Designed by Dr Candice Silverman and delivered by a multidisciplinary team of clinical and allied health professional, the Peak Program is a customised, boutique weight loss program.
Moving away from traditional group seminars and bulk solutions, the Peak Program considers the unique needs of the individual participant and tailors a weight management strategy around physical and emotional goals personal to them.
Unfortunately, if you've smoked within the past three months, you aren't eligible for bariatric surgery as part of the Peak Program.
Smoking attracts significant health risks and, when combined with obesity, can potentially lead to surgical complications.
As part of a calorie-controlled diet, alcohol provides little nutritional benefit, and it's recommended to restrict or avoid consumption completely.
Many behaviours that lead to obesity will need to change post-surgery, and alcohol is often a causing factor in obesity, so patients must be prepared to minimise intake.
The clinical and allied health professionals that form part of the Peak Program share a joint commitment to helping patients overcome obesity. The team meets regularly to discuss patient progress and to devise strategies that will help them move forward and achieve the best outcomes.
Our allied health professionals are all members of ANNSMOZ (Australian and New Zealand Metabolic and Obesity Surgery Society), extensively review literature, and practise expertise in the management of the bariatric surgical patient.
Working together, the existing team has devised a cohesive patient-focussed system that has proven successful time and time again.
Dietary guidance from a range of professionals can be conflicting. Because pre and post education is essential to a patient's results, contradictory advice can cause confusion which may jeopardise the success of the program.
Dr Silverman is open to other allied health professionals joining the program at a patient's request, however they would need to meet her specifications, be willing to attend and participate in meetings, and tailor their advice specifically to the operations performed.
Ideally, the whole team including your surgeon, dietician, exercise physiologist and psychologist will be describing expectations and surgical procedures in a similar fashion to help you reach your goals in a unified way.
We aim to keep fees to a minimum so that as many people as possible can access the program and achieve significant weight loss to improve their physical and mental wellbeing.
With appropriate health insurance, the cost to the patient is likely to be under $6,000 and includes the following:
Surgical fees will vary depending on the most appropriate procedure, but all costs will be outlined in your initial consultation.
There is currently no access to bariatric surgery for patients in the public system. Dr Silverman continues to work towards this becoming an option.
It's highly recommended that every patient has private health insurance. In the unlikely event of any complications or extra gastric bypass costs arising from surgery, self-funded patients may require transfer to a public hospital for treatment which will interrupt the quality and consistency of their care.
There is usually a 12-month waiting period after joining to allow access to bariatric surgery.
For patients who participate in the Peak Program, Dr Silverman will perform any further procedures such as cholecystectomy, hernia repair and abdominoplasty with no out of pocket costs as long as they maintain their private health insurance.
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Part of the success of the Peak Program is achieved by changing the mindset from eating for the sake of it to viewing food as ‘fuel' for the body.
While weight loss is important, once the patient adopts a different focus towards the food they eat and concentrates on nutrition, vitamin intake and exercise; natural weight loss will be a direct result making the kilos on the scales different for everyone.
In reality, we expect that patients who follow the program closely will lose up to 50% of excess weight within 12 weeks of surgery with maximum weight loss achieved within 12 months.
Obesity is a chronic disease that can lead to more serious, potentially life-threatening health concerns.
Traditional methods of weight loss such as diet and exercise are extremely important post-surgery to achieve maximum weight loss and to sustain results.
In severe cases, weight loss surgery is much more effective than diet and exercise in helping morbidly obese patients lose significant amounts of weight fast enough to reduce the immediate risk to their overall health.