April 12, 2025
We noticed a post on Instagram today that pitches a company that will set up a medical weight loss program, using GLP-1 drugs for gyms. We shouldn’t be surprised. Everyone else has entered the GLP-1 gold rush, including med spas, so why not gyms as well?
The company offering this “opportunity” is Asher Med/Asher Health. No medical team or experience needed. They provide business practice insurance, a patient care coordinator, a physician network, and compliant pharmacies. The program provides fitness plans, nutrition/meal plans, software and more for customers. You can get started in 24 hours. This is a telehealth/virtual program.
Asher Med claims to have helped 500+ medical weight loss clinics. They will “certify” you via their coaches. The cost appears to be $1,997 to get started, and this an affiliate program. Asher Med is fundamentally a software-as-a-service (SaaS) company. Their platform seamlessly connects your patients with licensed independent medical providers. They facilitate a streamlined administrative process and automated integration with pharmacies and medical providers, but do not provide medical advice, employ medical staff, or prescribe medications directly.
Monthly software subscription: $297/month (waived until 2026). You set and directly collect payments from your clients. Separately, Asher Med charges you fixed administrative fees and medication costs (set by independent third-party pharmacies), which allows you to keep the difference as your profit.
As an Affiliate/Partner, you get immediate access to: ● GLP-1 Partner Certification Course: Comprehensive education on effectively marketing and positioning the program. ● Partner Portal: Client management, billing tracking, and medication pricing transparency. ● Affiliate/Partner Community: Resources, community support, and live weekly training calls.
Contact: joinasher.com, email: start@ashermd.com, Email: josh@joinasher.com Phone: (469) 523-0104
Headquarters: Dallas, Texas Phone: (469-669-1999), Founded in 2023
Asher Med is not the only company providing GLP-1 access for gym club members. Several other health club chains are getting into the market. Take Life Time, for example. In the Fall of 2024, Jeff Zwiefel, CEO, said the gym chain would pilot a program to prescribe weight loss drugs for members. They plan to bring health care professionals into the gyms to deliver the medications, working with their members, primary care doctors, trainers, and nutritionists to form a “comprehensive plan” that includes the medicine but also exercise, nutrition, counseling, and social support. Life Time, which has about 170 locations across the country, says it hopes to roll out the offering nationwide.
After Life Time’s announcement, Equinox made similar headlines in People magazine. “We’re creating an internal education program at the Equinox Fitness Training Institute, adding the GLP-1 protocol to coach the many members who are using them.” Industry leaders are hoping the drugs are a doorway to fitness and permanent lifestyle changes.
If Life Time and Equinox are starting to offer these programs, soon, “it’s going to be everybody else” too. But instead of having someone on this drug for 40 years, we should have them on it for 6 months, develop a really sound strength and conditioning program that will allow them to increase muscle mass, increase bone density, change the diet, and then wean off, because we still don’t know what the long-term effects are.”
Xponential Fitness, which owns boutique brands such as Club Pilates, Rumble and Pure Barre, acquired a chain of weight loss medical clinics in Southern California staffed with doctors who can prescribe GLP-1s, in 2024.
Commentary
Asher Med claims that the gym will have zero liability. We’re not so sure about that. If a gym’s customer has problems with the GLP-1 drugs and decides to sue, do you think they will limit themselves to legal action against Asher Med and not the gym? Not likely. We’re not sure if Asher is providing the compounded drugs, but that seems likely, considering the cheaper cost. The problem with those meds is that they will not be available past April 22, based on the FDA’s mandate. So then what drugs will Asher Med be able to deliver for gym customers, the brand names at full price? What’s the total monthly cost to the customer? We also have a problem with “no experience necessary”. What customer wants to sign up for a medical program where the owners have NO experience with weight loss programs?
Learn More About The Weight Loss Market
Marketdata LLC has just published a new report: “The U.S. Weight Loss Market: Commercial (non-medical) Programs & Products”, March 2025. This is a 220-page analysis of commercial weight loss programs/companies and how they have been affected by and respond to the onslaught of the GLP-1 drugs competition.
The $38 billion U.S. commercial weight loss market is 15% larger than in 2020, but has had to pivot to adjust to huge competition from the popular GLP-1 drugs. The large commercial chains have been hurt the most since 2022. The business has gone virtual, and some competitors have added the GLP-1 drugs to their programs to position themselves for a new future.
However, some commercial markets have held up well. Diet soft drinks have shown surprising strength, and high protein meal replacements have been positioned as an adjunct to the weight loss drugs. The weight loss apps market is growing strongly. The ranks of commercial weight loss centers have been thinned, and franchising is all but dead as a growth model.
Some Report Findings::
- Marketdata estimates that the U.S. commercial (non-medical) weight loss market, for programs, products and services, was worth $38.4 billion in 2024, down slightly from $38.8 billion in 2022. Commercial services represent 53% of the $72.2 billion total market now, down from 82% in 2020, prior to the GLP-1s boom.
- The commercial weight loss programs market segment contracted by 29.2% in 2023, to $3.24 billion, and another 23.7% to $2.47 billion in 2024, due to competition from GLP-1s drugs. This amounts to a 56% decline in just two years.
- Commercial weight loss companies have lost $2 billion in revenues since 2022 due to the competition from GLP-1 drugs. Jeny Craig went bankrupt, Profile Plan closed, and NutriSystem’s private equity parent Wellful is having debt issues.
- The “average” weight loss center had annual receipts of $646,250 in 2022. But, sales have fallen since then, to $484,000 per center in 2024.
- There may be an opportunity for commercial weight loss firms to post some growth in the second half of 2025. The GLP-1s shortage is over, and the compounding pharmacies have to stop making these meds as of May 22. Consumers will then have to pay full price for the brand name meds. Many will opt for less costly (non-medical) diet programs.
- The business has gone virtual. Operating a retail, brick& mortar weight loss center or franchise has become too difficult in this era, with rising real estate and staff costs. Many businesses have pivoted to a virtual delivery model, which can be scaled larger and quicker, and is more profitable.
- Some weight loss market segments have held up well: meal replacements, diet soft drinks, and weight loss apps (a growing $990 million market).
Details, Purchase This Report:
The report’s description and Table of Contents are found at this website, see home page, Off The Shelf Market Reports, red link for Diet Market – Our Specialty, or contact us at 813-971-8080 and we’ll email them to you. The report contains 62 tables and charts.
Price: $995. A 25-page, $99 Overview Summary report is also available.
Included… dollar value & growth rates of all major commercial weight loss market segments (early 1980s to 2024 and 2025 & 2028 forecasts), latest market trends and company developments, status reports for: diet soft drinks, artificial sweeteners, commercial weight loss centers, multi-level marketing diet plans, retail and MLM meal replacements and weight loss supplements, and low-cal frozen entrees. Analysis of the medical weight loss programs market and competition from MDs, hospitals, medical clinic chains, and telehealth.
The report includes a 35-year revenue analysis of the market through past recessions and fad diet cycles, plus weight loss center franchising, and extensive national/state commercial centers’ operating ratios. Rankings & revenues of top commercial chains, brand sales, and a Reference Directory. Competitor profiles for: Weight Watchers, Jenny Craig, NutriSystem, Medifast, Herbalife, Noom, MyFitness Pal, Slim-Fast (Glanbia), Simply Good Foods (Atkins Nutritionals), Slimgenics, Profile by Sanford, BeachBody, Metabolic Research, Visalis Life Sciences, Isagenix, Shaklee, AMWAY (Quixtar), and Nu-Skin.