What if I've tried weight loss programs before and nothing worked?

Many patients come here after years of trying diet changes, exercise programs, and even other medications without lasting results. The goal is to understand why previous efforts stalled—often there are hormonal, metabolic, or physiological factors that were never addressed. A medical evaluation can help clarify what has been getting in the way.

At this time, care is focused on women, particularly those experiencing hormonal changes related to perimenopause, menopause, and related metabolic shifts. If you are unsure whether this practice is the right fit, feel free to reach out before booking.

Colorado Weight Loss and Hormone Therapy

Q: Is this telehealth?

Yes. All care is delivered via telehealth to patients located in Colorado. Visits take place through a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform from the convenience of your home. No in-person office visit is required.

Q: Can hormone therapy help with weight gain?

Hormone changes during perimenopause and menopause can contribute to weight gain, particularly in the abdominal area. Addressing hormonal imbalances may support metabolic function and make weight management efforts more effective. Hormone therapy is not a standalone weight loss treatment, but for some patients it is a meaningful piece of the overall picture.

Q: Do I need labs before starting?

Lab work is often recommended to get a complete clinical picture before starting treatment. Depending on your history and goals, this may include thyroid function, metabolic panels, hormone levels, and other relevant markers. Labs can typically be ordered locally and do not require a separate office visit.

Q: How do I get started?

You can book an initial telehealth appointment directly online. At that visit, you will review your health history, symptoms, and goals. From there, a personalized plan will be developed—no referral is needed.

What We Help With

Common Concerns That Bring Patients Here

Many of the women who seek care here are not new to the healthcare system—they've raised their concerns before and been told their labs are "normal." If you recognize yourself in any of the following, a more targeted evaluation may be worth pursuing.

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Unexplained Weight Gain

Weight that accumulates despite no major changes to eating or activity, often concentrated in the abdomen.

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Hormonal Symptoms

Hot flashes, night sweats, irregular cycles, mood changes, and sleep disruption tied to hormonal shifts.

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Fatigue & Brain Fog

Low energy, difficulty concentrating, and mental cloudiness that doesn't resolve with rest.

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Perimenopause & Menopause

Navigating the hormonal transition with a provider who understands the full range of what that involves.

Medical Weight Loss

A Clinical Approach to Weight Loss in Colorado

Medical weight loss is not a diet plan with a prescription added on. It is a structured evaluation of the physiological factors contributing to weight gain—followed by a treatment plan designed around those specific findings. For many patients, this includes GLP-1 receptor agonist medications, which work on hunger signaling, satiety, and metabolic regulation in ways that behavioral changes alone cannot replicate.

GLP-1 Medications: Wegovy and Zepbound

Semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound) represent a meaningful shift in how medicine approaches excess weight. These medications reduce appetite not through stimulants or willpower, but through direct action on gut and brain receptors that regulate how full you feel, how quickly you empty your stomach, and how your body handles glucose. For appropriate candidates, clinical trials have shown substantial and sustained weight reduction—often 15–20% of body weight over one to two years.

Eligibility depends on BMI, medical history, and other clinical factors. These medications are not appropriate for everyone, and candidacy is assessed individually rather than assumed.

What a Plan Actually Looks Like

After an initial evaluation, treatment typically involves a gradual medication titration over several weeks, ongoing monitoring of response and tolerability, and periodic reassessment of goals and progress. Lab work may be ordered to inform and monitor the plan. The aim is not simply to lower a number on a scale but to reduce the health risks associated with excess weight and to help patients sustain results over time.

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Hormone Therapy

Hormone Therapy for Perimenopause and Menopause

Hormonal changes during perimenopause and menopause affect far more than reproductive function. Estrogen and progesterone influence metabolism, sleep architecture, mood regulation, cognitive clarity, and bone density. When these hormones decline—often unevenly and unpredictably over several years—the effects can be both disruptive and confusing, especially when symptoms don't fit neatly into what patients expect "menopause" to feel like.

A Symptom-Based Approach

Lab values provide useful context, but hormonal treatment decisions are not driven by numbers alone. Many patients have hormone levels within a technical "normal" range while experiencing significant symptoms. The evaluation here looks at the full clinical picture—symptoms, history, lifestyle, and individual risk factors—to determine whether hormone therapy may be appropriate and, if so, what form and dose makes sense.

Types of Hormone Therapy

Hormone therapy options vary in form (oral, transdermal, topical), hormone type (estrogen alone, combined estrogen/progesterone), and dosing. For women with an intact uterus, progesterone is included alongside estrogen to protect the uterine lining. The choice of formulation is made based on individual factors including health history, symptom pattern, and personal preference.

