I suffered a stroke recently and received a recommendation for Dr. Takem to serve as my primary care physician. Might be the best recommendation I have ever received. My blood pressure is under control and I am losing weight following the program under the care of Dr. Takem and his staff. Dr. Takem and his staff are great. Extremely friendly, knowledgeable, personable and helpful. Rachel and Micah have been great! read more

Like most women my weight has yo-yoed. I have been on every diet you can think of ( Atkins, south beach , Paleo ) etc . The problem is I lose and then gain it back when life interferes. I started on Dr Takems program in February and not only have I successfully lost, I feel like I finally have learnt skills to keep it off. The icing on cake , was losing my little muffin top. after I had reached my goal weight I still had a little abdominal pouch. I went to the clinic , Jeanna the exercise physiologist measured my V02 and both she and Dr Takem gave me tips to get rid of this. Bye bye spanx. The best part of the clinic is everyone is nice, friendly , and approachable including Dr Takem. read more

Dr. Takems weight loss & wellness differentiates itself from many other weight loss management practices out here in my opinion as a patient in many aspects. One of the first notable aspects is that it is not run solely as a profit mill. What I mean by this is that, it's not strictly money on the table , shots, pills, see you in four weeks as most places out here. When you walk into this practice, the way you are received speaks volumes. The courtesy and knowledge of the staff is second to none, the cultural and language diversity is supreme. Not to mention the knowledge and savoir of the Medical director and owner of the practice Dr. Takem himself. I am someone that had been what you will call thin my whole life until I turned 24. I weight 155lbs but shockingly wore size 4 clothes! Yes you heard right. What can I say, Heavy bones. After almost having a miscarriage with my son at five and a half months I went on hormones and steroids and gained a whooping 75lbs! well no excuse because he is a dashing twelve years old boy today but I have never been able to go back to by previous weight and I do not really want to but I want to be healthy. On my own I have done yoyo dieting and exercise and I have managed to take some weight off but gained it back. When I came to Dr. Takem's practice as a patient unlike other doctors I had been to, one of the first things that were done was a mental evaluation. Very important! No other doctor had done that. The doctor gets to talk to you to get a scope of your difficulties. Then blood work, EKG etc. You then get registered for weekly classes in which you are taught on how to eat (counting your calories, the types of food to eat and those to avoid or limit your intake of, what foods to avoid at night, how to grocery shop (reading labels). Healthy options to your favorite foods, different and healthy ways of cooking, and not all plant proteins are none starchy etc. One of the valuable lessons I leant was exercise is very important and you could go to the gym every day but if you do not change how you eat, it was pointless. Just an example of a few things. The support services at Dr. Takem's practice are Steller. Besides the weekly classes, you do weekly weigh-in sessions so the doctor and support staff can monitor your weight progress to know if the program is working or if changes need to be made. Obviously they do not go home with you and do not know what you do but if your weight is not reducing or is stagnant they discuss what could possibly be the issue and how to address or combat it. They walk side by side with you on your journey. Don't get me wrong, they do not baby you. They give you the hard facts on what you have to do but they understand that weight loss is not easy for most people and so they do not guilt you for being big and instead give you the much needed push and encouragement in your weight loss journey. They also have an app which helps you track everything you eat and drink (basically all intake). They also send you weight loss tips weekly via email and do phone call follow -ups!!!!!! My first three weeks in the program I was down 9 pounds!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! They have different plans for different people with different needs. You could go on the meal plans they offer(New Direction Weight Control System), mix it with regular food or do strictly food on their well-educated food advised programs. Trust me with the knowledge this practice has to offer, I wonder why anyone will go anywhere else. Dr. Albert Takem, Mrs. Jeanna Lee and the rest of the staff run a well-oiled tight and effective machine. You will be in good hands. read more

Optimal Wellness Center is a great place. Dr. Takem is one of the friendliest Doctors I have met so far. He is always available to assist me whenever I need help even during after office hours. The office staff is great especially Michal and Rachel. I recommend this office if you are looking to get a new PCP around Chevy Chase area. read more

When I was younger, I never had to worry about my weight. I could eat what ever I wanted. But things changed after I had children - and especially in the last few years when I've dealt with several anxiety producing situations and entered menopause. For the first time, I didn't like how I looked. My clothes didn't fit and I wasn't feeling good about myself. Even though I exercised on and off and thought I was making healthy eating choices, my weight didn't go down. I finally decided to take action. I met with Dr. Takem, who recently opened a weight loss and wellness center in Chevy Chase. From our very first meeting, he made me feel I could lose the 20 pounds I wanted to lose in a relatively short period of time. His philosophy was simple, "Calories in, calories out." I had heard that from many people but didn't believe it. What I didn't understand is that you have to know what your BMR (base metabolism rate) is. Knowing how many calories your body naturally burns a day is the key - and it's different for every person. If you cut those calories and practice portion control losing weight is inevitable. Considering my BMR results, Dr. Takem prescribed a low calorie diet that would be achieved through 3 meal replacements and one real meal a day. This combined with exercise, would get me results.The replacements taste good and he gave me easy guidelines to follow when I prepared my dinner... almost like an eating coach. At first I struggled to adjust to the new calorie requirements, but meeting with the team every week was extremely helpful. They were always upbeat and encouraging, giving me helpful tips to keep me on track just like a good coach would do. However, the most motivating factor to keep me going was watching the weight come off and watching it come off quickly. In 90 days I am practically at my goal weight. I feel great, family members, friends and co-workers offer daily compliments on how I look and as a result have never felt better about myself physically. While no diet is a total guarantee, I will go as far as to say that as long as you follow his plan you are all but guaranteed to lose weight. Dr. Takem and his team have given me a better understanding of how to keep the weight off and I will keep them part of my weight management team moving forward. read more

