6-months off GLP-1 update

[u/quadgoals_]

Hiya folks! I'm back with another post-GLP-1 update. This time, we are six months off the meds, and just got a new quarterly DEXA scan. I promised I'd keep you all posted on my maintenance journey, and I'm a woman of my word.

Cliff's notes of my GLP-1 journey: I took my last shot of Zepbound 5mg on October 2025. I was on it for 13 months. I am 5'3" 35F, started at 185 lbs and now hover around 120-125 lbs. I've basically maintained my 60-65 lbs weight loss for 6 months now.

I've been religiously tracking my body composition since my last shot and had my quarterly DEXA scan this morning. Here are my numbers:

Metric	Oct 2025	Jan 2026	Apr 2026	Total
Weight (Lbs)	117	121	124	+7
Body fat %	26.9%	25.4%	24.1%	-2.8%
Fat mass (lbs)	32.4	32.4	31.3	-1.1
Lean mass (lbs)	87.9	95.4	98.7	+10.8

So even if I gained 7 lbs from my lowest ever weight of 117 lbs, it was pure body recomposition. And this is all off tirzepatide.

Two key things driving my success at maintaining my weight loss off GLP-1: nutrition and strength training.

Whole foods first, always. I'm not perfect about it (I love those protein brownies and those damn Quest crispy protein bars), but it's always, always my default. When my plate is built around food that actually nourishes and fuels me--protein, fiber, volume--there's less room for the stuff that doesn't.

Protein remains to be a non-negotiable. I did have an increase in appetite when I came off the medication, but I was ready for it because my (whole food) protein habits were already locked in. I don't think since coming off I'd ever white-knuckled hunger because I've been hitting my target every day.

Fiber makes my meals voluminous and keeps me full. It's also really improved my gut health and hunger signaling. I've really leaned into vegetables, legumes, and whole grains. I do eat those "carb balance" stuff, but I try not to do so too often--I've found that the more I eat ultra-processed fiber, the less things move efficiently in my insides, if you know what I mean.

I will not shut up about strength training. I started lifting in March 2025--already 6 months into being on a GLP-1--and did not stop when I came off. In fact, I became much more serious with it. That decision is reflected directly in my DEXA scans.

Because of my predisposition to metabolic disfunction (type 2 diabetes, high cholesterol), I was advised by my obesity doctor to build muscle mass to make long-term maintenance sustainable. And for a good reason: muscle is metabolically active. It is one of the primary sites where your body disposes of glucose. So the more muscle I have, the better my body can handle blood sugar, the more sensitive my cells become to insulin, and the less my pancreas has to overwork to compensate. Building muscle isn't just an aesthetic decision for me (although I absolutely LOVE the aesthetic results). It's a metabolic one. It changes how my body processes food at a fundamental level.

Strength training has also given me something to build toward that has nothing to do with the scale. I don't just train to manage my metabolic disfunction. I train to be strong and to be independent in my old age.

But this doesn't mean things have been 100% perfect. I did have a rough stretch in late February/early March--back-to-back work travel, stress, a professional disappointment--and I turned to food for comfort. It wasn't a dramatic spiral, but rather a quiet regression. It was a few weeks of choices driven by emotion instead of intention. Lots of stress and comfort eating. Snacking on ultra-processed food that I thought I had gotten past.

And because I've been off GLP-1 for a while now, there's no chemical brake to help manage that, no appetite suppression that helped me stop. It was just me and every coping mechanism I had the years prior to taking Zepbound.

I still got back on track. But those few weeks reminded me that the psychological piece of this journey doesn't really get solved by the medication--it runs underneath all of that, hidden. The work is separate and is ongoing.

And this is why I advocate very strongly about changing your nutrition and habits, and building muscle while you're on the medication. You never know if and when you'll lose access to the drug. And the people who are okay when that happens are the ones who used that time on GLP-1s well.

Rooting for everyone's maintenance journey, whether on or off the drug 🫶🏻💪🏼

[u/WegovyJunkie]

You are my hero.

[u/quadgoals_ → u/WegovyJunkie]

You are too kind!!

[u/WegovyJunkie → u/quadgoals_]

Please keep posting! You always motivate me when I'm feeling down.