Today's lead finding gives a rate rather than a warning, and a rate can be planned around. The month after stopping is when the trajectory is set, and it is usually the month with no appointment in it.
The sequence worth protecting is short: decision to stop → a maintenance plan agreed before the last dose → a weight and a review booked within eight weeks → an honest conversation about restarting. Most of the loss happens because none of that was arranged while the patient was still in front of you.
Two habits do most of the work. Ask at every GLP-1 review what would happen if supply or funding stopped next month — cost is the commonest reason these prescriptions end, and it rarely arrives with notice. And record the weight at the last dose, because without it neither of you can tell six months later whether the regain is on the expected trajectory or faster than it should be.
- Record the weight at the final dose; it is the only baseline that makes later regain interpretable
- Book the review before the patient leaves, not by letter afterwards
- Ask what happens if cost or supply changes — that is how most courses actually end
- Frame restarting as a normal option rather than a failure
- Keep the lifestyle support running through the stop, when it matters most
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