IN Dublin to give a seminar in the Royal College of Surgeons on his acclaimed weight loss system, Dr Maurice Larocque gave the Limerick Post a personal insight into the techniques that have made him a household name. Motivation Weight Management is an international franchise that originated in his home city of Montreal; the Limerick clinic is at 50 Thomas Street. Essentially, Dr Larocque’s global approach to weight loss through managing our ‘mental weight’ issues has achieved successful weightloss in the long run for more than 80 per cent of clients tracked for four years or more.
“I was working as a GP in Canada in the 1970s when I noticed an increase in obesity in the population and patients would present with weight and related medical conditions. As with other doctors, I would put them on a diet and.. overtime, I focused on the reality and studies that showed that in the middle or long term, most of the patients regained the weight lost”.
Always interested in human behaviour and psychology, Maurice Larocque came to distrust “the materialistic view of the human by which we think we answer anything according to formula loss or gain”.
Considering the individual through a holistic approach that embraces all factors in their make up and behaviour, he developed the concept of ‘mental weight’: that which goes on in people’s minds and is responsible for their behaviour, and gain in weight.
Dr Larocque evolved a 12-minute questionnaire and over time compiled a database of 200,000 responses that are vital in obesity research. His own Motivation Weight Management Programmes are based on constant evaluation of the client and help in anchoring them in a new mindset that enables continual maintenance of their slimmed-down, healthier self.
Today, on registering at a clinic, the questionnaire and resulting two-page confidential report (that you take away with you) begin the five month programme of analysis, tailor-made eating plans, support, acceptance, information and of course, motivation.
Your outlook on stressors around food will be informed by ideas such as moving away from unrealistic and ideal expectations and perfectionism towards acceptance, inner calm, control and freedom from guilt.
“There’s no need to feel guilty if you break your diet. You’ll pay for it anyway in weight. Guilt is linked to low self-esteem”. Look where you are going to, a place based on your own ability to review and adjust behaviour in a healthy way throughout life.
Dr Larocque’s method, based on working with the individual psyche, has proved a long-term winner. The average weight loss is a stone in four to six weeks.
If weight or obesity is an issue for you, you might wish to contact the Limerick Motivation Weight Management clinic at 50 Thomas Street on 061-411699. Refer online for information at www.motivation.ie
