Losing weight is never an easy endeavor, and it takes more than just wanting to look a certain way to achieve it. This journey takes a lot of hard work, consistency, and learning about your body and habits. Your attitude, diet, and workout routine are generally the three main factors in a successful weight loss program.
Today we’ll cover an exciting new company that’s aiming to make weight loss legitimately easier – not through shady supplements, but through a combination of relationship-building, medication, and programming. Form Health created an telehealth medical program designed to help people stay on track with their goals and keep them accountable through their entire weight loss journey. We’ll look into what makes Form Health unique from other weight loss initiatives, how they stack up to competitors, and the type of person that should consider giving them a shot.
Table of Contents
In This Post
Who is Form Health?
Form Health is a telehealth startup that offers an innovative way to lose weight through a direct-to-consumer, medically supervised program. To kick things off, you’ll be virtually paired with a medical professional who conducts a comprehensive review of your medical history, past weight loss experience, and lifestyle. After this process, you’re given a set of scientifically-backed tools and guidelines specifically personalized for your weight loss journey.
Form Health takes a multi-pronged approach to weight loss. As a whole, the program tackles things from several different directions that all work together in unison to deliver effective, sustainable results:
- Digging into your prior medical history and weight loss journey.
- Setting you up with licensed dietitians and doctors who are (virtually) by your side, every step of the way.
- Providing you with the Form health mobile app, which will be one of your new best friends.
- Developing meal plans that work for you.
- Developing a fitness regimen that aligns with your likes, dislikes, environment, and equipment you have available to you.
- Leveraging prescription medication that is safe for you to take, and effective at delivering sustainable weight loss.
- Bringing a community factor into the equation.
Not only is this not a one-size-fits-all plan, but it also evolves and adapts over time, based on how you’re tracking against your goals. We’ll touch on each piece in a sec.
Who is a good fit for Form Health?
Before we get too deep in the weeds, let’s get one thing straight: Form Health’s weight loss program is not for everyone.
For starters, you have to be 18 or older to be eligible for Form Health. You’ll also need a BMI (Body Mass Index) above 30 for patients, or above 27 if you have underlying medical issues, like high blood pressure or high cholesterol.
Remember to be honest during your onboarding process – you won’t be sneaking anything past their team. For your own safety, make sure you’re providing accurate info about how your body is feeling throughout the program, too.
How does that saying go? “Never lie to your lawyer or your doctor”?
They’re looking out for your best interest. 🙂
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Get 30% off LetsGetChecked kits with code ZENMASTER30How does Form Health’s program work?
We briefly touched on the different components of Form Health’s program already, but let’s dig a bit deeper into each one – because they’re all the “pillars” of what makes this program effective.
1 – 🩺 Digging into your prior medical history and weight loss journey
What state is your body in today? This medical review helps the Form Health program identify the specific barriers to your weight loss. They’ll ask for permission to look over your past medical records and to exchange information with your primary care provider. This way, they can ensure that they’re on the same page with your care providers and, if anything out of the ordinary comes up, they can shift and adjust your plan as needed.
2 – 👩⚕️ Setting you up with licensed dietitians and doctors who are (virtually) by your side, every step of the way.
Assuming everything looks good and you’re a good fit for the program, Form Health’s team will connect you with their team of leading dietitians and doctors. Once your doctor creates a game plan and personalizes it to you, you’ll work together on an ongoing basis to make adjustments as needed.
3 – 📱 Download and familiarize yourself with the Form Health mobile app.
By now, you and your doctor have a good game plan created – great! At this point, they set each of their patients up with the Form Health mobile app (iOS and Android) that helps track your core health metrics. This app also allows you to connect with Form Health’s dietitians and doctors, at any time, for unlimited texting with your care team. You’ll have access to a library of educational content, meal photo sharing, and starting conversations with the whole Form Health Community.
4 – 🥬 Developing meal plans that work for you.
Before you get flashbacks to eating dry protein bars or “thinning soups,” I have good news: None of the foods will be pre-packaged foods or diet meals. You’ll be eating real vegetables, healthy starches, and fats that you’d find in any normal grocery store. They also focus on lean meats, although if you have dietary restrictions, you’ll be fine. Form Health’s meal plans include a lot of healthy vegetables, fruits, and some dairy products. Balance is what we’re building here.
5 – 🏃♀️ Developing a fitness regimen that aligns with your likes, dislikes, environment, and equipment you have available to you.
Not everyone likes running six miles every morning, nor does everyone own the latest Peloton. Form Health’s team recognizes this more than everybody, so their team works with you to put together a program that works best for you.
6 – 💊 Leveraging the use of prescription medication, if appropriate, that is safe for you to take, and effective at delivering sustainable weight loss.
Prescription medications can help patients by reducing certain types of cravings: a method particularly effective for those struggling with obesity. The medical experts at Form Health are able to determine if any given prescribed medication is right for you and your body, and can adjust dosages and medication as necessary.
There’s no “hard and fast” list of medications that they prescribe – but they only prescribe FDA-approved medication to patients. The exact one that each patient tries depends completely on their personal circumstances, and not all patients will need to be prescribed medication at all. In some cases, personalized dietary plans may be sufficient.
Some medication is best for long-term use, while some medications that Form Health prescribes are best used throughout shorter term, 12-week periods. As always, your doctors will continually monitor your progress and adjust dosage as needed.
7 – 👫 Bringing a community factor into the equation.
Form Health also offers group counseling sessions over video, a private Facebook community, and cooking demonstrations that you can watch right through the Form Health mobile app. This means you’ll be able to interact with other patients in the program, which is a nice source of motivation for many in the program. Never doubt the power of a tight-knit community! But if you’d rather focus on yourself, that’s fine, too. After all, this is your own, personal journey.
