Semaglutide is an injectable medication used to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes. More recently, it has also been approved for chronic weight management in adults who are overweight or obese.
At The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic in Latham, we provide semaglutide shots as part of our comprehensive hormone therapy and weight loss programs. Keep reading to learn more about how semaglutide works, its many benefits, and why The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic is the premier semaglutide med spa serving the Latham area.
Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. Here's a quick overview of how it works:
A major benefit of semaglutide is appetite suppression. It activates areas of the brain involved in appetite regulation, leading to reduced hunger and calorie intake. Most patients notice a significant decrease in appetite.
By slowing stomach emptying, semaglutide promotes fullness and delays the next meal. This effect also helps stabilize blood sugar levels.
Semaglutide tells the pancreas to secrete more insulin when blood sugar levels rise after a meal. This improves the body's ability to control blood sugar.
The combination of these effects makes semaglutide very useful both for managing type 2 diabetes and promoting weight loss.
There are many excellent reasons to consider semaglutide injections or treatment at a semaglutide med spa. Key benefits include:
In clinical trials, patients taking semaglutide for weight management lost 15-18% of their body weight on average. This amount of weight loss can significantly improve health markers like blood pressure, cholesterol levels, and blood sugar control.
By stimulating insulin production and slowing digestion, semaglutide keeps blood sugar levels steadier. This leads to improved HbA1c numbers for many people with diabetes. Less severe blood sugar swings also mean more consistent energy levels.
Studies show semaglutide can reduce cardiovascular risk factors and lower the chance of heart attack, stroke, or cardiovascular death. This is a major advantage for patients with obesity, diabetes or known cardiovascular disease.
Losing a substantial amount of weight with semaglutide treatment often helps patients feel better physically, improves mobility, reduces joint pain, and boosts self-confidence. Being less preoccupied with food intake can also contribute to a better quality of life.
Semaglutide works very well with many other treatments for hormone imbalance, metabolic disorders, and obesity-related health conditions. At The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic we often incorporate it into custom multi-modal treatment plans to enhance results.
Here at The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic in Latham, we are a leading provider of semaglutide for medically supervised weight loss. With our board-certified practitioners and state-of-the-art facility, you can feel confident you are receiving the very best in semaglutide therapy.
We do not take a one-size-fits-all approach with semaglutide. Our providers thoroughly evaluate each patient and design fully customized treatment plans that incorporate semaglutide injections along with other therapies like hormone optimization, medications, supplements, diet and nutrition coaching, and more. This comprehensive approach maximizes your chance of success.
Losing weight, balancing hormones, and making major lifestyle changes is difficult. Our caring team provides exceptional support every step of the way including check-ins between visits, access to our experts in between appointments, group meetings, and online tools to track progress. We’re invested in your long-term success!
Our Latham clinic features a beautiful, spa-like environment for your comfort and privacy. We utilize advanced diagnostics and cutting-edge treatments like semaglutide so you can achieve results safely and efficiently. Many patients appreciate our relaxing atmosphere and professional staff.
Getting started with semaglutide therapy is quick and convenient at The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic. We handle all aspects of the process in-house including medical clearance requirements, insurance verification, financial assistance options, injection training, and pharmacies services so you walk out the door with everything you need to begin treatment immediately.
Semaglutide is approved for once-weekly injection to improve blood sugar control in adults with type 2 diabetes. Interestingly, it has also shown promise in helping overweight or obese adults without diabetes lose significant weight when combined with diet and exercise over 68 weeks in a recent study.
Before exploring more details around semaglutide specifically, I want to emphasize the foundational importance of balanced hormones for optimal health, weight management, and wellbeing.
Hormones are powerful chemical messengers that coordinate complex processes throughout the body like metabolism, growth, reproduction, stress response, inflammation and more. They are secreted by various glands and organs including the thyroid, adrenals, pancreas, ovaries/testes to regulate biological activity at the cellular level.
