Exclusive | On a GLP-1? Theres a vacation for that

Stamie Giallourakis was on her deathbed in early 2021 when she made herself a promise.At the time, she was over 200 pounds and hospitalized with severe COVID-19. “I swore that if I survived — and I’m not being dramatic — I would try to once and for all be as healthy as I could be,” Giallourakis, now 60, told The Post.She followed through.

After her hospital discharge, Giallourakis overhauled her diet and exercise habits and, within a year, was prescribed a GLP-1.She’s since lost over 100 pounds.

“I’ll look in the mirror and I can’t quite believe it’s me,” she said. But the work is ongoing.Giallourakis is now on a maintenance dose of a GLP-1 and continuously tweaks her routine — more yoga here, more protein there — to keep the weight off.

“I am doing all the things to maximize” the medicine’s impact, she said. So when she came across Hilton Head Health’s new program for GLP-1 users, she wanted to give it a try. A South Carolina-based executive in nonprofit and university development, Giallourakis had been to the wellness retreat twice before — once to heal after her mom’s death and once as a respite from work stress. The new track, which rolled out in March 2026, promised to help “strengthen metabolism, rebuild healthy habits and rediscover confidence in your body — so your results feel as good as they look.”“It’s a little bit of everything: It’s nutrition, it’s your body’s strength, it’s yoga, meditation, it’s walking on the beach.It’s a community of experts supporting you,” Giallourakis said.

“I like that approach, and I was like, ‘What can I learn?’”So for what’s advertised as about $6,000 for a weeklong stay — plus $700 for the specialized programming — she registered to join the April 2026 cohort.She was the only one.Over the past two years, the number of Americans on GLP-1s — or the class of diabetes and weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro — has nearly quadruple...