Dr. Marci Laudenslager

19/06/2026

19/06/2026

Behind the scenes with the Medicine Made General Podcast crew! Stay tuned for more tips about protein and check out the full episode wherever you listen to podcasts.

21/04/2026

Super honored to be featured in SELF magazine and their recent piece on GLP-1s and bone health!

Plus, expert-backed tips for protecting your bones.

07/03/2026

Incretin mimetics ( ) are revolutionary, multifaceted multitaskers. They have scientifically proven benefits in metabolic medicine, cardiovascular disease, liver disease, and kidney disease; the list of clinical applications for this medication class continues to grow by the day.

I've been fascinated by the mounting evidence on the use of GLP-1s in alcohol and substance use disorder as this field of medicine, much like , has historically been plagued by misinformation, disinformation, stigma, and bias.

Patients seeking care in both spaces have been chronically underserved due to misconceptions around the legitimacy of their health conditions.

Here are the hard facts.

Obesity, substance use, and alcohol use disorders are all chronic, complex, relapsing/remitting medical diseases. Once again for the people in the back. These are all medical diseases, not lifestyle choices or failures of character. Further, ALL patients deserve high quality, evidence-based care.

I celebrate the achievements of those researchers and clinicians dedicated to studying this class of medications, especially in misunderstood conditions like obesity and addiction. I truly cannot wait to see how the literature evolves. Stay tuned for what I'm certain will be a banner year in science and medicine.

05/03/2026

Last year I had the pleasure of speaking with the Financial Times about , the concept of , and the role of GLP-1s in chronic disease management.

I was asked "Is taking cheating?"

It's absolutely never cheating to take a medication for a chronic illness you have and I very much appreciated the opportunity to correct the cultural narrative on obesity and obesity treatment. This conversation was the beginning of a broader international dialogue on behavioral health and substance use disorder.

We discussed last year the potential for GLP-1s in the treatment of substance and alcohol use disorder; I'm excited to share the evidence for GLP-1s in this space has only evolved with time and grows stronger by the day.

Stay tuned for more on recently published studies on the benefit of GLP-1s in both the prevention and treatment of substance use disorder.

These medications are truly revolutionary and transformative for so many patients. If you're struggling with obesity and have a past or current challenge with substance or alcohol use disorder, reach out to your obesity and/or addiction medicine provider to discuss which treatment options may be best for you.

Video Credit: Financial Times

28/02/2026

Weight gain is a common, though under-recognized, side effect of many prescription and over-the-counter medications.

Before we dive any deeper, I need to say one thing: please please pleeeeaaase do not go rogue and stop taking your prescription medications for fear of weight gain. First, this can be incredibly dangerous. Second, just because certain medications have been shown to cause weight gain in larger population studies doesn't mean they will for you as an individual.

How do medications cause in the first place? I'm glad you asked. One of the most common mechanisms is increased appetite. If you've ever hammered antihistamines during allergy season and found yourself mysteriously at the bottom of a bag of chips, this is you experiencing the impact of antihistamines on metabolism in real time. This increase in appetite happens in the brain, btw, and is sometimes conscious ( ) and sometimes not. Medications can also lower your metabolism rate, cause fatigue, make exercise feel more difficult, cause fluid retention, increase , and increase body fat production and storage (and usually not in the areas we'd like for it to be stored).

If you're starting to get worried, hang in there with me for just a little longer. There are lots of things we can do to manage medication-associated weight gain. For over-the-counter drugs, you can try a weight neutral option. If these don't work for you, stick with what works and set up your lifestyle and home environment to support any increase in appetite the drug may cause (up your , stay hydrated, avoid skipping meals, manage , get enough ). Finally, if you're on a prescription medication that's affecting your weight, talk with your doctor. There are usually weight neutral options we can use and sometimes it helps to add a weight loss drug. Never (srsly neverrrr) stop a prescription drug without talking with your doctor first. If you're looking for a doctor trained in medicine, there are great databases to use through or .

28/02/2026

Our digital culture is flooded with medical advice and it sometimes feels impossible to know who you can trust. This is especially true in . When you’re reading information online, (especially information about metabolism & weight loss meds), always ask yourself 2 questions. 1) Does this physician have sufficient experience? 2) Is their experience relevant to what they’re talking about? To be able to answer these questions, it’s helpful to know a little bit about how physicians are trained.

