Have you stopped taking your GLP, and if so what happened?

Most people end up gaining the weight back.

I put back on ten of the twenty pounds I had lost. The food thoughts returned and now I'm trying to figure out a new normal.

I started right when it first became available and stayed on for ten or eleven months, dropping about ninety pounds. My aim was to get healthy enough for pregnancy. Insurance stopped covering the discount so I had to quit. I got pregnant about six weeks later. I can't say how typical that is because pregnancy was involved. While on it I only ate when hungry and rarely felt hungry, averaging around a thousand calories a day. Before finishing my last box I tried to eat closer to maintenance levels, aiming for fifteen hundred or more on some days, and kept carbs low but not zero. That helped me hold my weight steady at the end.

After quitting you need to learn proper eating and keep exercising if you want to hold a healthy weight, though that's easier said than done.

I gained weight and when I tried again later the medication didn't seem to work as strongly.

I paused briefly while switching from one to another. Appetite rose and I followed a strict plan so I wouldn't gain, but the cravings for sweets hit hard. All I could think about was the candy drawer at home.

Remember these medications do more than just reduce appetite. All the other benefits go beyond simply being able to eat the same amount of food without them.

For me inflammation returns strongly and I start gaining within days of missing a dose. Once I went thirteen days between shots and gained six pounds; I'm still working to recover. A lot of us use these for metabolic problems, so when you stop treating them the issues come back. I see this as a lifetime medication for most people. If I were diabetic I'd take insulin forever, so how is this different? Beyond weight these meds took away about ninety percent of my chronic pain and gave me a better life. I'll keep taking them as long as I can get them.

I have to pause for ten days ahead of surgery and today would normally be my shot day. Surgery is Monday the twenty-ninth and I'm not looking forward to this stressful week without my usual support. Stopping for good doesn't seem realistic to me. I plan to lower the dose once I reach goal and stay on a small amount long term.

Other places handle post-treatment weight maintenance better than we do. Counseling helps and some doctors add metformin or another combination medication, which has kept weight off for patients. Four people I'm counseling are doing well on that combination; two even lost a bit more after switching. I have diabetes and hope to stay on these medications lifelong because they control my glucose so well. If I ever can't continue I'll switch to the combination or possibly just one component alone.

That's what concerns me about stopping since I still have a stone or so left. I'm on ten milligrams now but don't know whether to go higher or add something else. At least I have options, which is fortunate.

I've been off for two months with almost no weight gain. I've been using another compound at two hundred fifty to five hundred milligrams which has helped control appetite and energy. I'm holding at one hundred seventy; if I go over one hundred seventy-five I take one shot of the medication maybe once a month and that brings me back down.

I used one medication from November twenty-four to April twenty-five and lost twenty-one pounds. After stopping for about two months I gained fifteen back, which is a lot for me since I usually gain only three or four pounds a year during gaining phases. That was concerning. The positive side is I lost thirteen pounds in the first week after restarting with a different medication. I'm now down thirty-two pounds this year and have over two years' worth of yet another medication stocked up.

I couldn't get my next dose for seven days. Hunger was intense but I kept to my normal calories and exercise and still gained ten pounds. How does that even happen? These medications affect the body in many ways beyond just appetite. My lipedema swelling seemed to return right away. I'm not sure I'll ever be able to stay off if I want to keep a healthy weight.

My brother lost vision in one eye, apparently from one of these medications, so he's been off since June and won't risk the other eye. Since stopping he's gained twenty pounds. He claims he's eating the same as before but I'm a bit doubtful since I don't see him often. Now he's feeling low and depressed and plans to exercise more to try to stop the gain.

I'm in a twelve-step program for overeating which has changed my life around binge eating and bulimia. I want both the mental peace and the physical results. This medication is just one tool among several; I can't depend on it completely.