About this episode
What does better obesity care look like when clinicians truly listen to the people receiving it?
Dr. Matthea Rentea and Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia join Mike for a conversation about lived experience, patient-centered obesity care, and the role peer support can play in helping people feel understood, supported, and more engaged in their care.
This conversation was originally planned as an American Diabetes Association/Obesity Association webinar for clinicians. After concerns surrounding the ADA and the current scientific boycott, the conversation moved outside of the organization and onto our podcasts. We spend the opening minutes explaining why.
But the larger conversation is the one we originally came together to have: how clinicians can provide better obesity care by listening to patients, understanding their experiences, and giving patients a meaningful role in shaping care, education, and health systems.
We talk about why patient stories matter, how lived experience can reveal things clinical data alone cannot, and what happens when people feel dismissed, blamed, or unheard in healthcare.
We also explore peer support in its many forms, from physician-led group visits and structured programs to informal online communities where people living with obesity share experiences, questions, successes, and frustrations. And while this conversation was designed with clinicians in mind, we believe patients should be at the table for it too.
In this episode:
• Why listening to patients can improve obesity care
• What lived experience adds to clinical expertise
• How weight stigma and dismissal can damage trust
• Why patient stories matter in medical education and care delivery
• What patients can learn from other patients
• The role of physician-led group visits and structured peer support
• The benefits and limitations of online patient communities
• How patients can help shape programs, education, and healthcare systems
• Why one patient’s experience should never be treated as everyone’s experience
• What meaningful patient involvement can look like in practice
This episode is for clinicians, patients, advocates, and anyone interested in building obesity care grounded in both science and the experiences of people living with the disease.
Hear more from our guests
Follow Dr. Matthea Rentea on The Obesity Guide with Matthea Rentea MD, where she discusses obesity treatment, chronic weight management, GLP-1 medications, and the realities of living with obesity.
Apple Podcasts: Follow The Obesity Guide on Apple Podcasts
Spotify: Follow The Obesity Guide on Spotify
Follow Dr. Komal Patil-Sisodia on Clearly Hormonal, where she brings an endocrinologist’s perspective to hormonal and metabolic health, including menopause, PMOS, obesity, diabetes, and related care.
Apple Podcasts: Follow Clearly Hormonal on Apple Podcasts
Spotify: Follow Clearly Hormonal on Spotify
And if you found this conversation useful, follow Weight & Measure with Mike and Zach wherever you listen. Please consider leaving a rating or review, too. It helps more people find evidence-based conversations about obesity care.
More science. Less stigma.