If you've finally reached your dream weight, you're probably wondering what comes next. Your hard work has paid off, and now you have the choice: stop treatment or begin the maintenance process?
This is the final stage of your weight loss journey, you'll work with your prescriber to select one dose and stick to it. It's not about the weight loss anymore, but keeping off any potential weight regain
In this guide, we’ll cover everything you need to know about maintenance, helping you confidently enter this next stage of your journey and stay on track for the long term.
Three key takeaways:
Maintenance is the phase of your weight loss journey when you’ve hit your weight loss goals or you’re well on your way to doing so, and you’re now focused on keeping that success going and keeping the weight off.
Your prescriber will place you on a ‘maintenance dose’ of your medication, meaning the dose doesn’t increase over time.
While taking a maintenance dose of your medication, it’s crucial to keep up your exercise routine and stick to a balanced diet of portion-controlled, unprocessed, whole foods.
What is maintenance?
Maintenance is the stage of your weight loss journey where the focus shifts from losing weight to keeping it off. By this point, you’ve worked through your dosage schedule, seen visible progress, and are now focused on preserving your results and continuing the healthy habits that got you here.
During this phase, you’ll stay on a maintenance dose of your medication. This is the dose that’s most suitable for maintaining your progress long-term. This means your dose won’t change each month, and it doesn’t need to be the highest one you’ve previously taken. The right maintenance dose is the one that helps you stabilise your appetite, stick to healthy habits, and sustain your results comfortably.
How does it work?
During the maintenance phase, you’ll stay on a dose that keeps your weight stable rather than continuing to lose it. This is known as your maintenance dose. It’s the strength that helps manage your appetite, support healthy habits, and comfortably sustain your results.
You and your prescriber will decide together which dose is best for you. It doesn’t need to be the highest one you’ve used, but it’s about finding the most effective and sustainable level for maintaining your progress.
Once this is set, you’ll stay on the same steady dose each month, without increasing or decreasing it. The goal is to help you maintain your new, healthy weight while continuing to feel well and confident in your progress.
Who can do it?
You can enter the maintenance phase if you've reached your weight loss goals and are tolerating your current dose well. This is once you’ve moved through the lower doses to a higher, stable dose of your medication.
Remember, maintenance is a lifestyle, not just a phase. To keep your results, it’s important to continue the healthy habits you built while titrating up. These habits will help you preserve the progress you’ve worked so hard for.
Do I need to do maintenance?
Not everyone will need a maintenance dose of their weight loss medication. However, for some people, appetite can return once treatment stops, which may lead to weight gain. In these cases, a maintenance dose can help keep the weight off and support a smoother transition off treatment.
The goal of maintenance is to help you sustain your results. Whether that means gradually transitioning off medication or continuing treatment long term. Regardless of the approach, success depends on maintaining the healthy habits you’ve built through your journey, including balanced eating, regular activity, and mindful routines that prevent weight regain.
Will I regain weight if I don’t do it?
Not everyone will regain weight if they stop taking weight loss medications, but research shows it’s likely.
In a 2022 study of 327 participants who’d lost an average of 17.3% of their starting weight after taking 2.4mg semaglutide (Wegovy) for 68 weeks, participants regained two-thirds of the weight they’d lost on average one year after stopping treatment.
“Studies show that you’re far more likely to keep the weight off if you take a maintenance dose of your medication. But not everyone will need to keep taking weight loss injections to prevent weight regain. Regardless, you’ll need to stay focused on the healthy habits you’ve been building during your weight loss phase and make sure you’re eating healthily, controlling your portions, and staying physically active”
Ongoing medical monitoring is important. Your prescriber will review your progress, side effects, and overall health.
Good signs to keep going:
Stable weight and controlled appetite
Minimal side effects that are not impacting daily life
You feel supported by healthy habits around food, movement, sleep, and stress
Reasons to review or stop:
Troublesome side effects
New health conditions, new medicines, or pregnancy/planning pregnancy
You prefer to transition off and try maintaining results through lifestyle alone
Bottom line: maintenance can be short-term while you transition off treatment or long-term if that’s what you need. The key is clinician approval, regular reviews, and a plan that fits you.
