Tag: GLP-1 medications

A row of worn cast iron kettlebells on a gym floor

What Happens If You Stop Taking a GLP-1?

On By Dr. Scott RennieIn Weight Loss & Metabolic HealthLeave a comment

Somebody asks me this almost every week, usually some version of the same sentence. “How long do I have to stay on this?”

It is a fair question and it deserves a straight answer rather than a lecture. So here is what the data says happens, what I do about it, and the handful of situations where I think stopping is the right call.

Why you want to stop matters more than the fact that you want to stop

The first thing I ask is why.

The answers cluster into three groups, and they lead to three completely different conversations. Some people have hit their goal and believe they can hold it from here on their own. Some are looking at the monthly cost and doing math. And some are uneasy about taking any medication for years on end, the same way people feel about a blood pressure pill or a statin.

None of those are unreasonable. But the plan for a patient who cannot afford the drug looks nothing like the plan for a patient who is worried about what it is doing to them over a decade, and lumping them together as “wants to stop” wastes the visit.

What the evidence actually shows

The honest version is that most of the weight comes back, and it comes back faster than people expect.

The best synthesis we have is a 2026 systematic review and meta-regression in eClinicalMedicine that pooled 48 studies (1). About 60 percent of the weight lost during treatment is regained within 52 weeks of stopping. The curve is steep early, slows, and flattens out around 60 weeks, with regain plateauing near 75 percent of what was lost. Read the other direction, roughly a quarter of the loss is still there.

The individual trials tell the same story. In the STEP 1 extension, participants had lost 17.3 percent of body weight on semaglutide. A year after the drug and the lifestyle support both stopped, they had regained 11.6 percentage points, leaving a net loss of 5.6 percent, and 48 percent were still at least 5 percent below where they started (2). In SURMOUNT-4, people who came off tirzepatide regained about 14 percent over the following year while those who stayed on lost another 6.7 percent, and 82 percent of the group that stopped gave back more than a quarter of their loss (3).

Here is the part that gets left out of the headlines, and the part I care about more than the scale. The metabolic improvements unwind first. Around 70 to 80 percent of the blood pressure improvement is gone within 12 weeks of stopping. About half of the HbA1c improvement is back by 8 to 12 weeks (1). The weight takes a year to come back. The blood pressure takes three months.

That ordering is the reason I do not treat stopping as a neutral event in someone with hypertension or diabetes.

It is physiology, not a character flaw

I want to be clear about what that regain represents, because patients are brutal with themselves about it.

These drugs work on appetite signaling. Take the drug away and the signaling returns to where it was, which means hunger returns to where it was. The body defends the higher weight. Regaining is the expected biological result of removing the treatment, not evidence that somebody got lazy in month four.

I say this out loud in visits because the shame around regain is what stops people from coming back and restarting when they need to.

Most people stop anyway

Worth knowing: stopping is the norm, not the exception.

In a cohort of 125,474 adults starting these medications, 46.5 percent of those with type 2 diabetes and 64.8 percent of those without had stopped within a year (4). An analysis of 60,000 insured patients presented at ENDO 2026 found about four in ten stopped in the first year, and nearly six in ten by two years (5).

But look at what happens next in that same data. Of the people who stopped, 41.5 percent restarted within a year and 58 percent within two (5). This is not a drug people take once and abandon. It is a drug people fall off and climb back onto, usually after the weight starts coming back.

One more number, and it is the one that changed how I think about this. An integrated health system that added structured pharmacist onboarding and real follow-up got its one-year discontinuation rate down to 3.9 percent (6). Compare that to the 46 to 65 percent above. Most of the stopping in this country is not a drug problem. It is an access, cost and support problem.

What I actually do: lower the dose rather than stop

When somebody has reached a healthy weight, my preference is not to stop the medication. It is to lower the dose to the amount that holds the weight steady instead of the amount that keeps driving it down.

I will say plainly that the evidence here is thin. There are no randomized trials of tapering or maintenance dosing after weight loss, only small observational reports (7). So this is clinical judgment rather than a protocol, and I tell patients that.

What I like about it is that it answers the three concerns at once. It costs less. It involves less drug for people who are uneasy about long-term exposure. And it keeps the appetite brake partly engaged, which is the thing that actually prevents the rebound.

When the reason is cost

This is the most common real reason, and it has the most workable solutions.

First, the cash-pay programs. Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk both sell direct now, and the prices are meaningfully better than they used to be. For a lot of patients that alone closes the gap.

