Lifestyle Medicine for Weight Management: for support with or without GLP1 treatment
Description
Northern region event following success of our London Event in November 2025.
NHSE estimates that 2.8 million patients are eligible for weight-loss drug tirzepatide (Mounjaro) accounting for 18% of GP appointment time in 12 years time when fully rolled out.
BSLM Consensus Statement: Anti-Obesity Medications - British Society of Lifestyle Medicine
AOMs such as the GLP-1 Receptor Agonists and dual GLP-1/GIP agents have emerged as effective treatments for obesity. Whilst there is an urgent need to improve care for people with obesity, particularly to address stigmatising beliefs around the condition, we are concerned that the planned roll-out of AOMs may not be safe, effective or sustainable for the following reasons:
An over-focus on AOMs risks distracting public health efforts to tackle the root causes of obesity, namely poverty1 and a broken food system2. This approach could also risk an arms race between pharmaceuticals designed to reduce appetite and the food industry creating food to over-ride natural satiety mechanisms3.
Restricting appetite through AOMs without individually tailored wraparound support, risks unintended harms such as worsening malnutrition (including muscle wasting/sarcopenia) for the most vulnerable. People with obesity, particularly those facing food insecurity, already have high rates of vitamin and mineral deficiencies4 which can be exacerbated by restrictive food intake.
There are significant workload implications for primary care teams particularly with insufficient wraparound support.5 Primary care is already facing significant pressure from the increase rates of chronic disease, reductions in funding, a shift of care into community and a need to deliver preventive care.
Audience: This study day is intended to be an introduction and guideline for all healthcare professionals and reflects the increasing need for familiarity with weight management approaches, as they become more widespread. For those aiming to directly support individuals with weight management, look out for our upcoming e-learning course which will go into more detail.
CPD: This study offers 7hrs CPD. This is an in-person only event and there will not be a recording.
Agenda
- 9:00 am - 9:45 am
Tea/Coffee and Networking
- 9:45 am - 10:00 am
Welcome and Introductions
- 10:00 am - 10:30 am
Healthy Weight Management Pilot - Port Seton
- 10:30 am - 11:00 am
Embedding lifestyle medicine into the long-term care and support of people who have undergone metabolic and bariatric surgery
- 11:00 am - 11:30 am
Break
- 11:30 am - 12:00 pm
GLP1’s - What support you can offer in your clinic for the patient accessing private treatment
- 12:00 pm - 12:30 pm
The Gut Perspective on Obesity
- 12:30 pm - 1:00 pm
Group Consultations for weight management
- 1:00 pm - 2:00 pm
Lunch
- 2:00 pm - 2:30 pm
Physical Activity, Obesity and GLP-1s
- 2:30 pm - 3:00 pm
GLP1s and Planetary Health
- 3:00 pm - 3:30 pm
Voice of Lived Experience
- 3:30 pm - 4:30 pm
Group Worlk
- 4:30 pm - 5:00 pm
Reflections and Closing
- 5:00 pm
Walking Tour
Lineup
Dr Jane Miller
Dr Rebecca Howie
Prof Yitka Graham
Professor Yitka Graham is Head of the Helen McArdle Nursing and Care Research Institute at the University of Sunderland, UK. She is President-Elect of the International Federation for the Surgery and Other Therapies for Obesity (IFSO) Integrated Health Chapter. She holds Visiting Professorships at the University of Anahuac, Mexico and Austral University, Argentina. Yitka’s research focuses on peoples’ and patients’ experiences of health and care specialising in obesity and related conditions. She has a specialist interest in creative approaches to health and care, thinking differently and innovatively, working collaboratively with artists, psychologists, nurses, and allied health professionals on patient-centred approaches which aims to reduce stigma, encourage positive behaviour change and empowerment, aligning to the philosophy of Lifestyle Medicine. Her research has been widely published in clinical journals.
Dr Callum Leese
Medically qualified at the University of Edinburgh, now training in general practice in Aberfeldy, whilst working part-time at the University of Dundee undertaking research with the division of population health and genomics. He is co-founder of the community-based initiative 'Healthiest Town' in Aberfeldy, Scotland where they try to enact and inspire local change and involved with the charity RunTalkRun. Callum is an honorary support fellow in physical activity and lifestyle medicine at the RCGP, and spent time in 2023 with WHO Regional Office for Europe addressing physical activity promotion in primary care. He has also recently taken on lead of the BLSM physical activity specialist interest group. His research interest is physical activity, and specifically physical activity promotion in primary care.
