Cycling or Life-long Use

[pokemonster]

Starting my 4th week on Reta, love the effects. Down 15 lbs already. Now, I’ve been planning on simply cycling the Reta and dropping to a maintenance dose once I hit my goal weight (I’m estimating 6 months), then tapering off completely slowly over time. If I notice benefits I want to keep for life aside from the weight loss, I’ll consider taking it for longer.

People on the Reta Reddit say this approach is simply not possible and that all GLP-1s are required to be life long usage. Anyone saying they don’t want to take it for life is immediately shut down. Here’s an example of the top reply on a post. I understand there may be lifelong benefits aside from weight loss, but not everyone wants to just sign up for taking this for life and anytime the question is posed, this is the answer they give. I’d like this forum’s thoughts as it seems like a much more constructive community than the reddits. Anyone have experience with successfully getting off GLP-1s?

 

[Gamma662keV]

I think the overwhelming consensus, and the patient data shows, that if you stop you'll gain back. However, I also read something about a weight setpoint (it had a better medical description) that once you maintain a certain weight, your body's natural setpoint will slowly adjust to that. Takes years I think.

 

[Int96]

They are indented to be used continuously. You might be able to get off it if you make substantial lifestyle and eating changes but most people will gain weight back and also lose the other benefits. Best to stay on a low maintenance dose.

 

[DwightTheDelight]

Starting my 4th week on Reta, love the effects. Down 15 lbs already. Now, I’ve been planning on simply cycling the Reta and dropping to a maintenance dose once I hit my goal weight (I’m estimating 6 months), then tapering off completely slowly over time. If I notice benefits I want to keep for life aside from the weight loss, I’ll consider taking it for longer.

People on the Reta Reddit say this approach is simply not possible and that all GLP-1s are required to be life long usage. Anyone saying they don’t want to take it for life is immediately shut down. Here’s an example of the top reply on a post. I understand there may be lifelong benefits aside from weight loss, but not everyone wants to just sign up for taking this for life and anytime the question is posed, this is the answer they give. I’d like this forum’s thoughts as it seems like a much more constructive community than the reddits. Anyone have experience with successfully getting off GLP-1s?

View attachment 5375

I will be cycling on and off/having some on hand after slowly coming off these meds. I've been on these shots for a little over a year now and I'm underwhelmed at how they perform at this point of the process.

The magic that helped me lose 70-80 over my first two months and 180 over my first year is gone. Even at 15mg of tirz every 5 days with Cagri added in, I can no longer feel the post shot day suppression that I used to feel. I can't wait to hit my goal weight and enter maintenance. I'm so tired of being in weight loss mode - 30 more lbs to go.

 

[Theotherone55]

This is a real reason why most people need to be really changing their diet and lifestyle ALONG with using the drug. Just taking a drug, eating less, and hoping you can stop wont do a damn thing. Realistically, GLP-1s need to be 1 of many tools in your tool bag for fat loss/maintenance.

Imagine eating McDonalds 3x a day. Taking Tirz or Reta cuts thats to twice...then once.
You cannot just get off and go back to eating McD's 3x aagain. You have to be learning other things and making other changes along the way. It's really that simple.

 

[pokemonster]

They are indented to be used continuously. You might be able to get off it if you make substantial lifestyle and eating changes but most people will gain weight back and also lose the other benefits. Best to stay on a low maintenance dose.

Well shit, if that’s the case, I’m gonna go broke from this. Imagine if we have to go through actual medical providers in the future…

 

[pokemonster]

This is a real reason why most people need to be really changing their diet and lifestyle ALONG with using the drug. Just taking a drug, eating less, and hoping you can stop wont do a damn thing. Realistically, GLP-1s need to be 1 of many tools in your tool bag for fat loss/maintenance.

Imagine eating McDonalds 3x a day. Taking Tirz or Reta cuts thats to twice...then once.
You cannot just get off and go back to eating McD's 3x aagain. You have to be learning other things and making other changes along the way. It's really that simple.

That’s been my goal as well, this Reta giving me the willpower to make the changes needed and slowly adjust back to real life. I’m hoping that works. Sounds like the consensus is don’t come off it.

 

[cldfront]

It's my understanding that the studies showed 80% gained it back if they stopped the meds. That means 20% did not. You might be one of the 20% and I certainly wouldn't just not give it a try. Reddit can be very groupthink oriented. You do you.

 

[hexagonal]

What you do while on these matters.