Second, insurance, which is more winnable than people assume. If a patient carries a weight-related condition, and most do, there is often a path to coverage. Diabetes, prediabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, GERD, obstructive sleep apnea. Those are not footnotes. They are the clinical justification that gets a prior authorization approved. It is worth the paperwork.

Third, switch the drug rather than abandon the class. Semaglutide instead of tirzepatide. Liraglutide instead of either. Not identical, but real.

Fourth, Medicare, and this is the part most patients have not heard. Part D still cannot pay for a drug prescribed for weight loss alone, because that exclusion sits in the statute and the 2025 attempt to reinterpret it was never finalized. What changed is the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, which went live July 1, 2026 and runs through the end of 2027. It puts Foundayo, Wegovy and the Zepbound KwikPen at $50 a month for eligible beneficiaries (8). The Zepbound vials and single-dose pens are not in it, which is catching people out. If a patient was told no before last summer, that answer is worth getting again.

And if none of that works, we move to what is affordable. Bupropion and naltrexone as generics. Metformin. These are not equivalent to a GLP-1 and I do not pretend otherwise. They are considerably better than nothing, which is the actual alternative on the table.

Protecting muscle

If weight is going to move in either direction, I want as much of it as possible to be fat.

I target protein intake around 1.5 grams per kilogram. I want resistance training at least twice a week, and 30 minutes of aerobic activity five days a week. That applies while losing, while maintaining, and especially after stopping.

The concern worth naming is that we do not know whether regained weight comes back in the same proportions it left. If fat returns faster than muscle, somebody can land at their old weight with worse body composition than they had before treatment. The data on that is genuinely unsettled, so I am not going to overstate it. The defense is the same either way: protein and resistance training.

When I bring up the long-term question, and why not sooner

This is where I part company with a lot of advice.

I do not open with “this is a lifelong medication.” Early on, we do not yet know whether the drug will even work for this person, and plenty of patients arrive with reservations already sitting in the back of their minds. Leading with a life sentence can talk somebody out of a treatment that might have changed their health, before anyone knows if it helps.

So I raise it as we approach maintenance, when there is something real to discuss: this is working, here is what holding onto it looks like.

When I support stopping

Not every stop is a mistake. I will back the decision in a patient who becomes pregnant, who cannot tolerate the side effects, who genuinely cannot afford it after we have worked the options, or who is not able to use it safely. That last one covers skipping the lab work, taking it in ways it was not prescribed, or developing disordered eating patterns such as bingeing and purging or restricting toward anorexia. It also covers losing more weight than is healthy and not sticking to the maintenance plan.

In those situations stopping is the correct medical decision, not a failure of resolve.

Restarting

People restart. It is common, and I treat it as a normal part of the course rather than a setback.

If somebody has been off for more than about a month, we go back to introductory dosing and step up again. Restarting at the dose you left off at is how people end up with a week of nausea they did not need to have.

For clinicians

Three things worth carrying into your own visits.

Ask the why before you negotiate the how, because cost, goal attainment and long-term safety worry need different responses.

Counsel on the cardiometabolic rebound, not only the weight. Your patient with hypertension will give back most of their blood pressure improvement inside three months, which is a faster and more clinically meaningful change than the scale (1).

And treat the discontinuation statistics as a system signal rather than a patient-adherence story. A 3.9 percent one-year discontinuation rate in a supported program, against 46 to 65 percent in the broader population, tells you where the problem actually lives (4,6).

The Bottom Line

Stopping a GLP-1 means most of the weight comes back, typically around 60 percent of it within a year, with the blood pressure and blood sugar improvements unwinding much faster than that.

That is physiology rather than failure. If you have reached a healthy weight, lowering the dose is usually a better move than stopping outright. If cost is the problem, there is more room to work than most people realize, between cash-pay pricing, prior authorization based on the conditions you already have, switching agents, and the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge if you are on Medicare. And if you do stop, protect your muscle, and come back without embarrassment if the weight starts climbing. Restarting is common and it works.

Related Reading

Do Ozempic and Zepbound Cause Muscle Loss?
Wegovy and Zepbound Cash Pay Prices Without Insurance (2026 Update)
Why Weight Loss Plateaus Happen and How to Break One
Does Mounjaro Lower Your Risk of Heart Attack and Stroke?
Foundayo vs. the Wegovy Pill: Comparing the Two New Weight Loss Pills
More on Weight Loss & Metabolic Health

Scott Rennie, D.O.
Board Certified in Obesity Medicine and Family Medicine

This blog is for educational purposes only and does not constitute individual medical advice. Always consult your own physician before making changes to your health, medications, or treatment plan.

