Metabolic Health - Holistically
Weight that will not budge is not a character test.
If you have been told your labs are “normal” but you are still exhausted, gaining weight, and feeling not like yourself—you are not crazy.
At Her Health Lab, weight is treated as part of your hormonal and metabolic picture, not a willpower project. Emily Udseth, our lead provider, is Obesity Medicine Association certified. Visits are unhurried and not scripted based on what insurance would allow. We listen, connect the clinical dots, and build a plan that can include metabolic workup, thyroid care, clinician-guided supplementation, and GLP-1 therapy when it is a fit.
Why This May Belong in the Same Visit As Your Hormones
Care for women is often split: primary care for labs, GYN for cycles, a weight clinic for the scale, and nobody holding the whole story.
Midlife weight gain is a metabolic shift. Abdominal weight can sit in the same “symptom web” as sleep disruption, irritability, forgetfulness, and night sweats—not as a moral failing, and not as a side conversation. Food quality, glucose, thyroid, muscle, and hormones belong on one agenda.
You will leave with a plan you can keep, not a general health tip from a news article that may or may not apply to your health history.
Our Approach: Five Foundations
Weight management at Her Health Lab is holistic on purpose. The tools can change, and medications are prescribed through your insurance if at all possible. However, the sequence is the same:
- Metabolic Health — Understand how your body is handling energy, glucose, inflammation, and fat storage.
- Thyroid Management — Treat thyroid as real medicine on the same timeline as energy, fertility, and midlife change.
- Bioidentical Hormone Therapy — Restore estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone when they belong in the weight and midlife picture, not as a separate “hormone clinic” detour.
- Supplementation — Clinician-guided nutraceuticals, not a generic retail aisle.
- GLP-1s — Prescription tools for appetite, glucose, and metabolic goals, used under supervision and never as the whole plan.
Metabolic Health
our Metabolic Health philosophy
Metabolic health is the foundation of energy, weight regulation, mood, and long-term wellness. We do not treat a single number as the whole story. Lab work is a valuable tool. Symptoms, lifestyle, and medical history go into shared decision-making with it. Getting initial labs completed before your first visit lets us go deeper in the room instead of spending the hour waiting on results. In a weight-focused visit, the conversation often includes:
- How your metabolism is actually behaving — energy crashes, cravings, midsection change, and glucose—not “eat less, try harder.”
- A metabolic frame for food — eating patterns that are lower in insulin spikes (more plants, legumes, nuts, and whole foods; less red and processed meat) can be a useful starting point. One meal plan does not fit every body the same. The point is a framework you can discuss with your provider, especially when glucose already belongs in the visit.
- Muscle, recovery, and strength — weight on the scale is not the same as metabolic health. Growth-hormone–supportive peptides are used in clinic when the goal includes muscle, metabolism, and recovery—not only a smaller number.
- Heart and longevity context — cardiometabolic habits (sleep, movement, blood pressure, glucose, lipids) are part of midlife care, not an afterthought.
If midlife weight has climbed despite “eating clean,” that is a visit agenda, not a shame spiral.
Thyroid Management
how Thyroid Management fits
Thyroid questions are energy, mood, weight, and reproductive questions. They belong in the same picture as your other hormones—not a shrug and a single screening lab. At Her Health Lab:
- Thyroid is evaluated in context: symptoms, history, and the labs that actually answer the question you are sitting with.
- There is not one lab, or one “optimal” screenshot from the internet, that fits everyone. Shared decisions beat a protocol copied from a podcast.
- If you are planning pregnancy, postpartum, or a fertility workup, thyroid timing and testing should still fit that chapter of life.
- Before peptide or GLP-1 therapy, your provider reviews hormone and thyroid status. These systems talk to each other. GLP-1 medicines act on insulin and glucagon pathways and can change how your body handles energy; thyroid hormone needs are part of that review.
Clinician-guided nutrients sometimes discussed for thyroid and metabolic support include iodine, selenium, zinc, and vitamin D3 with K2—chosen for quality and indication, not stacked from a social-media list.
how Bioidentical Hormone Therapy (BHRT) fits
Hormones are not a side conversation to weight. Estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone shape energy, sleep, muscle, midsection change, mood, and how hard the scale is to move. When they shift in perimenopause and menopause, “eat less, try harder” is the wrong assignment.
Bioidentical hormone replacement therapy (BHRT) uses hormones that are chemically identical to what your body already makes. These include estrogen, progesterone, and testosterone. Treatment can be topical, injectable, oral, or a pellet placed under the skin for a steadier, lower-maintenance option.
At Her Health Lab:
- A plan is not a lab printout. Symptoms, lifestyle, and medical history sit next to your numbers in shared decision-making.
- Hormonal weight gain, low energy, brain fog, and mood changes belong on the same visit agenda as glucose, thyroid, and appetite—not a shrug that this is “just aging.”
- Pelleting is one option when you want consistent release over months instead of daily creams or pills. It is a fit for some people, not a mandate for everyone.
- BHRT does not replace metabolic care, thyroid care, supplements, or a GLP-1. It is one foundation. The others still matter.
If you have been told your hormones are “fine” while your body disagrees, that is a visit and should not be dismissed.
Supplementation
Here, nutraceuticals are clinician-guided supplement strategies.
Precision nutrition means understanding your biology and giving it what it needs. We prioritize evidence-informed options and tailored education before we send you to a storefront.
Where we guide patients
- Fullscript — A quality-verified catalog (Pure Encapsulations, Designs for Health, Metagenics, and others) that can be shopped by symptom or sent to you after a consult.
- Thorne Dispensary — Third-party and NSF Certified for Sport® products, including a weight-management bundle (hunger, energy, metabolism, insulin sensitivity), creatine, and a perimenopause/menopause stack. Thorne accepts FSA/HSA.
- Evexias Nutraceuticals — Custom-formulated whole-body support (including thyroid, metabolic, gut, and hormone-adjacent formulas). No prescription is required to order; if you are unsure what you would benefit from, ask your provider first.
- Rho Nutrition — professional-grade support available in clinic.
If you are on a GLP-1: Eating less does not mean your body needs fewer nutrients. Protein, hydration, micronutrients, and gut comfort matter more, not less. Semaglutide and tirzepatide in our peptide menu are offered with B12 or B6. IV hydration is often the missing piece if dehydration hits, appetite is low, or lightheadedness shows up. Amino acids, lipotropic nutrients, and NAD+ are available as add-ons when they fit the plan.
Look for third-party testing, clear dosing, and clean formulations. We will help you choose. We will not hand you a bag of everything.
GLP-1s (semaglutide and tirzepatide) & Other Peptides
GLP-1 and GIP medicines are tools. Used with a provider, they can support appetite control, glucose regulation, insulin sensitivity, inflammation, and weight-management goals. The clinical question is not “what is the strongest shot.” It is whether this is the right tool, for you, with the right safeguards.
Quality First
We use both FDA-approved medications dispensed by traditional pharmacies and, when clinically appropriate, compounded medications prepared by licensed compounding pharmacies. These pharmacies include, but are not limited to, Project Y, Olympia, Casa Pharma, Wesley, and Empower.