Do the benefits stop improving at some point?

[mrblu]

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

 

[HouseCat]

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

 

[BNLFL]

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

 

[Skidude]

My approach to titration came from my own results plus anecdotal reports I picked up on the forum and other places.

Since people range from non-responders to super responders, with plenty in between, and since the maintenance dose might end up being whatever the final dose was,

it would make sense to take the smallest amount that gets you to your goal, provided the losses keep coming steadily.

With Tirz, I have watched some reach goal below 5mg, while others needed 30mg or more.

Whether a plateau happens seems highly individual to me, though from my own experience: 15mg for 17 months, and my weight has moved only a few pounds up or down.

You could call that a plateau.

That said, I have also raised my calories and gotten looser about what I eat.

 

[mrblu]

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

Yeah, aiming for about a 1mg bump every 4 weeks

Broadly speaking, I keep wondering whether the body builds up resistance to reta as time goes on — whether that's from tolerance to the drug itself, or simply because dropping pounds gets harder once you're lighter

Is it reasonable to think I'd hit a point where weight loss just stops entirely? Once again, this is all under the assumption that I'm combining it with lifestyle changes

I hope all of this comes across clearly?

 

[Mochizuki0124]

mrblu said:

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

Yeah, aiming for about a 1mg bump every 4 weeks

Broadly speaking, I keep wondering whether the body builds up resistance to reta as time goes on — whether that's from tolerance to the drug itself, or simply because dropping pounds gets harder once you're lighter

Is it reasonable to think I'd hit a point where weight loss just stops entirely? Once again, this is all under the assumption that I'm combining it with lifestyle changes

I hope all of this comes across clearly?

Chasing a specific increase on a specific schedule is the wrong way to go about it. What if 1mg keeps working for you for 3 months — then why raise it at all? What if 1mg gives you 0 results in 3 weeks — then why sit on it for 4 weeks?

Go by how your body answers and titrate to match. And skip that trap of lofty expectations you read online. Not everyone can or should drop XX amounts every week or every month. A lot of people shed a pile of waterweight over the first few weeks, assume the pace will hold for months, and then keep titrating chasing that same effect.

 

[woundcarping]

mrblu said:

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

Yeah, aiming for about a 1mg bump every 4 weeks

Broadly speaking, I keep wondering whether the body builds up resistance to reta as time goes on — whether that's from tolerance to the drug itself, or simply because dropping pounds gets harder once you're lighter

Is it reasonable to think I'd hit a point where weight loss just stops entirely? Once again, this is all under the assumption that I'm combining it with lifestyle changes

I hope all of this comes across clearly?

In real terms, yes — you'll settle into a steady-state band. One key thing to grasp: a halt in weight loss isn't proof the medication has quit doing its job. For most people, staying at the same dose is enough to hold onto the weight they've already lost.

 

[mrblu]

Mochizuki0124 said:

mrblu said:

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

Yeah, aiming for about a 1mg bump every 4 weeks

Broadly speaking, I keep wondering whether the body builds up resistance to reta as time goes on — whether that's from tolerance to the drug itself, or simply because dropping pounds gets harder once you're lighter

Is it reasonable to think I'd hit a point where weight loss just stops entirely? Once again, this is all under the assumption that I'm combining it with lifestyle changes

I hope all of this comes across clearly?

Chasing a specific increase on a specific schedule is the wrong way to go about it. What if 1mg keeps working for you for 3 months — then why raise it at all? What if 1mg gives you 0 results in 3 weeks — then why sit on it for 4 weeks?

Go by how your body answers and titrate to match. And skip that trap of lofty expectations you read online. Not everyone can or should drop XX amounts every week or every month. A lot of people shed a pile of waterweight over the first few weeks, assume the pace will hold for months, and then keep titrating chasing that same effect.

I should have put an asterisk on that remark — it only applies as the quickest pace I'd move at in case weight loss comes to a halt, no question about it.

 

[mrblu]

woundcarping said:

mrblu said:

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

Yeah, aiming for about a 1mg bump every 4 weeks

Broadly speaking, I keep wondering whether the body builds up resistance to reta as time goes on — whether that's from tolerance to the drug itself, or simply because dropping pounds gets harder once you're lighter

Is it reasonable to think I'd hit a point where weight loss just stops entirely? Once again, this is all under the assumption that I'm combining it with lifestyle changes

I hope all of this comes across clearly?

In real terms, yes — you'll settle into a steady-state band. One key thing to grasp: a halt in weight loss isn't proof the medication has quit doing its job. For most people, staying at the same dose is enough to hold onto the weight they've already lost.

That's really useful! So it looks like there isn't any obvious drug resistance—instead, the body's stasis point just shifts.

