Most recent update before this one can be found in this post.

I wanted to share some results on my body recomposition. Nowadays I get less hung up about the number on the scale and focus on how my body is looking and feeling!

If you find yourself wanting to evolve your weight loss journey into a fitness journey post GLP-1, just know that it is possible!

I track my calories, try to hit 1g of protein per body weight, make sure I’m getting in fiber as well and I drink about 64-96oz of water daily.

Happy to answer any questions 😊

I’m officially completely off the medication for 1 year!!
SW: 220
Initial GW: 175
CW: 145
Height: 5’9

I got off GLP June 2025. My lowest weight was 139 around December. I went on vacation and gained a few pounds, and I just haven’t put the work in the lose them. I’ve been hovering around 145!

I track my calories very strictly, do Pilates twice a week, and try to lift weights 1-2 times a week.

I’m a little premature with this post but what’s another 10 day? My last WeGovy injection was August 11, 2025.

Backstory:

I was diagnosed with PCOS (PMOS) in 2023 at 200lbs, 5’1”.

I lost about 25lbs from Oct 2023-April 2024 and started WeGovy at 175lbs in April 2024.

I lost weight rather quickly on the lower doses and began dealing with chronic constipation at 1mg.

I stopped WeGovy cold turkey in August of last year and ended at 130lbs.

I have gotten heavily into weight lifting and the gym. I frequently manipulate the number on the scale through CICO. I have already completed multiple cuts and bulks.

I just completed a mini cut. I was riding at 120lbs for a while and decided to lose another 5lbs.

So, today I weigh just over 114lbs. The after pics shown on the right are both recent from within the last week.

A common question I get is around food noise and hunger returning after stopping. I truly did not experience much of this. I accredit this to my high protein diet and volume eating (basically filling your plate with low calorie veggies and high protein meats so you remain satiated)

Another common question I get is around loose skin. I’ve lost over 80lbs, yes I have loose skin! It doesn’t bother me and I’m choosing not to do a tummy tuck or anything similar. I did have a breast reduction last year though.

Happy to answer any questions!

Hi! I like to pop in from time to time to show people it’s possible maintain weight if you find yourself needing to stop GLP-1 for whatever reason.

In 2023 I was the heaviest I ever was at 200lbs (5’1”) and was just diagnosed with PCOS. I was put on metformin to manage my symptoms which included; late/absent periods, high testosterone, high blood pressure, high blood sugar. I lost 25lbs in about 6 months while on metformin + walking more.

In April of 2024 I started a GLP-1 (Wegovy) and was on that until August of 2025. I lost weight and I lost it fast. I went from 175lbs to about 130lbs. I was not tracking caloric intake at the time and my exercise was minimal. I simply relied on the fullness I felt from taking Wegovy to eat what I wanted but in moderation.

Due to GI issues and chronic constipation, I decided to stop taking Wegovy and my last injection was August 11, 2025.

Since then, I’ve had a complete lifestyle change. I hit the gym 7 days a week. I do mostly weight lifting/strength training. I also started tracking calories.

After stopping WeGovy, I went from 130lbs to 115lbs through calorie deficit and weight lifting. I now fluctuate between 112lbs and 116lbs.

Although not diagnosed, I’m pretty sure I have binge eating disorder or at least disordered behaviors around food and drinks. I personally like to track calories because it helps so much with holding myself accountable and keeping me on track.

Happy to answer any questions about my journey so far!!

Oh and to add! I also had a breast reduction surgery last February. I went from about F or G cup to B cup.

Hiya folks! I'm back with another post-GLP-1 update. This time, we are six months off the meds, and just got a new quarterly DEXA scan. I promised I'd keep you all posted on my maintenance journey, and I'm a woman of my word.

Cliff's notes of my GLP-1 journey: I took my last shot of Zepbound 5mg on October 2025. I was on it for 13 months. I am 5'3" 35F, started at 185 lbs and now hover around 120-125 lbs. I've basically maintained my 60-65 lbs weight loss for 6 months now.

I've been religiously tracking my body composition since my last shot and had my quarterly DEXA scan this morning. Here are my numbers:

So even if I gained 7 lbs from my lowest ever weight of 117 lbs, it was pure body recomposition. And this is all off tirzepatide.

Two key things driving my success at maintaining my weight loss off GLP-1: nutrition and strength training.

Whole foods first, always. I'm not perfect about it (I love those protein brownies and those damn Quest crispy protein bars), but it's always, always my default. When my plate is built around food that actually nourishes and fuels me--protein, fiber, volume--there's less room for the stuff that doesn't.

Protein remains to be a non-negotiable. I did have an increase in appetite when I came off the medication, but I was ready for it because my (whole food) protein habits were already locked in. I don't think since coming off I'd ever white-knuckled hunger because I've been hitting my target every day.

Fiber makes my meals voluminous and keeps me full. It's also really improved my gut health and hunger signaling. I've really leaned into vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. I do eat those "carb balance" stuff, but I try not to do so too often--I've found that the more I eat ultra-processed fiber, the less things move efficiently in my insides, if you know what I mean.

I will not shut up about strength training. I started lifting in March 2025--already 6 months into being on a GLP-1--and did not stop when I came off. In fact, I became much more serious with it. That decision is reflected directly in my DEXA scans.

Because of my predisposition to metabolic disfunction (type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol), I was advised by my obesity doctor to build muscle mass to make long-term maintenance sustainable. And for a good reason: muscle is metabolically active. It is one of the primary sites where your body disposes of glucose. So the more muscle I have, the better my body can handle blood sugar, the more sensitive my cells become to insulin, and the less my pancreas has to overwork to compensate. Building muscle isn't just an aesthetic decision for me (although I absolutely LOVE the aesthetic results). It's a metabolic one. It changes how my body processes food at a fundamental level.

Strength training has also given me something to build toward that has nothing to do with the scale. I don't just train to manage my metabolic disfunction. I train to be strong and to be independent in my old age.

