Week 16 on compounded semaglutide, down 18 pounds. Appetite suppression kicked in around week 4 and honestly changed my approach to food. The post about aging parents got me thinking - anyone here have parents 50+ on GLP-1s? Curious whether benefits stick long-term, especially with regular exercise. Is there actual data yet, or are we all figuring this out together?
I’m 55, seven months into tirzepatide post-RYGB. Honestly, we’re all figuring it out together. Long-term data for older adults with prior bariatric history basically doesn’t exist yet.
Yeah, that’s what I’m realizing too. When my doc and I were mapping out the dose schedule, I kept asking about research on keeping it off long-term, and she was honest - we just don’t have 2-3 year data yet, especially not for people combining it with actual habit changes. The appetite piece is real though. It’s given me this window to actually learn what I like eating vs what I was eating out of noise and stress. But whether that sticks if I go off it… no one knows. Post-RYGB adds another layer you’re dealing with that most of us aren’t. Are you planning to stay on tirzepatide long-term, or more of a “see how the first year goes” situation?
the week 4 appetite switch is pretty consistent with what we see on the compounding side. long-term benefits and data questions though, that’s pharmacist or prescriber territory. i can tell you how we store it and best practices, i can’t tell you if it sticks for your situation.
Honestly, my surgeon said “treat it like a chronic disease medication, not a course of antibiotics,” and that landed. So probably long-term, but I’m not committing to forever. First real test will be if I try to taper after stabilizing around 180. Whether the habits hold without the appetite signal… that’s the part nobody can answer yet, including me.
honest answer? long-term parent data’s still thin. that’s something to dig into w your doc. but yeah, we’re all kinda figuring the compounded piece out in real time, which is why the label (BUD especially) matters more than you’d think.
Congrats on the 18 pounds, that’s a real result, not noise. To your actual question, the long-term durability data we have is mostly from STEP and SUSTAIN trial extensions, plus the SELECT cardiovascular outcomes trial. Mean age in SELECT was around 62, so there is meaningful 50+ data, and the cardiovascular benefit held out to about 3+ years. Weight regain on discontinuation is well documented (the STEP 1 extension showed roughly two-thirds of lost weight came back within a year off drug). So “do the benefits stick” splits into two questions: stick while on, or stick after stopping. The on-drug answer is reasonably good. The off-drug answer is mostly no, absent significant lifestyle scaffolding. What we don’t have great data on is the specific interaction with regular resistance training in older adults. Lean mass loss is the concern most worth tracking if your parents go this route, and the trials weren’t really designed to answer how much protein intake and lifting offsets it. That’s the part where we’re genuinely figuring it out together, imo. Worth a real conversation with their clinician, not a forum.
ok so on the compounding side, we’re seeing the long-term question asked more often - people hit week 20, 30, 40 and suddenly care way more about whether the weight stays. but the data is still pretty short.
idk, clinical trials are what, 68 weeks? real-world tracking is maybe a year in. i can tell you what we see with compound stability and storage (it matters way more than people think), but whether benefits stick long-term with exercise is a prescriber question, not a tech one. we’re all figuring it out together is probably the realest take here.
long-term data on aging parents is still pretty thin, ngl. idk, that’s a doc conversation though - they can pull actual studies vs what’s floating around forums.
what i see a lot is people adjusting how they eat around the suppression rather than losing it over time, but that’s anecdotal. if you’re compounding, dose stability matters - storage, needle punctures, oxidation all accumulate. those variables might explain some outcome variation.
appetite suppression usually sticks past year 2, yeah. but the 50+ long-term data honestly doesn’t exist - most dropoff i see in that age bracket is cost or side effects, and whether people stay consistent with exercise past year 1 is just not tracked.
18 pounds at week 16 tracks pretty close to published sema data for that window, so the weight side of your question has decent backing. the 50+ parent angle is where it gets murkier though. the SUSTAIN and SELECT trial data skews heavily working-age adult, and the “benefits stick long-term with exercise” question specifically for older adults is still pretty thin, imo. my bariatric surgeon described GLP-1 data in patients over 65 as “promising but early” which is honest, if not satisfying. the caveat i’d add: “regular exercise” does a lot of heavy lifting in that question. there’s a difference between resistance training (which preserves muscle mass, increasingly important on semaglutide) and general activity. the lean mass loss concern on GLP-1s is more pronounced in older populations bc baseline muscle reserve is lower. a study i read suggested higher protein targets plus progressive resistance training as basically non-optional for patients over 55 on these meds, not just optional lifestyle adjuncts. so the appetite suppression “changing your approach to food” piece is the part i’d push on for older adults specifically. it can mask inadequate protein intake in ways that show up as functional decline before anyone notices it on a scale. worth asking their prescriber about DEXA tracking if they’re not already doing it.