Sources

  1. Budini B, Luo S, et al. Trajectory of weight regain after cessation of GLP-1 receptor agonists: a systematic review and nonlinear meta-regression. eClinicalMedicine. 2026. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC13043475/
  2. Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Davies M, et al. Weight regain and cardiometabolic effects after withdrawal of semaglutide: The STEP 1 trial extension. Diabetes Obes Metab. 2022;24(8):1553-1564. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9542252/
  3. Cardiometabolic Parameter Change by Weight Regain on Tirzepatide Withdrawal in Adults With Obesity: A Post Hoc Analysis of the SURMOUNT-4 Trial. JAMA Internal Medicine. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamainternalmedicine/fullarticle/2841273
  4. Discontinuation and Reinitiation of Dual-Labeled GLP-1 Receptor Agonists Among US Adults With Overweight or Obesity. JAMA Network Open. https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamanetworkopen/fullarticle/2829779
  5. Endocrine Society. More than half of those who stop GLP-1s restart within a year. ENDO 2026, presented June 14, 2026. https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2026/sontha-press-release-endo-2026
  6. Health System Pharmacies Keep Patients on GLP-1 Therapy. American Journal of Managed Care. https://www.ajmc.com/view/health-system-pharmacies-keep-patients-on-glp-1-therapy
  7. Scripps. Patients Maintained Weight Loss After Reducing GLP-1 Treatment Frequency. https://www.scripps.org/news_items/8102-scripps-patients-maintained-weight-loss-after-reducing-glp-1-treatment-frequency
  8. Medicare GLP-1 Bridge: Information for Providers. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. https://www.cms.gov/medicare/coverage/prescription-drug-coverage/medicare-glp-1-bridge/information-providers
A leather wallet, house keys, reading glasses and a mug of coffee on a sunlit kitchen counter

Wegovy and Zepbound Cash Pay Prices Without Insurance (2026 Update)

On By Dr. Scott RennieIn Weight Loss & Metabolic HealthLeave a comment

Updated September 2026: Self-pay prices for Wegovy and Zepbound have both come down since this post first ran, a new oral option (Foundayo) now has its own cash price through Lilly, and a federal deal put a government storefront, TrumpRx.gov, and a temporary Medicare benefit into the middle of the picture.

Patients and colleagues ask me often about the cost of GLP-1 medications when insurance does not cover them. Wegovy, Zepbound, and now Foundayo are all FDA approved for chronic weight management, and I prescribe all three by video visit. The barrier that brings people to this post hasn’t changed: their plan excludes the drug category outright, no prior authorization appeal is going to fix that, and the retail cash price at a corner pharmacy is still well over a thousand dollars a month (10).

What Actually Changed

A year ago the only option was NovoCare’s flat $499 rate for Wegovy and Lilly’s roughly $500 rate for Zepbound. In 2025 I had a patient who had already tried to fill Wegovy at a local pharmacy. The pharmacist quoted her a cash price over $1,300. She couldn’t afford that. Under NovoCare’s program as it existed then, she could have her prescription sent to NovoCare Pharmacy for $499 a month instead. That flat rate is gone now. Both companies have rebuilt their self-pay pricing since then, and a November 2025 deal between the White House and both manufacturers pushed cash prices down further and set the stage for a new Medicare benefit (8). What you get in September 2026 is a tiered price ladder instead of one flat number, and most doses cost less than they did a year ago.

Wegovy: Injection and Pill, Two Different Price Ladders

NovoCare Pharmacy remains Novo Nordisk’s direct-to-consumer channel for patients paying cash. If your plan covers Wegovy, a separate commercial savings card is the better deal and can bring a copay down near zero; that’s a different program from what’s below. As of this September, the injectable pen runs $349 a month for the standard dose range and $399 a month for the newer HD 7.2 mg strength, with a $199 introductory rate for a patient’s first two monthly fills that Novo has said will hold through the end of 2026 (1). The oral tablet, approved in December 2025 and launched in January 2026 as the first pill-form GLP-1 for obesity, is priced in three tiers: $149 for the starter dose, $199 for the next step up, and $299 once a patient reaches a maintenance strength (1). Both require the prescription to be filled through NovoCare specifically. A local pharmacy handed the same script will still quote the full list price, somewhere north of $1,300 (10).

