Hilton Head Health Resort: Weight Loss and Wellness in Shipyard

• What it is: an all-inclusive wellness resort, not a hotel
• Ages: 18 and over
• Shortest stay: three days
• Rooms: the 30-room Sweetgrass Inn or one- to three-bedroom villas
• Since: 1976

Hilton Head Health is a weight loss and wellness resort at 14 Valencia Road, inside the Shipyard gate. Guests and staff call it H3, so “H3 Hilton Head” and Hilton Head Health are the same place. It is not a hotel you can book for a night: the rooms go only to people taking part in one of its programs.

The price of a program covers the room, three meals a day and snacks, the daily fitness classes, the talks and cooking demonstrations, and a ride to and from the Savannah/Hilton Head or Hilton Head Island airport. Dr. Peter Miller, a behavioral psychologist, started it in 1976 as a four-week retreat run out of the island’s hospital.

Programs at Hilton Head Health

The resort runs several programs, and the one you pick sets the shape of the days:

• The H3 Experience: the core all-inclusive wellness program, built on movement, nutrition and mindset.

• Life Balance: stress reduction and mindfulness.

• Metabolic Health: weight loss and weight management, with fitness, nutrition and behavior change.

• GLP-1 Support Experience: for people on GLP-1 medication, aimed at keeping results once the medication stops.

• Blue Zones Experience: a seven-day program run with Blue Zones, on the habits of the longest-lived people.

The shortest stay is three days. For weight loss the resort suggests one to six weeks, and the average guest stays about two. Men and women both come, and couples are encouraged. It is not a medical facility and has no doctors on staff.

What a Stay Includes

Meals are at True Dining, the resort’s restaurant, where the dishes are portioned to a calorie plan and there are vegetarian and vegan options at every meal. Days fill with group fitness classes, seminars on nutrition, sleep and stress, and demonstrations in the Healthy Kitchen. Personal training, sessions with the dietitian or chef, and treatments at the Indigo Spa cost extra.

The Hilton Head Health Campus

The campus has a heated outdoor pool, a hot tub, saunas, fitness rooms for cardio, strength and suspension training, and the Blue Zone Court for pickleball, basketball and volleyball under the oaks. Guests sleep either in the Sweetgrass Inn, a 30-room building that opened in 2021 with one king bed per room, for up to two adults, or in a private villa of one to three bedrooms with a kitchen and patio. Some villas are up to 1.2 miles from the main building, and the resort shuttles guests morning and evening.

It is not on the beach. Shipyard’s beach is a walk or bike ride away, and a group beach walk goes out in the mornings. Guests get a Shipyard car pass for the length of their stay when they check in.

Hilton Head Health Reviews

Most reviews come from guests who spent a week or more and describe it as a reset, with praise for the classes, the talks, the food and staff they name. The Google rating and our summary of what reviewers say are at the top of this page.

Visitors and Friends

A friend or partner who is not on a program can visit once they are registered with the concierge. Visitors can join meals and book spa treatments for a fee, but they cannot use the rest of the campus. Inn rooms take at most two people and no children, so a group of friends is better off sharing a villa.