Maintaining a healthy weight is one of the most crucial aspects of improving your overall wellness. From heart health to joint pain and everything in between, your weight has a far-reaching impact.
Online prescription weight loss programs offer the perks of doctor-led weight loss, without the inconvenience of a doctor’s office waiting room.
Ro’s Body Program offers a unique approach to prescription weight loss that’s personalized based on your metabolic evaluation, with ongoing virtual support from a dedicated health coach.
In this article, we’ll provide a thorough review of Ro’s Body Program, including its pros and cons, what it includes, alternative provider options, and more. We also spoke with Dr. Tina Haroutunian, a pharmacist, about who would benefit most from this type of treatment, as well as what the potential side effects are.
Ro Weight Loss
Pros + Cons
Pros
- Complete personalization with a Metabolic Test and ongoing provider care to determine which medication option is right for you.
- Educational tools with a step-by-step curriculum featuring nutritional information, recipes, and fitness tracking.
- Ongoing one-on-one support from your provider and health coach to help enforce behavior change.
- Insurance concierge will connect with your insurance company to help cover the medication cost, saving you massive headaches and time.
- Incredible value for money at $99 for the first month and $135 for each month after to receive personalized weight loss care through medication, coaching, and support.
Cons
- Limited prescription medications, as only GLP-1s are available for weight loss through Ro.
- Insurance won’t cover the Body Program, and those with any form of government healthcare coverage (like Medicare) aren’t eligible. Medication costs will depend on your personal insurance coverage, but Ro partners will work with your insurer to help determine coverage.
Ro vs. Found vs. Calibrate vs. Form - Which Is Best for Rx Weight Loss?
Ro is far from the only telemedicine platform currently offering an online weight loss program. Here’s how Ro’s Body Program stacks up against a few other frontrunners like Form, Found, or Calibrate.
Best Online Prescription Weight Loss Program | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pricing | $99 for your first month $145/mo thereafter | $199/mo for self-pay plan | $99 - $149/mo | $138/mo |
| Accepts insurance? | ❌ Cannot cover the program, but will work with your insurance to help get the cost of medication covered | ✅ | ❌ If the recommended medication requires insurance, they'll work with you through the insurance process for coverage | ❌ Cannot cover the program, but will work with your insurance to help get the cost of medication covered |
| Whats's included in the price? | • Custom treatment plan • Dedicated health coach • Live video sessions with provider • Ongoing 1:1 care & messaging with a provider • Step-by-step curriculum | • FDA-approved meds, if appropriate • Custom weight loss plan • Video visits with your doctor and registered dietitian • Unlimited messaging with care team • Educational materials and tracking tools • Online community support | • FDA-approved anti-obesity prescription medication, if appropriate • Provider consultations • 1:1 SMS messaging with a dedicated coach • In-app community support • Access to blogs, nutritional guides, and other content | • FDA-approved anti-obesity prescription medication, if appropriate • Biweekly 1:1 video coaching • Holistic Calibrate curriculum • Unlimited access to Calibrate Medical Team |
| Metabolic test included? | ❌ Available as an add-on for $75 | ❌ | ❌ | ✅ |
| Medication cost included in price? | ❌ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Types of weight loss medications prescribed | GLP-1s: - Wegovy - Ozempic - Saxenda | FDA-approved weight loss medications: - Wegovy (GLP-1) - Saxenda (GLP-1) - Contrave (Bupropion / Naltrexone) | Customized prescriptions from one of 13 FDA-approved anti-obesity medications and "off-label" medications | GLP-1's: - Wegovy - Saxenda - Ozempic - Mounjaro |
| Access to resources or curriculum? | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| 1:1 messaging with coach? | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ |
| Eligibility | - 18 years or older - BMI ≥ 30 (or ≥ 27 with certain co-morbidities) | - 18 years or older - BMI ≥ 30 - Have an active primary care physician | - 18 years or older - BMI ≥ 30 (or ≥ 27 with certain co-morbidities) | - 18 years or older - BMI ≥ 27 |
| Where is it available? | Entire US | 21 states | 31 states | 41 states |
| Website |
Benefits of Ro for Weight Loss
First off, let’s go over why you may want to consider an online weight loss program to begin with.
This non-traditional approach to reaching a healthy weight through online platforms with weight loss medication like Ro’s Body Program can offer key benefits over trying to follow a weight loss program on your own or even visiting a doctor in person:
Customization
If you opt to follow a set weight loss program on your own, you won’t reap the benefits of a customized plan. We all have different bodies, which means we can’t lose weight the same way.
Ro’s Body Program takes weight loss seriously with an at-home Metabolic Test. This reveals important information about how your body functions so that your doctor can determine the best route forward. Your unique needs and medical history will also be taken into account.
Ongoing support
To keep up your motivation and ensure that your weight loss plan is continually adjusted according to your changing needs, ongoing support is crucial. But, commuting to a doctor’s office for regular check-ins can be time-consuming, expensive, and downright inconvenient.
