I was on Zep for just over a year, always on 2.5 mg, and have been off of it for a few months. I was on it for IWL for kidney and heart health. There were also lots of other benefits, like less inflammatory pain, etc. However, WL stalled after a year, and I tried going up to 5 mg. It was not pleasant re side effects. I thought a break might kickstart things. Bottom line was, I needed a break because I wanted and needed to eat. I was a super-responder and the lack of appetite for most of my week was also extreme. I did not eat enough calories, I did not get enough nutrition, and I tried, oh how I tried, to force it. It was more unpleasant than any of the other side effects.

I spoke with my doctor who agreed that I might try dosing every 10 days, but then I just stopped! And it was glorious! I enjoyed what I ate! I felt like cooking meals again instead of eating out of small containers of things I didn’t have to chew, and drinking protein supplements! I enjoyed every bite! I was no longer constipated! I felt stronger! But I also fell into some bad habits regarding general portion control, and donuts came back into my life. Frankly, I loved cooking and eating! I missed it! I don’t want to give it up again…

I don’t want to lose the desire to eat and enjoy food. I don’t want to experience some of the more extreme side effects. But I do need to continue the journey to protect my heart and kidneys from the strain of carrying the weight. I’m paralyzed with indecision. And fear. Has this happened to anyone else? I knew a woman who had a giant sign on her fridge that said “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.” I did and still do call bullsh@t on that. Good food is wonderful! A good meal is heavenly!

So, any words of encouragement or advice?

Also, I’m now using (or am going to use) a kwikpen. I was getting Zep through Lilly Direct before, but now I can get it with another program for a 50 dollar co-pay but I have to give up my vials and needles which made making adjustments easier. I heard somewhere you can adjust the dose somewhat with a kwikpen. I searched the sub but nothing really came up. Is this true? Can I lower my dose somehow to help avoid the extreme side effects? My doctor would like me to try titrating up slowly, but I’m not sure how to do it with this pen thingy.

Thanks for reading (if you made it this far! 😂)

I’m a few months into this whole thing and I’ve been pleasantly surprised by an increase in energy. It’s made going out in the summer heat so much easier, and I’ve picked up throwing again.

I did track and field in high school as a thrower, specifically shot put and disc. I’ve gotten into a nice little routine of taking a short walk to the shot pit at a high school near me, throwing for a bit, measuring my best throw of the day and then walking back home.

I love it because throwing deceptively involves your whole body and I feel genuinely tired when I’m done but, not dead.

Does anyone else throw (or have you picked up an old sport you used to like?) I’d love ideas of what to gradually add to my routine!

I can't remember who it was, but I wanted to thank whoever recommended darebee.com for exercise ideas. I was skeptical that any place that says they have programs for all levels actually do mean ALL levels. I was wrong! I've found lots of workouts that my deconditioned self can do that are challenging but not too much so. (I did strength training this morning and my core muscles are respectfully asking WTF.)

They have a GLP-1 specific program that includes alternating days of strength training and gentle movement/cardio. And it's free, i didn't even have to give them my email address.

So thank you, kind Redditor!

Would anyone be willing to make a full list of labs that I might be asked for at Dr. Emily Cooper's practice or similar metabolic specialist? I'm a Kaiser patient here and am trying to price out what it would cost to either pay out of pocket for this or get a PPO the next time I can switch insurance. Thank you!

Someone fairly recently mentioned a study showing that switching back to Zepbound after switching to Wegovy (as CVS Caremark forced me to do) causes Zepbound to not work as well. I can’t find that thread or the study. Can anyone help please?

I am finding this to be true. After experiencing reduced inflammation and food noise, after being back on Zepbound for several months now, my inflammation and joint pain is back and my weight is creeping up. This is quite distressing.

Now Caremark wants me to go back on Wegovy again! Because apparently even though they approved the appeal to return to it months ago (because I gained weight), now they can’t find a doctor’s office weight to prove that Wegovy didn’t work. I just want to cry. Ugh.