When one or more hormones fall out of optimal ranges, wide-ranging symptoms and health consequences can result. Unfortunately hormone imbalances are quite prevalent today due to factors like chronic stress, environmental toxins, poor diets, inactivity, disrupted sleep, etc.
Some common signs of hormonal imbalance include:
Over months and years, these symptoms greatly diminish people’s quality of life. More seriously, unresolved hormone deficiencies can significantly raise risks for major health problems like heart attack, stroke, cancer, autoimmunity, neurodegeneration and premature death.
The takeaway? Balancing your hormones through proper testing, lifestyle adjustments and medical treatment as needed lays the foundation for lasting weight loss and greatly improves health outcomes.
While semaglutide is an outstanding intervention for weight management and blood sugar control specifically, it works best when combined with an overall treatment approach that first restores hormonal homeostasis then enhances bodily functions with targeted therapies.
The practitioners at The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic specialize in holistic, integrative care with natural, bioidentical hormone therapy at the core. We identify and correct the root causes of imbalance through high quality testing, proven treatment methods utilizing pharmaceutical and nutritional interventions, and teaching healthier long term habits around nutrition, movement, stress reduction, restorative sleep and environmental exposures.
This inside-out approach focusing on your unique biochemistry and genetics promotes true, sustainable rejuvenation rather than symptomatic relief alone. It’s the most direct path to realizing your ideal body composition, energy levels, physical and mental performance for the long run.
And that my friend is the The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic difference! We set people up to win by addressing root causes first, then introduce powerful tools like semaglutide to accelerate progress towards goals. It’s an approach that simply works when executed properly.
Now, let’s get into more of what you can expect with semaglutide therapy specifically when you partner with The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic for customized medical weight loss...
If you decide to move forward with semaglutide after your initial consultation, here is an overview of what you can expect along the way:
To maximize safety and monitor your progress carefully over time, we will order lab tests at the start of your treatment. These likely will include:
Other hormone tests like thyroid, sex hormones and IGF-1 may be advised based on your signs/symptoms, risk factors or medical history.
These upfront lab tests establish a baseline to compare back to on follow up testing. You’ll quickly start to see objective improvements across your biomarkers signaling regained health!
Most patients begin with a 0.25 or 0.5 mg dose injected under the skin once weekly. The dosage often gets increased to a maintenance dose of between 1-2 mg over several months.
Some providers may recommend taking the shot 2x or 3x per week, while others feel once weekly is sufficient to get results. We determine frequency on an individual basis factoring in your health history and sensitivities.
Ideally, you’ll take your semaglutide shots on the same day each week. While mild side effects like nausea, vomiting or diarrhea are possible at first, these usually resolve within a few weeks as the body adjusts.
You will need to return to our Latham clinics approximately every 4 weeks for refills, quick medical check-ins, and to review progress towards goals. We may repeat some lab testing every 3-6 months to ensure your body is tolerating and responding well to the drug.
Between office visits you have phone/email access to your care team and online portal to track stats like weekly weight, abdominal circumference, before & after photos and medication side effects.
Through continual assessment and patient feedback, your practitioner can make dosage or protocol adjustments so you keep moving confidently towards your health objectives without plateaus.
Most patients stay on semaglutide for 6-12 months as long as the medication remains safe and effective. However treatment may range anywhere from 3 months to 2 years on average for weight loss patients specifically.
The key is finding the sweet spot where you’ve regained metabolic flexibility enabling weight maintenance primarily through improved lifestyle habits instead of reliance on medication long term.
While the appetite suppressing and weight loss impacts of semaglutide are clear based on robust research, this injectable therapy alone is unlikely to resolve every hormonal/metabolic abnormality causing excess weight gain.
As experts in obesity medicine and endocrinology, our team will work closely with you to identify risk factors both within and beyond your control contributing to imbalance.
