Anyone else still unsure their success will last?

[RubbaDubba1]

Grogu said:

Delphyne said:

I haven't reached my goal weight, though I've already dropped a significant amount of weight - once more?

Like plenty of others here can probably understand, I've tried countless diets before, shed some pounds, put every bit back on, along with the guilt and self-blame.

What convinces you that this time it will be lasting and permanent as long as you keep taking the medication?

Around the 6-month mark on tirzepatide, once I'd dropped a fair bit of weight, the exact thought you're having crossed my mind: “Why is this time going to be any different”. (I've been a yo-yo dieter my whole life.)

Right around then I was binge watching My 600-lb life, and watching so many people battle weight loss (even following bariatric surgery) led me to realize that part of my weight problem could be psychological. I put in some “work” on that front, so my hope is that sticking with glp-1 for life plus the behavioral work means this time will be different.

I went through the 600lb life, and the fight is genuine, even following weight loss surgery. For me, the GLP-1 is the game changer, or the remaining piece of the puzzle. I have a lot of hope that Tirz & Reta can help me keep the weight off, since I have stopped it 3X and the pounds just return. I consider myself lucky that 2mg of either one, or 1mg of both, appears to be all I need to stay compliant and keep the weight off. During weight loss I reached 10mg of Tirz, which was too much, and discovered 7.5mg was the highest dose, so I was able to come back down. After that I added Reta, and it was so strong that I only needed 4mg and dropped the last 23lbs in a month. Long term, I do not intend to ever come off it, but I think cycling it once in a while will help me keep appreciating it and not take it for granted, or my freezer stash.

 

[SpiralJetty]

It genuinely alters your internal chemistry in ways that standard dieting simply cannot, which makes it a total game changer.

 

[HidingInPlainView]

Honestly... back in January, if someone had said I'd be 35lbs lighter, I'd have told them they were lying... yet that's exactly where I am. My personal goal has been reached. I'm at the size I aimed for, the same as 6 years back, which ranks among the lowest weights I've hit as an adult.

Even so, dropping another 35 would put me solidly within the medical "healthy weight" range by BMI and at a number I haven't been at since middle school. Seeing that on the scale might genuinely make me cry.

But at the moment, I've got a joint repair surgery lined up, so I'll pause my GLP1 for a few weeks ahead of anesthesia to prevent issues. What scares or unnerves me more, I can't tell: having to relearn how to walk, or the possibility that without enough mental discipline I'll put the weight back on.

Once I'm home after the procedure, I'll start my GLP1 again, but 14 days without the thing that's done so much for me feels endless right now.

 

[lessthanhalf]

Between the ages of 7 and 8, I became fat for a strange reason, going from 22kg to 40 kg within a year (I suspect I may have contracted adenovirus 36, which causes infectious obesity — look it up, it really exists even if it sounds absurd). By around 16 yo I had gotten near normal weight, then again at 18, multiple times during my 20's, and once in my early 30's using large amounts of amphetamines, dropping from 122kg to 64.9 kg a decade ago, and this time from 145kg to 66kg.

Do I question whether this will last? Absolutely — with my history, it would be foolish not to.

This time there are 2 things that are different: at my current age of 57, regaining the weight carries far more serious medical risk, with a very serious health problem almost certain within 10 years, and there are cheap Chinese GLP medications. For almost 40 years I have been checking the research off and on, believing they would eventually produce a drug that truly works and does not kill you, and while it took much longer than I had hoped, they finally got there. So credit goes to big pharma and the many dedicated researchers over the decades, even if they will not earn anything from me because the legit versions are beyond my budget.

Shedding the weight and attempting to keep it off without GLP's was difficult; I am still following a very restrictive diet to prevent regaining, but with GLP's it is clearly less of a struggle.

 

[testyonenow42]

This time around, I believe I can keep a healthy weight. My goals are realistic, and I intend to stay realistic as I get older. Being 20 again holds no appeal for me (though I wasn't healthy at 20 anyway). I've got 15 lbs left to shed, and I'm doing it gradually so my body can adapt and my routines can strengthen. Once I reach my goal, my plan is to lower my dosage and work out what my maintenance dose is. I'll reassess then, but I'll likely stay on the maintenance dose for a year simply to lock in my habits. After that point, I might attempt to quit the medication altogether, though I'm ready to keep taking a maintenance dose over the long term if that's what's required.

 

[miss-sanne]

Yeah, it frightens me somewhat. Over the past few months I've noticed my good routines starting to slide. I'm nearly at my goal weight—only 2-3 kg away.

But the bigger fear is that my 10 y supply will go to waste, since I could end up with pancreatitis or NAION or something like that.

