Real talk about
weight, health,
& your best life

"Healthcare should go beyond treatment of disease and should aim to achieve overall well-being. This is unique to everyone's lifestyle and goals."

Dr. Tan attended undergraduate at the University of Washington, earning degrees in neurobiology and biochemistry. She completed medical school at The Ohio State University, followed by her general surgery residency at Swedish Medical Center in Seattle.

She went on to complete a fellowship in bariatric surgery at Legacy Good Samaritan Hospital in Portland, Oregon, where she received advanced training in minimally invasive techniques including laparoscopic and robotic surgery, endoscopy, and complex foregut surgery. She is double board certified in general surgery and obesity medicine. She has presented at multiple local and national conferences and has published peer-reviewed journal articles on various surgical topics.

Dr. Tan is a Pacific Northwest native who loves spending time outside whenever possible. In 2017, she cycled across the United States from San Diego to Delaware over the course of two months. Today, she still enjoys cycling (much shorter distances) with her husband and toddler.

I'm a surgeon who has spent a decade training to help people lose weight. So why don't I do liposuction?

I actually have patients sent to me by plastic surgeons — people who came in hoping liposuction would solve their problem, only to be told: you need to see Dr. Tan. That situation usually involves the same specific concern: weight that has accumulated around the midsection. And the reason liposuction can't fix it comes down to biology.

Two types of fat

Subcutaneous fat sits just beneath the skin. You can pinch it. It's the fat liposuction is designed to remove — a specialized device literally suctions out fat cells from just under the surface.

Visceral fat is different. It sits deep inside the abdomen, surrounding your organs, behind your abdominal muscles. Liposuction cannot reach it. No surgical tool can remove it directly.

Everyone carries a mix of both, but when visceral fat predominates, it creates the characteristic "pot belly" or "beer belly" shape. This is more common in men — but for women, the hormonal shifts of perimenopause and menopause trigger a real change in how fat is distributed, and the midsection often becomes the primary site of accumulation.

Why visceral fat matters for your health

Visceral fat isn't just a cosmetic concern. It's the type of fat most strongly linked to metabolic disease, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular risk. Reducing it isn't just about how you look — it's one of the most meaningful things you can do for your long-term health.

And the only way to reduce visceral fat is through actual weight loss. The tools that accomplish this most effectively are bariatric surgery and medications like GLP-1s.

Two different goals, two different specialties

I have enormous respect for what cosmetic plastic surgeons do — everyone deserves to feel and look their best, and body contouring has a real and important role. But what I've trained for is different: the health benefits that come with meaningful, sustained weight loss. That's why my focus is on surgery and medication — not because liposuction isn't valuable, but because it simply can't do what my patients need most.

Two published studies on semaglutide. Same medication. One group lost 15% of their starting weight. The other lost 10%. Why did one group lose 50% more than the other?

The answer might surprise you — because it has nothing to do with the drug itself.

The two studies

The 15% result comes from the STEP 1 trial — the landmark study that put semaglutide on the map. Participants started the medication and stayed on it for over a year. They received monthly counseling on diet and exercise and were required to log their food and activity throughout. Compliance was high: nearly everyone completed the full year on medication.

The 10% figure comes from real-world data — chart reviews from actual patients navigating a real healthcare system, with all the friction that entails. Less follow-up, more barriers to staying on medication, side effects, access issues. Nearly 60% of patients had stopped the medication within a year.

The difference is consistency

That's it. Consistency is the single biggest driver of long-term, sustainable weight loss — on GLP-1s or otherwise.

First: stay on the medication. This sounds obvious, but it's worth saying plainly — you will lose more weight if you stay on it. Many patients want to stop as soon as they hit their goal weight, and I do work with patients on carefully tapering off GLP-1s. But that process needs to be supervised and gradual. I don't recommend stopping without consistent follow-up from someone who can monitor your progress.

Second: build consistency into your daily life. I hear this often: "I just need to hit my goal weight as fast as possible, then I know I'll be able to keep it off." But that thinking has no plan for what comes after — and it comes from a culture that has glorified the crash diet for far too long.