Dr. Takem's Weight Loss & Wellness is an inspirational place, from the words of encouragement on the wall to the expertise of the staff. Their technology, from scales that calculate your BMI and body fat to machines that measure your metabolism, provide objective measurements to help you lose excess weight and keep it off. I signed up through Living Social, lost 8 pounds in the first month, and look forward to continuing to work with Temi, a registered dietitian, to help me reach my next set of goals: creating balanced meal plans, losing extra body fat, and reaching an ideal race weight for my next marathon. If you're trapped in a cycle of yo-yo dieting, invest in yourself and in Dr. Takem's medical team. Results are guaranteed. It's worth it! read more

I have been on this program for over a month now and trust me when I say "It Works". I have tried the dieting/exercise in the past with very little success. Lucky for me, I found this website and decided to give it a try. Dr Takem and his staff were very attentive to my needs and even tho I was an out of state client, the distance was not a major factor. In the last month I have since shed about 8-10 pounds give or take. This may not seem like a lot, but my goal was 15-20 pounds in 2 months meaning I am almost at my goal. The protein bars and shakes I was put on really do taste great and the best part being that they coming in a variety of flavors so I always had options to chose from. I would recommend this program to any friends or family. It really works as long as you are ready and willing to follow the meal plan and exercise. read more

I had tried losing 5, 10, 15 pounds for several years without success; in fact my weight kept creeping higher. I despaired that losing weight post-menopause was simply not possible. I am thrilled to say that after 10 weeks I have lost 17 pounds and have reached my goal! Dr. Takem and his staff have been fantastic. Through their medical testing and education, I now understand my metabolism, and what my body needed in order to lose weight. The process has been super supportive and was easier than I expected. I'm now focusing on how to maintain my new weight, and I'm confident that the staff will continue to be there and ensure my success. read more

-- 5 star I am a very weight/diet conscious individual. Over the past 7 years, I have tried to make a conscious effort to eat healthy and exercise when I can. In spite of my strong motivation to attain and maintain a healthy life style, my hectic schedule plus lack of self discipline prevented me from attaining my goal weight. I had about 15-20 pounds I needed to lose to attain my goal weight. In an effort achieve my goal, I tried different diet /exercise regimens. Unfortunately, due to lack of structure and discipline I remained 20 pounds overweight. One night, while browsing through Facebook, I came across Dr Takem's weight loss and wellness page (honestly the apple is really what caught my attention). I quickly contacted Dr Takem and after a brief overview of the program from Dr Takem himself, I decided to give it a try. I though to my self '' this is different from anything else I have tried in the past why not test it out for a couple of weeks''?. Once I enrolled in the program, I was put on a structured exercise regimen and diet plan. The staff at Dr Takem's clinic are beyond amazing. Jeanna and Rachel spoke to me like were were old pals. They were very patient with me and addressed all my concerns to my satisfaction. During my weight loss journey with Dr Takem's weight loss and wellness I developed a lot of self discipline. This was triggered and nurtured by the weekly accountability meetings I had with Dr Takem. He was was very detailed during his follow up meetings and if I did not lose the expected weight for a certain week, he would dig deep into all I did the previous week in order to identify the cause and rectify it (this is what I loved most about this program). This program has been very effective for me in attaining my fitness goal and even though I was an out of state client, the staff at the clinic were always ready and available to address my concerns and help me through my weight loss journey.I was given a regimen specific for me taking into consideration my life stye/ schedule. Through Dr Takem's weight loss and wellness program, I have learned to be more discipline with my daily exercise routine and more conscious of my daily calorie intake. I will recommend this program to anyone willing to embark on a weight loss journey. Even if you are looking to lose as little as 5 pounds or 100 + pounds, this program will most definitely help you attain that goal. If this program worked for me, it will most definitely work for you too :) read more

I absolutely love Dr. Takem's weight loss program! It is very well thought through and medically proven to be safe and effective. The initial consultation was with the exercise physiologist, the nutrionist and Dr. Takem. I had gained 11 pounds and weighed 135 as a result of going through menopause. I had limits on the kind ofexercise that I could do because of a previous ankle and knee injury. Jenna the exercise philologist made a custom plan for me that I could do without casusing me pain. Then the nutrionist helped me to come up with a goal weight which for me was 124 pounds. I had 11 pounds to loose and wanted to achieve it in 6 weeks. She gave me meal replacement bars for breakfast and protein shakes for lunch. In addition to that I had dinner which consisted of mainly protein and vegetables. She also gave me a premium membership to an app called lose it to track my daily calories and exercise. I then met with Dr. Takem and we spoke about my health from the results of a blood work up and ekg that was done right there in his office. So off I went with a really simple plan to lose the 11 pounds and I did just that. First let me say it was not easy but the shake was so very delicious I actually could not wait for lunch every day. While there are many favors to pick from my favorite is the vanilla pudding. It not only helped me with the weight loss but it soothed and aided my digestive system. It has now become a staple and even though I am post weight loss I will continue to use the shake for lunch as part of my maintenance system. There was so much support thought this process. I had live Skype chats weekly with the nutrionist or exercise physiologist. They would see you in person if you preferred, however Skype worked better for me. This program really helped me to take back my self control where food is concerned. I did lose the 11 pounds in the 6 weeks time! I will also tell you that during this time I did have a few special occasions which are pretty much unavoidable in everyone's life.... I did induldge a few times and not follow my diet to the exact specifications but would go right back to it the very next day. I have been maintaining the weight loss for almost 2 months now and could not be happier. A big thank you to Dr. Takem and his staff! read more