JenMemphis said:

Nine weeks flat after five months of steady loss, same dose, same routine, and I cannot tell whether to wait or change something.

Plateau breaking story with a stall: I stalled at 198 lbs for 7 weeks. Tried everything — calorie cycling, increased exercise, more water. Nothing worked.

What finally broke the plateau: a brief dose increase followed by return to maintenance. Lost 12 lbs in the next 3 weeks. Plateaus are temporary — they always break if you stay consistent.

Dr.BariatricHTX said:

Plateau breaking story with a stall: I stalled at 198 lbs for 7 weeks.

No disagreement with Dr.BariatricHTX. One condition attached. Most reported plateaus are not plateaus. Weight is a noisy signal — daily variation of one to two kilograms from glycogen, sodium and gut contents — so a fortnight of flat readings is well inside the noise band. Before concluding anything, look at a rolling weekly average over at least four weeks and at a tape measure, because recomposition shows up in circumference before it shows up in weight. Then track intake honestly for a week: appetite suppression fades unevenly, and intake creeping back up is the single commonest cause.

JenMemphis said:

Nine weeks flat after five months of steady loss, same dose, same routine, and I cannot tell whether to wait or change something.

This is my experience too, for whatever a second data point is worth. Nothing to add that would improve it.

From the other side of the consultation, briefly. The honest answer is that the effect is real, the magnitude is contested, and the individual variation is larger than either. Those three things can all be true at once, and most arguments here are two people holding different parts of that.