c/maintenancephase wiki

What this community is for

The part nobody posts about: what happens at goal weight. Finding a lowest effective dose, dose-interval stretching, regain risk data, muscle retention, the psychology of not having a number to chase, and staying on indefinitely versus tapering.

c/maintenancephase was created on 11 Dec 2023 and currently has 39,200 members and 95 captured submissions. It sits in the second tier of the site, which mostly affects how fast a question gets answered rather than how well.

Rules, and why each exists

Community rules come first, then the six site-wide rules that apply everywhere on GLP Research Hub. Community rules are enforced by the moderators listed at the bottom of this page; site rules are enforced by everyone.

1. State how long you have been at maintenance. "Maintenance" at week 30 is not maintenance.
2. Regain is not a moral failing and posts implying it is get removed.
3. Dose-stretching experiences welcome; dose-stretching instructions are not.

And the site rules, which are short on purpose:

1. Independent community. Nobody here sells anything, and anyone who tries is banned.
2. Not medical advice. Describe what you did; never prescribe to a stranger.
3. Claims need evidence. Batch numbers, dated screenshots, independent test reports, or a citation.
4. No referral links, discount codes or affiliate URLs. Permanent ban, no appeal.
5. No contact handles, wallet addresses or tracking numbers — they identify people.
6. Be recognisably decent. Disagree hard, insult nobody.

Terms you will see

Vocabulary that turns up constantly in c/maintenancephase. Each links to the topic page, which collects every submission that touches it.

• maintenance — life after the loss stops, which is most of the time you will spend on this.
• lowest effective dose — found by going down carefully, not by guessing.
• regain — weight returning after stopping; the withdrawal arms of the trials are the source.
• dose stretching — discussed frequently in this community — see the topic page for every submission that touches it.
• long term — discussed frequently in this community — see the topic page for every submission that touches it.
• goal weight — discussed frequently in this community — see the topic page for every submission that touches it.

Start here

The twelve highest-scoring submissions in this community. Not necessarily the most correct — the most agreed-with, which is a different thing, and worth remembering when you read them.

1. [Results] 30 weeks on 1.7mg, full numbers, ask me anything boring — 7.1k points, 64 comments, 2 years ago
2. [Results] 64 weeks, 11kg, and lowest effective dose was the hard part — 6k points, 46 comments, 1 year ago
3. goal weight is the most under-discussed thing on this board — 5.1k points, 28 comments, 8 months ago
4. stalled for 3 weeks at 0.5mg and I refuse to panic this time — 5.1k points, 55 comments, 2 years ago
5. nobody warned me about early fullness and I would have liked the warning — 4.6k points, 40 comments, 2 years ago
6. goal weight — my 23-week log, condensed into one table — 4.4k points, 38 comments, 1 year ago
7. [Question] how do you actually verify goal weight — 4.3k points, 42 comments, 1 year ago
8. genuine question about goal weight that I am slightly embarrassed to ask — 3.9k points, 29 comments, 2 years ago
9. small win: goal weight stopped being a problem at week 85 — 3.7k points, 18 comments, 1 year ago
10. [Question] long term — what am I missing here — 3.6k points, 53 comments, 1 year ago
11. lowest effective dose — 2 things I got wrong before I got it right — 3.2k points, 53 comments, 2 years ago
12. is it normal to get early fullness at week 90 — 3.1k points, 43 comments, 12 months ago

Asked constantly

• [Question] does anyone actually feel "done" or is that not a thing
• [Question] do you tell new people how long this actually is
• three years of dose stretching threads, summarised so you do not have to read them
• [Question] how do you actually verify maintenance
• [Question] lowest effective dose — what am I missing here
• help me understand goal weight, I have read the wiki twice
• [Question] long term — what am I missing here
• unpopular opinion: most of what gets said here about goal weight is guesswork
• [Question] how do you actually verify goal weight
• the lowest effective dose thing finally clicked for me and I want to write it down

If your question is on that list, read the answers there first. If it is not, ask it — that is what the community is for, and "this has been asked" is only a helpful reply when it comes with a link.

Who runs this

Moderation here is done by volunteers who also post as normal members. They are not clinicians, not vendors, and not paid.

• u/maintenance_mode_max — 19 months at maintenance. The interesting part starts after the loss stops.
• u/food_noise_gone — The quiet in my head is the effect nobody warned me about. Still the best part.
• u/taper_off_tabitha — Came off deliberately and slowly. Regain was 4kg, not 24. Method matters.
• u/still_here_2026 — Three years, 34kg down, still reading every morning.