Episode 85: The Weight Loss Revolution

On this episode of the Plastic Surgery Untold podcast, our providers discuss the incredible weight loss revolution and how our very own Dr. Franco has successfully shed an astounding 70 pounds on The Skinny Shot. Witness Austin Plastic Surgeon’s unwavering passion for this topic as we introduce Dr. Chang, a board-certified internal medicine doctor, who we have added to our practice and who plays a large role in providing for our skinny shot patients.

Dr. Franco, Dr. Chang, Dr. Arredondo, and PA Gilbert explore the power of the groundbreaking medication, Semaglutide, and Tirzepatide, which is capable of aiding individuals in losing approximately 15% of their body fat in a year. Listen to the doctors discuss the remarkable benefits and potential side effects of this revolutionary “skinny shot,” which acts as a catalyst, kickstarting individuals into a healthy lifestyle.

With our dedicated providers by your side, offering monthly guidance and support, you’ll witness the transformative power of little-by-little changes leading to lasting health improvements.

Transcript:

Welcome back to a special edition plastic surgery untold. We’re in Miami, we’re fortunate enough to have Dr. Chang making his first ASAPS appearance with us. So thank you.  We’re gonna talk a little bit about little weight loss revolution update. And so as you guys know, weight loss revolution has been near and dear to my heart. I’ve been on the same semaglutide therapy that some of our patients have been on. I’m down about 70 pounds in six months, you know, we’re so committed to it that we said to bring on Dr. Chang, who’s a board-certified internal medicine doctor under our practice to help lead that program. So, super excited, maybe tell us a little bit about you. And, and then we’ll get a little update from everyone else about how the program’s going, how the patients have been doing, and where we’re at.

Cool. Yeah, thanks for thanks so much for having me. It’s really exciting to be here. This is my first time at this meeting and really appreciate the opportunity. So yeah, as you mentioned, I’m Kevin Chang, I’m a board-certified internal medicine physician. I also have a background in clinical informatics. Most of my clinical history is actually in hospital medicine. So this, this world of weight loss, weight management, fitness, and wellness is really super exciting for me. And just briefly, I know you want to get the other topics here, but we were talking the other day, and I was I was mentioning that, you know, this is a really truly amazing and revolutionary stuff. I mean, I think if, if, you know, we can help even a couple of people avoid and prevent the sort of, you know, the next diabetic foot or the next sleep apnea, you name it, like, it’s really super exciting for me, because this is what I see all the time in the hospital.

And just so we could sum it up for people. So, people in semaglutide therapy, on average, if they take the medication for about a year, will lose about 15% of their their body weight. Is that- Is that correct? Yeah, that’s that’s what I understand. In some of the questions that people get are, “What are the most common side effects that that people see from from this?”

Oh, with semaglutide? Yeah, I think most commonly, it’s gonna be things like GI related stuff. So anything from nausea, vomiting, some people’s diarrhea, some people’s constipation. I think to a smaller degree, sometimes it’s fatigue, headaches, malaise, those kinds of things. And then there’s going to be some more, I would say, more rare side effects that can potentially happen too.

You know, one thing that I found, at least, not to get too in the weeds early on, but a lot of those side effects sort of start to go away, especially as you get more used to the medication because it makes you change your diet. And if you’re used to eating Burger King, and McDonald’s all day, you got zero fiber coming in your diet. And so now you’re eating less. So now guess what, now you’re stopped up. I know, if you’re not used to if you’re only used to eating large meals, you’re not used to eating, you know, throughout the day, you feel fatigued. And I found a lot of patients I’m counseling more on nutrition habits. And as I’ve done that, they’ve said oh, yeah, it’s all so much better now.

Yeah. I was super, super fortunate. I had very few side effects, had a few little bit of bouts of nausea. Anybody who’s listening in the past knows that happened two times, went to the Texas Monthly barbecue, was great going in, not great going out stuff, you know, and then and then visiting my parents, my brother in DC eating way too many sweets stuff. So no question, I think the diet stuff is huge. But that’s part of this right? Part of it is grading lifestyle changes. And I know you see a lot of patients your your boots on the ground. So you know, what what has been your your feedback in terms of this after now that we’ve been in this about six months?

I mean, I think it’s been really successful. All my patients have been super happy with the results. To piggyback on on what Joe were talking about, with the with the side effects symptoms. I agree, I think it’s something that is just for the most part transient and the patient does typically kind of feel better after being on the medication for a while.