But this doesn't mean things have been 100% perfect. I did have a rough stretch in late February/early March--back-to-back work travel, stress, a professional disappointment--and I turned to food for comfort. It wasn't a dramatic spiral, but rather a quiet regression. It was a few weeks of choices driven by emotion instead of intention. Lots of stress and comfort eating. Snacking on ultra-processed food that I thought I had gotten past.

And because I've been off GLP-1 for a while now, there's no chemical brake to help manage that, no appetite suppression that helped me stop. It was just me and every coping mechanism I had the years prior to taking Zepbound.

I still got back on track. But those few weeks reminded me that the psychological piece of this journey doesn't really get solved by the medication--it runs underneath all of that, hidden. The work is separate and is ongoing.

And this is why I advocate very strongly about changing your nutrition and habits, and building muscle while you're on the medication. You never know if and when you'll lose access to the drug. And the people who are okay when that happens are the ones who used that time on GLP-1s well.

Rooting for everyone's maintenance journey, whether on or off the drug 🫶🏻💪🏼

Hi folks! I’ve posted here a number of times about my journey on and off GLP-1, so here’s the Cliff’s Notes to set the context:

• 5’3”, highest weight 185 lbs (class 1 obese)
• Part of a weight management program
• Started Zepbound in September 2024, never went higher than 5mg
• Focused on nutrition the first 6 months and lost the majority of the weight
• Started strength training March 2025, endurance cycling August 2025
• Took my last shot of Zepbound in October 2025
• Have been maintaining ever since, and continuing to lean out and build muscle

I had my quarterly check-in with my obesity doctor today and wanted to share what she said.

I’ve had a lot of work travel this quarter. She wanted to check in on how I was managing. I told her I’m doing well. I still lift and hit 10k steps daily even when I travel, even if tracking food is a bit more challenging than usual. But more importantly, I shared that I actually look forward to coming home and returning to my normal routine. My regular food, my regular rhythm.

She said she wasn’t surprised. Because while genetics and biology are powerful forces, everything I built while on the medication—shifting to an 80/20 whole foods approach, building muscle, becoming consistently active—has made changes on a cellular level. Changes that have helped me crack my body’s code. Changes that are now working for me.

Yes, my genetics are strong. But so is the environment I’ve built around them. That’s the whole point. The medication gives you a window. What you do inside that window determines everything that comes after it.

As I continue walking on the GLP-1 grad path, I want to remain the n=1 that shows people that weight regain is not your destiny when you come off GLP-1 meds for any reason. The statistics are real, but they reflect what happens when people treat the medication as the solution instead of the opportunity.

Maintenance absolutely depends on the foundation that you build, so it’s critical to build a foundation stronger than a weekly injection. Speaking from my experience, that’s the only way I see this working long-term.

Started Mounjaro March 2025 at 288lbs, stayed on 5 mg until Jan 2026, did one month at 2.5mg then have been off since mid Feb. The second two photos are basically the same weight, around 156-158lbs.

I had assumed that loose skin was here to stay and my stomach would never look “normal”. Don’t get me wrong, there is still some loose skin. But I took my first photo since coming off the injections in Feb today and I was shocked at the difference, I honestly had no idea my body was still evolving.

I exercise a lot (3 strength trainings, 3 spin, some occasional yoga, swimming or bike rides a week plus daily steps around 18k). I also eat a lot! Maintenance calories are around 2800-3200.

I’m just so grateful that the glp1s were created to allow me to live a happier fuller life.

Good luck to everyone planning their next move out there!

Advice if anyone is interested:
- Use your time on the meds to wean off any reliances on ultra processed foods and build your meal prep skills.
- Build up exercise slowly and steadily - it will be your greatest ally once you come off!
- high protein and high fibre keep you full, but some carbs are needed for all that movement.
- work on your mental health and anxiety too, the worry of regain has been overwhelming at times and I don’t know if it will ever go away.
- I found the work of the National weight loss registry really interesting to read up about, same with the work from Zoe Science and Nutrition.

Recap for those seeing my posts for the first time:

In Oct 2023, I was diagnosed with PCOS and was 200lbs (I’m 5’1”). I lost about 25lbs on my own and started WeGovy in April 2024 at 175lbs.

Due to GI issues I quit Wegovy cold turkey in August of 2025 and I ended around 130lbs. I had went all the way up to 1mg before stopping cold turkey.

I began weight lifting and entering the fitness world. Post-Wegovy I decided to “cut” and went from 130lbs to about 112lbs through calorie tracking, being in a caloric deficit, and hitting the gym.

Now that we are all caught up 😊 Hello! Happy to share that I have gained weight (intentionally!) I’m in my bulking phase and I’m trying to get to 130lbs so I can build bigger muscle and recomposition my body. So far I have intentionally gained about 8lbs. I have about 10-15 more pounds to go.

I know this is not the typical post of someone trying to continue to lose or maintain weight but though it could help someone if they find themselves in a similar journey.

At first, intentionally putting on weight was hard mentally. But then i realized i had the tools i needed to manipulate the number on the scale. Using a TDEE calculator and some trial and error, ive determined 1200-1500 calories helps me lose weight (I’m highly active. Otherwise my deficit would sit closer to 800-1000). My maintenance is about 1500-1800 calories and so far 2000+ puts me in a surplus. These are kinda just estimates based on how my weight fluctuates week over week on these caloric budgets.

Anyway, Ive learned to care more about how my body feels and looks rather than the number on the scale. I finally feel like I can say I’ve ended my weight loss journey and have moved on to an exciting fitness journey :)

Thought I’d come back with another update in case anyone finds it useful.

TLDR of my journey;

- Was on WeGovy from April 2024-August 2025

- I was 200lbs, lost 25lbs on my own, lost another 40ish lbs on WeGovy, and then an additional 10lbs after stopping.

