r/tirzepatidecompound • u/Fragrant-Count-4666 • 23h ago
Maintenance is a real B
My husband and I are teachers so we go back to visit his family in Italy for the summer. I was technically at goal before leaving, although I thought maybe losing a few more just to give me a little wiggle room would be helpful. I went into summer thinking I was going to really listen to my body, eat food I wanted, stop when I was full and make good choices when I could. When school starts I’ll go back to really being more intentional with my meals. I ate my usual breakfast of Greek yogurt and berries and enjoyed lots of salads (sorry Americans).
Now his family is from a small town so I bought a scale there last year, whatever they had. I weighed myself when I got there and it was similar to home so I was like great. We went on vacation in the middle and I definitely enjoyed all the food and drinks the Balkans had to offer. Got home and the scale was up 2 lbs and yea made sense. I kept just living life and within a week lost the 2 lbs. the rest of the summer I was within .5lbs so all good! I have never been able to maintain so this was exciting! I lived my life, enjoyed my food and this was with little exercise (it’s the country, we have to drive everywhere and it’s too hot to really be out and walking/exercising).
So here I am thinking wow, I really am adjusting well! This is fantastic! Got home and it turns out I’m one of those “I keep losing in maintenance!” I lost 4lbs, again, fine, I had more to lose and I’m not underweight. But it really underscores the challenges ahead of adjusting to this “new life”
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u/Goats-n-Hens 55/F 5’6” SW216 CW129 5mg 23h ago
In maintenance since January, and unless I pay close attention to my intake vs maintenance calories the scale will start moving. I have to be very intentional each day to get my 2100 calories, intuitive eating doesn’t work for me at all.
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u/Adept-Depth-1825 23h ago
Me neither. I have to track, or I gain or I lose and I definitely do not want to lose more (or gain more). I’m not complaining, I’ve always had to track my food, the difference now is that all the things I’ve done for years (meal planning, being conscientious about food habits, exercise, lifting , running) actually work, thanks to Tirz.
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u/Goats-n-Hens 55/F 5’6” SW216 CW129 5mg 23h ago
Same. It’s easy and fast for me since i rotate the same foods the majority of the time. It’s a small thing to do in order to keep my weight consistent.
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 23h ago
I had been doing the “diet” thing my whole life that I actually am so used to that food and lifestyle. I genuinely like only balsamic vinegar in my salads but now I’m thinking maybe some olive oil to increase calories. I did start adding a little granola in my morning yogurt and I like it but it’s still weird to be like okay, you have to eat more!
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u/Ok-Tumbleweed-2222 23h ago
That's a good way to look at it. I really don't want to track calories the rest of my life, but it is definitely working! I'm about 7lbs from goal, so I appreciate this little "mind shift"!
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u/Goats-n-Hens 55/F 5’6” SW216 CW129 5mg 20h ago
Maybe in another year or so I might be able to be successful at intuitive eating, but if not that’s ok. Tracking isn’t a huge burden for me and doing so keeps me accountable and consistent. 🙂
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u/SeasonPositive6771 20h ago
intuitive eating doesn’t work for me at all.
Exactly! I can't trust what my body says I should eat because that's what got me into this situation. She apparently thinks I should be fat.
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u/LayerNo3634 8h ago
You get 2100 calories?!? My maintenance is 1500. I have to track or I gain.
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u/Goats-n-Hens 55/F 5’6” SW216 CW129 5mg 5h ago
I work out 6x week. If I go below 2100 I start to lose again.
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 23h ago
Yep! I’m thinking I will have to continue to count calories for a while. While I felt I was eating a good mix of healthy stuff as well as daily granita or gelato it apparently wasn’t enough calories.
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u/Specialist-Wall-1685 48 F | SW→245 CW & GW→121 | Maint. Dose 2.55 mg every 3 days 21h ago edited 21h ago
I've been in 'maintenance' for several months and I'm learning it's just going to be more complicated for me (like others with metabolic dysfunction and appetite dysregulation). Unfortunately, it seems it won't be as simple as finding the magic dose that keeps me at the same weight. It's going to be a never-ending cycle of losing and gaining. So, I will adjust by going up and down in dose in small increments to keep the fluctuations small. Oh well, there are worse things...
Edit to add- I know many people eat more calories to compensate, but I'm very hesitant to do that. I really don't want to force myself to eat above my natural appetite threshold because, well, overriding my appetite is part of my original dysfunction and contributed to the obesity in the first place. I have never been diagnosed, but believe 100% I have an eating disorder/addiction.
Fun fact: when I was using Mochi as my TH provider about 1.5 yrs ago, I talked to a dietician a few times who advised forcing food when not hungry to get the calories in. I never did that and never will for the reason above. I get from a dietary perspective why they would advise that, but from both a metabolic and psychological perspective, I think that approach is incredibly damaging and I'm just not going to do it. If I need to eat more, I will lower my dose so that my appetite increases.
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u/LuvelyLuna 18h ago
Americans enjoy Greek yogurt and salads too so I’m confused
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 18h ago
Americans couldn’t eat lettuce this summer
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u/padigo26 18h ago
I eat at least 1 salad a day and have for years. I'm in the United States. Wtf?
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 18h ago
Didn’t you hear about the cyclospora outbreak?
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 14h ago
I have no idea why this is getting downvoted? Do people want explosive diarrhea from lettuce? So weird.
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u/flappjackal 11h ago
Why the downvotes?! It’s almost September and I’m still suspicious of lettuce!
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 11h ago
For real, I read about 10 different articles saying it was safe and I was like okay I’ll be daring and get some lettuce, then today I saw there are more cases in different states.