Current evidence supports the safety and effectiveness of hormone therapy for most healthy women under 60 who are within ten years of their last menstrual period, particularly for managing vasomotor symptoms and reducing bone loss. Treatment decisions always account for each patient's specific risk profile.

Clinical Insights

What Most Weight Loss Conversations Miss

These are topics that rarely come up in a standard 15-minute primary care visit but often explain why patients continue to struggle despite their best efforts.

Why Weight Gain Happens in Your 30s and 40s (Even If Nothing Changed)

Many patients describe gaining weight during their late 30s or 40s without any obvious change to their eating habits or activity level. This is physiologically real, not a perception problem. Skeletal muscle mass begins to decline in the late 30s, and since muscle is metabolically active tissue, the caloric cost of maintaining body weight drops accordingly. At the same time, estrogen—which plays a role in fat distribution and insulin sensitivity—begins to shift. The result is that the same behaviors that maintained a stable weight at 32 may produce gradual gain by 42, not because of discipline, but because the metabolic context has changed. Treatment needs to account for that changed context, not simply repeat the advice that worked a decade earlier.

Hormones vs. Metabolism: What's Actually Driving Symptoms

The word "hormones" is used broadly in popular health content, but not all hormonal contributors to weight and fatigue are the same. Thyroid dysfunction (particularly subclinical hypothyroidism), insulin resistance, and sex hormone decline each affect weight and energy through different pathways and require different evaluations. Fatigue from low progesterone looks different from fatigue caused by poor sleep architecture from estrogen withdrawal, which looks different again from fatigue related to an underactive thyroid. Distinguishing these isn't about running every possible lab—it's about matching the clinical picture to the most likely explanation and investigating from there. A thorough history often narrows the differential more than a broad panel does.

Why Some Patients Do Well on GLP-1 Medications—and Others Struggle

GLP-1 medications are not uniformly effective or uniformly well tolerated. Patients who struggle tend to fall into a few patterns: those who experience significant gastrointestinal side effects during titration that are never adequately managed; those who are not eating sufficient protein and lose disproportionate muscle mass rather than fat; and those who have underlying hormonal conditions—particularly hypothyroidism or perimenopause-related metabolic shifts—that blunt the medication's effect. Patients who do well are typically those who enter treatment with realistic expectations, receive monitoring and dose adjustments throughout, and are making some parallel effort to protect lean mass through adequate protein intake and resistance activity. The medication is a tool; the outcome depends on how that tool is used.

Common Mistakes That Make Weight Loss Harder

Aside from unaddressed medical factors, several behavioral patterns frequently undermine progress. Severe caloric restriction accelerates muscle loss, which lowers resting metabolism and makes weight regain more likely after the restriction ends. Cardio-only exercise, while beneficial for cardiovascular health, does less to preserve metabolic rate than resistance training does. Inadequate sleep—below seven hours—measurably increases appetite hormones and reduces satiety signaling, making adherence to any eating plan harder. And treating weight management as a temporary project rather than an ongoing recalibration leads to cycles of loss and regain that become harder to reverse over time.

When Symptoms Might Not Be Hormonal

Not every case of fatigue, weight gain, or mood change is hormone-related, and part of thorough care is recognizing when a symptom warrants a different investigation. Depression and anxiety can produce fatigue and weight changes indistinguishable from hormonal causes. Sleep apnea—underdiagnosed in women, particularly postmenopausally—is a common driver of persistent fatigue that won't respond to hormone therapy. Autoimmune conditions, including certain thyroid disorders, can overlap with perimenopause symptomatically and are sometimes missed when the assumption of hormonal cause is made too early. Good care involves ruling out or addressing these possibilities, not only treating what fits the expected pattern.

Our Approach

Why This Approach Is Different

Many patients who come here have already had extensive contact with the healthcare system around these issues. They've been told their bloodwork is fine. They've been referred to a dietitian or given generic advice. They've started and stopped medications without adequate follow-up. The experience here is built around a different premise: that effective care starts with actually understanding what is happening for a specific person.

Listen-first. The evaluation begins with your history, your symptoms, and what you've already tried—before any recommendations are made.
Whole-person context. Weight and hormones don't exist in isolation from sleep, stress, mental health, and life circumstances. Treatment considers all of it.
No protocol-first care. The plan is built around your findings, not a standing algorithm applied to everyone with similar chief complaints.
Ongoing communication. Telehealth allows for more flexible follow-up than in-person practices often provide—check-ins don't require a full appointment when minor adjustments are needed.

