Weight loss with a provider who actually sees you

Our nurse practitioner reviews your lab work and all of your medical history first, and then you have a comprehensive visit that typically takes about 45 minutes. During that conversation, she assesses you for the appropriate program, which may or may not involve a GLP-1 class medication. The point of the workup is that the program should be chosen from your clinical picture rather than assumed. Pricing and exact recommended treatments are determined during an individual consultation with one of our providers.

This is the misconception we most want patients to unlearn. It is not accurate that everyone on a GLP-1 loses muscle. Muscle loss is avoidable when the medication is dosed correctly, when you eat correctly, and when you exercise. Nutrition is critically important during a weight loss cycle, which is why we talk about it at every monthly visit rather than treating it as an afterthought. For patients who cannot or would rather not use a gym, Emsculpt Neo gives them a way to gain muscle and to protect against muscle loss while on a GLP-1.

Emsculpt Neo works in two ways. It helps reduce fat in the specific areas we treat, and more importantly it helps build muscle. That second part is what makes it valuable alongside a weight loss program rather than instead of one. Many of our patients either do not want to go to a gym, or have physical limitations that make a gym environment unrealistic for them. Emsculpt Neo gives those patients a route to gaining muscle and to protecting against muscle loss while they are on a GLP-1. Your provider will tell you whether it belongs in your plan and when to start it.

We adjust your dose. Because we see you monthly, we can titrate quickly rather than waiting for a scheduled review months out. We also widen the conversation, because the dose is not always the problem: we discuss whether there are other things holding you back, such as emotional eating or hormone dysregulation. Those conversations happen internally with your care team, and we make a referral when that is what will actually help you. If hormones look like the blocker, our hormone therapy and menopause programs may be the more useful next step.

It depends which program you are on, and the difference is real. Some of our programs ask you to calorie restrict and adhere to a specific eating plan, and that takes genuine discipline. On a GLP-1 or GLP-R medication, less effort is required in that respect, because food noise is quieted by the medication. That does not mean no effort: nutrition and exercise still decide whether you keep your muscle and whether the result holds. Your provider will be clear about what your specific program asks of you before you commit to it.

Success varies wildly depending on the patient, and we would rather say that than publish a number you can hold us to. What we can tell you is that the weight loss programs we offer, including GLP-1 medications, are safe when dosed correctly and when the patient is followed medically. And weight loss is sustainable with lifestyle changes, which the medication supports rather than replaces. Your monthly visits are where we measure real progress against your own starting point instead of against an average.

Pura Vida offers medically supervised weight loss from our Fleming Island locations, and we see patients from across Clay County, Orange Park, Middleburg, Green Cove Springs, and Jacksonville. Being local is the point rather than a detail: monthly in-person visits are what make fast dose titration and real accountability possible, and neither works over a video call. We have been voted the area’s best medspa six years running.