Weight management
Physician-supervised weight care in Upland — a real medical workup, honest expectations, and treatment that fits your body rather than a package you buy.
Why most weight programs fail you
Most of what is sold as weight loss is sold by people who are not physicians, cannot order labs, cannot review your medications, and have no way to tell whether the reason the scale will not move is your thyroid, your antidepressant, your sleep apnea, or your insulin resistance. They sell you the same protocol they sell everyone.
Weight is a medical problem with medical causes, and it deserves the same workup you would get for chest pain. That is what happens here.
What the first visit actually involves
- A full history — what you have already tried, what happened, and what made it stop working
- Labs — thyroid, A1c and fasting insulin, lipids, liver function, and testosterone or other hormones where relevant, at our wholesale cost
- A medication review — several common prescriptions cause steady weight gain, and swapping one is sometimes the whole intervention
- Screening for what is underneath — sleep apnea, PCOS, hypothyroidism, and the metabolic changes that come before diabetes
- A plan you had a say in — built around how you actually eat, work, and sleep
Medication, when it is the right tool
The GLP-1 medications — semaglutide and tirzepatide among them — changed what is medically possible here, and for the right patient they work well. They are also expensive, they have real side effects, they are not appropriate for everyone, and for most people stopping them means the weight returns. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling something.
So the conversation we will have is a specific one: whether medication is indicated for you, what it will cost, what it will feel like in the first two months, how we will monitor you, and what the plan is for the years after. Other options — metformin, and older agents that are far cheaper — are on the table too, and sometimes they are the better answer.
We prescribe FDA-approved medications from licensed pharmacies. We do not use compounded GLP-1 products of uncertain content or origin.
What we are actually aiming at
Blood pressure, blood sugar, lipids, joint pain, sleep, energy, and staying off the medication list that usually comes next. Weight is the lever, not the destination. Most of the health benefit shows up in the first five to ten percent, long before anyone reaches a goal number — and a slow, unglamorous loss you can hold onto beats a fast one you cannot.
What it costs
| Item | Price |
|---|---|
| Initial weight-management visit (60 minutes) | $150 |
| Follow-up visits | $150 each, or included with membership |
| Membership — ongoing management and adjustments between visits | $99 / month |
| Labs | our wholesale cost, no markup |
| Medication | billed by the pharmacy, not by us |
For anyone in this for the long run, membership usually works out better — weight management needs frequent small adjustments, and paying $150 every time you have a question is a good way to stop asking.
Is this right for you?
Probably, if you have tried on your own and stalled, if your weight is starting to show up in your blood pressure or blood sugar, or if you want someone to check whether something treatable is underneath it.
Probably not, if you are looking for a prescription without an evaluation, or for a guaranteed number by a particular date. Neither is something a physician can responsibly give you.
If you are living with or recovering from an eating disorder, please tell me at the first visit. That changes what is safe, and it is a conversation worth having openly.
Ready when you are
Call or text (626) 552-6720 to book a visit, or start a $99/month membership and have a doctor in your corner every day of the year.