My doctor wants to lower my dose now that I’ve hit goal weight. Everyone online says that’s a trap.
So I started tirzepatide back in January at 2.5mg and worked my way up to 10mg. Hit my goal weight last month (down 52 lbs!) and honestly feeling amazing. Had my follow-up appointment yesterday and my doctor wants to drop me back down to 5mg for “maintenance.” She says it’s about finding the minimum effective dose now that I’m at goal.
But here’s the thing – I’ve been reading tons of posts on reddit and other forums where people say lowering your dose is basically asking to regain everything. Like everyone’s saying once you lower it the weight just creeps back on. Some people are saying their doctors don’t understand these meds and that you need to stay at your therapeutic dose indefinitely.
I trust my doctor but she’s also not someone who specializes in this stuff, she’s just my regular PCP. And the online communities seem pretty unanimous that this is a mistake. Has anyone actually successfully maintained on a lower dose? Or did you regain when you dropped down? I don’t want to throw away 9 months of progress but I also don’t want to just ignore medical advice because of internet strangers (no offense lol). What did you guys do?
I went through this exact same thing in August. My endo wanted me to go from 7.5 to 5 and I was SO worried. Honestly? It’s been fine for me. I’ve maintained within 3 lbs of my goal weight for almost 4 months now. I think the key is that I didn’t just rely on the med – I really worked on my habits during the weight loss phase. My appetite is still suppressed enough on 5mg that I’m not constantly thinking about food like I used to. That said, everyone’s different and some people definitely do need the higher dose long term. Maybe ask your doctor if you can try it for like 6-8 weeks and if you start regaining, go back up?
I think Sarah makes a good point about individual variation but I’m gonna respectfully disagree with the approach. The research is pretty clear that these medications work dose-dependently, and there’s not a ton of data yet on what happens with dose reduction after reaching goal weight. A lot of the maintenance trial data kept people on their therapeutic dose. Tbh the “minimum effective dose” thing sounds like insurance trying to save money more than actual best practice. That said, your doctor knows your full medical picture and we don’t. Maybe there’s a reason she’s concerned about keeping you on 10mg long term? I’d ask her specifically why she thinks lower is better for YOU specifically, not just in general.