Dr Sheena Fraser
My name is sheena fraser, I’m a GP partner and trainer with a special interest in dermatology, minor surgery, Lifestyle medicine and microbiome science. I live and work in Glasgow but completed my medical training in Sheffield. My interest in Lifestyle medicine and microbiome science started in 2018 when I attended my first BSLM conference. I have since completed my diploma in lifestyle medicine, lectured in sleep, taken part in a sleep and microbiome webinars for BSLM in 2021 and presented at the 2021 and 2022 annual BSLM conferences. I write regular blogs for BSLM on lifestyle related topics. I am also involved in medical training of GP trainees and regularly lecture in Dermatology, lifestyle medicine and microbiome science. I am passionate about preventative medicine and applying lifestyle medicine with my patients so started a patient walking group once a week in April 2021. After 4 years of writing and researching with my fellow microbiome obsessed friend, Siobhan Maccormack, “Gut Microbiome for clinicians” (an online course on the gut microbiome) was published Sept 2022 in collaboration with BSLM. Its aim is educating more health professionals in this fascinating novel field. After realising we were not ready to part ways and had only really touched the surface of microbiome science, Siobhan and I launched the “Microbiome Medics Podcast”. My own clinical practice has changed greatly with my new found microbiome knowledge and I thrive on the excitement of this new field of medicine. I’m a busy mum to 3 children and am passionate about cooking food from scratch using local produce (often foraged). I am a keen supporter of The Soil Association and value our connection to nature and the need to protect the integrity of our soil and natural ecosystems.
Dr Suzy Scarlett
Suzy is a GP and BSLM diplomate with a passion for the lifestyle medicine approach. She incorporates the six pillars and three core principles daily in the deprived population in which she works as GP and GP trainer, and enjoys cascading this knowledge to various colleagues through teaching and training from medical students, to trainees, to fellow trainers. She is currently regional diabetes primary care lead and enjoys bringing the lifestyle medicine message to the various colleagues and meetings that this role brings with it. Suzy is a long term member of the BSLM Physical Activity Special interest group, representing not the natural athletes of this world but those that have the most to gain, and is herself always trying to find ways to incorporate movement into her daily routine (perhaps she should have shares in standing desks). She is one of three hosts on The Movement Prescription Podcast, supported by BSLM, a keen supporter of the active practice movement (including parkrun, and 5k your way), and delighted to take on the regional lead role in South East Scotland in order to bring together fellow enthusiasts to share the latest knowledge and examples of great practice in the lifestyle medicine realm.
Dr Maria Goddard
I have 30 years clinical experience in the NHS, both in primary and secondary care and at their interface, alongside bringing up 4 children. A preventative medical approach has always been priority, as is the complex and critical relationship our health has with our environment. And so, as both our health and our environment are currently under threat, Lifestyle Medicine and Planetary Health have become my main interests. I work in Population Health, with an educational program on illness prevention underway as the Active Hospitals Lead, and in a clinical setting in Urgent Care for a major London Trust. I have drive and focus to educate the population on the modifiable risk factors of disease and planetary ill-health that together cause many of the health issues, both mental and physical, that we suffer from and that threaten to overwhelm our NHS. A special interest in the enormous benefits of physical activity has led me to qualify as a certified aerobics instructor which brings a little movement and joy to my practice and a desire to integrate art into therapeutics sees me setting up a DOTA (Department of Therapeutic Art). I am proud to represent the BSLM on the UKHACC (UK Health Alliance on Climate Change) and am an active environmental campaigner.
Dr Julie Gray
Julie works as a GP in North East Scotland. She has a special interest in pre-hospital emergency care, being both a certified Instructor in this field and a pre-hospital emergency care responder. She has a few years experience also working as a Forensic Medical Examiner, only recently retiring from this role to allow opportunity to expand her interests in lifestyle medicine. In day to day practice she works with a largely deprived socio-economic patient population and thus has a lot of exposure to patients suffering from chronic diseases and multiple co-morbidities. She has always believed lifestyle modifications to play just as crucial a role in the management of such complex patients and their diseases and to have a huge impact on patients’ emotional, psychological and physical well-being. When she first heard about the BSLM she felt an instant affinity to the Society and its members who mirror her views. Moving forward she is optimistic that evidence-based lifestyle medicine strategies will eventually become an intrinsic component of modern clinical practice. Julie practices what she preaches in that she immerses herself, alongside her family, in various sporting activities and strives to attain a high level of fitness and well-being. She personally attests to the psychological and physical benefits of good nutrition having made changes to her own lifestyle in recent years.
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