Weight loss doctors online make this process a whole lot easier with virtual messaging and video calls with your provider. Ro offers easy online support through:
- Ongoing one-on-one messaging with your provider
- Live video sessions per year with your dedicated health coach
- A step-by-step curriculum to follow
Sustainable weight loss
Weight loss isn’t just about shedding pounds – it’s also about keeping them off. So, those diet pills and ultra-intense workouts typically fail to provide long-term, sustainable weight loss once you “get back to real life.”
Online doctors for weight loss can help you maintain your hard-earned weight loss with ongoing support and gradual results that are designed to last. Ro’s Body Program achieves this with a holistic program. It touches on various factors that impact your weight, including nutrition, exercise, sleep, emotional health, and medication.
In clinical trials, patients lost an average of 15% of their body weight after one year with a 68-week program, including GLP-1 treatment, a reduced-calorie diet, and increased physical activity, all customized through a plan with your healthcare professional.
What Does Ro's Body Program Include?
Ro’s Body Program couples GLP-1 medication with personal health coaching. It’s designed to provide safe, sustainable weight loss with a plan that’s closely personalized to your body.
Here are the key components of the Body Program:
Weight loss medication
Ro offers three different GLP-1s (glucagon-like peptide-1): Wegovy, Ozempic, and Saxenda (when appropriate). GLP-1s are a class of medications used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity. Ro offers two different GLP-1s, Wegovy and Ozempic, and your provider will help you determine the best option for your needs and goals.
GLP-1 agonists help with weight loss in a few different ways:
- Slowed stomach emptying: GLP-1 agonists make your stomach empty more slowly, which reduces feelings of hunger.
- Hunger regulation and increased satiety: GLP-1s affect the area of your brain that determines how full you feel. They stimulate the release of hormones that regulate hunger and satiety (satisfaction from food), leading to a naturally decreased food intake, making it easier for you to consume fewer calories throughout the day.
- Improved insulin sensitivity: GLP-1 agonists can improve your body’s sensitivity to insulin, making it easier to control your blood sugar and ultimately reduce fat storage.
- Improved gut health: GLP-1 agonists have been found to benefit the gastrointestinal tract, including the gut microbiome. Improving your gut health can support your weight loss journey by contributing to improved nutrient absorption and reduced inflammation.
Wegovy and Ozempic are both brands of semaglutide, a type of GLP-1 agonist, that have become popular for weight loss and are available through Ro’s Body Program. Both of these GLP-1s come in prefilled injector pens. You can easily administer them yourself, typically with an injection in the thigh, abdomen, or upper arm.
One-on-one health coaching
Ro’s Body Program includes 1:1 coaching from an expert health coach, as well as 1:1 messaging with your provider. These certified professionals provide customized nutritional information and guidance on sleep hygiene, exercise, and other lifestyle habits.
Your Ro Body Program subscription includes live video sessions per year with your health coach and messaging with your provider. So, you can easily receive answers to all of your weight loss questions – without ever leaving home.
A Word From Our Expert
— Dr. Tina Haroutunian
GLP-1 agonists are an amazing class of medications when used for the correct patient population. All medications have inherent risks and determining if a patient should take a certain medication is always a risk versus benefit analysis. Patients who would benefit from weight loss due to underlying health conditions are the target patient population for this class of medication.
The most common side effects of GLP-1 agonists are digestive related; heartburn, constipation, diarrhea, and nausea. These side effects usually go away within a few weeks of starting therapy or increasing their dose. It is possible to switch to another medication in the class if one is causing unnecessary side effects. Since they are relatively “new” medications we don’t have much data on long term use in patients."
How Does Ro Personalize Your Weight Loss Journey?
As we’ve already discussed, everybody is different. So, what does Ro do to personalize your weight loss journey?
Metabolic Test
Upon signing up for the program, Ro offers the option to go to your local Quest Diagnostics for blood work. This add-on costs $75, and Ro will send you a blood sample collection kit called the Metabolic Test. The results of this test will provide key insights into your metabolism and other body processes that your doctor can use to personalize your weight loss journey.
The Metabolic Test reveals how your body burns calories, allowing your doctor to calculate the most appropriate caloric intake to help you lose weight. With this information, your provider through Ro will give you a nutritional plan that’s sustainable for you.
At-home blood testing from Ro can also reveal underlying chronic health conditions, such as diabetes or high cholesterol, and hormonal imbalances, like an underactive thyroid. These factors can alter your ability to lose weight. Information is power – your doctor can devise a weight loss plan that works with these conditions to help you reach your weight loss goals.
Step-By-Step Curriculum
Even when you’re not talking to your health coach or provider, you can access various resources from Ro to enrich your weight loss journey. This curriculum includes articles, videos, webinars, and other supplemental resources about nutrition, exercise, and other weight loss topics. This curriculum aims to give you the tools to adopt sustainable habits for long-term weight loss.
Ro Weight Loss Reviews: What Are Patients Saying?