Zepbound: LillyDirect’s Vial and Pen Pricing

Lilly runs a comparable program under LillyDirect, and the vial and the single-patient-use KwikPen are priced identically by dose: $299 for the 2.5 mg starting dose, $399 at 5 mg, and $449 across the 7.5 to 15 mg range (4). That top tier has a catch: the $449 rate only holds if the patient refills within 45 days of the last delivery. Miss the window and the price reverts to $499 for 7.5 mg or $699 for the higher strengths (4, 5). It is an easy detail to overlook when a patient is titrating slowly or pauses therapy for a few weeks.

Foundayo: The Oral Option From Lilly

Foundayo (orforglipron) is Lilly’s oral small-molecule GLP-1, approved this spring and priced through the same LillyDirect infrastructure: $149 at the 0.8 mg starting dose, $199 at 2.5 mg, and $299 across the maintenance range from 5.5 mg up through 17.2 mg (6). Lilly’s own pricing page wasn’t accessible when this update was written, so these numbers come from a pharmaceutical trade publication that reported them the week Foundayo launched. Check the live page before quoting a patient a number.

Medicare, Medicaid, and the Federal Programs

Government coverage intersects this topic in two separate ways, and they are easy to conflate.

The first is eligibility for the manufacturer self-pay programs themselves, and the two companies handle it differently. NovoCare’s own program terms allow a patient enrolled in Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, or another government plan to use the Wegovy or Wegovy-pill self-pay price, as long as they pay the full cash price, do not bill their government coverage for it, and do not count it toward a deductible or Part D out-of-pocket total (2). LillyDirect’s Zepbound Self Pay Journey Program works the other way: its terms require that a patient not be enrolled in any state or federal government healthcare program at all, including Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, and VA, to use the self-pay price (4). I could not find published eligibility terms for Foundayo’s self-pay program, so I’m not assuming it follows Zepbound’s rule.

The second is an actual Medicare drug benefit, the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge, a temporary demonstration built from the same November 2025 deal. It started July 1, 2026 and runs through December 31, 2027. It covers Foundayo, all formulations of Wegovy, and the Zepbound KwikPen, though not the Zepbound vial, for a $50 monthly copay under Medicare Part D. A beneficiary has to meet BMI and health-condition criteria, such as type 2 diabetes or cardiovascular disease, and the prescriber has to get it prior-authorized (11). This runs through a regular pharmacy claim, not a manufacturer cash-pay program, and has been active a little over two months.

TrumpRx.gov, the federal storefront that launched in February, lists the Wegovy pill at $149 a month and the Wegovy pen at $199, alongside Ozempic at $199 (7). The pen price matches NovoCare’s own first-two-fills introductory rate rather than the ongoing $349 rate, and the site appears to route orders through the same manufacturer pharmacies rather than operating as an independent seller.

Current Self-Pay Prices at a Glance

ProductDose / TierSelf-Pay PriceNotes
Wegovy pen (NovoCare)0.25 to 2.4 mg$349/mo$199/mo for first two fills through Dec 31, 2026
Wegovy pen HD (NovoCare)7.2 mg$399/mo
Wegovy pill (NovoCare)Starter dose$149/mo
Wegovy pill (NovoCare)Step-up dose$199/mo
Wegovy pill (NovoCare)Maintenance dose$299/mo
Zepbound vial or KwikPen (LillyDirect)2.5 mg$299/mo
Zepbound vial or KwikPen (LillyDirect)5 mg$399/mo
Zepbound vial or KwikPen (LillyDirect)7.5 to 15 mg$449/moRequires refill within 45 days, otherwise $499 to $699/mo
Foundayo (LillyDirect)0.8 mg starter$149/moNot independently confirmed on Lilly’s site; see notes
Foundayo (LillyDirect)2.5 mg$199/moSame caveat
Foundayo (LillyDirect)5.5 to 17.2 mg maintenance$299/moSame caveat
Medicare GLP-1 Bridge (Part D)Foundayo, Wegovy, Zepbound KwikPen only$50/mo copayStarted July 1, 2026; requires prior authorization and BMI/condition criteria
TrumpRx.govWegovy pill$149/moMirrors NovoCare price
TrumpRx.govWegovy pen$199/moIntroductory rate only
Retail list price, no programWegovy~$1,349 to $1,650/moGoodRx average
Retail list price, no programZepbound~$1,060 to $1,271/moGoodRx average

The Compounding Chapter Is Closed

Patients still ask about compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide. The versions that filled the gap during the 2023 to 2024 shortage are no longer a legitimate mass option. FDA declared the tirzepatide shortage resolved in December 2024 and the semaglutide shortage resolved in February 2025, and the grace periods for 503A and 503B compounders to wind down ended by mid-2025 (9). This April, FDA moved to formally strike both drugs from the bulk compounding list, closing the loophole some pharmacies had used to keep producing modified formulations. A narrow carve-out remains for pharmacies filling four or fewer prescriptions of a drug per month, but that isn’t the shortage-era product (9). If a telehealth company is still advertising a cheap compounded semaglutide or tirzepatide product, ask hard questions before filling it.

