In Miami you can find a GLP-1 offer on almost every block: med spas, weight loss clinics, telehealth apps, and ads in your feed. The medications themselves are well studied. What varies enormously is the care around them. Before you start with anyone, us included, these are the six questions worth asking.
1. Who is actually prescribing?
Semaglutide and tirzepatide are prescription medications. A licensed prescriber should evaluate you personally, review your history, and make the decision. If the entire process is a form and a payment screen, nobody has really looked at you.
How we do it: you start with a private video consult with our registered nurse. If you look like a candidate, a licensed prescriber evaluates you independently by telehealth. The prescriber decides whether to prescribe, which medication, and what dose. We don't.
2. Exactly what medication will I receive?
Ask whether you'll be prescribed an FDA-approved brand-name product or a compounded medication, and ask which pharmacy fills it. You should get a clear answer to both.
Compounded medications are prepared by a pharmacy for an individual patient. They are not FDA-approved, meaning the FDA has not reviewed them for safety, effectiveness, or quality, and they are not generics. Be cautious with any provider who describes a compounded product as identical to a brand-name drug.
How we do it: your prescriber tells you what you're being prescribed and why. Prescriptions are filled by a licensed U.S. pharmacy and shipped to you with your name on the label.
3. Am I even a candidate?
The FDA-approved GLP-1 medications for weight management are indicated for adults with a BMI of 30 or higher, or 27 or higher with a weight-related condition such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or sleep apnea. They are generally not prescribed during pregnancy or breastfeeding, or for people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid cancer or MEN 2. A history of pancreatitis or gallbladder disease also needs a careful look.
A good provider asks about all of this before taking your money, and is willing to tell you no.
4. Who teaches me to inject, and who do I call if something feels off?
These are once-weekly injections you give yourself at home. The needle is small, but technique, storage, and dose timing all matter. The most common side effects are digestive (nausea, constipation, diarrhea) and they tend to appear when the dose steps up.
How we do it: your nurse trains you live on a video call for your first injection and stays your point of contact through the program.
5. What does the research say I can expect?
Be wary of anyone promising a number. Results in clinical trials were averages across thousands of people over more than a year, alongside diet and activity changes, and individual responses varied widely. If you want the real figures, including what happened when people stopped, read what the clinical trials actually show.
6. What's the plan beyond the first few months?
This is the question almost nobody asks. In the major trials, people who stopped the medication regained a meaningful share of the weight over the following year. Starting a GLP-1 without a plan for nutrition, muscle, and what happens later is starting half a program.
How we do it: we talk about protein, strength training, and hydration from the first consult, and the prescriber re-evaluates before any renewal or dose change.
No clinic visit, anywhere in Miami
Our GLP-1 program is fully virtual. The consult, the prescriber evaluation, and the injection training all happen by video, and your medication ships to your door. It works the same in Brickell, Coral Gables, Miami Beach, Coconut Grove, and Doral as it does at our home base in Aventura. No drive up I-95, no waiting room.
If you'd rather read about how the program runs step by step, see our nurse-led GLP-1 program.
Start with a conversation
Bring your questions and your full medication list. You'll leave the consult knowing whether a GLP-1 makes sense for you.
This article is general education, not medical advice. Elemental does not guarantee that any medication will be prescribed. Prescribing decisions, medication, and dosing are made solely by a licensed prescriber. Individual results vary.