It’s that it’s really a small percentage of people that even have those side effects. You know, most of the people don’t don’t experience that, you know, our dosing is set to that, well, your body sort of gets used to the medication. We start very low, work our way up, find that right dose. And that that’s what I want to talk about here, just as we just got a few more minutes, is busy weekend here in Miami. But, you know, that’s one of the things I think is unique about our practice. You see a provider every time you come, you know, you see them and we have a very strict set schedule in terms of how we titrate so it’s not just hey, you get a medication, you leave in a couple of months hope it works. Every month, we see you, we titrate that dose, we get you to the appropriate because I think people forget, you know, this medication is just like any other medication, you want to be the lowest dose that’s going to be effective, that’s going to minimize your side effects, get you to the greatest spot. If we need to titrate you up, we’ll do it. We need to switch over to a different medication, we can do that. But that’s what seeing you every month. There’s also some different things in terms of education like Dr. O’Donoghue said here that you can do to help people, so it’s not just the medication, it’s making sure that we’re working with you to get you to your good spot because I tell everybody and you know and I get excited about this because it’s near and dear to my heart but you know, it’s not just about taking this medication. This is a a starter, a jumpstart to make some lifestyle changes. If you use this to make lifestyle changes, you’re gonna see the biggest benefit. It kills me when people are on this medication, they come in and tell me it just doesn’t work for me. And you know, this is a common kill block because I used to do this all the time but they show up with their Starbucks Double Venti Frappuccino with whipped cream and sprinkles on it. I just don’t know, you know, I’m not taking in any calories. And I’m like, are you alright?

There’s so many hidden calories. And that’s one of the things I love about this medication is there’s no time off from it, you know. If you’re really paying attention to the medication and how it works, how your body’s responding to it, you know, when it’s, you know, when you’re trying to cheat. It tells you and so you you can’t take that time off. And it makes those lifestyle changes so much better.

I tell all my patients. I’m like, look, this, this medication is meant to be used as a tool in your weight loss journey, not as the solution to your weight loss. And you really have to be disciplined with your diet and your exercise if you want this to be successful

But this makes it easy. Yeah, all those you know, it’s easy to say change your diet lose weight. But how many people didn’t do that. This medication makes it so easy to actually do that.

It’s so much because you don’t just don’t have those cravings, you know, and you can make little changes at a time, I’ll tell you, you know, as long as you’re good about making sure get enough protein, the right kind of calories, mixing them in just a little bit. It was funny when I started exercising, I just started with walking on the treadmill 20 minutes. I’m just walking on the treadmill and then increase that speed a little bit. Now transition to a Stairmaster so you don’t have to make these drastic changes overnight. Just little by little makes big differences over a period of time plus the you know, now just decreasing your calories. But the combination, you know, can cause huge, huge changes for you. Absolutely,

Absolutely, it’s a synergistic effect. The medication makes you, the diet changes, that as you lose weight, you feel more active, you can do more so that the energy expansion goes with the exercising and helps your cardiovascular health. You sleep better, you feel more energized. It all works together so well.

Well, Dr. Chang, I appreciate you having here. You know, we’re definitely gonna have some follow up episodes, you know, I want to talk about ozempic body, ozempic face. So we’re gonna have some more episodes later today. We have some more exciting things that we’re going to show everybody as we make our way through the ASAPS floor. So hopefully, the team will join us there as well and show off some of the new products. They’re gonna be able to help with some of this. I’ve started some of these treatments, as you know, little skinny sculpture, a little RF microneedling. I got some more treatments coming, maybe a little MyEllevate for my neck, hopefully talking Dr. Donna into doing that for me for my birthday in October. So we’ll take you along that journey. But we’ll see you guys soon. Thanks, Dr. Chang, for joining us. Appreciate you. Thank you guys.

Bye. Did you wanna do the? Oh, yeah, let’s do a little intro.

Dr. Chang, I wanted to introduce you to our plastic surgery untold family that listens on, you’re a board certified internal medicine that’s actually joined our practice this this past year, and so super excited for people that don’t know. You were actually my mentor when I was a medical student, so we can thank Dr. Chang for all my my pros. Definitely blame him for some of the cons. But I appreciate you. Do you want just give us a little background about about you?

Sure. So yeah, I’m Kevin Chang, board certified internal medicine physician, also board certified in clinical informatics. And yeah, my background is in hospital medicine and super excited to be here. It’s really this really exciting opportunity to be thinking through some of these newer newer projects and newer opportunities, such as a Wellness and Fitness Center, and those kinds of things.

And I’m super excited because this is a paradigm change in terms of, you know, you used to be, you know plastic surgeons, you know, were just with other, you know, joining other groups, and it’s really great that that you’re changing this paradigm and partnering with us, you know, and so just taking this holistic approach to patients is something that I feel like plastic surgery is talked about for a long time, but you’re making it a reality for us and I think you’re on the forefront of it and appreciate you helping us pioneer this this new kind of paradigm transition of plastic surgery. So Dr. Chang, appreciate it and super excited about where they take you.

Thank you, very good, thank you.