If you are trying to lose weight, but don’t know quite how to proceed you may want to attend a seminar Thursday held by Northeast Georgia Medical Center.

The Weight Loss Seminar will be held in the hospital’s Walters Auditorium from 6:30 p.m. until 8 p.m. Hospital staff will offer exercise and dieting tips, as well as discuss various surgical weight loss options.

“We wanted this seminar to be attractive to people in all categories: those who are trying to just lose 15 or 20 pounds, those who need to lose 50 or more pounds and those who are suffering from morbid obesity and need to lose 100 or more pounds as well as resolve co-morbidities,” said Hannah Day, NGMC Bariatric Weight Loss Center program coordinator.

“This seminar is part of our commitment as a program to help educated the community about the importance of weight loss as obesity contributes to so many health problems.”

According to Day, the diet and exercise tips that will be shared by registered dietitian Mindy Bell are important for everyone, no matter what their weight loss goals are.

“All of our speakers do a great job explaining that the information (that Bell) shares about nutrition and exercise is important for everyone, even those who undergo a surgical weight loss procedure,” said Day. “The procedures are just tools to help them in their weight loss quest. They still must eat right and exercise to lose weight and to keep it off long term.”

The different surgical options that will be discussed include banding, gastric bypass and sleeve gastrectomy. Although the goal of all the surgical procedures is the same, the level of invasiveness varies between the different options.

“We feel that these public outreach meetings are vitally important in getting the message out to our community regarding the epidemic of obesity. This is one of the fastest growing health problems in the U.S. and the industrialized world,” said Dr. Charles D. Proctor Jr., who will participate in the seminar.

“Our purpose is to educate the community about this disease and to present some options, both surgical and nonsurgical, in the management of it. Many people are understandably reluctant to pursue surgical weight loss but everyone needs to be educated about the risks and benefits of all options so that they can make an informed decision.”

The seminar is free and open to the public, but participants are asked to register in advance for the event, which includes a complimentary, light dinner.