Medical Weight Loss & GLP-1 in Ellicott City, MD

$199 a month, and that's the only program fee. It includes your first in-person evaluation at our Ellicott City clinic (a physician evaluation, a metabolic panel with its lab fees, a full body composition scan, a weigh-in, and a plan), then your physician visits, prescription and refills, dose management, and your nutrition plan. There is no separate evaluation fee. Medication is paid separately from the program. It is month to month with no contract, paid out of pocket, and we don't bill insurance for the program or the medication.

It is medicine, not a membership. Your program begins with lab work, body composition analysis, and a physician's evaluation of the metabolic factors behind your weight. Then everything from nutrition to medication is prescribed and adjusted by a physician who specializes in medical weight loss.

Yes, when it is medically appropriate. Semaglutide and tirzepatide are the GLP-1 medications your physician chooses between, and your in-person evaluation at our Ellicott City clinic (lab work, a body composition scan and a full health history) decides whether medication belongs in your plan at all. GLP-1 therapy can be a powerful part of a supervised program, but it works best alongside nutrition, muscle preservation, and lifestyle support, and it is not the right choice for everyone. Program pricing is in the pricing section on this page.

Those are four brand names for two medicines. Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Ozempic, which is FDA-approved for type 2 diabetes, and in Wegovy, which is approved for chronic weight management. Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Mounjaro, approved for type 2 diabetes, and in Zepbound, approved for chronic weight management. So the real choice is between semaglutide and tirzepatide. Your physician makes it at your evaluation, based on your labs and health history, then adjusts the dose to how you respond.

In published clinical trials reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (the STEP program for semaglutide and the SURMOUNT program for tirzepatide), participants averaged roughly 15% and 20% body-weight reduction respectively over about a year or more of treatment. Your results depend on your dose, consistency, and the habits built alongside the medication. Expect gradual, steady loss over months, not a crash.

Online platforms sell a prescription, and a routine primary care visit can lead to one too, but neither typically includes what a dedicated program does. Your candidacy is screened with a full metabolic evaluation, body composition scan, and health history before any medication is considered, then your dose is titrated to your actual response with scheduled check-ins and monitored labs built in. You leave with a planned maintenance phase, not just a vial or a refill. We tell you what others will not, including when a GLP-1 isn't the right answer.

Nausea and constipation are the most common, especially in the early weeks as your dose increases. Careful titration keeps most cases mild and temporary. Serious risks, such as pancreatitis, are exactly what our screening and follow-up schedule exist to catch. You'll always have a physician team to call, not a chatbot.

It varies, and any clinic that promises a specific number is not being honest with you. Published research shows that losing even 5–10% of body weight can meaningfully improve blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol. We set realistic, individualized targets at your evaluation and track them together.

Most patients begin to see measurable change within the first several weeks, with steady progress building over months. Clinical guidance generally considers a gradual pace of about one to two pounds per week both safer and more sustainable than rapid loss. Regular visits keep the pace honest and the plan adjusted.

No. Our weight loss program is cash pay only, and we don't take insurance for your visits, your plan, your medication or your dose changes. That holds for the $199 monthly program, which includes your first evaluation and its lab fees, and for your medication, which is paid separately. Lab work outside your evaluation and program, if your physician orders any, is self-pay too.

Physician supervision is precisely what makes this approach safe: every recommendation follows a full health history, lab work, and screening. The program is not appropriate during pregnancy or breastfeeding, and certain medical conditions or medications may change what we recommend. That is exactly what your evaluation is designed to sort out.

You move into maintenance: a deliberately planned phase, not an afterthought. Dr. Ghumman adjusts your nutrition, your medication if you are on one, and your monitoring schedule so your metabolism and habits can hold the new weight. Regain is common without a maintenance plan, which is why we build yours from day one.

On average, tirzepatide produces more weight loss: in a head-to-head trial (SURMOUNT-5), people on tirzepatide lost an average of 20.2% of their body weight at 72 weeks, versus 13.7% on semaglutide. But better on average is not the same as better for you. They work differently: semaglutide activates only the GLP-1 receptor, while tirzepatide activates both the GLP-1 and GIP receptors, which is why it is called a dual agonist. In their respective pivotal trials, semaglutide averaged a 14.9% reduction in body weight at 68 weeks (the STEP 1 trial) and tirzepatide averaged a 20.9% reduction at 72 weeks at its highest studied dose (the SURMOUNT-1 trial), though individual results vary with dose and consistency. Both are available as an injection (semaglutide also comes as a daily pill), typically dosed weekly for this program, and both share similar gastrointestinal side effects, mainly nausea and constipation, especially while your dose is increasing. Your physician recommends one over the other based on your labs, health history, and how your body responds during titration, not a default preference.

No, not while it is unapproved. Retatrutide is a newer once-weekly medicine from Eli Lilly that activates three hormone receptors (GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon), and it produced large average weight loss in phase 3 trials, but as of October 2026 it is still investigational and not approved by the FDA. Lilly plans to ask the FDA for approval in early 2027. Until then it is available only to people in Lilly's clinical trials. Products sold online as retatrutide or as a research peptide are not approved medicine, and the FDA has warned the companies selling them. When medication fits your plan, your physician prescribes semaglutide or tirzepatide, and will talk through retatrutide with you if and when the FDA approves it.

Simple steps help most patients: eat smaller, lower-fat meals, stop before you feel full, and sip water throughout the day. If a dose is causing more than mild, temporary discomfort, your physician can hold you at that dose longer before increasing it, rather than pushing ahead on a fixed schedule, an adjustment a monitored program can make that a one-time prescription cannot. Call the office if you cannot keep fluids down, have persistent vomiting, or develop severe abdominal pain, since that combination needs same-day evaluation.

Often, yes, unless the rest of your plan is built to hold the result. In the STEP 4 trial, participants who continued semaglutide lost an additional 7.9% of body weight between weeks 20 and 68, while participants who were switched to a placebo regained an average of 6.9% over that same period. This is exactly why your plan includes a deliberate maintenance phase, addressing nutrition, activity, and monitoring, rather than an assumption that results hold on their own. Whether and how you eventually reduce or stop medication is a decision you make together with your physician, based on your own response.

Yes. We're about 12 minutes from Columbia Town Center via US-29, and we see medical weight loss patients from Columbia and across Howard County. Your first visit is a confidential, in-person evaluation at our Ellicott City clinic; request a consultation and our team will reach out to schedule it.

Your first visit is the metabolic evaluation: lab work, a body composition scan, and a full health history, about 60 minutes. After that, your physician sets your visit cadence around your own progress rather than a fixed script, typically with regular check-ins that track your weight, body composition, and labs where indicated, and adjust your nutrition plan and any medication accordingly.

No. Crash diets and rigid meal templates work against lasting weight loss, which is why your nutrition plan is built around your actual routine: your kitchen, your schedule, and your family, not a one-size-fits-all sheet. If medication is part of your plan, it supports those habits; it does not replace them.

A plateau is common, and it usually means your plan needs adjusting, not that the medication has failed. Your physician reviews your dose, your nutrition, your activity, and your body composition data together: a stall can come from a dose that needs titrating, muscle loss that has slowed your metabolism, or habits that have quietly drifted. Changes are made at your check-ins based on your own data, not a fixed schedule.