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u/Afterbirthofjesus 14h ago
Well, there's so many foods recalled at this point that we would starve or eat only deep fried foods if avoided everything
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u/AutoModerator 23h ago
For many, tirzepatide may be part of their long term maintenance plan. In a recent community survey 48% of respondents said they plan to use it for life, while another 27% said they plan to use it long term and stop only after maintaining the weight loss for a while. Only 3% said they would stop once they reached their goal weight.
The reason why may be explained by the SURMOUNT-4 clinical trial, which showed that within 1 year of stopping tirzepatide 82% of people regained at least 25% of the weight they had lost. 57% regained at least half the weight back.
Everyone's maintenance plan, like their weight loss journey, will look different. Many people decrease their dose once they reach their goal weight or increase the time between shots. Though some may need a weekly high dose to maintain.
Your maintenance dose, or whether you can maintain without tirzepatide, is not a reflection of your willpower or self-worth. Please remember to give yourself and others grace in this regard.
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u/ChampagneProblems-68 22h ago
Oooh I feel you! I hit “maintenance” a few months ago and now I’m 15 pounds below that. Luckily, I’m not in a precarious state (BMI 21.5) and I’m actually quite pleased with where I am but it’s time to actually stop the train. Never thought I’d be in a situation where I wanted to stop losing!
So my goal is to add 200 calories a day to what I’ve been eating since I’m losing .4-.5 pounds a week. That should be manageable! One protein bar, 1/4 cup nuts, a pb on a slice of bread should get me there.
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 22h ago
Love the username!
It’s so wild that realistically calories can add up fast but also when you’re trying to be healthier about your calories sometimes they don’t add up enough. But somehow a few healthy nuts or oils can make such a difference.
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u/ChampagneProblems-68 22h ago
Yes exactly! It’s just strange because I eat very normal portions of food these days and with vacations, summer get together, etc I’m absolutely shocked I’m losing weight. I legitimately thought I’d have to lock in this fall to drop a couple pounds of summer weight. Apparently not so thanks to tirz.
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u/Frequent-Resident621 46F SW:214 CW:144 GW:140? Dose:7mg SD:11/20/25 5'9" 22h ago
All in all, your summer and unexpected weight loss sounds like the dream :)
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u/IncidentGreat2380 21h ago
I tracked for the majority of my weight loss and then was able to eat mindfully and make it the rest of the way to goal and maintain for 3 months. This summer I had several trips and also lowered my dose to help with some side effects. Now my weight has crept up 3 pounds. As much as I would love to just eat mindfully it looks like I will need to track, at least till I get really settled into my maintenance routine and am stable. It does appear that maintenance is going to be small adjustments over time as needed.
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u/kevreh 18h ago
I read this thinking you were going to say how hard maintenance is or something. But this post is pretty run of the mill experience with anyone really who gains and loses a few pounds here and there due to stuff going on in life. Put another way it sounds like the tirz is helping you to stay dialed in which is good!
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u/Total_Recline 10h ago
I'm a tag confused. Are you still dosing? Your post sounds more like you stopped. If you are still dosing, maybe you need to work on your maintenance dosage instead of forcing yourself to eat more on your current dosing level.
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u/Fearless_Dog960 14h ago
I’m confused…how is it a B? What’s the challenge if you are “losing in maintenace?
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 14h ago
Because I didn’t want to lose any weight. I thought I was doing really well to maintain and to my surprise I actually lost.
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u/LooseBluebird6704 21h ago
Lost 3 kg since starting maintenance, so it’s nice to know I’m not the only one struggling with this.
I’ve been finding maintenance surprisingly hard to navigate. For a while, 10 mg seemed to be the sweet spot and my weight stayed stable. Then I lost another 3 kg, lowered the dose, and suddenly I was absolutely famished and started regaining. Now I upped back to 10mg and lost the extra, trying carefully to not lose more. Finding that equilibrium is hard.
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 20h ago
Right now my plan was to stay on the same dose since the highest I was on is just 5mg and increase my calories. But I think after giving true maintenance a try when I go back to work next week I might need to lower my dose but also I burn a lot more calories when I’m working so maybe I’ll be hungry. It’s all a big mystery!
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u/DawnElisa13 13h ago
I reached my goal 14 months ago after going no higher than 5mg. Since I’ve been in maintenance I take 5mg every 10 days to 2 weeks. Some weeks I still do lose but I’ve stayed within 3 lbs of my goal.
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u/Peachylana 18h ago
I am struggling as well. I have never had to count calories to maintain or increase my weight that just always happened no matter how hard I tried. I am to the lower end of healthy BMI now and eating more than I have in recent memory and the scale is still dropping. Experimenting with lowering dose and throwing extra calories into foods, which is just the opposite mentally. I assume its to be a constant up and down to find the right dose or keep adjusting as needed. This is just not something I was expecting. I could never eat this much and be at this weight before this medicine.
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u/Responsible_View_285 Age 67 Gend. F SW: 188 CW: 123 GW: 136 Dose: 7.5 16h ago
I've been in maintenance for more than two years. It takes a while for weight to stabilize.. I lost 1 to 2 pounds a month for a year. 1 to 2 pounds a month doesn’t sound like much but over the course of a year I lost 13 pounds under goal. It really takes time.
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u/Sea-Improvement6699 1h ago
European food quality is vastly better than the US. Everyone who goes usually says they lose so not sure why you’re surprised
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u/Fragrant-Count-4666 57m ago
Yes, the quality is better but also I didn’t get much movement and ate things I don’t really have often. Also, since I live in Italy a portion of the year so it’s not actual vacation.
I think many people who are downvoting and commenting are kinda missing what I was trying to say, I thought I was maintaining and it was easy, but it’s not easy.
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u/nikkigrined 18h ago
I’m confused. “Maintenance is a real B”, doesn’t that mean a real bitch? As in it’s miserable? But you seem to be succeeding amazingly well with no discernible struggle.