "medical supervision" would have added for my situation would probably have been extra costs. I think if someone has serious health issues--on medication for blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, etc--they likely should be checking in with their personal doctor a bit more often. I do recall there was some "poundage" (30?) where the original coach wanted to send a letter to my doctor, which I just thought was weird. That is a good way for a clinic to cover themselves, however, to coordinate care.

I, too, have a bit of a curiosity about how things are marketed and gimmicks. In some ways, the packets are a gimmick, but I knew they were the crutch to help me lose weight. It also helped that there are very few extras beyond the vitamins, which gave the program more credibility to me.

What also fascinates me is the packet ingredients, basically the balance between trying to make them "clean" and using ingredients that make them palatable, plus that they are manufactured outside the US.

Regardless, I really like the diet, and my current coach has really helped me.

My coach is my general doctor. The clinic is run by his P.A. I was looking into the Medifast Plan and talked it over with my doctor during my anual checkup. That's when he told me about Ideal Protein. They do not advertise it and they do not push it or "sell" it. But they do offer it as treatment for obesity. Being structured this way, 70% of the food and 100% of the supplements is paid for by my medical insurance until I reach a healthy weight. Once I reach that weight , if I want to continue I have to pay all costs. My blood pressure is taken at each WI. and full blood work is done every 2 months.

Oh wow! THAT is a huge benefit. Even if I could use my pre-tax medical account for purchasing, it would sure help!

I think it is a marketing ploy as well. The 2 hour introductions seminar was given by the senior partner in the medical practice, who is a sports medicine MD. The coaches are his physical therapists, medical assistants or previous dieters who now work for him. My particular coach is an RN. I have never had any vital signs or blood work, etc done. I think if you have diabetes or renal disease, or go on to develop them, they can run bloodwork via the MD, or communicate with your MD for referral.

Any diet that is under 1200 calories is supposed to be medically supervised. I would think that your clinics are taking a big risk for lawsuits if they are not actually providing medical supervision.

The clinic that I go to is run out of a cardiologist's office - we see an RN every week and get our blood pressure and body composition checked (along with our measurements) and we have an office visit with the cardiologist after every 20 pounds lost for medication adjustment. My cardiologist prescribes my blood pressure and cholesterol lowering medication. Blood work is every six months because of the cholesterol medication.

I used to go to Dr. Arthur Frank (obesity specialist from GWU) and when on his diet, we had blood work every other week and a EKG once a month and saw a MD every week. That diet was only about 600 calories a day. We also had to have some kind of class every week on proper nutrition or other topic related to weight loss that was run either by an RD, psychologist or endocrinologist. Needless to say, this program was much more expensive. Dr. Frank has retired but still consults and his practice was taken over by Dr. Scott Kahan. I did learn a lot from them, but their clinic was a little too far away from me to be practical for a long term solution (they are in DC.)

Dangers of low calorie dieting include loss of heart muscle and gall bladder issues among others. Dr. Frank would only allow you to be on the diet for 16 weeks at a time and then you would have to do a month of a modified, maintenance diet before starting again. The literature which supports the safety of very low calorie diets only goes out 16 weeks, that is why. It is not that it is unsafe after 16 weeks, but the supporting studies were only conducted for 16 weeks.

I personally would not feel comfortable without some kind of medical supervision.

I don't know what other Canadians would say but I think it would be rare in Canada to have IP thru a GP. I know the the program is offered through naturapaths and chiropractors. For me personally, there wasn't anyone with a medical background to be my coach so I took all the info to my family doctor and had a huge conversation with her and she set me up for blood work very 3 months. The timing were her choice as I wanted to do it more often and she also encouraged me to keep going if it was working so I was on it longer than 16 weeks.

Personally speaking, if I had to do it again. I would do it the same way. There is NO clinic with an MD close to me. In fact, again if I saw it in a docs office I would find that strange. It's just not the 'norm' in Canada. For me anyway, someone else may disagree but docs usually dont have side business in their clinics. They may partner with someone but its not in the clinic.

My point? I was at my highest 313...I was desperate to try something and was very close to a lapband. The fact that my clinic didn't have a doc didn't concern me as I had my family doctor with me.

I have looked into the requirements for IP coaching - you actually have to have SOME kind of medical license to get the rights to sell the product. When I say "some kind" that includes MD, DO, RN, NP, Dentist, EMT, Pharmacist, Naturopathy....quite literally anything remotely connected to the medical field. And the "official" Ideal Protein website doesn't actually say "Medically supervised", it says "Medically developed" or "Doctor derived" which IS true. The main IP page says NOTHING about coaches having medical background, so I really believe many individual centers are taking that next step and calling it "Medically supervised". I didn't kid myself into thinking that my Chiro was giving me any kind of medical supervision, my coach was her mom.

My coach is the chiropractors wife. Her degree is in education. I guess the biz is under him
They have hired another coach. She has a significant weight loss on IP.

I am in Canada but often buy IP products through Plain Protein. So far all the products I have seem to have been produced in Quebec.
I think in many cases Canada has tougher standards than the US so I wouldn't be worried about them not being made in the US.
Pat

My coach is a RN and is selling through a doctor's office. To be honest, I would rather listen and take advice from someone who has been through the program and is maintaining successfully versus some skinny nurse who has NEVER needed to lose a pound. I adore my coach and she is helpful but not as helpful as the people on the forum. WUV has been through, lived the program and knows what works. I value her input more than any coach who has simply been trained to coach. My opinion.

as an aside, (and as a med student), I just want to mention that while we can order metabolic panels and take bp, etc...we get little to no education on nutrition. between first and second year, i can remember about 1-2 one hour lectures on nutrition.
a dietician, rn, or person who has been on the program will no formal training willl probably have much more knowledge on nutrition and weight loss.

That is right Ishbel. In Canada it is not advertised as medically supervised.
It is very common that the clinics are from chiropractor's offices. This does make sense because they must see lots of people who have issues caused by or compounded by excess weight.

As you said the medical connection for most people is your family doctor.
Pat