Fingers crossed I won't need to increase my dose very much, though I'm still at the start of this journey, currently around 1 mg/wk, and I've been feeling great

 

[woundcarping]

mrblu said:

woundcarping said:

mrblu said:

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

Yeah, aiming for about a 1mg bump every 4 weeks

Broadly speaking, I keep wondering whether the body builds up resistance to reta as time goes on — whether that's from tolerance to the drug itself, or simply because dropping pounds gets harder once you're lighter

Is it reasonable to think I'd hit a point where weight loss just stops entirely? Once again, this is all under the assumption that I'm combining it with lifestyle changes

I hope all of this comes across clearly?

In real terms, yes — you'll settle into a steady-state band. One key thing to grasp: a halt in weight loss isn't proof the medication has quit doing its job. For most people, staying at the same dose is enough to hold onto the weight they've already lost.

That's really useful! So it looks like there isn't any obvious drug resistance—instead, the body's stasis point just shifts.

Fingers crossed I won't need to increase my dose very much, though I'm still at the start of this journey, currently around 1 mg/wk, and I've been feeling great

If the side effects stay tolerable, the number on my syringe isn't something I worry about much. My goal was to drop roughly 35% of where I started, so the whole "low and slow" approach was never really in the cards for me.

Nothing about the sides is bothering me, though I've hit pause on going up any further. After 3-4 months, it seems like I'm about to land at the weight I was aiming for.

 

[Pete369]

Looks like it. Today I went from 8mg up to 10mg, hoping that gets things moving again. That said, around November I'll pause for a winter bulk, so my hope is that by March I'll have resensitized and can resume next year on a smaller dose.

 

[pughster25]

reta worked really well for me right away. over the course of 6 months i worked my way up to 6mg, and the pounds came off gradually. then it stalled. i held at 6 for 3 months and the scale didn't budge. what i did notice was that food and alcohol noise got louder. so i bumped it to 8mg and the gradual loss kicked in again. i'm not going above 8. when i hit another plateau, i'll take a few weeks off and then either restart tirz or give elora a shot

 

[BNLFL]

For me, 9mg was still effective and I was dropping about 2lbs each week. Like woundcarping mentioned, upping the dose was never an issue for me. The only thing I noticed in the last 3-4 months was sleep, no other sides. Twice I hit a short stall after 6 weeks on doses that had been working, and both times I simply moved to the next higher dose. I've passed my goal and then some, so now I'll begin experimenting with maintenance doses. Same as others in this community, I plan to remain on Reta for as long as I can.

 

[mrblu]

woundcarping said:

mrblu said:

woundcarping said:

mrblu said:

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

Yeah, aiming for about a 1mg bump every 4 weeks

Broadly speaking, I keep wondering whether the body builds up resistance to reta as time goes on — whether that's from tolerance to the drug itself, or simply because dropping pounds gets harder once you're lighter

Is it reasonable to think I'd hit a point where weight loss just stops entirely? Once again, this is all under the assumption that I'm combining it with lifestyle changes

I hope all of this comes across clearly?

In real terms, yes — you'll settle into a steady-state band. One key thing to grasp: a halt in weight loss isn't proof the medication has quit doing its job. For most people, staying at the same dose is enough to hold onto the weight they've already lost.

That's really useful! So it looks like there isn't any obvious drug resistance—instead, the body's stasis point just shifts.

Fingers crossed I won't need to increase my dose very much, though I'm still at the start of this journey, currently around 1 mg/wk, and I've been feeling great

If the side effects stay tolerable, the number on my syringe isn't something I worry about much. My goal was to drop roughly 35% of where I started, so the whole "low and slow" approach was never really in the cards for me.

Nothing about the sides is bothering me, though I've hit pause on going up any further. After 3-4 months, it seems like I'm about to land at the weight I was aiming for.

Great to hear that—personally, the only side I've run into so far is a reluctance to head to bed

Hoping that trend continues, and congrats on being so close to the end!

 

[mrblu]

pughster25 said:

reta worked really well for me right away. over the course of 6 months i worked my way up to 6mg, and the pounds came off gradually. then it stalled. i held at 6 for 3 months and the scale didn't budge. what i did notice was that food and alcohol noise got louder. so i bumped it to 8mg and the gradual loss kicked in again. i'm not going above 8. when i hit another plateau, i'll take a few weeks off and then either restart tirz or give elora a shot

Pete369 said:

Looks like it. Today I went from 8mg up to 10mg, hoping that gets things moving again. That said, around November I'll pause for a winter bulk, so my hope is that by March I'll have resensitized and can resume next year on a smaller dose.