For Patients

Eligibility for the self-pay price is not the same across both companies, and it is worth reading the actual terms rather than assuming. NovoCare allows patients with Medicare, Medicaid, TRICARE, or VA coverage to use the Wegovy self-pay price if they pay cash and don’t bill their government plan for it. LillyDirect’s Zepbound self-pay program excludes anyone enrolled in a government health plan regardless of how they intend to pay. If you have Medicare Part D and meet the clinical criteria, ask your prescriber about the GLP-1 Bridge instead; it covers Foundayo, Wegovy, and the Zepbound KwikPen for a $50 copay. Whichever route applies to you, the prescription has to be routed to the correct pharmacy to get that price. Handing the same script to your neighborhood pharmacist and expecting the discounted rate will not work.

For Clinicians

Both LillyDirect and NovoCare are really good in my experience. The paperwork is less than most insurance companies require, and both platforms are quick to get medications out to patients. I like them equally. Two details are worth flagging with patients: the refill-window trap on Zepbound’s top-tier pricing, and the fact that TrumpRx’s price for the Wegovy pen is a promotional rate rather than the standing one. Setting expectations for month three matters as much as month one. Eligibility terms differ by manufacturer too, so confirm which program a given patient’s coverage actually qualifies for before writing the prescription.

The Bottom Line

Wegovy and Zepbound both cost less than they did a year ago, and two oral options now sit at the bottom of the price range. A $199 to $349 monthly price for Wegovy, or $299 to $449 for Zepbound, is a different number than $1,300 a month, even though it is still a real expense for most households. Whether a government-insured patient can use self-pay pricing depends on the manufacturer: NovoCare permits it, LillyDirect does not, and qualifying Medicare Part D enrollees have a separate $50 option through the GLP-1 Bridge. None of it works if the prescription goes to the wrong pharmacy. Confirm the current terms before committing to a plan; this class of drug has changed its pricing and its rules more than once a year for three years running.

Related Reading

Compounded Semaglutide and Tirzepatide: What to Know Now Foundayo vs. the Wegovy Pill: Comparing the Two New Weight Loss Pills Wegovy 7.2 mg: Who Should Consider the Higher Dose? Weight Loss Medications for Kids and Adults Explained Doctor Supervised Weight Loss: What Works Long Term

Scott Rennie, D.O.
Board Certified in Obesity Medicine and Family Medicine

This blog is for educational purposes only and does not constitute individual medical advice. Always consult your own physician before making changes to your health, medications, or treatment plan.

Sources

  1. Novo Nordisk, NovoCare Pharmacy self-pay pricing for Wegovy, novocare.com/patient/medicines/wegovy.html, accessed September 11, 2026.
  2. Novo Nordisk, NovoCare Pharmacy Terms and Conditions of Use (self-pay eligibility for government-insured patients), novocare.com/eligibility/pharmacy.html, accessed September 11, 2026.
  3. Novo Nordisk, “Novo Nordisk introduces NovoCare Pharmacy, lowering cost of all doses of FDA-approved Wegovy (semaglutide) to $499 per month,” prnewswire.com, August 5, 2025 (program launch, price since superseded, cited for history only).
  4. Eli Lilly, Zepbound coverage, savings, and self-pay eligibility, zepbound.lilly.com/hcp/coverage-savings, accessed September 11, 2026.
  5. Eli Lilly, “Lilly lowers the price of Zepbound (tirzepatide) single-dose vials,” investor.lilly.com, accessed via search September 11, 2026 (direct page fetch timed out; figures cross-checked against source 4).
  6. PharmExec, “FDA Approves Foundayo Under National Priority Voucher Program,” pharmexec.com/view/fda-approves-foundayo-under-national-priority-voucher-program, April 1, 2026.
  7. TrumpRx.gov, GLP-1 medication pricing listing, trumprx.gov, accessed September 11, 2026.
  8. NBC News, “Trump administration weight loss drugs deal,” nbcnews.com/health/health-news/trump-weight-loss-drugs-wegovy-zepbound-lower-price-deal-rcna241929, November 4, 2025.
  9. U.S. Food and Drug Administration, “FDA clarifies policies for compounders as national GLP-1 supply begins to stabilize,” fda.gov, updated April 1, 2026.
  10. GoodRx, Wegovy and Zepbound price pages, goodrx.com/wegovy and goodrx.com/zepbound, accessed September 11, 2026.
  11. KFF, “What to Know About the BALANCE Model for GLP-1s in Medicare and Medicaid and the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge,” kff.org, updated May 11, 2026.
A laptop open on a desk showing a person on a video call

