Helping people who are working to lose significant weight — providing counseling, education, and support for patients pursuing bariatric surgery or medical weight management.
Bariatric counseling means working with individuals facing serious weight-related health challenges, often in preparation for or following bariatric surgery. Your role involves assessment, education about behavioral changes required for surgical success, psychological screening, and ongoing counseling about eating behaviors, relationship with food, and the emotional dimensions of significant weight change.
The pre-surgical counseling phase is psychologically significant — patients need to understand the lifelong behavioral changes that bariatric surgery requires, address any psychological factors (including history of disordered eating, trauma, or substance use) that could affect surgical outcomes, and develop realistic expectations about what surgery will and won't change. Doing that preparation thoroughly is associated with better long-term surgical outcomes.
People who find this work rewarding tend to have genuine understanding of obesity as a complex medical condition and can work with patients without judgment about their size or history. Weight and eating are loaded topics for most people, and therapeutic relationships in bariatric counseling require the ability to address those topics directly and skillfully. If you can combine clinical assessment skill with authentic compassion for patients navigating significant health challenges, bariatric counseling offers a meaningful clinical practice at the intersection of behavioral health and medical care.
Where this role sits in the broader career landscape — and where it can take you.
Roles like this one sit within a broader occupational category. The numbers below reflect that full landscape — helpful for context, but your specific experience will depend on level, specialty, and where you work.
Roles with similar work and overlapping career paths
View all Healthcare roles →Helping people who are working to lose significant weight — providing counseling, education, and support for patients pursuing bariatric surgery or medical weight management.
Median pay for a Bariatric Weight Loss Counselor is about $58K nationally, with the field ranging roughly from $41K to $80K depending on experience, employer, and metro (BLS).
Core skills for this role include Reading Comprehension, Active Listening, Speaking, Critical Thinking, and Instructing.
Most people in this role hold a bachelor's degree.
Employment in this field is projected to grow about 9.5% through 2034, with roughly 8,110 people working in it today (BLS).
Closely related roles include Exercise Specialist, Kinesiotherapist, and Sports Physiologist.
Truest gives you tools to understand your strengths, explore roles that fit, and plan your next move.
Explore Truest career tools