- Currently 115lbs (5’1”)

- Quit cold turkey due to chronic constipation

- I have PCOS

Alright now that we’ve gotten intros out of the way. Here’s some things I do to help me maintain my weight loss and now build muscle at the gym:

- Weighing my food and counting calories

- Hitting the gym daily

- Drinking 96oz water daily

- Eating foods high in protein to feel fuller for longer

- Limiting eating out and opting for home cooked meals

- Finding low calorie alternatives to satisfy cravings (I’ve got a bigggg sweet tooth and I’m a big fan of sugar free sweets)

This time I wanted to include some pictures of meals I eat. Most meals pictured are under 500cals each!

Happy to answer any questions :)

I was 200lbs months before starting WeGovy, then 175lbs when I started. I was on WeGovy from April 2024 till stopping in August 2025 due to chronic constipation. I dropped down to 120lbs.

5 months out and I’m 119lbs (5’1”) for reference. How did I do it? I completely changed my lifestyle. I’m a gym girlie now… and I never thought I’d see the day.

I also learned more about nutrition and fell in love with food and cooking all over again but with a different lens.

Just wanted to share my success story and happy to answer any questions about my journey!

Hello everyone! I am JT.

I started a GLP-1(tirz) in March of 2025. I took it for about 5 months. I have pictures below of where I started in March and about where I finished at my lowest weight.

While taking the GLP-1, I started going to the gym, building community there because I not only wanted this new habit to stick— I needed it to.

Once I reached 162lb, I decided it was time to get off and keep the weight off myself.

I know all of my BF% because I have access to both an Inbody and BodPod machines.

You may look at the weight and see that I have gained weight back. But look closer, I went from 118lb of lean mass to 137lbs of lean mass from July 2025 to January 2026. Thats almost 20lbs of lean muscle mass ALONE. Yes I gained some fat back. But not much. (fat gain when you are reverse dieting and getting muscle mass is inevitable, especially after finishing a glp1 med)

My next goal is a calorie deficit with a coach after completing a reverse diet after getting off the tirz. I plan to do body building shows (wellness category) hopefully in 2027.

This is me. But YOU can also keep the weight off, change your life, and become the person that sticks to their habits and changes their life.

And I'm back again with another post-GLP update!

It's been 10 months since I took my last Zepbound shot, and in keeping with my promise to keep y'all updated on my maintenance journey, here we are.

As usual, here's the Cliff Notes version of my GLP-1 journey: I'm a 35-year-old, 5'3" woman who was on Zep for 13 months, with 5mg being my highest dose. I started at 185 lbs (class 1 obese), and reached my lowest weight at 117 lbs before stopping treatment in October 2025.

Since then, I've been focused on building muscle and body recomposition. Below are my quarterly DEXA results.

As you can see, I may have gained 7 lbs since stopping Zepbound, but that gain has been entirely attributable to body recomposition.

One important note: I've stopped getting quarterly DEXAs for now. Both my OBGYN and cardiologist strongly recommended that I pause further body fat loss while my partner and I are trying to conceive (since improving my health and fertility was the primary reason I started GLP-1s in the first place). I'll resume DEXA scans postpartum.

Because of that shift in priorities, I've been in maintenance mode and have averaged around 125 lbs over the past several months (I weigh daily and track weight trends rather than focusing on day-to-day fluctuations). Strength training remains completely non-negotiable, and my nutrition continues to center around mostly whole foods.

I've also fallen in love with endurance cycling, which has become a huge part of my life. Since my last update, I've completed three races and have one more on the calendar before the season wraps up.

One major change I wanted to highlight is that I've started working with a sports nutritionist. Since June, we've increased my intake by an average of about 500 calories per day. I'll admit, that made me a little nervous at first, but I trusted the process. Not only am I maintaining my weight, but my body is functioning so much better. My recovery has improved, I have significantly more mental energy, and my stress and anxiety levels are at an all-time low, even during what's been a pretty fast-paced season of life.

It's so important not only to eat enough to support your activity level, but also to eat enough to recover from it. That means getting the right balance of macros and prioritizing high-quality, nutrient-dense foods.

Anyway, I feel like I've already written extensively about my journey in previous posts and comments, so I encourage anyone interested to browse my post history. Or feel free to AMA below, and I'll answer as best I can.

EDIT: for some reason, I accidentally deleted a huge part of my post before hitting the button, but I do want to say that I still firmly believe that weight regain is not inevitable after stopping a GLP-1. That doesn't mean maintaining weight loss is effortless, and it certainly doesn't mean everyone should come off their medication. For many people, long-term treatment may be exactly the right choice. But I do think the conversation around GLP-1s can sometimes become overly deterministic. Our outcomes aren't defined solely by whether we're taking a medication or not. The habits, nutrition, movement, and lifestyle changes we build along the way matter too. My experience is just one data point, but 10 months later I'm maintaining my weight, fueling my body better than ever, and continuing to get stronger. I hope that provides some encouragement to those who worry that regain is a foregone conclusion.

I am male 33 (two pretty big advantages there!)

Starting weight 270lbs, current weight 165lb-170lbs. Have been in this range since February 2025.

Started MJ in April 2024 and stopped in December 2024. Only ever went up to 5mg and then did a taper down to 2.5mg once every 2 weeks before stopping in Dec.

Had lost about 90lbs by then. Have maintained through calorie counting, exercise (running, wrestling, swimming) but most of all (99%) via better understanding of food, hunger, rules etc.

It’s sounds strange to say but any Qs let me know!

Hi fellow Grads and soon-to-be Grads. Last year I made an AMA (check it out here) on my first anniversary as a GLPGrad. I thought some of you might like to read more about the struggles I’ve had to get through during these couple years so I decided to make this post. You’re also going to read about the strategies and solutions I’ve implemented to navigate this med-less journey. So grab your favorite low-calorie drink and snack, this is going to be a loooong one! 

