r/Zepbound_Maintenance

Reading a lot of negative posts on this and the regular r/Zepbound sub.
Let’s have a positive post and please share your positivity.

I’ve been in maintenance for 20 months. Feel great. Working hard at keeping my greatly improved health - and succeeding.
Been moving already today and more in my future.

Birds are singing. And Chaser is a happy guy!

How about you.

So in Dec 2024 I went on Zepbound my initial weight was 201lbs (heaviest I've ever been) and as of today I weigh 137lbs. Now I'm figuring out where to go from here? Without getting too deep into I have a lot of health issues one that specifically needs food restrictions that I've been doing since birth. Before Zepbound I was struggling with basically two diets ( Medical and Weight Loss) and I only saw weight loss progress if I was doing the weight loss/ exercise diet in extreme and unhealthy ways.

So now I'm in maintenance territory but I want to come off injection and maybe do a pill and I heard of the Wegovy pill and I believe metformin is another option but I'm so scared that it's not going to be as affective and my food noise and craving are going to come so I want to know what everyone's experience is and if they have any recommendations I should talk to my Zepbound dealer about. Like Zepbound was so freeing with the way I had ZERO craving not even a tummy gurgle and I would like to keep that up so I can not be in this controlling battle with food.

If I lose the discounted price by ordering after the 45 day window, can I get it back the next month if I then resume the 45 day window?

I have been on Zepbound regularly for 16 months. I am at my goal weight, actually a few pounds below. I was at 230, now 137 pounds, 5'7". This is the first time in my LIFE that I have been at a healthy BMI, even after having gastric sleeve surgery in 2014. I am taking 10mg of Zep every 2 weeks. I pay privately through LD. I also have Hashimoto's and feel like this has greatly reduced my inflammation, joint pain, fatigue and brain fog.

I feel like since having to stop worrying about always eating, or the constant nagging of "working on my weight" I almost feel lost. I have read about how Zep can cause Anhedonia and loss in pleasure as the medication can desensitize the brain's ability to gain benefit from Dopaine, which is our pleasure hormone. There are other circumstances that I feel could be contributing to my feelings such as isolation. I am working far away from home on a locum contract in a town where I know nobody other than my work colleages. I work in health care and cannot just fly home whenever I choose. This is not forever and we are working on some financial goals so there is an end in sight hopefully in the next 8-12 months. I have a trip home planned at the end of June to see my family and I am looking very much forward to that.

I am just very concerned that if I stop the medication (like we all worry about) the weight will return with a vengence, the hunger, the joint pain, fatigue and brain fog will also return making my life miserable. My TPO antibodies (this is autoimmne and attacks the thyroid) actually increased during a time I went down in dose from 10mg to 7.5mg for a period of about 6 weeks. The weight wasn't an issue, it remained pretty stable. It really was just the way my body felt. I work in healthcare and have also read recently about Saffron, L-Theanine and other supplements that can help the brain's ability to better receive Dopamine. I'm already taking Magnesium Glycinate for sleep which works great. I am also on Levothyroxine, Progesterone and Estrogen patches as well. My vitamin D levels are great. I wish I had more training in functional medicine.

Has anyone taken a Zepbound break? What was your experience? Has anyone tried combating the side effects? If so what did you take? COULD this just be situational? I have no thoughts of self harm, or harm to others. I just need to find and feel joy. I have so much to be thankful for and it feels terrible to just feel gray.. All. The. Time.

Thanks for reading and I appreciate your input.

Eeyore ~ oh bother

I started Zepbound in January. At the time, I was just barely over a 30 BMI. Now, four months later, I am only 10 lbs away from my goal weight, which I anticipate reaching in about six weeks! As I get closer, my focus is shifting from pure weight loss to building muscle and improving my body composition.

However, I have a confession: I haven't been entirely transparent with my doctor. Because I am paying out of pocket, I’ve been taking a smaller dose than prescribed to stretch out the medication. It has been working incredibly well for me even at what I’ve been taking, which equates to the 2.5 starter dose, and I'm happy to have found something that works. I’ve been scared to tell my doctor the truth because I worry she will officially prescribe the lower dose, meaning I’d get less medication for the same out-of-pocket cost and lose the ability to stretch it.

She requires monthly appointments of me and last month, I asked her about what would happen if I transitioned off the medication to see if I could maintain my goal weight on my own. I asked if she would re-prescribe it if I started gaining weight back...she said she likely would not re-prescribe it unless my BMI went back into the obese range.

This really scared me. I do want to try maintaining on my own, but I absolutely do not want to yo-yo back to my starting weight just to qualify for help again.

Because she requires monthly follow-up appointments, lying to her face is starting to weigh heavily on me. In the meantime, my stretching strategy means I am actively building up a stockpile—though I’m not even sure I’ll need it if I successfully maintain on my own.

