How to get weight loss injections

How to find weight loss injection clinics

The first stop for anyone seeking weight loss injections is a visit with a medical professional. This could be anything from a primary care doctor or general practitioner to a specialized medical weight loss clinic. Generally, if you like your primary care doctor, that’s a good place to start. They’ll know you, your body and your medical history the best.

For local clinics, start with recommendations from your friends or family. Ask if they’ve used any similar services and whether they had a positive experience. If you don’t know anyone who’s used a local clinic or doctor, check online reviews. When looking for weight loss injections, it’s probably not the time to be the first to try a new establishment.

Other questions worth considering and asking include:

• What are the certifications and qualifications of providers and staff at the clinic?
• Do they just prescribe medications or also offer supplemental health and nutrition coaching?
• What is the general environment of the clinic? (A place that rushes you in and out and treats you poorly is not going to do much to help you stick to your long-term weight loss and health goals.)

How to get weight loss injections online

Given the popularity of both telehealth medicine and weight loss injections, it’s no surprise that online clinics have popped up to prescribe these medications (and provide coaching and support). Online clinics are a convenient (and often more affordable) way to get weight loss injections without leaving the house. Here’s how to get weight loss injections online:

• Research trusted providers: Start by researching online pharmacies or telehealth services that offer Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved weight loss injections (e.g., Saxenda, Wegovy). Ensure the provider is licensed and has a solid reputation by checking reviews and certifications.
• Consult a health care professional: Schedule a virtual consultation with a health care provider. Many online services require consultations to assess your eligibility for weight loss injections. In this consultation, you’ll discuss your medical history, weight loss goals and any current medications to ensure the treatment is appropriate.
• Get a prescription: Once approved by the health care professional, you’ll receive a prescription for the weight loss injection. Be cautious of any websites offering injections without a valid prescription, as this can be unsafe and illegal.
• Place your order: After receiving the prescription, select the injection and dosage recommended by your doctor. Ensure the online platform provides secure payment options and discreet shipping.
• Check for discounts or insurance coverage: Look for any available discounts or coupons, as weight loss injections can be costly. Check if your insurance covers part of the cost or if you can use a Health Savings Account (HSA) or a Flexible Spending Account (FSA) for payment.

Telehealth options for weight loss medications may offer compounded medications. A compounded medication is one that’s mixed by a licensed pharmacist or physician for a specific person or purpose.

Basically, you are prescribed the medication from the clinic, and they mix it into your order using the appropriate ingredients. The upside of this is that it’s often significantly cheaper than buying brand-name medications. The downside is that while ingredients are FDA-approved, the compounded medications themselves are not.

Also, FDA-approved drugs such as Ozempic are synthesized and formulated under strict regimens and protocols to ensure safety, consistency and reproducibility. A compounded version is handcrafted and does not guarantee these things. “Compounded drugs pose a higher risk to patients than FDA-approved drugs because they do not undergo FDA premarket review for safety, effectiveness, or quality,” according to the FDA.

Additionally, the FDA notes that in the process of producing compounded medications, the quality of bulk drug substances — also known as active pharmaceutical ingredients and excipients — may impact the quality of the resulting drugs.

Types of weight loss injections

GLP-1 agonists are highly effective and mimic the hormone GLP-1, which gives them the ability to reduce hunger and make their users feel fuller for longer.

The most popular and effective GLP-1 injections are:

• Semaglutide: Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic. It’s given as a once-weekly injection and has been shown to be highly effective for weight loss.
• Tirzepatide: Tirzepatide is the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound. It’s also given as a once-weekly injection. One study found that tirzepatide is more effective than semaglutide.
• Liraglutide: Liraglutide is the active ingredient in Victoza and Saxenda. This is an older medication that’s taken as a daily injection and is generally not as effective as semaglutide or tirzepatide.

Of these medications, Wegovy, Zepbound and Saxenda are the brands approved for weight loss by the FDA. None of these currently have a generic that’s FDA-approved for weight loss (and semaglutide and tirzepatide aren’t available as a generic at all).

All three medications work in a similar way, so they have similar side effect profiles (more on those later). As for cost, they’re all expensive medications, coming in at over $1,000 per month without insurance, with some exceptions.

Cost of weight loss injections

Weight loss injections are expensive — there’s really no other way to say it. Without insurance, you’ll pay over $1,000 per month for most of these medications:

• Wegovy is about $1,300 per month without insurance.
• Zepbound is a little over $1,000 per month without insurance from most sources, but you can now get a 2.5 milligram (mg) dose or a 5 mg dose for $399 and $549 per month direct from Eli Lilly and Company through its LillyDirect online pharmacy.
• Saxenda is roughly $1,300 per month without insurance, similar to Wegovy.