If you use it to build habits around a healthier relationship with food, get down to a weight where you can exercise regularly, etc., you increase your chances at being able to go off of these and stay off of them. There's a lot of absurd numbers thrown out there about how many calories each pound of muscle will burn, but most people will see a sum total of 8-10 calories burned per day per pound of muscle ( https://www.strongerbyscience.com/calories-muscle-burn/ ). People new to lifting can often put on 15-25lb of muscle mass in their first year, 10-15 the next, etc. That's 250 to 400 more calories a day you can ingest without gaining weight.

The food noise might come back. The cravings. I'm not going to lie and say that these are going to be easy to beat just because you put in good habits and got down to a healthy weight. Not being able to beat them is one of the reasons we got fat in the first place. But if we've made the right changes to our diets, we're not eating nearly as much calorie dense and hyper-palatable food. If we've spent a year or two adding muscle, we can eat more in general.

If you don't exercise and just eat less of the same bad food, then yeah, to keep the weight off, you'll need to keep taking the drug.

And to be clear, I'm not making a moral argument about this. Calorie dense hyper-palatable food tastes great! I fuckin' love it. IF you have decided that you're OK with just using these to ensure you only eat so much of that to keep you weight down, you're an adult, do what you want.

 

[pokemonster]

What you do while on these matters.

If you use it to build habits around a healthier relationship with food, get down to a weight where you can exercise regularly, etc., you increase your chances at being able to go off of these and stay off of them. There's a lot of absurd numbers thrown out there about how many calories each pound of muscle will burn, but most people will see a sum total of 8-10 calories burned per day per pound of muscle ( https://www.strongerbyscience.com/calories-muscle-burn/ ). People new to lifting can often put on 15-25lb of muscle mass in their first year, 10-15 the next, etc. That's 250 to 400 more calories a day you can ingest without gaining weight.

The food noise might come back. The cravings. I'm not going to lie and say that these are going to be easy to beat just because you put in good habits and got down to a healthy weight. Not being able to beat them is one of the reasons we got fat in the first place. But if we've made the right changes to our diets, we're not eating nearly as much calorie dense and hyper-palatable food. If we've spent a year or two adding muscle, we can eat more in general.

If you don't exercise and just eat less of the same bad food, then yeah, to keep the weight off, you'll need to keep taking the drug.

And to be clear, I'm not making a moral argument about this. Calorie dense hyper-palatable food tastes great! I fuckin' love it. IF you have decided that you're OK with just using these to ensure you only eat so much of that to keep you weight down, you're an adult, do what you want.

I'm hoping to get my ass in gear while on this. Build healthier habits, but the food noise has always been a problem for me. As long as it doesn't come back worse after stopping the drug (any idea if this is the case?), I think I should be able to handle it. I certainly expect to gain some weight. I got this way by gaining on average 3 lbs per year after I graduated college, so even if it comes back at the same rate... I'll be doing just fine !

And yes, take-out, doordash, ubereats was essentially my go to night time activity, so I feel you on the loving food thing. At the least, this shit will cut my food budget in half or more, lol.

 

[Batscout]

I think the overwhelming consensus, and the patient data shows, that if you stop you'll gain back. However, I also read something about a weight setpoint (it had a better medical description) that once you maintain a certain weight, your body's natural setpoint will slowly adjust to that. Takes years I think.

I caught a bit of the news the other day where it was reported that a new study showed that GLP-1s can have a positive effect on the gut micro biome for a long period following cessation of GLP-1s. I think a long term improvement in gut bacteria could feasibly have a continued positive effect on energy, appetite, and overall health.

 

[Eclipse]

What dose are people on that they can lose weight and eat whatever they want? I literally have to incorporate fasting to lose weight on this. I got off my fasting and gained 10 pounds while on 7.5 mg Tz. I kinda don't like you all that just lose weight without trying.

 

[hexagonal]

What dose are people on that they can lose weight and eat whatever they want? I literally have to incorporate fasting to lose weight on this. I got off my fasting and gained 10 pounds while on 7.5 mg Tz. I kinda don't like you all that just lose weight without trying.

Depends on how big the appetite suppression/food noise reduction is. A decent amount of people just stop getting hungry on 2.5mg of tirz and just can't eat the level of food that they did before, and instead just eat a third of whatever they get instead of the full meal.

 

[cldfront]

What dose are people on that they can lose weight and eat whatever they want? I literally have to incorporate fasting to lose weight on this. I got off my fasting and gained 10 pounds while on 7.5 mg Tz. I kinda don't like you all that just lose weight without trying.

Yeah, I'd say those are unicorns that are few and far between. I incorporate intermittent fasting too, as well as a dedicated high protein diet and tons of water. It's a slog, but it's a possible slog because of the meds.