Regardless, I’d also highly recommend following their Instagram. It’s chock-full of good tips.
💰 Pricing: How much does Form Health cost?
There are two ways to get started with Form Health: you can either start with a consultative call to feel them out, or you can jump right in.
If you’re not ready to jump into the full $99/mo program, you can schedule a virtual consultative call with one of their doctors. You’ll talk about what an individualized weight loss plan would look like for you, and if everything sounds good, then you can begin the program. The only cost associated with doing this is the cost of any normal doctor visit; they’ll bill your insurance.
With Insurance – $99/mo
The $99 monthly program fee covers all dietitian visits, educational content, texting, meal photo sharing, etc.
Doctor visits are billed through insurance. You’ll need be responsible for any copays, deductibles, or coinsurance.
The only things not included in that $99/mo program fee are lab visits and medication costs, but those can still be run through your insurance.
Their program is a qualified medical expense, btw, so you can use FSA or HSA dollars to cover the cost of your doctor visits or the monthly program fee.
Without insurance
If you don’t have health insurance, you’re looking at spending $199 per month. You’ll still receive all the same benefits, and fortunately, you won’t be charged extra for any additional coaching or doctor visits you might need.
Moving on.
Form Health isn’t the only company out there treating obesity by combining medication, virtual visits, chat support, meal planning, etc. Two other players you might’ve heard of are Calibrate Health and Found. Check out how they stack up. And if you’d like to dig deeper into Calibrate, you can read our full review here.
If you’re on mobile, click the table to enlarge it.
Form Health vs Calibrate: Cost and Feature Comparison |  |  |
|---|---|---|
| Cost of (optional) first consultative visit | Same as any normal doctor visit (can bill to insurance) | $249 |
| Monthly Cost | $99/mo with insurance $199/mo without insurance | $129/mo |
| Prescription Medication support? | ✔ | ✔ |
| Mobile app | ✔ | ✔ |
| Coaching on food and exercise | ✔ | ✔ |
| Medical exams | ✔ | ✔ |
| Telehealth visits with doctors and dietitians | ✔ | ✔ |
| Education and community resources | ✔ | ✔ |
| Accepts insurance? | ✔ | ❌ (medication only) |
| Website |
Form Health Reviews: What are others saying?
As of writing this, Form Health scores a perfect 5 star rating on Trustpilot, out of a total 13 reviews. (Trustpilot’s aggregated score shows them at 4.5, but after reading every single one, they’re all 5s. So… They also score a 4.9 star (of 11 reviews) on my personal favorite, Google Reviews.
Whenever you see an overwhelmingly positive score on TrustPilot, it’s usually a good sign. These aren’t Amazon reviews – it’s clear, from people’s feedback, that patients are happy with Form Health’s program.
I’ve highlighted a few that stand out in particular. The personalization of the program itself and the close doctor:patient + dietitian:patient relationships seems to resonate with quite a few of these respondents.
I was also pleasantly pleased to see Form Health’s team active on Reddit – even going as far as to conduct an AMA. (For those unfamiliar, ‘AMA’ stands for ‘Ask Me Anything’. This is scheduled event where everyday people can interact with someone(s) to––you guessed it–– ask them anything. It’s a great chance to build relationships, and if the AMA goes well (as was the case with Form Health’s), it’s a tell-tale sign of a good company.
Dr. Halperin’s responses are insightful and thorough, and it’s clear that she wants to educate people on obesity; not sell them something. She’s an endocrinologist from Harvard, after all, so that doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. Still awesome to see such a renowned doctor building something truly awesome with telemedicine.
Having a 5 star rating on Trustpilot on one thing; giving such an informative AMA on Reddit is another one entirely.
🎬 Wrapping Up: Is Form Health a good choice for weight loss?
Form Health has developed a pretty innovative, telemedicine-based weight loss program. It can be tempting to compare their $99/mo price tag to other treatments that you associate with weight loss, but that’s not really a fair comparison. Citing a $40 bottle of “fat burning” pills, a $140/week Bistro MD meal delivery service that promises fast weight loss and includes the cost of food, or any number of “lose weight fast” schemes that are cheap but just leave you in the bathroom for an hour is unreasonable. Form Health is not designed to starve you of nutrients or sell you snake oil at a more affordable price; their program is designed to help you decrease your BMI over a sustained period of time, and do so in a way that is not only healthy for your body but for your mental health.
Look: it isn’t for everyone. But that’s also because it’s not meant for everyone. Form Health’s program is designed to treat patients with obesity. If you have a BMI of 30+ (or 27+ with preexisting conditions), you’ve struggled with losing weight in the past, and you’re willing and financially able to give this program a shot, then great! All signs point to them making waves in the industry.
But I’d also urge my readers to not get too hung up on the thought process of, “I just can’t lose weight and keep it off… I heard this company provides prescriptions that can help make it happen!” and then obsess over that being the root cause. Because truly, when you go over your medical history and chat with one of their doctors, it’s entirely possible that they decide to go a different route – away from prescription medication. And that’s fine! Because when it comes down to it: Form Health is tackling weight loss from so many angles and with such expertise and focus on long-term results that it’s absolutely worth opening up a dialogue with them (if you are medically obese, that is).
If you value accountability, informed planning and decision-making, expert help, tracking milestones, and a supportive community through your weight loss journey, Form Health is worth the $99-199/mo price tag. And worst case scenario, you can just cancel within 30 days for a refund, if you’re not sold on it.
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