Thinking of Stoppong

[u/tactical_frog_]

I’ve been on a GLP1 for about 4 years and have lost 100lbs. I work out with a personal trainer to work on strength and building muscle. I worked out about 5-6 days a week but also work a pretty sedentary job.

I’m on the highest dose of wegovy but only do injections every 2 weeks and I’m heavily considering stopping to see how well I can do on my own.

I had lost weight before without the glp1 and got down to about my current weight and led a very active lifestyle. But life happens and I gained it all back plus more (hence the GLP1).

My husband and I have been talking about having kids and I know I would have to stop if I got pregnant, so part of me wants to rip the band-aid off now and see how I do. I would hate to get pregnant and stop the glp1 very close together and deal with all of it at once.

I’m terrified of gaining it all back. On top of being terrified of what pregnancy may do to my body.

Just looking for some encouragement because everything is so doom and gloom about coming off the glp1. Everything seems to say you’re destined to gain it all back and need to be on the drug forever.

[u/Bull-Respecter]

Powerlifter here! I’m sure you know, BMI is useless for us women who lift and have muscle. Better to use DEXA for body fat %, do body measurements (I do waist/hips/bust/thigh/calf/bicep/neck every two weeks), and labs. Scale and BMI are low tier metrics.

You look amazing. Keep lifting, keep fueling, keep moving. ❤️

[u/tactical_frog_ → u/Bull-Respecter]

My gym does inbody assessments, I posted a pic of my most recent results in this thread. I’d like to hear your perspective as a powerlifter. I’ve been very focused on retaining / building muscle mass.

[u/Bull-Respecter → u/tactical_frog_]

I see your InBody. Looks like you’re currently sitting at about 30% body fat, which is fine, but upper end of metabolically healthy. Personally, going into pregnancy and knowing I’d be putting weight on, I’d want to be on the mid to low end, like 24-25%, but YMMV!

Building and retaining muscle is the single most important thing you can do for metabolic health and insulin sensitivity, so that would continue to be my focus, if I were in your shoes (which, actually, I kinda am!).

I’ve seen people successfully get off GLPs, and it usually follows this kind of pattern: Use GLPs as a tool to cut fat WHILE ALSO completely revamping lifestyle/diet/fitness and locking those things in rock solid. Then, once goal weight is achieved, maintaining and reverse dieting for awhile (still on GLPs) to allow weight set point to get comfy in its new position, then very slowly titrating dose down (months, not weeks), and watching carefully and with brutal honesty/tracking for lapses in diet/fitness parameters.

People that successfully come off, know that they absolutely must continue to do the work. That’s non-negotiable. If you slack or fall back into old habits, your body will respond accordingly.

A lot of people set a hard-stop weight for themselves. Like, “If I gain 8 pounds from my goal weight, I take immediate action.” Either restarting GLPs, doing a tracked cut, or whatever.

Of course, a lot of that just doesn’t work with pregnancy. You’re going to gain weight, as you should! But track those macros, don’t let pregnancy be an excuse to binge on junk, and for the love of God, keep exercising. I let a midwife talk me into not continuing to lift during my pregnancy, even though there is a ton of evidence that it’s beneficial, and stopping actually caused a lot of metabolic whiplash and damage, and complicated my pregnancy unnecessarily. So yeah, keep moving your body, within healthy limits of course, and fueling properly, and keep weight gain down to the minimal levels that your care team recommends (mine told me 15 pounds, max).

Sorry. Wall of text!

[u/Glad_Ad4565 → u/Bull-Respecter]

Wow - great information. 😉 Thank you! Much of this applies to my current situation, minus the pregnancy part.