If you treat your GLP-1 as a vehicle for a crash diet, that's exactly what will happen. You'll reach a low point, stop the medication, and regain the weight.

What sustainable success actually looks like

Consistency around four things: your medication, your nutrition, your movement, and your follow-up care. Not perfection — consistency. That's what separates the 15% from the 10%, and it's what I focus on with every patient I work with.

When most people start a GLP-1 medication, they quietly assume they'll be a super responder. The reality? Relatively few people are — and understanding that ahead of time can make a real difference in how you approach your treatment.

What's average with GLP-1s?

Let's start with realistic expectations. Average real-world weight loss on a GLP-1 medication — depending on which one you're taking — is roughly 8–15% of your starting body weight. For someone starting at 200 lbs, that's about 16–30 lbs. And "average" means that around half of people will lose less than that.

That's often less than people expect. Most have heard about the person who dropped 60, 70, even 80 lbs on a GLP-1 — and they assume that'll be them.

So what is a super responder?

There's no official medical definition, but a super responder is someone who loses significantly more weight than average on a GLP-1. They exist — but by definition, they're the exception, not the rule. Expecting to be one when you're not is a setup for disappointment and, often, unnecessary self-blame.

Can you predict it before starting?

Honestly? No. I can't tell you for certain whether you'll be a super responder before you try. But having worked with many patients on these medications, I do notice patterns. A few things seem to correlate with stronger responses:

Significant food noise. If you're frequently snacking throughout the day — especially in the evenings after dinner — GLP-1s can dramatically quiet that mental chatter, which often leads to outsized results.

Larger portion sizes. People who need more food to feel full tend to notice a bigger shift in satiety on these medications.

Regular alcohol consumption. GLP-1s reduce alcohol cravings in many people. If you're currently having several drinks a week, cutting back can account for significant weight loss on its own.

Prior weight loss surgery. These medications work synergistically with post-bariatric anatomy. In my experience, patients who've had surgery often respond more strongly to GLP-1s than they did before the procedure.

If you're not a super responder — that's okay

Not being a super responder doesn't mean GLP-1s won't help you. They very likely will. It just means your results may look different from what you've seen online — and that's completely normal.

Understanding where you realistically fall helps you stay the course instead of giving up on a medication that's actually working. Next up, I'll be sharing how to maximize your results on GLP-1s — whether you're a super responder or not.

I'm going to share the single biggest mistake I see with patients taking GLP-1 medications. You might not like it — but it's important.

How GLP-1s actually work

GLP-1 is a naturally occurring hormone your body secretes after you eat. Its job is to signal fullness — essentially telling your body, I'm done, time to digest, no more food needed. GLP-1 medications amplify this effect, so you feel the way you'd feel after a big meal, pretty much all the time. That's why they're so effective for weight loss.

The pitfall nobody talks about

What these medications do is actually unnatural. Hunger is an important bodily signal — it keeps you nourished and, frankly, alive. So when patients tell me, "I don't feel hungry at all, so I just don't eat until I feel lightheaded" — that's not a win. That's the scariest thing I see with these medications. Far scarier than the rare side effects that dominate the headlines.

Yes, you'll lose weight if you're barely eating. Of course you will. But it's deeply short-sighted.

What's actually happening to your body

When you deprive your body of the nutrients it needs, it will let you know. You'll feel tired, weak, and struggle to get through the day. That discomfort makes people want to stop the medication — and after being on such a severe caloric deficit, stopping leads to rapid weight regain.

More critically: you're losing muscle. When the body is starved, it enters conservation mode and breaks down muscle for energy because it's faster and easier than burning fat. Muscle is precious — it supports your metabolism and is very hard to rebuild once lost. By skipping meals, you're not only losing weight in the wrong places, you're actively undermining your ability to keep the weight off long-term.

What you should do instead

You cannot simply "listen to your body" on GLP-1 medications. The whole point of these drugs is that your body's hunger signals are suppressed. That means you have to be intentional about eating — paying attention to what you eat, how much protein you're getting, and the nutritional quality of your meals.

This is something I work on closely with every patient. It's not always easy, and I'll admit I probably push my patients on this more than anything else. But it is the single most important thing you can do to protect your results and your health while on these medications.