→ Something people say
"I can't spend half a day crossing the city for an appointment."
An online weight loss clinic for Toronto, from home.
Ontario Virtual Weight Loss is an online weight loss clinic for adults in Toronto. Your weight loss program starts with a video visit with a Nurse Practitioner from your kitchen table or a quiet room at work, then blood work at a lab collection centre near you. No downtown office to get to, because there isn't one.
The real answer
Toronto is big. Your appointment doesn't have to be.
Medical weight loss in Toronto, without the trip: you meet your Nurse Practitioner by video, wherever you are in the city, and the only errand is a blood test at a collection centre close to home or work. Your plan is written around your real week, commute included.
- Your history, online, on your scheduleyou
- A video visit, no transit requiredyour NP
- Blood work at a collection centre near youlocal lab
- A plan that fits your actual weekyour NP, with you
The trip is the part that usually gets cancelled.
In Canada's most populated city, getting across town takes a chunk of the day. Statistics Canada found that people who lived and worked in the Toronto area and took transit had an average one-way commute of 47.6 minutes in 2021, and that 87,840 transit riders faced an hour or more each way. A video visit takes the commute out of the appointment entirely.
Your BMI is a starting point, not the whole answer.
Toronto is a city of many backgrounds: Statistics Canada reports that 55.7% of the city's residents belong to a racialized group. That matters here. Canada's obesity guideline says BMI on its own doesn't show how weight is affecting your health, and should be read with cut-offs suited to a person's ethnic background. So your Nurse Practitioner looks at your whole health, your labs and your history, not just one number.
You don't need a family doctor to start.
Ontario's family doctors' college (OCFP) reported in 2023 that at least 415,000 people in Toronto were without a family doctor. If that's you, you can still start: no referral is needed for the online assessment. If you do have one, nothing about that changes.
Video from wherever you are, labs near where you are.
- Answer the assessment online. Your history, medications and what you've tried, in your own time.
- Meet your Nurse Practitioner by video. From home, from a parked car on your lunch break, from wherever's private.
- Give blood at a lab collection centre near you. Your NP sends the requisition; you pick a centre close to home or work. Then your results are explained in plain words.
- Get a plan in writing. Prescription treatment only if it's appropriate and you want it, plus steps that fit your week.
- Keep checking in. How you feel, side effects, adjustments.
A plan built on the city you actually live in.
A plan that only works on paper doesn't help. Yours is written around the week you really have, and in Toronto that can include what's already on your doorstep: the City of Toronto describes its ravine system as "among the largest in the world," over 300 km long and covering 17% of the city's land. Movement that fits your life tends to be the movement that lasts.
Visits happen while you're in Ontario.
The College of Nurses of Ontario considers care to take place where the client is physically located. If work or a trip takes you out of the province, we move your visit to when you're back.
A Nurse Practitioner leads your care, and you can check them.
In Ontario, Nurse Practitioners are authorized to diagnose, order and interpret tests and prescribe medications. Meet your clinician
Questions, answered plainly.
Is there a weight loss clinic in Toronto I'd go to?
No, and you don't need one. Ontario Virtual Weight Loss is an online clinic: visits are by video, and the only in-person step is blood work at a lab collection centre near you in Toronto.
Who can join from Toronto?
Adults 18 and over who are in Ontario at the time of their visits. Prescription treatment is generally considered for adults with a BMI of 30 or more, or 27 or more with a weight-related health condition. Your clinician makes the final decision. Is this for me?
Do I need a referral or a family doctor?
No. You can get started yourself, with or without a family doctor.
What if I need care the program doesn't cover?
Your Nurse Practitioner arranges a referral when something needs another specialist.
Will I get a prescription?
Not necessarily. Prescription treatment is offered only if your clinician decides it's appropriate and safe for you, and only if you want it. The rest of the program helps either way.
→ Your turn
Say it openly. We'll answer properly.
Say it openly, from wherever you are in Toronto. We'll answer properly.