We’ll provide personalized guidance and accountability around other key areas for habit change like:
Diet: Learning how to “biohack” your biology with strategic nutrition to balance blood sugar, insulin, gut health and food reactions takes trial and error. We offer testing and tailored meal planning guidance to discover your unique carb tolerance, eliminate trigger foods, time nutrients properly andeating in rhythym with circdian clocks.
Movement: Finding realistic, enjoyable ways to lift heavy things and walk more daily helps stimulate fat burning pathways beyond diet alone. We match patients to personalized movement routines factoring in yourorthopedic health, schedule restraints and access to gyms/studios.
Sleep: Quality & consistency of restorative sleep greatly influences hormone balance and weight regulation long term. We educate on proper sleep hygiene fundamentals and utilize testing like sleep studieswhen warranted to uncover special issues like sleep apnea.
Stress: Unmanaged emotional stress prolongs release of cortisol stealing from resting/healing hormones. We teach clinically provenstress reduction techniques like gratitude journaling, box breathing, cold exposure, sauna therapy and medication options.
The list goes on covering other areas like environmental detox, gut/microbiome repair, proper supplementation, light exposure, etc. The takeaway is successfully optimizing your weight requiresa root cause approach assessing the whole human system then introducing multiple synergistic interventions like semaglutide tailored to that individual’s needs and circumstances.
This is exactly why The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic stands out as the most capable, complete clinic for helping patients achieve targeted fat loss, balanced energy and vibrant health over the long term!
There are a few avenues to access semaglutide:
We partner with compounding pharmacies meeting the highest verification standards for sourcing pure semaglutide then work closely with patients on injection training until comfortable self-administering. This balances safety, effectiveness and convenience well.
Expect to invest around $1000-1500 monthly for legit semaglutide therapy including:
Some portions may be reimbursable through insurance such as testing and doctor visits. Self pay options for semaglutide range from $250-350 monthly.
Compared to costly surgeries like gastric bypass or grievous complications of long term obesity, this is a wise investment yielding rapid ROI in the form of medical cost avoidance, reduced sick time off work, and improved daily quality of living.
For locals living in the Latham area interested specifically in reclaiming hormonal balance and losing weight with semaglutide, keep these tips and regional insights in mind:
Fall through early Spring tend to be more comfortable seasons weather-wise for establishing new fitness habits like walking portions of Albany’s Helderberg Hudson Rail Trail during therapy. The warmer months still work fine too for those who don’t mind heat/humidity.
Several quality labs and diagnostics centers exist in/around Latham for initial and follow up testing including Quest Diagnostics, LabCorp, Saratoga Hospital System and Albany Memorial Hospital. We refer to the best fit option based on your insurance coverage and convenience.
The natural beauty upstate New York’s capital region really lends itself to restorative activities like hiking, boating and recreational sports that complement medically supervised weight loss programs well.
Some favorite nature spots in Latham or neighboring towns like Colonie offer walking paths and greenery including the Albany Pine Bush Preserve, Mohawk River/Erie Canal trails and Siena College’s wooded campus.
For more pampering pursuits check out The Desmond Hotel with an onsite spa/salon and pool facilities. Their Mallozzi’s banquet hall also hosts special community events like art/craft fairs and ballroom dancing open to the public.
Having access to a clean, spacious gym helps establish regular exercise habits critical for long term weight maintenance after finishing semaglutide therapy.
Vent Fitness is one of the Capital Region’s premier gyms with state-of-the-art equipment/amenities and a welcoming vibe located right in nearby Latham.
Planet Fitness offers a bare bones but affordable option for those on tighter budgets.
Wherever you decide to workout, pairing consistent activity with treatments like semaglutide leads to great outcomes!
I hope this overview gives you a much better feel for how semaglutide works and the exceptional support The Balance - Hormone Medical Clinic provides right here in Latham to help patients lose substantial weight safely.
Remember: a science backed, root cause approach personalized to your unique needs matters more than any one medication alone. Contact us when you’re ready to finally tackle excess weight at the core!