Speaking of insurance, it can be difficult to get these drugs covered. While some insurance companies do technically pay for them, they may have very strict approval processes that effectively limit who can get them covered. Many insurance companies simply won’t cover the drugs at all for weight loss, often because they consider being overweight more of a cosmetic issue than a health issue. Instead, they typically only cover the versions approved for treating type 2 diabetes.

At the moment, compounded versions of each of these are available from various providers at significantly lower prices, though you lose the FDA approval on these. Prices can range from around $200 per month to closer to $600 per month, depending on the drug, the clinic and other services included. For example, some clinics just provide the medication, while others provide individual personalized coaching and support to help boost your chances of long-term success.

However, compounding pharmacies can only produce certain medications if there is a specific personalized need in the individual patient (e.g., if a patient has difficulty tolerating an FDA-approved medicine due to the formulation) or if the FDA declares a drug shortage on the drug in question. The press officer for the FDA, said in an email to ConsumerAffairs recently that the FDA is working to determine if “the available supply of semaglutide would meet our definition of a resolved shortage.”

Finally, there are the ancillary costs associated with weight loss injections, such as initial consultations and follow-up appointments. In some cases, it may be recommended that you have regular lab work done to ensure there aren’t any negative side effects occurring. Your doctor will be able to tell what monitoring steps are necessary for you, if any.

Benefits of weight loss injections

The most obvious benefit of weight loss injections — especially the GLP-1 injections — is their much-improved effectiveness compared with older weight loss medications. These drugs have been shown in studies to be dramatically more effective than their predecessors:

• In a 68-week study of almost 2,000 adults, the effectiveness of semaglutide, when combined with lifestyle changes, was measured. Half the participants on semaglutide lost 15% of their body weight, and a third lost 20%. Participants who only made lifestyle changes lost an average of 2.4% of their body weight.
• In a 72-week study, patients who used tirzepatide lost an average of 20.9% of their body weight.
• In a 56-week study, 54.3% of participants taking 3 mg of liraglutide lost at least 5% of body weight and 25.2% lost at least 10% of body weight.

For some, there may also be a convenience factor. Semaglutide and tirzepatide only have to be injected once per week, which can be easier to remember and adhere to than a daily dose. Assuming you’re okay with using a needle, this convenience could be considered a benefit for some people compared with daily-dose medications.

Finally, some of the weight loss medications may have additional benefits beyond weight loss. For example, some studies have shown that semaglutide can reduce the incidence of cardiovascular events (like heart attack and stroke) in patients.

Safety and side effects of weight loss injections

Like any medication, weight loss injections carry some risk of side effects. The most common side effects with the GLP-1 drugs are stomach-related, which makes sense given how they impact digestion. Here’s a list of common side effects of weight loss injections:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Abdominal pain and bloating
• Indigestion
• Constipation
• Diarrhea
• Headache
• Weakness during exercise

Not everyone experiences all of these — you may not have any. They also tend to lessen over time as your body gets used to the medication.

There are also some less common (and potentially more serious) side effects that you should be aware of, including:

• Pancreatitis
• Gallbladder disease
• Kidney damage
• Thyroid tumors
• Gastroparesis (stomach paralysis)

These effects are rare, but it’s important to be aware of their potential so that you can make an informed decision. You should definitely let your doctor know if you have a history of pancreatitis or thyroid cancer.

As far as managing side effects, there are some things you can do to mitigate these — especially the stomach-related ones:

• Eat smaller, more frequent meals rather than larger, less frequent ones.
• Avoid fatty or oily foods — they can take longer to digest.
• Drink plenty of fluids to avoid constipation.
• Allow a couple of hours between eating and lying down to sleep.
• Eat a snack before intense exercise.

Bottom line

Weight loss injections are a tool that can help jump-start weight loss — particularly for those who’ve struggled with losing weight in the past. These drugs have been shown to be effective in clinical trials and may even have some additional health benefits beyond weight loss.

With that said, they’re not perfect. Weight loss injections are expensive, there can be side effects, and many users regain lost weight when they stop taking them. For these reasons, it’s important to work with a doctor to monitor side effects and also to work on developing healthy habits to support long-term weight loss. In this context, they definitely seem to have a place as a useful weight loss tool.