Aggression in GLP-Fueled Weight Loss

Why choose 30 mg of tirz instead of adding cagri or Elora or switching to reta? I've only heard of people going to 20-25 mg at most.

You can go slower if you prefer and you'll probably hold on to more muscle. But there's no proof that slower loss changes how skin tightens. That seems mostly down to genetics and age. I've seen 20-year-olds with loose skin after 100 pounds and at 48 I'm at 75 pounds lost with none showing. Genetics appear to matter most from what I've noticed.

Tirz worked well for me. Lilly is looking at higher doses. I tried cagri but the effect faded after a couple months. Tracking everything showed no difference once I stopped it, and it made me more tired than tirz so not worth it. Elora wasn't around when I needed it. Low-dose reta actually increased my hunger. Since fasting worked I stayed with tirz. I've seen people here go to 60 mg for big losses. 30 mg got me 30 percent body-weight loss, which is on the high side. I'll drop to 15 mg soon and check maintenance.

I used to think the same. WebMD lists how fast you lose, the total percentage lost, how long you carried the extra weight, plus genetics and age as factors for loose skin.

I have no patience and felt like a failure for a while because it took a year and a half to lose 90 pounds. Looking back I'm glad I went slow. I probably would have more loose or sagging skin otherwise. Losing only 1-2 pounds a week, sometimes none, helped avoid hair loss, extra muscle loss, gallbladder trouble, and other rapid-loss sides. I kept reminding myself slow and steady wins and it seems to have paid off.

You're probably right, though I still wonder how much each factor contributes. Genetics and time spent at higher weight seem like the biggest drivers based on what I've seen.

My mom had surgery for weight loss and it damaged her gallbladder, so that's one risk I'm especially concerned about with aggressive approaches.

I'm not eager to stay on a GLP-1 for life, especially in my 20s, so old habits are a worry. I don't usually struggle with maintenance once the food noise is gone though. Most of my gain happened after I blew out my knee while I was a runner. Using a GLP for 8-12 months as a reset while staying active and watching macros might let me recomp and reach around 200 pounds.

Congrats on the progress. One thing I've noticed with the non-GLP route is that if weight doesn't come off easily, every single decision has to serve the goal. Helpful story.

The odds don't look great, but good luck anyway. Some people keep losing after they stop. One small study looked at dosing every other week and it worked for many. Surmount-Maintain compared staying at max dose, dropping to 5 mg weekly, or stopping completely. AI summary of the discontinuation data:

Ever thought of lipo 360?

There's a whole gallbladder thread that was active not long ago where supplements came up.

Don't forget that eating some fat helps keep the gallbladder emptying and lowers stone risk.

Would this apply to good fats like olive oil and avocado?

Fat is fat. When I tracked macros my minimum was 50 g a day.

Do any of the studies control for diet, habits, and lifestyle? They mostly just give the drug, keep raising the dose until it's too much, then try different ways to stop. The fact that most people regained weight doesn't feel like strong evidence by itself. If stopping always leads to big regain, that would mean the drug does something harmful to the body, and I don't buy that. Lose the weight, build new habits, add muscle, use exercise mimetics if needed, then lower the dose gradually over months or years. If that can't work then these drugs are just a temporary trick and a lifetime medication for obesity.

Olive oil works well for me. One doctor suggested at least 25 g of fat with breakfast, ideally a hot meal within 45 minutes of waking. A swig of vinegar helps too. TUDCA is essential. A can of beans with olive oil did wonders and cut daily attacks to occasional discomfort along with TUDCA, chanca piedra, and a lower reta dose. I wouldn't suggest bacon grease or beef drippings though. Fatty pork and beef bothered my gallbladder, probably from cholesterol, while seed oils didn't. Omega-3s also have some evidence for gallbladder support.

That's basically what they were made for, long-term management of obesity or diabetes. Their real strength is sustaining the loss over time, not just causing it. Almost every obese person has lost and regained before, so the hard part is keeping it off. Decades of data show most people struggle with maintenance and only a small percentage succeed long term. These drugs have far higher success rates than anything else short of surgery. If you can build better habits that's great, but for many the medication makes maintenance possible where diet and exercise alone didn't.