Wegovy vs Mounjaro maintenance differences
The main difference between maintenance phases for Wegovy and Mounjaro is the dose you’ll be on. Your commitment to eating healthily, keeping an eye on calories, and staying active remains the same.
Your specific dose will depend on which medication you’re taking and whether you’ve had side effects and seen positive results at a certain dose.
For most people on Wegovy, the maintenance dose will be the highest dose of 2.4mg, although your prescriber will discuss this with you. You may not need the highest dose if you’ve seen weight loss success at a lower dose.
For people on Mounjaro, the typical maintenance phase ranges from 5mg to 15mg, but again, this depends on your results and your body’s response to the medication. Your prescriber can recommend the right maintenance dose for you.
Do I need a consultation every time I order during maintenance?
You need to complete a consultation each time you order treatment.
Our prescribers do this for safety reasons, so that they can oversee your treatment plan thoroughly and make sure you’re still tolerating the medication well.
Can I come back later if I stop treatment?
Yes, you can restart treatment after stopping if you find that you’ve regained weight or that your new weight is hard to maintain without medication.
However, for safety reasons, you may need to start again at a lower dose and titrate back up if you haven’t taken Wegovy for more than five weeks or Mounjaro for more than four weeks. Your prescriber can discuss your dosing schedule and the right dose at which to restart with you.
What’s the difference between weight loss and maintenance doses?
The key difference between a weight loss dose and a maintenance dose is how it fits into your goals and treatment plan. A weight loss dose is to help you reach your weight loss goals, a maintenance dose is to prevent you from regaining the weight you’ve lost.
There isn’t necessarily a difference between weight loss and maintenance doses in terms of the dosage itself, it varies from person to person.
For some people, their maintenance dose will be the highest dose of their medication available. Others might find they can comfortably keep off the weight they’ve lost on a lower maintenance dose.
It all depends on how your body responds to the medication, and this is something you can discuss with your provider.
Frequently asked questions
Will I still lose weight on maintenance, or just keep it off?
This depends on how your body responds to the medication and on your diet and exercise habits. Some people continue to lose weight on a maintenance dose, while others just keep off the weight they’ve lost.
What happens if I gain a little weight back during maintenance?
It’s normal for some people to gain a little weight back during maintenance. This may be due to water weight regain, to taking a lower dose, or to relaxing your diet and exercise routine slightly. If you’re concerned about weight regain, talk to your prescriber.
Can I change my dose while in maintenance?
Yes, potentially. You should always discuss any change to your dose with your prescriber, whether you're in a maintenance phase or not. They can help you determine the right dose for you.
Are side effects different on maintenance compared to weight loss?
This depends on whether your maintenance dose is higher than your weight loss dose. If you’ve titrated up for your maintenance phase, you may find side effects start or return, but these tend to be mild and go away as your body adjusts to the dose.
Do I need to follow a special diet or exercise routine in maintenance?
Yes, you’ll need to stick to the healthy eating and exercise habits you developed during your weight loss phase to prevent yourself regaining the weight you’ve lost.
How do I know when I’m ready to move to maintenance?
This will depend on your weight loss goals and how your body responds to titrating through doses. If you’ve reached your target weight and tolerated the medication well, talk to your prescriber about starting a maintenance dose.
Is maintenance forever, or can I stop eventually?
This varies from person to person. Some people will be able to keep the weight they’ve lost off with healthy diet and exercise habits, while others will need to remain on a maintenance dose to prevent regaining weight.
What if maintenance doesn’t work for me?
If you find yourself regaining weight on a maintenance dose, talk to your prescriber. You may need to change your diet and exercise habits, or you may need your dose adjusted.
Does maintenance cost the same as active weight loss treatment?
Weight loss injection pricing isn’t based on where you are on your weight loss journey, it’s based on dose strength. Higher strengths of medication cost more, but you may not need the highest dose for your maintenance phase. It’s important to talk to your prescriber about finding the dose that suits you best.
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