Weight & Metabolic Medicine

Physician-supervised weight management evaluates the specific biological, behavioral, and medical factors contributing to your weight, and can include prescription medications, structured follow-up, and coordination with related conditions like sleep apnea, rather than a single generic diet plan applied the same way to everyone.

GLP-1 receptor agonist medications, and the newer combined GIP-GLP-1 medications, work through gut-brain signaling pathways that reduce appetite and slow gastric emptying, helping people eat less and feel satisfied sooner. They are prescription medications used as part of a physician-supervised treatment plan.

Weight regain after stopping is common and well documented, because these medications treat an ongoing physiological process rather than curing it, similar to how blood pressure medication controls rather than cures hypertension. Decisions about tapering or stopping therapy are best made together with your physician.

Excess weight, particularly around the neck, is one of the most common contributing factors to obstructive sleep apnea, and weight loss can meaningfully reduce OSA severity when weight is a contributing factor. The relationship runs in both directions, since untreated sleep apnea can also make weight management more difficult.

Excess weight can reduce lung volumes and increase the work of breathing independent of any specific lung disease, and in more severe cases can contribute to obesity hypoventilation syndrome, a condition where breathing does not adequately clear carbon dioxide. These effects are evaluated as part of comprehensive weight and pulmonary care.

For select patients, particularly those with more severe obesity or significant weight-related medical complications, bariatric surgery is a reasonable option, evaluated alongside medical weight management rather than as an automatic first step.