What happens if I stop tirzepatide?

The withdrawal trial answered this directly: after stopping, participants regained roughly half their lost weight within a year on average, while those continuing maintained — appetite and food noise return as the drug clears (a few weeks, given the ~5-day half-life), and the biology that made loss hard resumes. That’s not a trap; it’s the evidence that obesity behaves like a chronic condition and this therapy like chronic-condition treatment. The practical translations: plan maintenance (often at the same or stepped dose) rather than a finish line; if stopping is the plan — cost, pregnancy, choice — the off-ramp file covers tapering logic, the habit floor that must outlive the prescription, and honest regain expectations.