What's the plan for people who want to eventually taper off reta?

[sleepy-lateadopter66]

ok so i know plenty of people say you have to stay on this forever, fine. but say someone doesnt want that. i started at 420 lbs and got down to 240. then i sat there for eighteen months, meals were clean but the deficit was too small to lose more, just enough to hold. now ive started reta. lets say i reach my goal weight and want to come off it. how do people usually go about tapering? is it step down slowly, drop the dose every few weeks, or just stop? and what happens to appetite and weight in the months after? im not judging anyone who stays on it, i just want to know my options before i get there. id love to get stories from anyone who did it and kept the weight off, or who tried and had to go back on.

 

[paprika-plotter15]

heyyyy bae, it's odd to find out you get to pick where you stop once your body has run things for years. the number on the chart is a proxy. on reta, and for lots of others, there's a weight where the urge to lose more fades, and energy, strength and food noise even out at a level you can live with. that could land you 10 pounds over a classic normal-BMI number, and how you function counts for more than your spot on a range. what comes after is harder. those who hold the loss usually step the dose down in small steps across several months instead of stopping cold, and they treat maintenance as its own stage with a learning curve. people who struggle tend to treat reaching goal weight as the end of the road.

 

[Slim_Squad]

I cycle reta six weeks on and six off, finishing each on-block at the max dose while keeping my habits going during the break. When I reached goal, I pushed the dose further, expecting some weight to bounce back. This approach seems to have adjusted my body and routines to the new shape, weight barely swings across the cycle, and habits stay simple. Reta hangs around, its half-life runs about six days, so it clears entirely about a month after the final dose, meaning part of your off period still delivers benefits.

 

[pickle_holdsteady]

Now that I've reached goal weight I wouldn't advise tapering yet. I backed off at goal and started regaining right away. After four weeks of gaining a lb a week I returned to my previous dosage, which didn't help. After another four weeks sitting 5 lbs over goal, I had to raise it a further 0.5mg before the scale began moving down again.

 

[Ready]

Started reta 18 months back, worked up to 8mg weekly, and stalled at 200 lbs (from 300) around December. A few months later I tried raising the dose to restart the loss but got severe diarrhea, so I returned to 8mg, which gave me zero trouble. I added 1mg of Carga in late April and I'm at 180 now, goal of 175 within reach. I'll quit the carga at goal, then taper the dose over many months to hold steady. Until better options come, I'm staying on reta. It's like treating hypertension, you take it regularly (my BP meds, statins and CPAP are all gone, my A1c fell from 7.1 to 4.2, EKG normalized), so it's a good trade. I watch my diet, add protein and creatine, gym 3 days weekly, and walk 3 or bike 10 miles a day, impossible at 300 lbs when my hips hurt. Reta changed my life!