An internist who treats obesity as medicine, not marketing.
Essam Saad, MD is an internal medicine physician practicing in Lake and Marion County, Florida. Modern Lifestyle Medicine is his obesity and lifestyle medicine practice — individualized, physician-guided weight loss built on evaluation, follow-up, and honest conversation.
Three board certifications, one approach
Each certification is a different lens on the same patient — and together they are uncommon in this part of Florida.
- ABIMAmerican Board of Internal Medicine — the whole-body foundation: blood pressure, blood sugar, thyroid, kidneys, liver, and the medications you already take.
- ABOMAmerican Board of Obesity Medicine — specialty training in why bodies gain and hold weight, and in the medications and strategies that treat it.
- ABLMAmerican Board of Lifestyle Medicine — the evidence behind nutrition, movement, sleep, and habit change that makes results last.
How he practices
Evaluate before treating
Labs and history first. Weight is often a symptom of something measurable — thyroid, insulin resistance, medications — and finding it changes the plan.
Adjust, don't prescribe and forget
Treatment is revisited at every follow-up: dose, medication, approach. What works at month one is rarely the plan at month six.
Tell patients the truth
About realistic outcomes, side effects, costs, and what happens when medication stops. Trust is the treatment plan's foundation.
Where he sees patients
Dr. Saad sees Modern Lifestyle Medicine patients at two established family practices — Umatilla Family Practice in Lake County and Weirsdale Family Health Center in Marion County, near The Villages. Visits are currently on Mondays, by appointment.
He can also serve as your primary care physician, in which case visits are typically covered by insurance.
Meet him with one visit.
The first appointment is an evaluation and a conversation — no commitment beyond that.