Dr. Fitzer writes about things going on in the professional weight-loss literature and popular media.
September 19, 2026
We’ve known for a long time that obesity is a risk factor for breast cancer. Bariatric surgery proved two decades ago that losing the obesity reduces the risk. Now GLP-1 receptor agonists are showing astonishing survival benefits in breast cancer patients — but a closer look at the studies suggests the real benefit is probably smaller than reported.
September 5, 2026
I just got an email from CareNow, a national chain of urgent care centers, informing me about an exciting new offering: telehealth management of GLP-1 meds. Losing weight ain’t easy, CareNow would like you to know. To see lasting results, you need a structured plan, medical insight, and ongoing support—from an urgent care doctor, ostensibly.
August 10, 2026
It’s been in the news lately that injectable weight-loss medication can cause blindness. Two different eye concerns come up with semaglutide and tirzepatide. They are unrelated to each other, and they warrant different levels of concern.
May 25, 2026
There is a huge amount of interest among medical researchers in finding a way to maintain weight loss after stopping injectable weight-loss medications. It’s worth noting that similar interest doesn’t exist for any medications we prescribe for other chronic health problems. High cholesterol, for instance. For four decades, we’ve been relying on Lipitor to lower […]
May 17, 2026
A few posts ago, I discussed the fact that—absent a change—complete weight regain is the usual expectation for those who discontinue treatment with injectable weight-loss medicines. There is huge interest in finding a way to maintain weight loss from Zepbound and Wegovy after the drugs are stopped. Personally, I think maintaining long-term weight loss after stopping the meds will prove impossible. […]
May 17, 2026
A few posts ago, I discussed the fact that—absent a change— complete weight regain is the usual expectation for those who discontinue treatment with injectable weight-loss medicines. Only a small number of clinical trials involving these meds put in the effort to track patients after the treatment phase ended. The few that did failed to […]
May 3, 2026
I am asked this question by my patients all the time. The simple, unvarnished truth is that—in the absence of another medical or surgical intervention—people who quit injectables can expect to regain 100% of what they lost. It usually takes eighteen months or so. I don’t blame people for being confused, because you can’t really […]
May 2, 2026
Does max-dose Wegovy (semaglutide) work as well as weight-loss surgery? In a word: no. Wegovy is a wonderfully effective weight-loss medication — patients who tolerate the max dose lose about 12.5% of body weight on average over a year — but sleeve gastrectomy and gastric bypass patients in Dr. Fitzer’s practice lose 2.6 to 3 times more weight at two years.
April 19, 2026
I am happy to report that my electronic health record vendor (Baritrax360) updated their app. With one click, I can now pull up my patients’ weight loss data for different operations out to ten years. (Before the change, the report function only gave you five years’ worth of data, which, in my view, is too […]
April 10, 2026
The bypass-alcoholism connection is worth knowing about. Before I get into it, I should say for the record that my purpose is not to discourage people from considering the gastric bypass. The bypass is a wonderful weight-loss operation. Besides being a safe and fantastically effective treatment for type-2 diabetes and other obesity-related diseases, gastric bypass surgery also results in an amazing 30% to 70% drop in the 10-year all-cause mortality of patients who undergo it compared to patients who could have but didn’t. […]
Read: Why Are Gastric-Bypass Patients at Risk for Alcoholism?