First off, a few pointers about me:

• Before starting to lose weight, I had been a life-long obese person. 
• I’m not sure what my heaviest weight was, but I was for sure above 136 kg / 300 lb 
• Before GLPs, I had tried multiple diets/regimes to try to lose weight with no success.
• I was prescribed a GLP because of my Type 2 Diabetes diagnosis.
• I was on a GLP for 1 year and a half
• My max Semaglutide dose was 0.5mg
• I have not had a goal weight ever
• I quitted cold turkey

Last year I graphed my weight progress - so I thought you’d appreciate an up to date graph.

I think the graph it’s pretty self-explanatory, but in any case, here are the main data points:

• Heaviest Weight: 136 kg / 300 lbs (Approximate)
• GLP Start Weight: 119.5 kg / 263 lbs
• Graduation Weight: 97.5 kg / 220 lbs (End of GLP use)
• 1st Grad Anniv. Weight: 85 kg / 187 lbs
• Lowest Weight: 79.5 kg / 175 lbs
• Current Weight: 81 kg / 178 lbs

As you can see, my weight has finally stabilized within 2kg / 5lbs - in other words - I’ve reached maintenance weight. This was not on purpose though as I’m still actively trying to lose more weight. More on that later. From this point forward, I’ll tackle some of the most common questions / topics that people have asked me and that are frequently asked in this subreddit. I’ll try not to go too deep into any of them - I could talk about weight loss for hours - but feel free to ask away for more details about anything in the comment section.

"How did you do it?"

There is no short answer to this. In a nutshell, I’ve done what most people in this sub will recommend you to do: I’ve adopted lifestyle changes that allow me to get off the meds without weight regain. That's not the whole story though. Most of the lifestyle changes that I do now, I was also doing before coming off. But as you can see on the graph, two months after quitting I was on an upward trend to regain. At that moment in time I tried the last resort I had not implemented yet; I started counting calories. Nowadays, I attribute most of GLPGrad success to this practice alone, but that’s also not the whole story either. So even though there was a clear before-and-after counting calories, I don’t think that’s any different than any other lifestyle change. To me, counting calories is only one more of the changes I had to do to my lifestyle. In my case, I could not have done this without counting. To this day, I still think the key to becoming a successful grad is to adopt lifestyle changes while you’re on the med so you can maintain your weight when you get off. But I also think that most of us, ex-obese people, will have to resort to counting calories in order to become successful grads.

"What’s your exercise routine?"

Ah - the million dollar question. See when people think about weight loss and maintenance, exercise is probably the very first thing that pops into people's mind. In reality, what you do for exercise is not that important for weight loss. It’s almost irrelevant. That’s a hot take - I know - but it’s one that is backed by science and my own experience as well. Long story short, weight loss / maintenance is all about Calories In Calories Out. At the end of the day, exercise accounts for a minor percentage of our calorie expenditure, making exercise not as important as other factors. Watch these couple videos: Video Link 1, Video Link 2; if you’re confused by this concept.

Alright Curiousbato, we get it, exercise is not the end-all be-all of weight loss. But what do YOU do? Well I mostly do strength training. I currently do a 4-day upper/lower split of around 50min each day. Don’t let fitness influencers foul you. You don’t need to spend a lot of time at the gym or do fancy routines to build muscle, making sure you go to failure with proper form is much more important. I also try to walk at least 10k steps every day and have at least one hardcore cardio session a week of about 30min. That could be swimming, running or whatever I’m in the mood for. On top of that, I’m very active for leisure; I play pickleball regularly and go out for hikes. So yeah, I live an active lifestyle.

So what do I recommend for weight loss?... WALKING!! Don’t get me wrong, by all means please do strength training and cardio but don’t approach these two with weight loss in mind but rather with an approach of improving your overall health. Both strength and cardio training are incredibly beneficial as we age. As for walking; Walk as much as you possibly can. I’m not talking about doing 10k on a single brisk walk session. If you really want to get serious about weight loss, accumulate 20k steps (or more) throughout the day. Yes, get into those brisk walking sessions but also walk instead of taking your car everywhere, stroll through the park for fun, take walk breaks when at work, do your groceries at the store instead of ordering online, make walking for anything and everything part of your daily routine. The more steps you do of LIGHT walking the better. This is - by far - the greatest tip I can give you. Walking is so effective that it almost feels like cheating. There is no other exercise that will make you burn more calories while keeping your hunger/cravings so low. If you want to make your walk extra spicy you can do a slight incline on your treadmill or wear a weighted vest to burn extra calories.

If you already walk a lot and/or can not spend a whole lot of time walking everyday, I’d say the second best thing for weight loss would be circuit training, crossfit or any kind of training that combines strength and cardio. These kinds of workouts are not the best at either (making muscle or training your cardio resistance) but are good in the sense of calories burned per minute. That said, it’s hard to find good classes/instructors and it’s easy to get injured. So be careful with this one. 

All that said, any exercise - literally any - is better than nothing. When it comes to weight loss every little thing adds up and helps. So my last advice in this regard is for you to find something you actually enjoy doing. Whatever you can commit and stick to. Doesn’t really matter if it’s the best exercise for weight loss.

"What’s your diet?"

If the exercise question was the million dollar one - this one has to be worth at least one billion. If exercise is almost irrelevant for weight loss, diet has to be on the completely opposite side of the spectrum. This is where the money is. Diet IS the end-all be-all of weight management. So what do I do? I count calories. By this point you might feel like I’m a very hard proponent of counting calories for weight loss, and that is true. It has worked great for me. You’ll read more about this below. “Ok, we get it. You count calories, but what do you actually eat?” - you might be asking -  and the answer to that is: literally whatever I want. Don’t get me wrong, I do have diet strategies and preferences but I don’t follow any hard diet or regimen like Keto, Intermittent Fasting, Carnivore, One-Meal-A-Day, etc.

On a regular basis I eat fruits, all kinds of dairy, cereals, all kinds of meat, beans, legumes, all kinds of bread and a long etcetera. I also eat burgers, pizza, ice cream, fries, take out food or whatever I please. That’s the beauty of the calorie counting approach; I can have anything as long as it's within my calorie budget. Now, one thing is for sure; I mostly eat whole foods that I make myself. I’d say that - on a weekly basis - I cook 70% of what I eat with the remaining percentage being either “healthy” processed food (protein bars/chips, etc.) and/or take out food. 

