Anthony Huynh, DO, a weight management and nutrition specialist and the medical director of Sacred Heart Medical Group’s Weight Management & Nutrition program, is used to hearing comments from his patients such as “Friends I haven’t seen in a while don’t recognize me,” from a man that lost a total of 185 pounds.   

Huynh, a board-certified internal medicine and obesity medicine physician, says, “When people ask what the secret to weight loss is, I tell them, ‘Eat less, run more.’ A diet isn’t going to do you any good. You have to change the way you eat for life.” He helps patients achieve natural, healthy weight-loss through long-term lifestyle changes.   

“Yo-yo dieting is not only discouraging, it actually changes your metabolism and makes it harder to lose weight the next time,” says Huynh. “We help patients develop healthy eating and exercise habits that are sustainable for a lifetime.”   

Huynh also provides a simple test to determine patients’ resting metabolic rate to eliminate the guesswork in determining calorie thresholds for achieving weight-management goals. This test and office visits are covered by most major health insurance plans.  

Treatments can only be as affective as the commitment of the patient, according to Huynh, who says, “It’s the patient who must follow the routine we prescribe. Each plan we create is individually customized because each person is unique; there really is no “one-size-fits-all” weight-loss program. We look at your family history; the medications you are taking that may cause weight gain and other factors. Also, there may be other health issues, such as sleep apnea or thyroid problems, that need to be addressed first.”

Huynh’s office is located 4501 N. Davis Hwy., Ste. C, in Pensacola. To make an appointment, call 850-416-2884. For more information, visit Sacred-Heart.org/weightmanagement.