The Doctor Who Became the Patient: Part 1
A physician’s first-person account of GLP-1 medications, a shocking Full Body DEXA scan, and the Achieve system that changed everything.
Alex Foxman, MD, FACP, ABOM — Founder, Achieve Health and Weight Loss
5-minute read
I Lost 30 Pounds on GLP-1's. Then I Discovered What I Actually Lost.
Dr. Alex Foxman, MD, FACP, DABOM
He was the doctor who prescribed the medication. Then he became the patient.
For more than 20 years, I practiced medicine with a growing frustration: modern care had almost nothing real to offer people living with overweight and obesity. These were biology problems, not willpower problems — but medicine often treated them like a moral failure.
Then incretin therapy arrived. When the data on GLP-1 receptor agonists came in, I knew immediately this was different: a real tool for a real disease.
In 2022, I founded Achieve Health and Weight Loss around that insight. The model was built to support these medications with the kind of physician-led care they deserve.
As I deepened that work, I earned board certification in Obesity Medicine. One lesson became impossible to ignore: power without precision is risk.
Then I took the medication myself. For a while, the mirror told a convincing story: the weight came off, the scale moved, my clothes fit better, and my energy improved.
About six months ago, I did what I now recommend to every patient: I got a Full Body DEXA scan. The home body composition scale is useful, but DEXA gives you the full picture — fat, muscle, bone, and how you compare with people like you.
When the results came back, my first thought was simple: This doesn’t make sense.
When the results came back, my first thought was simple: This doesn't make sense.
The scan showed what the mirror had missed: my lean muscle mass had dropped, and my bone density was lower than it should have been.
I had lost 30 pounds — and, quietly, more than I realized. I was taking the medication. I wasn’t personally running the full system around it. I am a great physician, but was a bad patient. That distinction turned out to matter more than I expected. What came next wasn’t a fix. It was the beginning of doing this right — for the rest of my life.
The mirror said progress. The DEXA said something else entirely. Three Full Body DEXA scans taken over seven months revealed what 30 pounds of weight loss actually cost — and why every number on that report matters more than anything on a bathroom scale.
In Article 2, we break down the data in full: what each metric means, how the numbers shifted, and what the scan exposed that no scale or mirror ever could.
The scale was lying to me.
Stay Tuned for Article 2: What the Scale Doesn't Tell You
About The Author
Alex Foxman, MD, FACP, DABOM
Achieve Health & Weight Loss Founder & Medical Director
Dr. Alex Foxman, MD, FACP, DABOM, is a distinguished leader in weight management, internal medicine, and preventive care, renowned for his groundbreaking contributions to the medical, health and wellness industries. As one of the few physicians in the nation—less than 0.5%—to hold dual Board Certifications in Obesity Medicine and Internal Medicine, Dr. Foxman exemplifies the pinnacle of medical expertise and dedication.