Has reta led any of you to make big lifestyle changes? In my case, diet has gotten a lot better without much effort, which is great. Right now I'm putting together a home gym too, so I can burn more from that side and keep the muscle I have

 

[mrblu]

BNLFL said:

For me, 9mg was still effective and I was dropping about 2lbs each week. Like woundcarping mentioned, upping the dose was never an issue for me. The only thing I noticed in the last 3-4 months was sleep, no other sides. Twice I hit a short stall after 6 weeks on doses that had been working, and both times I simply moved to the next higher dose. I've passed my goal and then some, so now I'll begin experimenting with maintenance doses. Same as others in this community, I plan to remain on Reta for as long as I can.

I'm trying not to jump to conclusions... but honestly, this medication feels like a miracle... I've only just begun, yet I already have roughly 2 years' worth of supply at a moderate dose based on the research

 

[quicksilver80]

If side effects showed up, I would simply stay at that dose for another couple of weeks. Nothing drastic has happened to me side-effect wise, and I'm on 9mg?

 

[lessthanhalf]

Tolerance doesn't appear to develop to the weight loss effects of GLP drugs, even at the 5 year mark. On the other hand, gastrointestinal side effects do seem to diminish gradually across months.

If you settle at a final dose and stop titrating up, weight loss will eventually halt — that is, provided you still have substantial weight to lose and haven't already reached your target. Roughly a year without major dose increases is the timeframe in which this tends to occur. When it does, the drug is in fact still functioning exactly as intended, performing the crucial task of preventing the weight from returning, even though it may feel like it has quit working, since weight loss has stalled and hunger may be stronger. Ideally, if you weren't carrying much excess weight and had a good response to the drugs, you'll be at or close to your target weight by that point. If that isn't the case, higher doses or combinations may be worth considering.

In many respects, how this scenario is managed is the most critical piece — shedding weight in general isn't the hardest part, it's keeping it off long term, and that's precisely where almost all standard diet and exercise approaches ultimately fail over time. Remarkably, GLP drugs don't have this issue: as long as you remain on them, the lost weight should stay off. Should you discontinue them, most people will put back most or all of the weight. Some attempt lower doses for maintenance; based on my reading of the research, the dose that got the weight off is probably the dose you'll need to remain on longer term, though a number of people do manage with reduced doses.

 

[Quagmire_Giggity]

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

That's a good point. When you decided to go up, was it because you hit a plateau, or did you follow the study timeline and move up after a set number of weeks?

 

[BNLFL]

Quagmire_Giggity said:

BNLFL said:

HouseCat said:

Eventually, the majority of people hit a point where weight loss stalls. A number of folks in maintenance adjust their doses and schedules so they don't drop more pounds than they want to. Try searching these terms:

Retatrutide maintenance

Triumph study

Weight loss slow*

You can look here or on Google (check my signature). Plenty of threads cover this topic. Wishing you success on your journey!

EDIT: I revised the GLP-1 mentions since I hadn't read carefully earlier. Thanks @BNLFL !

The medication he's using is Reta Kat, not Tirz.

mrblu said:

Hey all!

I’ve been trying hard to wrap my head around this medication and what to reasonably anticipate over the long haul

From what I gather, the usual advice is to increase the dose gradually - patience pays off, and to stay at the smallest amount that keeps weight coming off alongside lifestyle adjustments

One thing I haven’t been able to pin down, maybe because so many people are keen to move up in dose, is whether the good results eventually level off

I realize side effects tend to fade as your body gets used to it, but does the same thing happen with the weight loss itself?

Thanks so much, can’t wait to hear what everyone has experienced!

Let me give you a quick take. I'm not clear on where your "titrate slowly" idea comes from. There are people who begin with what I'd call tiny doses, .05mg, and then move up to 1mg. But Lilly's Triumph Study used a schedule of 2mg, then 4mg, 6mg, 9mg, and 12mg at the end. I wouldn't suggest making the kind of huge jumps I've witnessed, though I'm not a Dr. Their guidance was 4 weeks at every dose. That's basically what I followed, with a few small adjustments. After 4 weeks at 9mg I'm calling it quits and will experiment with maintenance doses. Anyway, over a 55lb total loss I averaged 2.2lbs per week. The side effects do fade, or at least they faded for me. The one a lot of people deal with is bad sleep, and I definitely have that. It didn't show up for me until late into the 6mg shots. How the slow versus recommended titration goes varies from person to person. My guess is that most long-term users began at the trial dose.

That's a good point. When you decided to go up, was it because you hit a plateau, or did you follow the study timeline and move up after a set number of weeks?

My titration decisions came from the study data. At 4 and 6mg, each held for 6 weeks, things went quite well — yet once I'd been on those doses for 6 weeks, the scale refused to budge. Hope that's clear. I attempted a 1mg step-up on 2 occasions, and it did nothing.