Weight Bias and Weight Loss Surgery with Dr. Afton Koball, PhD, ABPP

Episode 14. Today I had the pleasure of talking with Dr. Afton Koball, a board certified clinical health psychologist with a wealth of knowledge in the areas of behavioral weight management, bariatric surgery, weight bias, motivation, and many other related areas. She obtained her PhD in Clinical Psychology from Bowling Green State University and did internship at Rush University Medical Center and fellowship at the Mayo Clinic. What to Expect in this Episode We dive into a lot of topics with Dr. Koball including but not limited to: How she got interested in health psychology and the weight management fieldHer difficulties at times with accepting her post-partum bodyWhat is weight biasHow Dr. Koball would like to see the field improve as it relates to recommending weight loss surgeryWays to improve your relationship with food from an evidence-based approach Who Struggles with Body Image (Pretty Much, Everyone) Afton talks about some of her struggles with accepting her body after her third kiddo, even when she feels she "knows better" and knows self-critical thoughts aren't helpful. On How We Are Doing as a Field with Helping People Lose Weight "I think we are doing such a crappy job. I think we have perpetuated this idea in the media and popular culture and unfortunately even in healthcare that weight loss is all about diet and exercise so if you just eat less and exercise more you will lose weight. And if you aren't losing weight, then something is wrong with you, you're bad or you aren't working hard enough or you are lazy." (In reference to how we are doing as a field with regards to helping people lose weight)- Dr. Afton Koball, PhD, ABPP That pretty much sums it up! Just kidding, we dive into more details in the episode. She talked about how it of course is not bad advice to eat well and move more, but that weight is so much more complicated than we lead people to believe. She mentions our environment, physiology, our stress and yet we pin it all on diet and exercise. What