Controlling for every lifestyle factor is tough. Some trials offered counseling. The 80 percent who regained at least 25 percent of the loss is a real data point, and average regain around two-thirds of the weight lost is another. The 4 percent who kept losing after stopping is interesting too. Traditional diet and exercise usually gives 5-10 percent loss and leaves people 3-5 percent lighter after five years. GLPs produce bigger losses and the regain data, though newer, tends to plateau around 75 percent. Diet and exercise can absolutely work for some, but the numbers show it's rare at higher loss amounts.

It's striking how much avoiding the worst sides of weight loss comes down to the basic balanced-diet advice from health class: watch macros, hit nutrients, skip empty calories.

Plenty of people have done exactly that and posted on r/GLPgrads, which is part of what makes me willing to try. In a place like the US where poor eating habits are everywhere, it's no surprise many regain without changing daily life. It's like fad diets that drop weight fast but lead to rebound because no real habits changed.

I have some trouble with the idea that after goal weight you just keep doing exactly what you did to lose. Loss, gain, and maintenance are three different states with different needs. Once at goal, recalculating calories for the new metabolic rate and activity level makes more sense. Average people can do remarkable things, and it doesn't take superhuman discipline to improve your life.

This feels more like a reason to be careful when planning to stop rather than a reason to stay on forever. The difficulty of lifestyle change isn't an excuse to skip it.

The best tools are often created for one purpose but used for another. You've basically made my point. No one stays on a statin or blood-pressure med for life unless they truly can't fix the root cause. High blood pressure and poor lipids are usually fixable. A GLP can even help lipids at the same time. The real therapy is managing calories and keeping mind and body healthy so you don't fall back. Not everyone can access or stick with that, but it shouldn't be assumed impossible. GLPs are useful drugs and feel like a free ride for some, but lifetime use shouldn't be treated as automatic just because change is hard for many. Results matter more than original intent.

I'm not saying people shouldn't try to improve habits, just being realistic about decades of research showing most people are poor at long-term weight maintenance. For severe or lifelong obesity the picture is especially clear. I've personally lost over 100 kg to 70 kg range about six times. In 2012 I went from 122 kg to 65 kg and held it a couple years, then reached 145 kg in 2022, got to 75 kg by 2023, and stayed there a year without GLPs. That pattern is common here. Maintaining without the drugs is genuinely difficult even on a high-protein, low-density diet. It took 1600-1800 calories and constant effort. With massive loss, energy expenditure drops from less tissue and metabolic adaptation, plus hunger rises, making regain likely.

The whole thing ends up being pretty straightforward. Back when I struggled with substances, falling into a trap that feels impossible to escape on your own happens fast. I keep thinking these compounds might work like a body-level stand-in for getting locked away by someone until the craving passes and the pattern breaks. All the flashy wrappers, nonstop marketing, and quick comfort from those simple sugars in every color and taste make me uneasy. What concerns me most is whether my ability to hold back urges will stick around once the compounds stop. Avoiding the purchase of certain snacks becomes far simpler right at the start, even though I remain perfectly willing to eat them whenever they happen to be nearby. This route should cut my spending quite a bit across the coming years. Apparently that opinion draws some pushback.

What's that?

International studies show similar regain patterns, so it's not just a US issue. Across the world most people struggle to build lasting habits for healthy weight. All weight change ultimately comes down to calories in versus out. If you stop balancing that, the weight returns. Extraordinary results are possible but sustained ones are rarer. It's not that I'm special. The basics of eating well and moving are simple, yet hard to maintain for most. The irony if I end up needing emergency gallbladder surgery won't be lost on me. Until then I'll keep a balanced diet and good markers.

Liposuction contouring around the whole midsection.

Smiter, is that you?

Sorry if this sounds blunt, but that view comes from a limited take on maintenance. The statistics aren't just natural outcomes, they're records of choices. People who keep weight off tend to have predictable habits they maintain daily. It's not a fixed percentage destined to succeed or fail. Most chronically obese people I know haven't even completed one full 50-pound loss cycle. They try for weeks or a few months then stop. That's where GLPs help most, by giving a window to rebuild momentum.