 

[Birdie]

CNCCurrency said:

I'm ready to keep using it right up to the end, and I've got a supply that covers 10 years or longer.

That's precisely my experience. I've made up my mind to treat my body gently for whatever time remains. Obesity, I've accepted, is a long-term illness, and ongoing care will help me.

 

[Birdie]

HidingInPlainView said:

Honestly... back in January, if someone had said I'd be 35lbs lighter, I'd have told them they were lying... yet that's exactly where I am. My personal goal has been reached. I'm at the size I aimed for, the same as 6 years back, which ranks among the lowest weights I've hit as an adult.

Even so, dropping another 35 would put me solidly within the medical "healthy weight" range by BMI and at a number I haven't been at since middle school. Seeing that on the scale might genuinely make me cry.

But at the moment, I've got a joint repair surgery lined up, so I'll pause my GLP1 for a few weeks ahead of anesthesia to prevent issues. What scares or unnerves me more, I can't tell: having to relearn how to walk, or the possibility that without enough mental discipline I'll put the weight back on.

Once I'm home after the procedure, I'll start my GLP1 again, but 14 days without the thing that's done so much for me feels endless right now.

Your worry must be overwhelming, and I hope your surgery goes as well as it possibly can.

I also want to ask whether anyone in this group went through surgery while continuing the medication, rather than pausing it, as the 2024 revised guideline I came across here describes:

https://www.medpagetoday.com/surgery/anesthesiology/112653

 

[HidingInPlainView]

Birdie said:

HidingInPlainView said:

Honestly... back in January, if someone had said I'd be 35lbs lighter, I'd have told them they were lying... yet that's exactly where I am. My personal goal has been reached. I'm at the size I aimed for, the same as 6 years back, which ranks among the lowest weights I've hit as an adult.

Even so, dropping another 35 would put me solidly within the medical "healthy weight" range by BMI and at a number I haven't been at since middle school. Seeing that on the scale might genuinely make me cry.

But at the moment, I've got a joint repair surgery lined up, so I'll pause my GLP1 for a few weeks ahead of anesthesia to prevent issues. What scares or unnerves me more, I can't tell: having to relearn how to walk, or the possibility that without enough mental discipline I'll put the weight back on.

Once I'm home after the procedure, I'll start my GLP1 again, but 14 days without the thing that's done so much for me feels endless right now.

Your worry must be overwhelming, and I hope your surgery goes as well as it possibly can.

I also want to ask whether anyone in this group went through surgery while continuing the medication, rather than pausing it, as the 2024 revised guideline I came across here describes:

https://www.medpagetoday.com/surgery/anesthesiology/112653

I appreciate the good wishes for what lies ahead. During my own digging, I came across both the older and the updated guidelines. In the end, the recommendation I received was to pause the GLP for 1 week, since that cuts the risk of liquid aspiration under general anesthesia by a meaningful margin. My wife, though, says she would be more at ease if I stretched that to two weeks. So even though the idea is hard for me to accept, I will stop for two weeks beforehand. Surgery is still more than a month away, yet that does nothing to ease the fear and anxiety about having to learn to walk again or putting the weight back on.

 

[Snuki]

RubbaDubba1 said:

Grogu said:

Delphyne said:

I haven't reached my goal weight, though I've already dropped a significant amount of weight - once more?

Like plenty of others here can probably understand, I've tried countless diets before, shed some pounds, put every bit back on, along with the guilt and self-blame.

What convinces you that this time it will be lasting and permanent as long as you keep taking the medication?

Around the 6-month mark on tirzepatide, once I'd dropped a fair bit of weight, the exact thought you're having crossed my mind: “Why is this time going to be any different”. (I've been a yo-yo dieter my whole life.)

Right around then I was binge watching My 600-lb life, and watching so many people battle weight loss (even following bariatric surgery) led me to realize that part of my weight problem could be psychological. I put in some “work” on that front, so my hope is that sticking with glp-1 for life plus the behavioral work means this time will be different.

I went through the 600lb life, and the fight is genuine, even following weight loss surgery. For me, the GLP-1 is the game changer, or the remaining piece of the puzzle. I have a lot of hope that Tirz & Reta can help me keep the weight off, since I have stopped it 3X and the pounds just return. I consider myself lucky that 2mg of either one, or 1mg of both, appears to be all I need to stay compliant and keep the weight off. During weight loss I reached 10mg of Tirz, which was too much, and discovered 7.5mg was the highest dose, so I was able to come back down. After that I added Reta, and it was so strong that I only needed 4mg and dropped the last 23lbs in a month. Long term, I do not intend to ever come off it, but I think cycling it once in a while will help me keep appreciating it and not take it for granted, or my freezer stash.

