I scheduled a consultation at a local weight loss clinic. Their website doesn’t tell you exactly what their weight loss plans include, so you truly don’t know what you’re in for until you go in to speak to them. I was extremely nervous for the appointment and almost talked myself out of going. I was extremely proud of myself for actually showing up and was excited to get started on this new journey.
When I walked into the appointment there was no one to greet me, but I saw a lady in front of me sign in on a sheet, so I did the same. I sat down and waited. An employee(we’ll call her L) comes in a few minutes later and hands me a few pages to fill out. I begin filling them out. L starts talking to me about how she just got married and lost a lot of weight on tirzepatide. I can already tell she’s a bit of an over-sharer. I keep filling out my paperwork while she continues talking to me.
When I’m done, I hand L the paperwork and sit back down. She immediately tells me oh I must have a hormone imbalance and we can talk about it. She stands up and tells me to follow her to the back. She comes off as super chatty and friendly, but a little overwhelming.
We go to her office and she asks me do I have any idea what route I want to go. I’m a little flustered because I have no idea what they offer. The website says nothing and I was kind of expecting her to explain different options. I let her know I wasn’t sure, I wanted to know my options. It’s clear she’s pushing GLP-1 medications and I let her know I’ve not had luck with them, I had been on them for 6 months and they left me depressed and incredibly tired. She seemed shocked and maybe even annoyed. She starts telling me I probably have hormonal imbalances and my cortisol is probably high, and she’s staring at my stomach the entire time she’s speaking. She says it can cause excess belly fat and continues pretty much staring at my stomach while occasionally looking me in the eyes. She is scattered and all over the place, listing off different peptides and vitamins I’ll need. She then proceeds to answer the phone and carries on for a few minutes with an employee from another office. She tells them “oh I’m in a consultation, and I’m the only one here, is there anything you need or can I call you back?” She gets off the phone and starts talking about her wedding again, proceeds to get on Facebook to show me her wedding pictures and tell me more personal things I don’t care to hear. She finally gets back on track and starts listing off prices for things, but I’m still not clear about how any of this works. I ask about other options and a particular medication I have taken in the past for weight loss and she gets this look and her mood shifts. She says yeah they have it, but it’s only short term use. I explain to her I’m not really interested in peptides and I’m more so interested in the meal planning aspect/weekly weigh-ins and medication. She asked if I had side effects from it before, I explain no I haven’t and she proceeds to call the medicine “legal speed” .. I ask her if she has an issue with it because it’s clear she doesn’t care for it. Which is really weird as it’s one of the clinics treatment options. And as far as I can tell, this woman is just a “coach” who does consults not an actual medical professional with any sort of certification or training. She’s just supposed to do consults and give info, then I see the nurse practitioner if I want to sign up.
After she continues making me feel uncomfortable, I start to feel overwhelmed and I told her, “your comments are off putting and I think I just want to leave” .. I get up and she says awkwardly, “okay .. I’m
Sorry .. sorry” and I exit the facility.
AIO? Should I have expressed my feelings and allowed her to continue? Was that immature and unprofessional of me? I typically never advocate for myself and would just sign up for the super expensive program because I felt pressured and then go home feeling mad at myself because I didn’t tell them what I wanted. Literally in the 45 minutes I was there, I found out more about L and her personal life than I did about this weight loss program. And quite frankly, I don’t want to spend $800+ a month and see this woman every week after this interaction.
TLDR;
Clinic employee spends most of appointment talking about her personal life and then puts down treatment they offer making me feel uncomfortable. I told her she was off putting and got up and left in the middle of my consultation. AIO? Was that immature of me?