What Is an Obesity Medicine Board Certified Doctor?

On By Dr. Scott RennieIn Weight Loss & Metabolic HealthLeave a comment

More family physicians, myself included, are choosing to become certified through the American Board of Obesity Medicine. The credential looks small on paper. What sits behind it is a real change in how we handle obesity and the conditions that travel with it.

ABOM certification is open to physicians who can show advanced knowledge in preventing, evaluating, and treating obesity. There are two routes. One is 60 hours of continuing medical education credits in obesity-related topics, half of which must specifically address obesity treatment. The other is an accredited obesity medicine fellowship. Either way, candidates then sit for a 4-hour exam covering the physiology and pathophysiology of obesity, nutrition and behavioral treatment, medications, surgery, and bias in care.

Why go through all that? We are the ones patients come to first. About 40% of U.S. adults have obesity, and it is tied to diabetes, heart disease, infertility, arthritis, and worse outcomes with infections. Yet most of us had very little structured training on obesity in medical school or residency. I certainly didn’t. ABOM fills that gap with something more useful than repeating “eat less, move more.”

Patients are also asking harder questions than they used to. GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide changed the conversation. People have worked out that weight regulation is physiology, not character. They want to know whether medication makes sense for them, what the risks are, and what else they should be doing. Certification puts you in a better position to answer that honestly and to build a plan that lasts longer than a few months.

For me, the certification built confidence. I know how to adjust anti-obesity medications, screen for related conditions like PCOS or fatty liver, and talk about weight without stigma. Patients notice. They feel taken seriously when obesity gets treated as the chronic medical condition it is.

One case stays with me. A patient in her fifties came to me with obesity and prediabetes, worn down after years of failed diets. Using what I’d learned, I recognized she was a candidate for pharmacotherapy. We started semaglutide, and we built a plan around meal structure, activity, and sleep. Within months her A1c had come back into the normal range and her energy had returned.

Colleagues are seeing benefits too. A physician I know in rural Missouri became ABOM-certified and quickly became a regional referral point. Practices in nearby towns began sending her patients rather than having them drive hours to an urban obesity clinic. In an underserved area, that is the difference between getting treated and not.

For doctors considering it, the field is growing quickly. More than 11,500 physicians in the United States and Canada now hold the certification, up from roughly 9,800 a year earlier. Insurers are beginning to recognize obesity medicine, which means more treatments get covered when a certified physician is guiding them. You also end up connected to a national group of people working on one of the largest drivers of chronic disease we have.

So the certification is a line on a CV. It is also the reason I practice differently than I did before I sat the exam, and that is the part that reaches patients.

Related Reading

Doctor Supervised Weight Loss: What Works Long Term Intensive Lifestyle Programs for Weight Loss: How They Work How Weight Stigma Hurts Health and Makes Obesity Worse Weight Loss Medications for Kids and Adults Explained Is Obesity a Brain Problem? How the Body Controls Weight

Scott Rennie, D.O.

Sources:

American Board of Obesity Medicine: https://www.abom.org

Johnson-Rabbett B, et al. An Update on the American Board of Obesity Medicine (ABOM): 2017-2024. Obesity. 2025. doi:10.1002/oby.70013

CDC/NCHS. Obesity and Severe Obesity Prevalence in Adults: United States, August 2021-August 2023. NCHS Data Brief No. 508: https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/products/databriefs/db508.htm

Flegal KM, Kruszon-Moran D, Carroll MD, Fryar CD, Ogden CL. Trends in Obesity Among Adults in the United States, 2005 to 2014. JAMA. 2016;315(21):2284-2291.

Board Certified in Obesity Medicine and Family Medicine

This blog is for educational purposes only and does not constitute individual medical advice. Always consult your own physician before making changes to your health, medications, or treatment plan.