Weight Loss by Hims offers various medical weight loss options, from oral prescriptions and customizable pharmaceutical kits to injectable medications, at different price points. The program aims to provide a holistic approach to weight loss, including nutrition support, technological tools, and medication, alongside a reduced-calorie diet and exercise.
Understanding Weight Loss by Hims
Hims & Hers semaglutide injectables contain the same active ingredient as Wegovy and Ozempic, both of which are FDA-approved drugs commonly used for diabetes and weight loss. The injectable is designed to be used once a week as part of a broader weight-loss plan including dietary and lifestyle changes. Hims also offers access to compounded and branded GLP-1s, as well as oral medication kits that can include metformin, bupropion, topiramate, vitamin B12, and naltrexone. Taken as a once-daily pill, these medications work in different ways to support your weight loss goals. If eligible, your provider will help you find the right medication based on your custom weight loss profile.
What is Hims?
Hims is a US-based telehealth company offering online prescription medication, over-the-counter drugs, and personal care products. Hims is part of Hims & Hers Health, a publicly-traded company (NYSE: HIMS) founded in 2017. The company solves male health problems via Hims.com and solves female health problems via ForHers.com.
How Hims Works for Weight Loss
Here’s how you get started with Hims:
- Complete the Hims medical intake form, answering questions about health history, lifestyle, and goals 100% online.
- Wait for the provider to evaluate your form. A medical professional reviews your intake and determines what’s right for you.
- Receive a personalized plan. No in-person visit is required, and you don’t need insurance.
Hims can help with weight loss by providing the custom treatment plans, prescription medication, and over-the-counter products you need to achieve significant weight loss results.
Read also: Is Hims Weight Loss Worth It?
GLP-1s and Weight Loss
GLP-1 drugs are used in the treatment of type 2 diabetes, as well as overweight and obesity. The drugs trigger increased insulin production, which lowers an individual’s blood sugar to support metabolic health. Hims & Hers semaglutide injectables contain the same active ingredient as Wegovy and Ozempic, both of which are FDA-approved drugs commonly used for diabetes and weight loss. The injectable is designed to be used once a week as part of a broader weight-loss plan including dietary and lifestyle changes.
Types of GLP-1 Medications Offered by Hims
Hims offers access to compounded and branded GLP-1s, as well as oral medication kits that can include metformin, bupropion, topiramate, vitamin B12, and naltrexone. These medications work in different ways to support your weight loss goals. If eligible, your provider will help you find the right medication based on your custom weight loss profile.
Hims Weight Loss Treatment Options and Costs
Pricing for weight loss plans starts as low as $69/month for oral medication kits, with a 10-mo plan paid in full upfront. GLP-1 injectable plans start as low as $199/mo with a 6-mo plan paid in full upfront.
Oral Medication Kits
Custom oral medication kits, taken daily and starting at $69/mo with a 10-mo plan paid in full upfront. These kits can include:
- Bupropion: An antidepressant that healthcare providers sometimes prescribe with other medications to promote weight loss.
- Metformin: A diabetes drug that’s used off-label for weight loss.
- Topiramate: An epilepsy drug that can also reduce appetite and change food-related reward pathways.
- Vitamin B12: An essential nutrient that can help with vitamin B12 deficiency.
- Naltrexone: Can treat alcohol use disorder and opioid dependence and is sometimes prescribed as part of a broader weight loss treatment plan.
GLP-1 Injections
Doctor-trusted treatment options, including daily or weekly injections.
Read also: Is Hims weight loss effective?
- Compounded GLP-1: Starting at $199/mo, a weekly injectable GLP-1 with the same active ingredient as Ozempic® and Wegovy®.
- Compounded GLP-1 Microdose: Starting at $199/mo, a small dose, weekly injectable GLP-1 with the same active ingredient as Ozempic® and Wegovy®.
Other FDA-Approved Medications
Hims also provides access to other FDA-approved medications like:
- Generic Liraglutide: Starting at $299/mo.
- Mounjaro®: $1,899/mo.
- Zepbound®: $1,899/mo.
- Wegovy®: $1,999/mo.
- Ozempic®: $1,799/mo.
Safety and Quality of Hims Weight Loss Treatments
The FDA has published several concerns with compounded GLP-1s, emphasizing that they’re not FDA approved, though they might be appropriate if a patient’s medical need can’t be met with an FDA-approved drug. For example, there have been several reports of adverse events and hospitalizations from dosing errors with compounded versions, the agency noted.