How It Works

Telehealth Care for Colorado Patients

All care is delivered via telehealth to patients located in Colorado. The process is straightforward—no commute, no waiting room, no time off work for a visit.

Book Online

Schedule your initial appointment directly through the online booking link. You'll receive a confirmation with instructions for your video visit.

Initial Evaluation

Your first visit covers health history, current symptoms, prior treatments, and your goals. This is a conversation—not a rushed intake.

Lab Work (If Needed)

If labs are part of your evaluation, orders can be sent to a local lab. You don't need to travel to a clinic to have blood drawn.

Personalized Treatment Plan

Based on findings, a plan is developed—which may include medication, lifestyle recommendations, and scheduled follow-up to monitor response.

Ongoing Care

Treatment is not a one-time event. Follow-up visits allow for adjustments based on how you're responding and what's changing over time.

Serving patients across Colorado via telehealth, including: Denver · Colorado Springs · Boulder · Fort Collins · Aurora · Pueblo · Grand Junction · and all communities statewide

Schedule Online

Your Provider

About Kimberly Wohlwend, APRN

Kimberly Wohlwend, APRN, PMHNP-BC

Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner · Licensed in Colorado

Kimberly Wohlwend is a board-certified Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner with clinical experience in both behavioral health and metabolic medicine. Her background reflects an understanding that weight, hormones, mood, and cognitive function are not separate systems—they influence each other, and treating them in isolation often produces incomplete results.

She provides telehealth care to patients across Colorado, focusing on medical weight loss and hormone therapy for women experiencing the physical and emotional challenges of hormonal change. Her approach is grounded in clinical evidence, attentive to the individual, and oriented toward practical outcomes rather than general recommendations.

Is This Right for You?

Who This Practice Serves

This practice is focused on women who are navigating the intersection of weight, hormones, and midlife health change. You may be a good fit if:

You are a woman between 35 and 55 experiencing unexplained weight gain, hormonal symptoms, or both
You have tried diet and exercise approaches without sustainable results
You are interested in or have questions about GLP-1 medications and want a clinical evaluation to determine candidacy
You are in perimenopause or menopause and want to explore whether hormone therapy is appropriate for your situation
You are experiencing fatigue, brain fog, or mood changes that may have a hormonal or metabolic component
You are located in Colorado and prefer the convenience of telehealth care

If you are uncertain whether this is the right fit, the initial appointment is the appropriate place to find out. There is no obligation to proceed with treatment following an evaluation.

Frequently Asked Questions

Common Questions

Do you prescribe GLP-1 medications in Colorado?

Yes. GLP-1 receptor agonists such as semaglutide (Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Zepbound) are available for eligible patients in Colorado following a clinical evaluation. Candidacy is based on medical history, BMI, and individual health factors—not a blanket protocol.

Is this telehealth? Do I need to come in person?

All care is delivered via telehealth to patients located in Colorado. Visits take place through a secure, HIPAA-compliant video platform. No in-person visit is required.

Can hormone therapy help with weight gain?

Hormonal shifts during perimenopause and menopause can contribute to weight gain and changes in body composition, particularly in the abdominal area. Addressing hormonal imbalance may support metabolic function and make weight management more effective for some patients. Hormone therapy is evaluated individually based on each patient's clinical picture and risk profile.

Do I need labs before starting treatment?

Lab work is often part of the evaluation process. Depending on your history and symptoms, this may include thyroid function, metabolic markers, hormone levels, and other relevant tests. Orders can be sent to a local lab—no clinic visit required for the draw itself.

How do I get started?

Book an initial telehealth appointment online. At that visit, your health history, symptoms, and goals will be reviewed. No referral is needed. From there, a plan is developed based on your specific findings.

What if I've tried other programs and nothing worked?

That's a common experience for patients here. When previous efforts haven't produced lasting results, it often means that underlying hormonal or metabolic factors were never adequately addressed. A clinical evaluation can help clarify what has been contributing to the difficulty and whether a different approach is warranted.

What should I expect at the first appointment?

The initial visit is primarily a conversation. You'll discuss your health history, current symptoms, what you've already tried, and what you're hoping to accomplish. It is not a rushed intake—it is the foundation of the clinical relationship. Recommendations are made after that evaluation, not before it.

Medical Weight Loss and Hormone Therapy in Colorado