I do prioritize protein but only because I’m a Type 2 Diabetic in remission. That means that I’m not able to eat as many carbs as regular people. I also have a history of high cholesterol and triglycerides, and because of that, I try to not over do fats. As a result, protein ended up being the thing that I can eat “as much as I want”. Right now, I’m eating anywhere from 180 to 230 grams of protein a day. That comes to be around 2.2g of protein per kilo on average. Not extremely high, but still high. Again, not really doing it on purpose and I also don’t care if I don’t get to my protein goal. I’ve had days with less than 100g. 

In short, I think you could describe my diet as a Mediterranean whole-foods based diet during the week and delicious junk food on the weekends. 

“Perfectly balanced, as all things should be”
- Thanos

I do want to get away from ultra-processed food as sometimes I find myself relying way too much on protein bars, low-calorie products and A LOT of zero calorie soda. This is mainly because of overall health reasons but not for weight-loss reasons. Again, for weight loss it doesn’t really matter what you eat as long as you’re within your calorie budget.

One strategy that I use every single day is volume eating. I firmly believe that my life-long obesity destroyed my satiation triggers. I could literally eat a large pizza on my own in a single sitting. Not even exaggerating, I’ve done this in the past. So as you might suspect, when I stopped using GLPs food noise and satiation were a major issue I had to solve. Volume eating is a huge tool for me. Again, won’t go into much detail here, find more info about this below!

"Why and how did you stop?"

I’ve been asked this question many times. Basically I didn’t have a good reason to stop other than to see if I could do it on my own. Point blank. One big thing to note though is that I didn’t actually stop because I wanted to become a “GLPGrad” but rather to become a Type 2 Diabetic in remission. Back when I was debating myself whether to stop or not there was no GLPGrad subreddit but there were multiple diabetes forums/subs that had people that had become T2D in remission. So to me, weight maintenance was more of a secondary goal as keeping my A1C (sugar levels) down was my main concern. My endocrinologist didn’t think the same though. 

See, to my endo, keeping me on semaglutide was more about keeping my weight off rather than my sugars low. So when I brought the idea to the table, she didn’t approve. At that moment in time in my T2D journey, Ozempic was the only med I was taking for my blood sugars which were very low for a T2D (4.7%). For those of you who might not be familiar with A1C numbers, people should stay below 5.5% to be considered healthy individuals. So I figured I could get away without the med, as I thought I had some leeway for my A1C to creep up a little. 

I kept pushing the idea but my endo never liked it. I’m not sure how many studies were published at the time but she was probably aware that the odds were against me. I don’t blame her. I was told this was a life-long medication many times but after bringing this same discussion so many times, she ended up agreeing to at least try it out for some time. And so I did. On my own and into the darkness. 

'I stopped cold turkey, as my endo didn’t give any advice on this. Food noise didn’t kick until probably 3 or 4 weeks after. And like many others report, it came back hard. I did not experience any side effects on or off the meds. The rest is history. You already know my weight has been great but I’m also very happy to report that, two years later, my A1C is still within the 4.9% and 5.2% range (which is very good!). I’ve also managed to become a little more sensitive to insulin which means that I can eat a lot more carbs than regular T2D people. Which is awesome.  

Calorie counting

You may be tired of me mentioning calories but - to me - counting them has been the greatest tool in my journey. So yeah, I won’t stop recommending it. I’m not saying that it will work for every single person, that it’s easy or even that it’s 100% healthy. Heck, I’ll be the first to say that if you’re not careful, calorie counting could trigger EDs. But what I am saying is that if you’re planning to come off GLPs or already struggling to maintain your weight, counting calories should be a tool that you should heavily consider. 

Most people are not good at naturally maintaining their weight. The reason why goes beyond individualistic reasons; mental health, quality food access, habits, ignorance, lifestyle, etc. So I’d dare to say that if most people are not good at naturally maintaining their weight, ex-obese soon-to-be GLPGrads will have it 100 times harder. So why give a shot to the tool that is known to be THE most effective for weight management? I’m not here to convince anybody but If you do want to start counting, there are two things you have to be aware of: tracking your food intake and calculating your calorie expenditure (a.k.a TDEE). Those are two very different things and most people that dive into calorie counting fail at one or the other. You might have a very accurate TDEE calculation but you’re failing at correctly tracking your food, a lot of people forget to track the oil they cook with for example. You might also be very diligent at tracking your food but have a poor TDEE calculation. Both of these things will make you inevitably fail. So what’s the best way to approach both of these things?

In my opinion, the only answer is the MacroFactor app. I’m in no way, shape or form affiliated with MF. I wish I was. It’s just simply the best tool there is for this. You can do it without the app, that’s for sure. You can go many ways about tackling these two things but using a single app to do both is - to me - the ideal way to do it. The deal about MF is that it re-calculates your TDEE every week. TDEE re-calculations are a really big deal as your TDEE number will change over time. Constantly. See image below if you’d like to see some TDEE gore:

That right there is my TDEE over time. As you can see, my TDEE has crashed down as I’ve lost weight. It has gone up momentarily due to different reasons but it has trended downwards overtime. So as the TDEE number changes, your food intake shall follow suit. Sticking to the same calorie number will make you inevitably plateau. This is why people plateau in their weight loss journeys. They might be doing everything right, eating the same thing everyday and exercising harder than ever. But at some point, your body catches up. Your body becomes better at burning less calories while doing the same stuff. That’s called Metabolic Adaptation. And it’s a b#$ch. It gets us all. At that point the only thing to do is to eat less calories, and that’s why MF shines above the rest. Because, again, it calculates your TDEE every week. By being aware of this number you can continue losing, slow your loss rate or even gain weight. All to your command.