It's wonderful that you've discovered something that lets you live without worrying about food, and that such choices exist today.

 

[RubbaDubba1]

Snuki said:

RubbaDubba1 said:

Grogu said:

Delphyne said:

I haven't reached my goal weight, though I've already dropped a significant amount of weight - once more?

Like plenty of others here can probably understand, I've tried countless diets before, shed some pounds, put every bit back on, along with the guilt and self-blame.

What convinces you that this time it will be lasting and permanent as long as you keep taking the medication?

Around the 6-month mark on tirzepatide, once I'd dropped a fair bit of weight, the exact thought you're having crossed my mind: “Why is this time going to be any different”. (I've been a yo-yo dieter my whole life.)

Right around then I was binge watching My 600-lb life, and watching so many people battle weight loss (even following bariatric surgery) led me to realize that part of my weight problem could be psychological. I put in some “work” on that front, so my hope is that sticking with glp-1 for life plus the behavioral work means this time will be different.

I went through the 600lb life, and the fight is genuine, even following weight loss surgery. For me, the GLP-1 is the game changer, or the remaining piece of the puzzle. I have a lot of hope that Tirz & Reta can help me keep the weight off, since I have stopped it 3X and the pounds just return. I consider myself lucky that 2mg of either one, or 1mg of both, appears to be all I need to stay compliant and keep the weight off. During weight loss I reached 10mg of Tirz, which was too much, and discovered 7.5mg was the highest dose, so I was able to come back down. After that I added Reta, and it was so strong that I only needed 4mg and dropped the last 23lbs in a month. Long term, I do not intend to ever come off it, but I think cycling it once in a while will help me keep appreciating it and not take it for granted, or my freezer stash.

It's wonderful that you've discovered something that lets you live without worrying about food, and that such choices exist today.

Thanks

 

[dobermom21]

Honestly, this crosses my mind often.

My approach involves getting hold of sufficient quantities so I can continue at a maintenance level over the long haul, while genuinely letting the adjustments I'm making settle naturally into how I live. Meal prep is part of what I'm doing, and after the other hip gets replaced, I intend to be far more active.

In my case, getting older and hormonal shifts play a role too, alongside Ehler's Danlos syndrome, arthritis, and hip dysplasia, so tackling what I'm able to (aging isn't something I can change, though hips can be swapped out) sits among my near-term priorities.

 

[Glenn]

Weight coming back isn't something that crosses my mind. My whole way of living is different now, and I have no problem continuing peptides for the rest of my life. I'm 61, and after dropping over 50% of my body weight, I'm in the best shape I've ever been in and feel fantastic. The one thing I wish is that I'd started with fitness back in my twenties, thirties, or forties...

 

[HidingInPlainView]

HidingInPlainView said:

Honestly... back in January, if someone had said I'd be 35lbs lighter, I'd have told them they were lying... yet that's exactly where I am. My personal goal has been reached. I'm at the size I aimed for, the same as 6 years back, which ranks among the lowest weights I've hit as an adult.

Even so, dropping another 35 would put me solidly within the medical "healthy weight" range by BMI and at a number I haven't been at since middle school. Seeing that on the scale might genuinely make me cry.

But at the moment, I've got a joint repair surgery lined up, so I'll pause my GLP1 for a few weeks ahead of anesthesia to prevent issues. What scares or unnerves me more, I can't tell: having to relearn how to walk, or the possibility that without enough mental discipline I'll put the weight back on.

Once I'm home after the procedure, I'll start my GLP1 again, but 14 days without the thing that's done so much for me feels endless right now.

42lbs gone at this point, and surgery is 30days out. I'm putting a halt to quite a few things, and I fully expect to be an absolute handful over these next few weeks.

Nothing I'm doing in preparation is really "mandatory" — it's more along the lines of a best practices sort of thing.

As of today, DSIP is done after 5 straight weeks at assorted doses.

On Wednesday, KLOW gets paused and cigarettes get dropped (no idea for how long, occasionally I'll go years without them).

My final Retatrutide shot before surgery lands on Friday.

Like I said before.... the self-doubt is huge right now.... but I've hit maximum "f$&% it" mode...

And hey, encouragement is welcome... if anyone's in the mood to be nice.

 

[JuneBug1956]

Chris Thomas said:

At 54, I figure some kind of upkeep dose will always be part of the picture, or maybe a swap like moving from reta over to tesamorelin.

