I read an article that said once you start this regiment that it is life long, but in other articles it says once you stop losing weight your doctor should start to take you off the medicine. I'm kind of in a weird spot because yes I was clinically obese, it didn't help that I have hypothyroid, so it wasn't that I ate everything in sight to become heavy. This medicine helped me lose the weight while eating what little I ate before (seriously, a half a hot dog would fill me BEFORE this medicine). Something in this medicine other than appetite suppressant is at play here. I'm wondering if this is a life long medicine, something I can safely stay on just to maintain or if I am supposed to get off this medicine... I've been on it for 1 year, I lost 40 pounds and I'm exactly where I want to be!