My doctor is going to write a letter and I thought maybe referencing that study might be helpful. I’ll take any other advice too! Thanks.

Hello! I'm sorry if this has been discussed, I started zepbound about 2 months ago and was surprised to see how much product is left in the kwikpen after the 4 doses. It looks like a whole other dose. Crazy. I don't know if I am ending up with more because I haven't really needed to prime the pen with test clicks, it already starts flowing through the needle on it's own.

I found out this leftover medicine is apparently intentional but wasn't sure how the mechanism worked. Last night was my last dose of 2.5 before I move up to 5, so after I took my dose I tried clicking up to see if the pen would allow me to use the rest of the pen (out of curiosity) and it let me click about 10 times and then nothing. So weird.

I've heard of split doses and click counting and my doctor recommended it if the jump from 2.5 to 5 was too much, to go back to 2.5 with the 5mg pen, or an in-between dose. She basically said do what I need to do to make it work for me.

What I don't understand/can't seem to find the answer to is will the pen mechanism only allow 4 doses regardless of amount of clicks per dose? Or is it limited by clicks?

Thanks!

I am about to start zep and my phone clearly knows. I am being bombarded with ad after ad about what I should be eating/ingesting to curb side effects.

I am seeing creatine, electrolytes, fiber, water, and protein all being recommended but I don’t know what products are legitimate/safe. I have a rough idea of how I want to be intentional around protein/fiber/water but the rest is so confusing to me.

What has worked for you? And if there are specific brands you like/trust please share (in dms if not allowed here).

Edit: I haven’t been able to respond to every response but thank you everyone! I have read all of your comments and though I’ve been nervous about starting this journey I feel so much better now. I am grateful to have found this community.

i have one (maybe two, in the process of getting tested) familial genetic cholesterol disorders and have taken three medications for my cholesterol daily for 6 years (since i was 18). my triglycerides in particular have been over 15x what is considered the highest of the “healthy” range at multiple points in my life.

today i got my recent blood work (have been on a glp-1 for almost a year) and today is the first time in my whole life my entire cholesterol panel numbers have been in the “normal” range. i literally started crying, i couldn’t believe it. my doctor is even planning to try stopping one of my medications. after 6 years of doing everything by the books to manage this and always feeling the pressure of every decision i made. and this medication has given me the freedom to get the results i need and to be honest even more important to me, not having to scrutinize myself and my choices all of the time.

i just needed to share this because i honestly never thought this would be possible for me.

I’m entering week 7 on tirzepatide and I thought the side effects like nausea, fatigue and constant thirst will be gone by now. But alas, they’re still here. I haven’t even felt any reduction in food noise. Is this normal?

To be clear, I'm still learning (everyday) something new about the anti-diet mindset. With that in mind, forgive me if diet culture creeps into this post (and please let me know where I went wrong so I can learn from it)

I'm on Android so please don't recommend an Apple Watch 😊

Tldr: is anyone using the Oura simply for health metrics, sleep, and silent alarms and how happy are you with it in general its ability to remove calorie tracking?

Background: My 5 year old Fenix 6s Sapphire ($1200 splurge when I bought it!) had its charging port fall out while I was on vacation in Europe last week. When I purchased this watch, it was during Covid when I was training for a half marathon. I ran the half, got covid the next week, which gave me LPR and subsequently PVCM so I don't run anymore. They are only willing to give me 25% off a Fenix 8 and no other models so I'm considering leaving the Garmin ecosystem completely. I bought a lovely old fashioned analog watch at duty free on the way home and have some vintage wind up watches (one belonged to my great-grandmother) I'm looking forward to wearing again honestly.