FDA Regulations and Compounding Pharmacies
Hims uses 503B compounding pharmacies versus 503A compounding pharmacies. The former is regulated by the FDA, whereas the latter is only regulated by the state board of pharmacy. These facilities source ingredients from FDA-registered suppliers and adhere to current good manufacturing practice regulations for quality, potency, and sterility.
Potential Side Effects
It’s common to experience some side effects while your body adjusts to new medication. They're usually temporary and are easier to manage when you know what to do. Hims provides step-by-step guides made by weight loss experts in the Hims app at no additional cost, 24/7 messaging with a licensed provider at no extra cost, and personalized dosage and medication adjustments as needed by a licensed provider. A fast-acting anti-nausea medication is included with treatment at no extra cost, if eligible.
Potential side effects of compounded GLP-1s include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and stomach pain. Potential side effects of oral weight loss medication kits include nausea, diarrhea, and upset stomach.
Read also: Comprehensive Hims Weight Loss Program Analysis
FDA Recommendations for Consumers
The agency encourages patients to be vigilant and know the source of their medicine. Carefully check labels of compounded GLP-1 drugs for warning signs such as spelling errors or incorrect addresses and ensure your medicine is provided by a licensed pharmacy and prescribed by a licensed health care provider.
Nutrition and Weight Loss
Healthy protein intake and regular exercise are essential for weight loss, especially for those taking a GLP-1. Maintaining protein intake is key to supporting muscle mass while taking weight loss medication. Meal replacement bars and shakes can serve as a valuable source of protein, vitamins, and minerals, which is important when appetite is suppressed.
Meal Replacement Options
Hims offers a variety of meal replacement bars and shakes, including:
- Flavor Favorites: A mix of favorite bar and shake flavors loaded with up to 54% of your daily protein intake.
- Bar Bundle: Protein-packed snack bars that have 30% of your daily protein intake in just one serving.
- Shake Selects: Convenient protein shakes made to provide 54% of your daily protein intake in one serving.
How to Determine if Hims is Right for You
A state-licensed provider reviews the health history, weight loss goals, and unique patient needs of every individual patient to see if they qualify before prescribing any kind of treatment.
BMI Calculator
BMI stands for Body Mass Index. It’s a measurement that uses your height and weight to estimate if your weight is in a healthy range for your height. However, BMI does not measure body composition directly, and it may not accurately reflect the health or wellness of individuals of a specific race/ethnic group, those with high muscle mass, pregnant women, children, the elderly, or those with specific health conditions. BMI should not be used as a sole diagnostic tool.
Online Consultation
Prescription products require an online consultation with a healthcare provider who will determine if a prescription is appropriate.
Comparing Oral vs. Injectable Semaglutide
Semaglutide (Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Rybelsus®) comes in both injection and oral form. Both formulations of semaglutide can help promote weight loss, but semaglutide injections can lead to more weight loss than oral semaglutide.
Effectiveness
Semaglutide injections are generally more effective for weight loss than pills. Research has shown that people taking injectable semaglutide typically lose more weight than those on oral semaglutide because the dose of the injectable form achieves higher blood levels and, therefore, better appetite control.
Side Effects
The side effects of oral semaglutide and semaglutide injections are mostly the same and include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and stomach pain.
Administration
You take oral semaglutide once a day by mouth, at least 30 minutes before any food, drinks, or other oral medications or supplements, with no more than 4 ounces of plain water. Injectable semaglutide is a subcutaneous injection given once a week, ideally on the same day each week.
Addressing Concerns and Criticisms
Several concerns and criticisms have been raised regarding compounded GLP-1s and telehealth companies prescribing them.
FDA Concerns
The FDA has expressed concerns about compounded GLP-1s, emphasizing that they are not FDA-approved and might lead to adverse events and dosing errors.
Asynchronous Care Model
Some critics argue that the asynchronous care model used by companies like Hims & Hers treats the medical care part of prescribing medically-assisted weight loss therapy as almost like a check-the-box exercise. Hims & Hers responds by arguing that this model allows patients to have more frequent and ongoing communication with providers.
Lack of Adequate Follow-Up
There are concerns that telehealth companies prescribing compounded GLP-1s are not valuing chronic care and are treating obesity as a "disease of vanity." Patients report not receiving adequate follow-up from some telehealth companies.