I’m feeling stuck between the guilt of hiding this from my doctor and the fear of losing access to a safety net. What do you suggest I do? Have any of you successfully navigated maintenance (or built a backup plan) with a doctor who has strict BMI requirements?

Went off zepbound due to gallbladder issues. Was on Wegovy two years and zepbound for a year. Three years total. Have been off for two months and will have gallbladder surgery next week. During those two months I have been eating more than I have in the past three years. I actually liked not having any zepbound symptoms and being able to have normal bms. But am very concerned about gaining the weight back if I don’t go back on zepbound. What would you do?

I have one 2.5 vial, and 3 5mg vials left that I will split up in halves to have 6 2.5 vials. Meaning I have 7 weeks of 2.5mg vials left. This is all I have. And then I’m done for good.

Should I do 6 weeks of 2.5 mg or should I stretch the vials out and more and go even longer by weaning down slower with less of the medication every week?

Really need help considering I will have nothing left after these vials.

Hi all! I've been on Zepbound for about 8 months and have lost about 22% of my body weight. My highest dose was 10 mg. About a month ago, I hit my goal weight and spoke to my doctor about entering maintenance. She lowered my dose to 7.5 mg and gave me a three-month refill, which I filled. Everything was great during the first month, but now that I'm entering week 5, I'm noticing that the food noise and urge to binge are coming back.

I finally managed to quiet the urge to binge that I'd struggled with my entire life, so it's really distressing to have these obsessive thoughts return. The most logical thing, I guess, would be to go back up to 10 mg, but I use insurance, and I already filled three months of the lower dose, so they probably wouldn't cover a refill of the 10 mg right now. I also worry that eventually 10 mg will stop working too, and the food noise will come back again.

What's the best course of action here? I'm still active, counting calories, and maintaining my weight, but I binged for the first time in about six months last night, and I'm concerned. Do I just have to white-knuckle it until I'm able to go back up to 10 mg in two months?

I’ve been maintaining for almost 6 months now. I take my injections every 10 days. My doctor would like me to push to every 14 days if possible. She said she really wants me to focus on building some muscle and not losing any more. I have become very deficient in vitamin D and I think there’s some concern with bone health but nothing too concerning at this point.

I’m just hoping to hear some experiences with pushing the shot to every other week.

Hi all - I started using Mounjaro in July of 2022 and switched to Zepbound when it came out. I lost 90 lbs. over the first 2 years and have maintained my weight loss until this year. I have slowly gained about 15 lbs. over the last few months with no changes to my diet/dose. My current dose is 7.5mg and I take it once a week. My insurance used to cover it, but stopped this year. I have 6 boxes left and then I will need to figure out another option.

Has anyone experienced this? I have considered taking two pens at a time, but that seems wasteful if its not going to make a difference. I am thinking I need to stop the injections for awhile and restart. Has anyone had success with stopping and restarting?

Hello! I sent a message to my Doc asking to increase Zep to 7.5, and she was out of town for a week. So I just refilled the 5mg since I was almost out. I picked up:paid for my 5mg and BOOM. Lilly Direct literally sent me the new check-out link when I walked out of Walmart (doc must have been checking messages). I’ll use the 5mg up.
.
Question- if complete the order for 7.5mg NOW with GiftHealth, can I get my new dose in 21 days at Walmart?

Or should I wait to complete the LD/Gift Health link in 21 days?
Does this make sense?

Thank you!

441 people studied over 112 weeks…
0-60 weeks at max tolerated dose (10 or 15mg)
60-112 weeks, either stayed on max dose, went down to 5mg, or stopped zepbound
84 weeks - individuals who regained 50%+ of weight was allowed to increase dose

“Among participants who regained at least 50% of lost bodyweight, observed means were 11 (8%) of 138, 35 (25%) of 142, and 60 (67%) of 90 participants received rescue therapy in the tirzepatide MTD, 5 mg tirzepatide, and placebo, respectively”

So…
-if you stayed on your highest tolerated dose after week 60… 8% regained 50%+ of body weight and had to increase dose
-If you stopped to 5mg, 25% regained 50%+ of body weight and increased dose
-If you stopped zepbound, 67% gained 50+% of body weight and had to increase dose

overall… over 112 weeks (bit over 2yrs)

-Those on max tolerated dose lost 21.9% body weight over the 112 total weeks
-Those who reduced to 5mg after 60 weeks lost 16.6% body weight over 112 total weeks
-Those who stopped zep lost a total of 9.9% body weight over 112 total weeks

Important note I see is that this shows that even staying on max dose… it generally seems that everyone does eventually hit a barrier in terms of being able to continue weight loss

https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(26)00656-2/abstract

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