Coming off GLP-1s - tips?

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Reta-Cake

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I've been on Ozempic for a while, sticking to 0.5 mg. I'm trying to avoid upping the dose, as I'm hoping to just use it to boost the effects of diet and exercise, if that makes sense? I'm thinking of stopping in about half a year since I want to start a family. My worry is that I'll regain any weight I lost, especially since I'll be pregnant. How did you all handle stopping Ozempic, and do you have any advice for keeping the weight off?
 
A friend of mine slowly lowered their dose and said once they stopped taking it altogether, they were super hungry for a couple of weeks. But they just dealt with it and the hunger eventually went away, and now they're maintaining without much effort.
 
What about keto? You can eat pretty normal-sized portions and still lose weight. The only problem is that it's hard to stick to because most people crave carbs.
 
Just count calories. I know it's annoying, but it's better than following trends like IF or keto. Use an app like My Fitness Pal and track what you eat and burn. Eventually, you'll get the hang of it and won't need to track so closely.
 
I've been on this medication for more than a year, and I've been keeping a log of what I eat. Now I have a solid understanding of my caloric needs for maintaining or losing weight. I'm hoping this will help me when I stop taking the medication in September (after 2 years total).
 
It is great that you want to stay at a low dose. But only a small percentage of people can do this. Most need to increase above 0.5 if they want to lose a noticeable amount of weight. The main weight reduction doses are 1.0 and higher.

I plan on using a different daily pill (as needed) when I have food cravings once I hit my weight goal.
 
I do intermittent fasting (8 PM to noon the next day, sometimes longer) to lower my insulin, and lots of exercise (cardio and strength training) in the morning while fasted. It's tough, but it works. I'm also on 0.5 mg of Ozempic, and I don't have a plan for stopping it yet either.
 
Definitely change your diet. No sugar! Keep exercising regularly, even if it's just walking 3-4 miles a day. At a good pace, but not too exhausting. It has to be REGULAR. Eat protein FIRST, then veggies, then carbs like potatoes. Berries are a good dessert option, especially if you're diabetic. Avoid grapes; they're high in sugar. No alcohol or soda. Look in the mirror and tell yourself you're beautiful and worth it! Because you are! Dream it, believe it, then DO IT! 🥰🥰🥰
 
Reta-Cake said:
My worry is that I'll regain any weight I lost, especially since I'll be pregnant.
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I totally understand that fear! I've heard that it's SUPER important to stay active during pregnancy (obviously, talk to your doc first), and focus on nutrient-dense foods. Don't use pregnancy as an excuse to eat whatever you want!
 
I saw a registered dietician (RD) who works with people on GLP-1s, and they told me that if you stop cold turkey and get super hungry, going into a big calorie deficit isn't the answer. It's a medical thing, not a willpower thing. Apparently your hunger signals come back really strong after stopping, and fighting it too hard can backfire.
 
Yeah, I agree with Brave_Bison_420. Extreme restriction after stopping can mess you up. I've heard that planning regular meals throughout the day can help - like every 2-3 hours. Keep your body nourished and don't let yourself get to the point of extreme hunger.
 
Thanks for the tips, everyone! I'm also thinking about building up more muscle. I read about someone who lost about 40 pounds and then went off their meds. They said they focused on strength training to help maintain their weight loss. Maybe that could help me too?
 
Asked my doc about newer three-hormone meds vs the glp-1 meds. She said some people who don't respond to one will respond to the other, but if you're doing fine on the cheaper option, not worth the switch.
 
Splitting the weekly dose into two micro doses and losing the weight while finding the experience miserable is the situation where the question of whether to continue becomes about quality of life rather than just the scale. If the mechanism is working but the side effects are the dominant experience, adjusting the dosing frequency rather than stopping cold might be worth exploring before making the final call.
 
Starting Mounjaro at a dose that accounts for prior sema tolerance is a real consideration the OP's doctor may not be applying. Ozempic at highest dose followed by a standard starting Mounjaro dose is under-dosed relative to where the sema response was. For someone planning to come off rather than switch, the taper question is different - but knowing which direction the goal goes matters for the answer.
 
Not an expert here, just passing along what I've figured out for myself along with some reading.

1. Going slow pays off later, I held myself under a moderate ceiling on the dose since the number's still dropping, food's still enjoyable, tough lifting sessions are still doable, and my skin gets extra room to stretch and settle into the new frame.

2. On any weight-loss plan, and this drug class can act fast like one, muscle tends to melt away right alongside fat if you're not careful, which hurts your body and is a big part of why folks who quit often end up heavier than before they began. The fix is keeping protein high and staying in the gym. My own setup right now, eggs most mornings, gym sessions and long walks on alternating days, plus a shake daily.

3. Cutting portions isn't the whole story, better food choices matter too, nothing here lasts once the meds stop unless the window actually gets used to rebuild daily routines. Rethink how much goes on the plate, what actually goes in your mouth, and how active you stay. Undoing habits built over decades takes real patience, likely spanning multiple years, so treating a short stretch on this medication as a fix you can walk away from afterward misses the point... worth planning
 
A friend on Ozempic couldn't handle side effects once she hit 1.0 mg. Switched to Mounjaro and did better on that instead. Seems to go that direction often, though for others it's reversed.

My doctor pushed me toward 1.0 despite steady loss and great A1C, and that dose was brutal. Some days eating anything at all felt impossible. Threw up several times, which almost never happens for me. At that point I flatly refused to continue at that amount.

So whichever medication you're on, my suggestion is holding off on raising the dose unless it's genuinely stopped working, weight stuck, A1C flatlining, that sort of thing.

Even at 0.5 I dealt with frequent nausea, always had. Around three months after dropping back down, the nausea finally eased off. My weight settled just under the 25 BMI mark.
 
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