About Am I Eligible? How It Works Costs & Insurance Location

Lifestyle Weight Loss

Become a Patient How to switch your care to UC San Diego Health

For Referring Physicians Transfers, referrals and consultations

We want to help you create the life you want.

Count on UC San Diego Health's Weight Management Program, which has successfully helped people make positive lifestyle changes to prevent chronic illness, improve their health and live life to the fullest.

We have designed a Lifestyle Weight Loss plan based on scientifically proven methods with a structured and supportive approach for long-term weight management. There's no strict diet or meal plan to follow.

Instead, you learn and practice the tools and skills necessary to make real-time decisions while modifying your diet, physical activities and behaviors that are key to effectively managing your weight. Our goal is to help you adopt and maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle for a lifetime.

Is This Program for Me?

Our Lifestyle Weight Loss Program is best suited for people who:

Are tired of fad diets and quick fixes
Are willing to examine their habits and experiment with new strategies
Want to learn how to get rid of unhealthy lifestyle habits and adopt healthy ones
Are focused on sustainable weight loss over time
Are ready to invest time and energy into long-term lifestyle changes for better health
Can attend weekly group sessions for a minimum of 12 weeks
Want to reduce excess weight and improve chronic health conditions, including diabetes, hypertension / high blood pressure, fatty liver disease, GERD (acid reflux), high cholesterol, metabolic syndrome and sleep apnea.
Want the option to combine weight-loss medication treatment with lifestyle changes for more successful results
Previously have had weight-loss surgery and want help in maintaining a healthy weight

We also offer another option:

SLIM Weight Loss program

How Lifestyle Weight Loss Program Works

Participants in the Lifestyle Weight Loss Program meet weekly in a group setting. This is an education-based program that does not have a strict diet or meal replacement plan. Our registered dietitian leads supportive and engaging sessions to help you focus on improving your habits and mindset about fitness, nutrition and lifestyle.

You will learn proven behavior-modification strategies that will inspire you to be more active during the day, improve the quality of your diet and stay on track even when eating out or under stress.

Our specially designed classes cover new topics every week to help you achieve successful, long-lasting weight loss. They include:

Setting up your home to automate healthy habits
Strategies for portion control and mindful eating
Adding variety to physical activity to make it more enjoyable
Learning from findings of research studies, such as the National Weight Control Registry, the Diabetes Prevention Program and the Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) study
Trending nutrition topics, such as prebiotics and probiotics
Navigating eating out, while making the best and healthiest choices
Balancing carbohydrates, protein and fat

Follow Up With Longer-Term Weight Maintenance Plans

Balanced nutrition, proven behavioral health strategies along with continued, long-term follow-up make a difference in pounds lost and health gained. Once you finish the Lifestyle Weight Loss Program, you can continue working with our highly trained staff to maintain your healthy weight.

Through our weekly and monthly weight management classes, you can practice the nutrition habits, physical activity and lifestyle skills over and over so that your habits become second nature. This will help increase your chances of long-term success and enable you to continue your health management journey on your own.

Program Costs and Insurance

Some of your costs associated with our Weight Management Program may be covered by your insurance plan. Check with your insurer.

Our weight management classes may be reimbursed by your health plan.

At this time, we do not bill your insurance directly. You can pay out of pocket and ask your health insurance plan about which costs can be reimbursed and the steps you need to take. Your doctor can provide a letter of medical necessity, which can be useful when seeking reimbursement for these costs.

You may also be able to use your employer-provided flexible spending account (FSA) or health savings account (HSA) to help pay for some expenses with pretax dollars.