Ro’s Body Program only launched earilier this year, so you won’t find many user reviews on third-party sites yet. We did uncover advice from Reddit users, though: check your insurance policy for both meds before continuing forward, especially because of the GLP-1 medication shortage.
Some customers got stuck in a holding process with insurance for the meds, only to get approved for the other. To streamline the process, we’d highly recommend checking with insurance first! Some users recommended using CVS Caremark to fill prescriptions fastest.
The general theme of these reviews is that Ro’s Body Program won’t disrupt your life – it’ll help you build healthy habits that you can apply to your life, wherever it may take you.
The Verdict: Is Ro Worth It for Online Weight Loss?
So, we’ve covered the ins and outs of Ro’s Body Program for weight loss. We’ve talked about its highly customized approach, ongoing support from healthcare professionals, and thorough assessment with a Metabolic Test. But is it the right weight loss program for you?
Ro’s Body Program is ideal for people who want to.
…are seeking a truly personalized and sustainable approach to weight loss.
Although Ro’s Body Program isn’t covered by insurance, it’s an undeniably customizable option. Plus, when it’s compared to other online weight loss programs, it provides excellent value for money. For just $99 for your first month and $135 for each subsequent month, you’ll gain access to one-on-one health coaching, unlimited messaging with your provider, and a plethora of online weight loss resources.
For lasting weight loss, there’s no denying that that’s a great deal.
…want to try GLP-1s for weight loss.
Ro’s weight loss program only offers GLP-1 inhibitors as weight loss medications, which are FDA-approved and deemed safe and effective for managing weight loss. This once-weekly shot mimics your body’s natural hormones, helping you feel fuller faster, and for longer.
While there are many weight loss medications out there, Ro prescribes these, A. to make your decision and life easier, and B. because they believe that they are the best for sustainable and lasting weight loss when coupled with their program.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
How much does the Ro Weight Loss program cost?
Ro’s Body Program costs $99 for the first month and $135 for each subsequent month. Insurance doesn’t cover any part of this program, and the cost of prescription medications isn’t included (but can be covered by insurance).
Here’s what’s included with a subscription to Ro’s Body Program:
- A personalized treatment plan
- Live video sessions with a health coach
- Ongoing 1:1 messaging with a provider
- A step-by-step curriculum
- An at-home metabolic Test
How do you sign up for the Ro weight loss program?
To sign up for Ro’s weight loss program, you’ll first need to sign up with your email or Google account, then complete an online visit. This asks about your lifestyle and medical history, which your provider can use to determine if you’re a good candidate for GLP-1s.
If your provider needs additional information after this online visit, they’ll reach out to you to schedule a call. In some states, a phone or video chat with your provider is required.
Within 24 hours of your online visit, a provider will contact you with an update on your treatment request. You’ll also be sent a Metabolic Test, which will involve taking a blood sample from the comfort of your home.
What types of GLP-1s does Ro prescribe?
Ro prescribes Wegovy and Ozempic, GLP-1s that are widely used for weight loss. Your provider will determine the best prescription for you based on your preferences, initial intake, and Metabolic Test.
Is Ro prescription weight loss program safe?
Ro’s prescription weight loss program is monitored by a licensed physician, so it’s a safe option for eligible patients. However, like most prescription medications, GLP-1s can have side effects, including:
- Nausea
- Vomiting
- Vomiting
- Fatigue
- Dizziness
- Stomach pain
- Headache
If you experience side effects from GLP-1s, consult your doctor.
Does Ro accept insurance?
Ro doesn’t accept insurance for its Body Program. However, Ro offers insurance coverage support for medication and will work directly with your insurer to help get your prescription costs covered.
Who is eligible for Ro’s weight loss program?
Ro’s telemedicine services are available to patients 18 and over. Based on your initial online visit, your Ro physician will determine whether the Ro Body Program is the right fit for your weight loss goals.
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Methodology
We conduct extensive research to evaluate the pricing, effectiveness, accessibility, overall quality, and user experience of every telehealth service we review. This also includes examining and comparing each provider to comparable telemedicine alternatives. We also evaluate usability, treatments, prescription delivery time, and more to determine the best value for those seeking fast and reliable telehealth services.
| Review Process | Key Metrics | Weighting |
|---|---|---|
| Sign up online | – ease to complete intake form – affordability – upfront commitment or subscription required? – money back guarantee or refund policy? | 0.5 |
| Vitual consult with provider / determine eligibility | – ease to get appointment to determine eligibility – need to leave house for labs or other in-person care? | 1 |
| Shipping + unboxing | – shipping cost – time from order to treatment delivery – discreet packaging to maintain privacy | 0.5 |
| Test + journal for 1-3 months | – ease of application – transition into habitual use – taste / smell / feel / pain | 1.5 |
| Results after 3 months of use | – efficacy / results – lack of side effects – ease of refill / reordering – quality of ongoing clinical support – responsive customer support – willingness to recommend to a friend | 1.5 |
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