Tampa Rejuvenation Can Help You Keep That New Year’s Resolution!

By Matt Wiley

No two people are exactly alike. Whether it’s their personalities, a facial feature or two or body types, even identical twins are usually slightly different. The same goes for each person’s body’s response to weight-loss techniques. Exercise and a healthy diet work wonders for some people in a matter of weeks or months, while others work just as hard and see little or no results. For the latter, consider a visit to Tampa Rejuvenation.

With one of its three locations in nearby New Tampa (at Bearss Ave. and Bruce B. Downs, or BBD, Blvd.), Tampa Rejuvenation specializes in medical weight-loss through the use of bio-identical hormone therapy, combined with nutrition and fitness.

According to its website, with a little help from doctor-prescribed and FDA (Food & Drug Administration)-approved medications to reduce hunger, enhance energy levels, improve ability for physical activity, increase stamina for exercise and increase an individual’s resting metabolic rate (or the amount of calories burned while the body is at rest) Tampa Rejuvenation can help you get on track to a healthy lifestyle.

For the past five years, Brett Markowitz — the Tampa Palms resident who started Tampa Rejuvenation — and his team of medical doctors and staffers, have been helping treat those with weight issues at three locations, one here in New Tampa, with a second location in South Tampa and another now open in Brandon.

“(Tampa Rejuvenation) works with individuals who have various issues, such as hormone or thyroid imbalances, food-sensitivity or weight-gain issues, vitamin-deficiency or a mineral imbalance,” Markowitz says. “A lot of patients are put on medication for blood pressure or hypertension by their primary care physicians. We agree that these patients may need those medications, but many times, these doctors aren’t trying to help patients in a preventive manner. People have to take some of these medications for the rest of their lives.”

Markowitz says that, for him, helping people lose weight comes from personal experience. After learning about his own body and losing weight himself, he says he realized that most people don’t know that in order to accomplish their weight-loss goals, it’s important to first understand how their own bodies work. A former personal trainer, Markowitz also holds a nutrition degree from Huntington College of Health Science in Knoxville, TN.

“The goal is to teach people to incorporate a different lifestyle that they can maintain,” he says.

And that’s where the work of Dr. Johanna deVrye can help.

“When patients come in, I first try to figure out exactly what issues they’re having and look at each patient’s medical history,” says Dr. deVrye, who earned her undergraduate and medical degrees from prestigious Northwestern University in Chicago. “Then, I take a look at their physical exam, blood work and saliva test and use that to come up with a diagnosis and plan of treatment.”

Dr. deVrye says that her practice is split between hormone therapy and weight-loss treatment. Some of the most common issues she encounters are low testosterone, lack of energy and libido issues in men, and low energy and lack of focus in women.

“It’s a combination of things,” she explains. “People come in for all kinds of reasons.”

However, Markowitz says that the main reason people come to Tampa Rejuvenation is to feel better, lose weight and be able to become active.

When a patient visits Tampa Rejuvenation, he or she is given a free meeting with a staff member who goes over the patient’s goals. If the patient decides to begin treatment, they undergo lab tests, a physical and a consultation with Dr. deVrye to figure out the right plan of action based upon the patient’s test results.

It is still a good idea, however, to consult with your primary care physician before beginning any exercise or weight-loss program.

“A lot of people come in for weight loss and then end up getting hormone therapy, as well, because they realize that it will help them reach their weight-loss goals more successfully, and also just feel better,” Dr. deVrye says.

Dr. deVrye met Markowitz after taking a break from practicing Internal Medicine in Pittsburgh and moving to Florida. He was looking for physicians and she was looking for a new way to practice medicine. Both agree that it was a perfect match.

When she was working in Internal Medicine, Dr. deVrye says she often became frustrated because patients would come in not feeling well, so they would run tests, but all the usual test results would come back normal.

“I felt like we were missing the problem and we weren’t helping patients the way that I would like to,” she explains. “I feel like this is a way better approach. We’re more holistic in that we look at things that traditional medicine does not. Hormone therapy makes a tremendous difference for a lot of people in how they feel and their energy.”

In many cases, she says, Tampa Rejuvenation is able to help patients with Type-2 diabetes or high blood pressure significantly cut back on, or completely come off of, their medication. “It’s incredibly rewarding when that happens,” she says.

 

Hormone Therapy Explained

According to the Tampa Rejuvenation website, hormone therapy helps to replace the body’s natural hormones that have been lost over time with age. By replacing those hormones and bringing them back up to a normal, balanced level, Tampa Rejuvenation is able to help patients prevent themselves from getting many age- and weight-related illnesses.

However, instead of using synthetic hormones, which Dr. deVrye says can have negative side effects when introduced to the body, Tampa Rejuvenation uses “bio-identical” hormones, which are produced by plants and converted into chemical molecules in a laboratory to match the same chemical molecules found in the human body.

Whether it’s for weight loss, or just to feel better, Tampa Rejuvenation really can help rejuvenate your lifestyle, but don’t just take the staff’s word for it, check out the numerous customer testimonials on the company’s website at TampaRejuvenation.com.

“I had reached my limit, weighing 207 pounds,” says New Tampa resident Patricia Still. “I was miserable. I didn’t want to see any of my friends I had not seen for a long time. That’s when I found Tampa Rejuvenation. It saved me. Now, I’m 51 pounds lighter. I feel great about myself and don’t mind running into old friends.”

To lose those holiday pounds and finally keep them off, visit Tampa Rejuvenation (14448 BBD, in the Arbor Ridge Professional Park, near E. Bearss Ave.). It is open on Monday from 11 a.m.-7 p.m., on Wednesday from 8 a.m.-4 p.m. and noon-8 p.m. on Thursday. Or, visit TampaRejuvenation.com or call 558-9500 for more information.