Recognize the Complication, Choose the Treatment, Defend the Decision

Built for physicians preparing for the American Board of Obesity Medicine certification exam, this reference connects the physiology of appetite regulation and metabolic adaptation to the decisions made at every stage of obesity care. It moves from a complete diagnostic evaluation, spanning weight, nutrition, eating behavior, and sleep history, plus screening for secondary and genetic causes, through the full treatment continuum: behavior modification, nutrition strategy selection, pharmacotherapy, devices, and metabolic and bariatric surgery. Every chapter follows the ABOM blueprint's own domain weighting, so review time tracks what the exam actually tests.

Board-Review Questions with full rationales close every chapter, and a 200-question Comprehensive Exam mirrors the official exam's full length and blueprint weighting for a genuine dry run.

Inside, You Will Learn How To

• Diagnose the complication cluster — metabolic, hepatic, musculoskeletal, and reproductive findings worked up the way exam vignettes present them.
• Screen for secondary and genetic causes — hypercortisolemia, leptin-melanocortin pathway defects, and syndromic obesity distinguished from common polygenic disease.
• Match counseling to readiness — stages-of-change and motivational interviewing technique applied to real behavior-change scenarios.
• Select the dietary strategy that fits — DASH, Mediterranean, ketogenic, and very-low-calorie approaches compared by mechanism, benefit, and risk.
• Prescribe and monitor pharmacotherapy — GLP-1 and dual-agonist mechanisms, eligibility criteria, and adverse-effect management across every approved agent class.
• Navigate devices and bariatric surgery — intragastric balloons, endoscopic gastroplasty, Roux-en-Y bypass, and sleeve gastrectomy compared by mechanism and complication profile.
• Manage plateau and weight regain — reassessment logic that distinguishes physiologic adaptation from a plan that genuinely needs to change.
• Sit the full exam before you sit the real one — 200 questions mirroring the ABOM blueprint's exact domain weighting.

Prepare the way the exam actually tests — read it before your certification date arrives.