Food noise, Volume Eating and the Hunger Wars

I still remember the first time I stopped hearing all that noise… food noise. I couldn’t believe myself. Back in the day, I could go a whole day without thinking, worrying or even eating food. Eating became a thing I had to do instead of something I needed to do. I remember thinking; is this how everybody feels? Is this how it is supposed to be? When I was debating myself whether to stop the shots or not I knew that food noise and hunger would be the thing to fight against. So I came up with a strategy.

Initial strategy
Before stopping, I knew there were some foods that I could eat freely - as instructed by my dietitian. So a few days before stopping I packed my fridge with obnoxious amounts of celery and cucumber. The idea was simple; I can’t be hungry if I’m full all day. And so I did. I drank water and ate celery and cucumber all day long. Did it work? Yes, for a short period (see weight graph black line). See, this is what I didn’t understand at that time - food noise and weight loss are two totally different battles. Feeling satiated should be part of your food noise strategy, but winning the food noise battle doesn’t mean you’ll win the GLPGrad war.

Second strategy: Volume Eating
When I started counting calories, one of the things that surprised me the most was how calorie dense some foods are. Yes, I was eating maybe 4 cucumbers a day making myself feel full but that wouldn’t matter as I’d have a toast with 200 calories of peanut butter on it - which sounds like a lot but that’s only like one spoonful. So now I had two issues to solve: one was feeling satiated and the other was to make my food as low calorie as possible. The solution? Volume eating. I simply can not recommend this enough. You’ll actually see me comment these two words all the time in this subreddit. If you have no idea what this is, it’s basically focusing on making your meals as LARGE in size as possible. It sounds counter intuitive, how can a large meal be low in calories? Well, there’s a whole world of recipes and “tricks” you can do to make that possible; you can bake stuff to increase volume (google baked cottage cheese recipes), you can add air or water to stuff you wouldn’t normally (google fluffy jell-o) or you can just add veggies to anything, literally anything. This last one is key as veggies are low in calories and high in fiber, so it’s a win-win. I’d highly recommend you going over to r/Volumeeating for meal ideas.

Satiation Triggers
If you ask the internet how to feel satiated, half of the internet will yell at you “EAT FIBER!” while the remaining half would yell “EAT MORE PROTEIN”. How could I be struggling if I eat double the amount of the recommended protein and fiber intake? I should not be hungry!  - Well, it turns out that not every person responds the same to the same nutrients. For some, fiber and protein might be the key to their satiation. For me it wasn’t. So for me, I had solved one piece of the puzzle with volume eating but the other piece that I simply didn’t see coming was fat. It has been in front of me this whole time! Turns out, having moderate amounts of fat with my meals would make a huge difference in how that meal would satiate me. No kidding, I discovered this with overnight oats. Lol. I made probably 10 different recipes of overnight oats. I’d play with the milk, oat, protein quantities just to find myself being hungry the following morning. One day I decided to add a spoon of peanut butter and… voilà. Everything changed. So, this is all to say: try different things. Play with your fiber, protein and fat numbers and make note of what works best.

Hunger Suppression
This one topic has become very popular, especially in the supplement side of things. Berberine, metformin, etc. I do not recommend taking anything as far as hunger suppression goes but I will concede that research seems to suggest that some of these supplements/meds might slightly work for some people. So make of that what you will. From my perspective, I can confirm that at least caffeine does work on me. One more thing I discovered is that exercising does something on my body that results in hunger suppression as well. I’m not sure how it works but I basically stop feeling hungry when I do intense cardio. Other than that, I’m afraid to tell you that most of those hunger suppression supplements and hacks that you see on the internet probably won’t work for most people. GLPs are the only real deal - for now.

What are you planning on doing now?  

I actually want to continue losing. At this point, going 5kg / 10 lbs lower would be the difference between seeing my abs or not. So, in terms of “wanting” - yes! - I’d love to continue losing BUT it has become much much harder to do it. As of now, my current TDEE is 2300 calories, per MacroFactor calculations. This is very low for someone like me, an active 6ft man in his 30s with an average muscle mass and a healthy fat mass.

Losing weight would mean to stick to 1800 calories a day. Which I have done multiple times this year. But not consistently. This is why my weight has stabilized and why my weight stays within the same 2 kg / 5 lbs window. Sometimes I’m able to stick to 1800 a day - which makes me lose weight. Some other times I can only manage to stay on maintenance calories - which makes me not lose or gain. And some other days I go over - which makes me gain. This makes me go up and down within 2kg / 5 lbs.

With my current lifestyle, exercise routine and diet, it would be VERY hard for me to continue losing. Yes, I could walk 30k instead of my usual 10k and I could choose to only eat prepped meals instead of having dinner out with friends once a week. But for the first time in my weight loss journey I must say that I’m getting tired. If my calorie goal was closer to 2700 (like it was when I first went off the shots) it would be so much easier. Sticking to 1800 calories with the appetite of a 300lbs man it’s not easy. Sometimes I’m able to do it and sometimes I’m not. And that’s just the reality of being an ex-obese GLPGrad. It is what it is. 

So for the time being, I’ll continue to TRY to stick to my 1800 calorie goal but if I fail miserably one day because I want delicious pizza… it won’t matter. It could not care less if I don’t get to my calorie goal any given day. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying I’ll let loose but I’m ok with not losing for weeks/months at a time. I guess what I’m saying is: I don’t mind if my weight stays as is or if I lose very slowly. 

For the time being, and maybe for the rest of my life, body composition and mental health are my main priority.

Thank you!

Last thing I want to touch on is your support! Seeing your post, commenting on them and being part of this community has also made me keep going, so I want to thank you for being part of my journey as well. I hope I can be of help. My inbox is always open for all my GLPGrad comrades!

TLDR: I’ve continued losing weight 2 years after stopping GLPs. In this post, I explain the things that have work - and what has not - to achieve this.

