lisa_labSD said:

The dose-response is real but shallow at the top.

All true, with one condition: that curve is for people who reached the dose on schedule. Anyone who slowed the ladder for tolerability is on a different, flatter curve, and comparing yourself with the published mean will make you feel like a non-responder when you are not.

Dr.ObesityLA said:

Agreed, though "tolerable" needs defining.

Thank you for spelling out the reasoning rather than just the conclusion. Sending this to two other people who asked me the same thing last week.

lisa_labSD said:

The dose-response is real but shallow at the top.

I will push back on the "any working dose is fine" framing. The maintenance evidence sits overwhelmingly at the top studied dose, and the extension data shows regain tracking dose reduction rather than tracking stopping. Holding low is reasonable; pretending it is evidentially equivalent is not.

InsuranceTom said:

I am eight weeks into deliberately reducing rather than stopping, and the appetite change came back faster than the weight did.

Maintenance phase reality on maintenance dosing: reached my goal 8 months ago and now I'm in maintenance. It's a different mental game.

During weight loss, the scale going down is constant positive reinforcement. In maintenance, the scale staying the same is... just... nothing. It's anticlimactic. The dopamine hit is gone.

What keeps me going: lab improvements, physical capabilities, how I feel, fitting in clothes I love, and the knowledge that regain happens when people stop being intentional. I'm staying intentional.

Moderator note: reminder that nothing in this thread is medical advice, and that clinical claims need a source. No action needed from anybody.