Tired of dieting and exercising and STILL not losing weight?
Weight loss can be a constant struggle for patients. Historically, weight loss strategies almost exclusively focus on lifestyle-based approaches. Doctors often tell patients to eat less, and patients often say “but I don’t eat that much!” However, there is evidence that shows diet and exercise stimulate the body to counteract the effect of diet and exercise. For example, when you eat less the body burns less energy as a countermeasure to preserve the current body weight. The body produces powerful hormones to increase your desire to eat, and reduce your desire to exercise. Because of these counter mechanisms, once obesity is present, it can be exceedingly difficult to return to a lower baseline weight.
It is not your fault, there are powerful hormones working against you!
Obesity is a complex metabolic syndrome that requires medical management, like diabetes, high blood pressure, rheumatoid arthritis, thyroid disease, and cancer.
How does Semaglutide and Tirzepatide work?
Semaglutide (Brand: Wegovy) and Tirzepatide (Brand: Mounjaro) are new classes of diabetes and weight loss medications called GLP-1 agonists. GLP-1 stands for glucagon-like peptide, these medications act like hormones that stimulate insulin release when blood sugar is high. Semaglutide and Tirzepatide also work by decreasing appetite and increasing the body’s metabolism.
These medications are initially approved for treating diabetes, but now they have also been FDA-approved for weight loss.
How much weight can you lose?
Patients on average lose about 4% of their body weight within the first month, 6% in 2 months, 10% in 3 months, etc. Patients in phase 3 clinical trials for semaglutide and Tirzepatide lost between 15-20% of their body weight over 72 weeks depending on the dose of the medication. The average baseline weight of these patients is about 230 lbs. So the average patient weighing 230 lbs at the beginning of the study lost about 35-50 lbs over 72 weeks. Patients achieved these results WITHOUT a diet and exercise program.
How much weight loss is clinically meaningful?
5% body weight loss is considered clinically meaningful because reducing your body weight by 5% reduces the chances of getting diabetes by 50%. Therefore 15-20% body weight reduction is even more significant and can further reduce the risk of diabetes, as well as cardiovascular disease down the line. Patients on semaglutide and Tirzepatide also reduced their bad cholesterol level which is a risk factor for heart attack and stroke.
What are the side effects?
Semaglutide and Tirzepatide are generally very safe medications. The main side effects are GI (gastrointestinal) side effects such as nausea, vomiting, constipation, and diarrhea. This is because the medication slows down the speed that the food moves through the gut. About 40% of patients in the clinical trials experienced some GI side effects. However, the side effects are generally mild and very few patients discontinued the medication because of these side effects. <1% of the patients developed mild pancreatitis and gallstones. Thyroid C-cell cancers have been observed in some patients taking other GLP-1 agonist medications. There is not enough evidence to suggest the medication causes this cancer. However, patients with a personal or family history of MEN 2 syndromes are not candidates for GLP-1 agonists.
How can I get these new treatments?
Semaglutide and Tirzepatide are prescription-only medications and require screening and monitoring by an experienced board-certified physician.
Dr. Guan is a board-certified family medicine doctor with more than 12 years of clinical experience managing patients with obesity, diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, and medical weight loss. She has a busy practice seeing on average more than 20 patients per day.
During the initial consultation, Dr. Guan will learn about your past medical history, medications as well as surgical history to see if you are a good candidate for medical weight loss. Dr. Guan will also review your blood work to make sure you don’t have another underlying condition causing the weight gain. If you are a good candidate Dr. Guan will order the medication. Once the medication arrives, you will come to the clinic to pick up the medication and Dr. Guan will show you how to administer the medication at home. The prescription can be renewed monthly based on your individual results and can be shipped directly to your home after the first month.
Preparing for your visit
You can make an appointment right on this page. Bring to the visit any blood work you have done in the past year. If you do not have any blood work, Dr. Guan will order blood work during the visit and that will be billed separately. Semaglutide is $300 per month if you qualify to use the medication.
What if I am not a candidate for semaglutide?
If you are not a candidate for semaglutide or if the cost is prohibitive, Dr. Guan is experienced with other methods of medical weight loss including Adipex and Qsymia which cost $150 per visit.
At Yi Wellness we are dedicated to providing you with the guidance, encouragement, and treatment alternatives you require to regain control over your weight and your health. Our skilled medical staff will walk you through every step of the weight loss program.