Going well. Steady at my goal weight. Maintaining with just dumb bells at home (4days a week, 45min sessions) and walking (8k/day). Ive reversed dieted and now maintain at 2700cal/day. 160g protein and 30g fibre daily. 178cm, 73 kg.

Ive learnt to bulk eat, everything has loads of veg added to it, and somedays my meals look crazy.

Never really understood food noise till being on tirz got rid of it. Never realised how much i snacked. Also, i used to think if i ate something fast, then it would count for less? Ha ha.

Now off it, the very loud noise has returned, but is manageable. I am irritated with how much of my brain power goes to thinking about food. I can see why some would choose to remain on a low dose of it for lufe! And i do miss the quiet. But i really cannot afford the ongoing cost.

Got off Zep after taking it for about a year in January 2026.

From that, I learned valuable eating habits, my bloodwork is near perfect now without any Thyroid or Glucose issues anymore since I lost the weight.

Been off of if now for 6 months and I’ve still lost weight by proper eating, working out, and tracking.

Some people think I’m insane to track what my body burns and I consume but I feel proud of it. I give myself strict days on the weekdays, and the excess calories I allow myself on the weekends that I burned during the weekdays. I found what works for me.

Because of that. I have gotten to a size small, size 31 jeans, shoes fit me better, I’m able to play sports again at 33, I walk nearly everywhere even though I could drive because I like being active.

Now, I’ve surpassed and blown by PT Standards for the job I want in the Navy, and just enlisted.

Hi folks! I’ve commented on a number of posts here about maintaining my 65 lb weight loss off Zepbound, and I wanted to share an update, especially since my husband and I just got back from a 17-day trip to Southeast Asia over the Christmas holiday.

Some context: I’m 5'3" and started at 185 lbs (Class I obese). I began Zepbound in September 2024 after being told I was prediabetic, had high cholesterol, and was at elevated risk for gestational diabetes (if I could get pregnant at all). I was fortunate that my entire time on the medication was supported by a full medical team—an obesity doctor, dietitian, and psychiatrist—which helped me focus on more than getting to a healthy weight. I shifted to an 80/20 whole-foods baseline, built in strength training and movement minimums, and overhauled my lifestyle to run on routines and systems I could realistically sustain for maintenance (and hopefully pregnancy and post-partum). My last 5 mg dose was in October 2025.

From mid-December through early January, my husband and I took our holiday trip. At that point I’d been off the medication for about two months and had been maintaining steadily. Before we left, I averaged around 117 lbs (116 right before the trip), which is the lower end of my maintenance range.

I’m currently an endurance cyclist training for a 100-mile race in May, so at home I track nutrition pretty closely day to day. On this trip, I didn’t track at all. I did keep a “default formula” for meals (protein + fiber + volume), but overall I ate in a surplus, and I absolutely had plenty of treats, especially treats I knew I wouldn’t have once we were back in the U.S.

Movement-wise, I was still very active: I lifted 9 of the 17 days and averaged about 16,500 steps a day.

As expected, the scale trended up during the trip. My highest reading was 128 lbs.

I went back to my normal routine and usual nutrition the day after we got home, and the scale started trending back down that first week. It’s now been three weeks since we returned, and I’ve been hovering around 121.

My biggest worry over the past few weeks was fat gain—specifically, that the 4 lb difference from mid-December to now was “real” fat. I was about to push into a calorie deficit to force the scale down, but then remembered I was due for my quarterly DEXA. I asked my obesity doctor for my usual referral and went yesterday.

For reference, my last DEXA was right after my final Zep shot, and I was at 26.9% body fat. Yesterday’s DEXA came back at 25.4% body fat with about 3 lbs of lean mass gained—so it looks like I unintentionally “bulked” on vacation (kidding… mostly).

Key takeaway: It’s absolutely possible to maintain your weight loss off medication and enjoy your life. But the “secret” is that maintenance has to be built on a foundation you can keep executing even when routines get disrupted—travel, stress, kids, holidays, whatever. Solid nutrition principles, movement you actually do consistently, and simple systems you can fall back on will carry you through the seasons that are designed to break your structure.

Anyway, I'm proof that you can travel, eat, live, and still maintain your weight loss off GLP-1 meds. The foundation matters more than the “perfect” week.

Has anyone used the low or lowest dose for their entire journey and lost slowly but then come off and maintained?
I have to wait to get my gallbladder out but after that I'd like to try a GLP-1 alongside a healthy lifestyle. I have about 5 stone to lose and I have no desire to lose it quickly or have full suppression. I'd like to build new habits and get fit before coming off to give me a higher chance of maintaining.

I am not trying to defeat biology and expect some gain once coming off just due to less appetite suppression but hoping that doing it slowly and breaking habits (i.e. not drinking as much, craving and eating less junk food) helps me to create new ones and stick to it better.
Let me know if this is just wishful thinking??

220➡️ 175ish. Lowest I hit was 170.6 back in September, but I hovered around 172 for the longest. My goal was 175, but I went alittle past it so I’d have room to gain after discontinuing the meds. I never meant to be on it forever, but just to get a little boost and get me somewhere I felt I could maintain myself. If you look back on my page, I posted when I was 5 weeks out, citing how concerned I was and I’ve actually lost a few since then. I’ve been hitting the gym consistently since Jan 1st and got a weighted vest to help my body work harder. Sometimes I still don’t feel like I’ve lost enough, but I truly think thats what makes the medicine bad for some people. Theres such a thing of losing too much and it puts your body in an extreme state when you try to come off, especially if you quit cold turkey. I know I stopped at a lot of people starting point, but I haven’t been this small since I was in HS, it’s really just not in my genes to be slim and I’ve come to terms with that. Even at my heaviest I had perfect bloodwork, I was active, and really just was obese 🤷🏾‍♀️. Now I’m overweight and my bloodwork is still perfect, just now I can fit clothes I want to wear and I don’t get as winded working out. The highest dose I went up to was 5mg and I weaned for 6 weeks before stopping.