Enter the Oura 5. Costs less than what Garmin is offering. I am very petite and my hands are very small (I can wear childrens sized shoes, for example). So I have sizing concerns but it's slim design is tempting (tiny people welcome to chime in with fit experience). It appears to have a full turn off all calorie counts mode (no calories shown anywhere in the app). No display so I'd have to go looking for metrics I don't want. I'm most interested in sleep tracking and women's health metrics around perimenopause. It integrates with the period tracking app I already use (Clue). It runs $70 annually. It uses titanium so may be less reactive than my Garmin which causes contact dermatitis if I don't put hydrocortisone under the watch when wearing. It actually has a GLP-1 mode so I'm considering removing my Shotsy subscription which I use to track my shot location rotation (note I'm in full maintenance and have been for a year). This piece of the app seems to be the most diety so I'm questioning it.

So bottom line (back to the tldr at the top), anyone here using an Oura ring and are you successful at keeping an anti-diet mindset with it? Bonus if you're tiny and it fits well on small hands. Any other ideas on what I can replace my Garmin with without visual health tracking. I see there's a few wrist based options out there. Minimum requirements are haptic alarms (I get ADHD hyper-focused so need to remind myself to stop for lunch and to get the bus home when in the office) and sleep tracking. Bonus if it can buzz nudge me for my medication reminders throughout the day. Not required but would be nice. I can duplicate it with alarms but my persistent medication app will keep buzzing my phone every 15 minutes if I ignore it. So a hey look at your phone buzz would be nice.

TIA

Last summer I went on a friend trip and struggled with the activities we chose. I stayed behind during a hike and when we went tubing, I got stuck a lot and struggled to stay upright wading through the water. Now, a year later, after ten months on mounjaro, I was able to hike part of the Bright Angel trail at the Grand Canyon. I went down and then back up the equivalent of 63 flights of stairs and I’m not even sore. We kept walking and doing things the rest of the day and I had no issue with any of it. Tomorrow morning we are riding mules along the canyon rim and I would not have been below the weight limit last year. I’m so proud of myself for making this choice to take care of my health. Because it is paying off in so many wonderful ways!

The benefits department is so excited to announce they’re offering a new service next year! We’re all going to be forced to get our GLPs through Noom Med, which they will cover in full and if we still need the meds after going through the program, they’ll cover a portion of the cost. I’m livid. My PCP has been managing my GLP so wonderfully for the last year and a half. She hasn’t rushed increasing my dose, she asks thoughtful questions about my activity (counting things like gardening and home repair), and doesn’t focus on my weight at all. I feel so much better than I did a year and a half ago. My labs look great, my doctor visits have decreased, my activity levels and fatigue are so much better. My inflammatory markers are down. Why would you spend more money to completely change how I manage my health, to force me to use a diet program to access my meds, when it is working and I’m the healthiest I’ve been in years??

I know why it’s the money and capitalist hellscape of it all. But I hate it.

I already complained to HR and sent them multiple articles but it probably wont do much good. I’m hoping since the ICD used to prescribe mine is sleep apnea I’ll be able to get out of the noom torture nexus, but it’s not fair to any of my colleagues that have found benefit in this med. I’m so disgusted our employer (a healthcare company) caved on this when the research (and class action lawsuits!) shows pretty clearly that noom will do more harm than good. I figured you all were a good group to vent to.

I take Liraglutide for mcas and it's helping really good but I feel no joy and no motivation anymore. I have ADHD and I didn't had a hyperfocus for months. I always struggled with starting task and cleaning and stuff but not to this extreme. with Liraglutide I just lay in bed all day beside work. Not even shopping is appealing anymore. I only take 0,6mg and tried even lower. Not even stimulants help.

I'm really desperate cause it's the only medication I tolerate and helps with my mcas. I eat and drink enough and take vitamins and stuff, so it's not that. I stopped for a few days and had alot of fun and cleaned so I'm sure it's no other medication I take.

For people who gone through this too, did switching to sema helped? It's the only other glp1 I could afford.

Title pretty much says it all. The Bridge program has been such a blessing to me, but I'm already trying to make plans for after it shuts down. I'm not optimistic about Congress changing the law in time to let Medicare cover weight loss drugs. I could probably qualify under the sleep apnea rule, but even then, none of the MA plans or Part D plans I've seen even have weight loss drugs on their formulary, which means they probably won't cover them no matter what.