To become a physician, you first need to go to medical school. After you graduate, you can technically refer to yourself as “doctor.” I say “technically” because it takes years to truly earn that title and refer to yourself as such without getting a lump in your throat. Just watch a few episodes of Scrubs and you’ll get my meaning. Btw this show is still the most accurate depiction of medical training I’ve ever seen

After med school comes residency and this is usually ~3 yrs. 1st year is called "intern year" and, if you didn’t either cry or p*e yourself on your first day, you’re either lying or have pushed all memory of that day deep into your subconscious. Anyway, after intern year, you spend the next few years learning to care for others and honing your identity as a physician.

After residency, you can either get a job or do more training (fellowship) to become a subspecialist. Either way, you need to pass the boards before you can practice as a legitimate, board certified physician.

So back to our questions. If you’re following a physician online and they’re talking about , make sure they've had formal training. The most experienced physicians in this space will be board certified in obesity medicine (DABOM). This is not to say others aren't skilled, capable physicians. It means, rather, that you’ll get the most accurate, up-to-date, evidence-based advice from those who have trained extensively in this area.

To defend yourself against quackery, always research your sources online and, when it comes to your individual health, speak directly with your doctor. One who knows you IRL and one you trust.

21/02/2026

Our cultural conversation around health and weight management often (and incorrectly, I might add) focuses just on lifestyle measures and, specifically, on nutrition and activity.

The truth is that is a highly complex chronic metabolic disease with myriad etiologies. I've heard this "eat less, move more" garbage more times than I can count and it's time we set the record straight.

Weight gain is absolutely NOT about calories in/calories out. If you remember one thing through all of the noise that's out there about metabolism, remember this: the and paradigms are absolute nonsense and ignore decades of elegant research that highlights the true complexity of the human metabolism. I'll come back to this topic in the future as there's lots to share including common medications that cause weight gain and lesser recognized medical conditions that do the same. Today, however, we're zeroing in on .

Sleep is one lifestyle factor that can have a massive impact on the metabolism. Insomnia, sleep apnea, and even shift work can disrupt the metabolism and cause weight gain. Going through menopause? Kids keeping you up? Stressed about work or school? Yep, you guessed it, even these seemingly subtle sleep disruptions can impact health over time. If quality sleep feels like a luxury, you're not at all alone in this sentiment. Life is lifeing hard for most of us these days, but keep in mind even the tiniest improvement in sleep hours and/or quality will give your health a boost. Not concerned about weight? There's something here for you too -- quality sleep can also benefit your heart, lungs, and brain.

For better health, we don't need expensive supplements or hacks. Sleep is one of the most underrated, evidence-based health interventions -- and it doesn't cost a thing.

12/02/2026

While compounded weight loss medications have grown in popularity, there are significant safety concerns and health risks to be aware of. The recently issued a strong warning against the use of compounded and . Here's what you need to know to keep yourself safe and make informed decisions about your health. You can also find trustworthy information at www.fda.gov.

07/02/2026

One of the most common questions I get from patients is "Should I aim for a normal BMI?" I won't bury the lede, the answer is a hard no. First, there's no such thing as a "normal" BMI. Second, BMI is one of the most useless metrics in medicine and we really shouldn't be using it all. Now, I don't want to trigger my colleagues in this space so I'll say that there are some situations in which BMI can be (sort of) useful and there are practical considerations like billing codes BUT we need to talk about limitations because these are super important so don't @ me.

With metrics like BMI, the goal is to be able to use said metric to better understand health and chronic disease risk. BMI doesn't do this because it's trash at estimating what our body is actually made of ( ). Beyond not being able to accurately estimate body fat %, BMI won't at all tell you how your body fat is distributed. We know that higher body fat % (and more fat around the abdomen, specifically) is associated with increased risk for chronic diseases like and . For any clinical metric to be useful, it must estimate burden of abdominal (visceral) fat with reasonable accuracy.

One useful calculation is the waist-to-height ratio. This one was developed and validated using data from a diverse population of men and women (unlike BMI which was developed using data just from white European men). Ultimately, however, tape measures will only get you so far. The best tools are those that directly measure body fat (BIA, DXA, etc.). The reason why these tools aren't used more widely is mainly cost. However, if a clinic can afford a scale and a stadiometer (height measuring thingy), it can probably afford a tape measure, making waist-to-height just as accessible as BMI.

While numbers can be useful at times, we're not numbers. We're people. I advise my patients to focus on health goals rather than number goals. If you'd like to lose 5 lbs, ask yourself why. What will that 5 lb loss mean for your health? There's no "right" weight for any individual person and sometimes anchoring on number goals can shift focus away from what is truly important -- health.