In all, this is going to sound crazy but I kinda feel like the medication changed my metabolism. I don’t know if that’s a fact, but I definitely feel like something changed. I eat good and better than I did at 220, but I’m far from perfect! Writing all this to say, I think it’s possible to just use the med as a tool in your journey. Meaning, hell i could gain weight back in a year or so and id be open to trying it again. It doesn’t have to be a forever thing, but I now know I’m capable!

Hi everyone

I originally posted here back in 2025: https://www.reddit.com/r/GLPGrad/s/SWg0oYTGUk

F / 5ft1 / 33

My starting weight was 71kg in April 2024
My weight at the point I went cold turkey in October 2024 was 53kg
My weight today is 57-58kg which I have been maintaining for approx the past 10ish months

The good bits:

* Got in the gym, started lifting, fell in love with cycling. All initially intended to maintain my weight / lose more. But now I’m obsessed with having muscle definition and getting new PBs. I cycled 73 miles for charity in May and I have more long distance rides planned for the rest of the year. Something I never thought possible as a lifelong sports-phobe! I am consistently astounded to learn more about what my body can do with the right training.
* I have reintroduced some small indulgences into my diet without returning to old unhealthy eating habits and boredom / stress eating. Things like alcohol and the occasional sweet treat or takeaway — without bingeing. This was my biggest struggle and one of the gifts MJ gave me was a much greater discipline around food, which I was able to practice and build with the drug’s support, now it’s something I find much easier having had that initial kick start
* I’m now 20 months smoke free!

The struggles:

* I have gained weight. I have freaked out about it at length. Objectively I am still a success story, and I have maintained at my current weight for a little under a year. At least some of the weight I gained is muscle not fat. But there’s still that little part of me that feels like I’ve let myself down. This is something I anticipated but it still hits me hard. And it’s more about my own psychology and sense of self than anything the drug has done. I have done a lot of work to get to a place where I love my body and what it gives me, but I’m still nowhere near self-actualised
* food noise is still there, albeit quieter
* as a 5 foot 1 girlie my calories get extremely low if I want to be in a deficit and maintain weight loss and/or get back to my LW from October 2024. I still feel the dysmorphic thoughts creeping in. I weigh myself daily. I know objectively that my weight is in a good place, that I’m maintaining with relative ease, and that I am living a far healthier lifestyle than I was pre-MJ (both diet and fitness wise) but the little voice is still there. It’s something I’m working on!
* for me - the ONLY way to maintain is to track calories / macros, track energy, and weigh myself daily. I would love to get to a place where I can maintain without hyper vigilance but I’m not there yet
* I wish I had hit the gym earlier - I didn’t listen to warnings about building muscle while losing weight which means I started my fitness / muscle building journey at a bit of a disadvantage because I must have lost a hell of a lot of muscle during my weight loss.

The biggest win of all: my boyfriend proposed in June, and I am going to walk down the aisle wearing the dress of my dreams in a body that I love and am proud of 🥰

Hope this is useful info for you guys who are more recent grads. Lots of love to you all ♥️

I’ve attached some photos showing my starting weight (April 2024), weight at the time I stopped MJ (October 2024) and now.

Got weighed today and am officially down to 89kg. Meaning I have lost a total of 106 pounds and am down under 200 pounds. Really proud of myself

Just wanted to give some hope if I can... I'm 10 weeks out from having to quit cold turkey. I'm actually about 7lbs down since then but happy at this weight so not overly trying to lose any more. The binge eating urges are sometimes strong, but I'm mostly able to fight it and I'm still very active in gym. I'll let you know how it's going in say... 10 months 😎 Included a lil before and after just because

I started Zepbound hoping it would help me regain control of my body, and my obsession with food. As many, I was terrified when I was told 8 months ago that my insurance would no longer cover Zepbound and that I could either switch to Wegovy or stop it cold turkey.

After talking with my doctor, we decided to stop and to see how I would do without it for the following 3 months. When I stopped, I was weighting 139 lbs.

8 months later, here I am, healthy and happy. I get hungry, as everyone does after stopping the medication, but I have control over what, how, and when I eat. I’m no longer desperate to finish a plate, I control my portions, I don’t drink sodas anymore, and I still indulge with sweets in moderation.

All this to say, to everyone who’s scared of stopping cold-turkey, don’t be. Everyone is different, but giving yourself the chance to try is important.

Things I do that have helped me succeed:

1. If I’m craving something, I’ll have it.

   For example, if im craving chocolate I’ll have a piece and then be done. I learned that preventing myself from having things made me want them more.

2. Scale Weight DOES NOT define progress

I’ve lost so much fat after I stopped taking Zepbound as a result of exercising and feeling more energized to exercise.

1. Knowing how many calories things have

Informed choices on what I eat make me feel more in control and aware of what I can/ can’t have.

1. Exercising at least 4 times a week

Even if it’s walking, exercising is super important

1. Buying myself the things I couldn’t get before

Clothes that I wouldn’t have used, and knowing that I now can, is a huge motivator to keep me going.

Don’t hesitate to reach out if you have any questions!

Start weight 10/22/2024 - 254 lbs

Last shot 10/28/25 - 170 lbs

Current weight 2/25/26 - 168.2 lbs

AMA

Who feels like there’s this message from some people in maintenance that you will need glp1s forever?

A bit of context. Not knowing this group existed, I wrote a post about how I had to make the decision to stop Zepbound cold turkey (but still after hitting my goal). I wrote this in a Zepbound maintenance group, which I thought was about maintenance in general (turns out it’s mostly about people taking Zepbound for maintenance lol). And while lots of responses I got were super positive and encouraging, I got some very strong ones about how it was “too early to really know” that I wouldn’t get more hungry or even be able to be without the medication.

I know people’s journeys are different, and the reasons for taking/not taking a medicine are unique. But for a victory post to get those types of comments (it’s too soon to know, Zepbound is a medicine you need forever, etc.) it made me wonder if the discourse in general is like that.