On reta I dropped from 190 to 168 in less than 2 months, and I'm 5'8". In hindsight my dose was higher than it needed to be, given the mild side effects, but the results were so good that I brushed it off.

Muscle loss was fairly noticeable, though it was winter and a shoulder injury kept me away from weights regardless. Now I want to let the shoulder heal using BPC-157 and then get back under the bar (fingers crossed). Should the shoulder refuse to play along, running, leg work and core training are still on the table.

That weight is gone, yet a leftover belly remains, the dad bod lives on! My next move is either quitting reta or cutting the dose way down, and adding tesamorelin plus ipamorelin to zero in on the midsection.

All in all, reta's weight loss has me pretty pleased, but has anyone else landed on a solid approach for midsection fat using tesamorelin, any tips, do's or don'ts?

Do the front crawl. Locate a pool, then gradually work your way up until you can cover 1 mile. Your waistline will vanish.

 

[sheilarae74]

I've been doing this on and off since I was 12. Over my lifetime, I've probably dropped and put back on 1000lbs. This time I absolutely have to keep it off, because every piece of my fat clothes is gone.

 

[Grogu]

sheilarae74 said:

I've been doing this on and off since I was 12. Over my lifetime, I've probably dropped and put back on 1000lbs. This time I absolutely have to keep it off, because every piece of my fat clothes is gone.

I'm in the same boat on every point. If I put weight back on, I'd have zero clothes that fit , plus I've gone through losing a huge amount only to put it back on, and I've battled this my whole life.

When my pcp first put me on Zepbound, he told me that as I dropped pounds this time around, I could clear out all my fat clothes.... I gave him a skeptical look and he replied "seriously" donate them, you won't be needing them. Given the tirzepatide clincials, I think he is correct.

 

[ronin365]

Things are going well for me right now, and while I'm on Reta I'm trying to figure out what caused the weight gain in the first place — and why it continued to accumulate even during periods when I was eating clean. My guess is that hormones play a big role here, along with chronic under-eating. Once I reach my goal weight, my plan is to see whether the dietary adjustments I've made while on Reta can stand on their own without it. That being said, I'm open to staying on Reta regardless of whether the weight comes back or not. The benefits of remaining on it are too numerous: supporting metabolism and mitochondria, keeping inflammation down, quieting food noise, and possible anti-cancer effects. This peptide is truly remarkable — far more than just another GLP1 for weight loss.

 

[diplomat]

ronin365 said:

Things are going well for me right now, and while I'm on Reta I'm trying to figure out what caused the weight gain in the first place — and why it continued to accumulate even during periods when I was eating clean. My guess is that hormones play a big role here, along with chronic under-eating. Once I reach my goal weight, my plan is to see whether the dietary adjustments I've made while on Reta can stand on their own without it. That being said, I'm open to staying on Reta regardless of whether the weight comes back or not. The benefits of remaining on it are too numerous: supporting metabolism and mitochondria, keeping inflammation down, quieting food noise, and possible anti-cancer effects. This peptide is truly remarkable — far more than just another GLP1 for weight loss.

That sounds like a solid approach! Reliable guidance on how to keep the weight off once you stop Reta is really hard to find...

Let us know how your changes to what you eat end up affecting things!

 

[RJ760]

Delphyne said:

I haven't reached my goal weight, though I've already dropped a significant amount of weight - once more?

Like plenty of others here can probably understand, I've tried countless diets before, shed some pounds, put every bit back on, along with the guilt and self-blame.

What convinces you that this time it will be lasting and permanent as long as you keep taking the medication?

I don't question whether this will be effective in my case, but I've had to face some hard truths about what brought me here. Since my early 20s I've been cycling up and down, exercising and eating properly only until I reached a target, then dropping any plan for the long haul. A few years ago I went from 280 down to 210, and at some point during that I understood that training can't be a short-term fix — it has to stay in my life permanently. Once that landed, I never went back.

After 3 years of steady training, that side of things feels handled. The area where I kept coming up short was how I ate. For a long time I truly thought that if I exercised hard enough, I could cancel out a bad meal. That held up for a while, but the occasional treat turned into something more regular, and over the past 6 months I climbed back up by 20lbs. Not having a scale made it worse — I was judging by how my clothes felt, and it turns out a pair of pants will stretch more than you'd expect.

For me, Reta is about finally dealing with the piece I never really addressed. I don't anticipate instant results, and I'm not attempting to change everything at once. My first step was removing needless sugar, since that's where I was losing the most ground. A serious sweet tooth, working from home, and a pantry that's fully stocked make for a terrible mix. 1 week in and the food noise has already gone quieter than it has been in a long while. Just that feels like progress.