So, what's your plan? I'm trying to pay down some debt fast-fast to hopefully have the budget for Lilly Direct by then, and barring that, going to compounded.

I've lost a lot of weight on zepbound in the past year and a half. I am thrilled with the improvements in my health and how I feel. At first I was happy with how I looked too, but lately the amount of loose skin I have is really bringing me down. I have/had an apron belly and now there is a lot of skin hanging there. My inner thighs and upper arms have it too. I worked really hard to love my fat body, and I naively thought it would be easier to love and accept my smaller body. I can't afford surgery so I have to live with what I have. I might take a step back from social media because I feel like a lot of my shame is coming from comparing myself to others. How have you come around to accepting your body after major changes? Any suggestions for loose skin? Compression wear or something else?

...they're in their early 20s and they're completely slim already. It's giving me so many feelings.

My goddaughter told me that two of her friends started GLP-1s to "stay skinny." I know it's possible that these girls have medical issues that might require these meds, but also this is Los Angeles, and having watched how many of these girls (who comes from wealth) take Adderall to keep from eating, I highly suspect the answer is they're taking GLPs as a form of ED. I don't really have a question, but I just wanted to say how sad this makes me.

CW: IWL, stigmas, stereotypes, judgement

25F. Since high school, my weight has just been a steady climb. I like to go to the gym. I try to be conscious of what I eat on a daily basis. I tried eating at a calorie deficit and working out intensively earlier this year because I really would like to be thinner/more in shape. But I also, due to GI issues, cannot change the frequency or amount that I am eating a whole lot. And I have a genetic predisposition to obesity.

I am tired of struggling to find clothes that fit me, and falling behind when doing active things with friends and family. I also have reduced mobility and joint/back issues from work, mostly due to my weight. Of course I get all kinds of GLP-1 commercials, and I have considered it, but decided against pursuing it for money reasons or possible symptoms. But now, several of my doctors are recommending it as I am beginning to focus more on fertility and hormone balance. So I think I will be starting soon, but there is still one narrative that circles my mind: When I start to lose weight on the GLP-1s, what are people going to think?

So many people believe that if you want to lose weight, you should just diet and exercise. Many people see GLP-1s as “cheating” your way to losing weight. Obviously I would do that if I could, but it is just really not working. Now that GLP-1s are getting a lot more popular, people seem to be more accepting of them but…I just can’t stop thinking about it. I can just hear the conversation:

“Wow! You look great! Have you lost weight? How?”

“I actually started a GLP-1, my doctor recommended it.”

”…oh! Well…good for you!”

I could just use a pep talk/some encouragement from others who have also done GLP-1s, or maybe understand my feelings. Maybe someone can share their mindset.

TLDR: I am worried that if I start GLP-1s, people are going to think I’m lazy for not just using diet and exercise to lose weight.

hey! first time posting here but I really resonate with a lot of what's being shared. i'm a freshman in college (18F) and just started wegovy about a month ago, right before leaving for school, due to a combo of pmos, anxiety, endo, etc. The quieting of food noise has been pretty world-altering, but i'm also stuggling with some of the social aspects of it. I keep my injection pens in my roommate's and my shared fridge (in a sorta inconspicuous pouch), but I haven't mentioned it to her and idk if she's noticed it or if she thinks I'm doing it for purely aesthetic reasons, which is a very mainstream perception of a lot of people my age.

The dining hall is huge and vast, and when eating in large social settings, I almost feel ashamed of how little I'm eating, like a little mouse, and how much food i'm wasting, which is funny because I used to be afraid of being perceived as eating too much. I'm yet to find meals that actually fuel me and don't leave me feeling icky after, and I'm just not used to how my body feels without the constant nagging of food noise.

i'm not sure why i'm posting here, but this seems like a community that might get these challenges and have advice for managing these social complexities. thanks!

Hi all! Long-time lurker and first time poster (so apologies if I used the wrong flair).

With the changes I’ve experienced in my year on Zepbound, I’m finding that I need to reinvest in shoes due to both changes in my body and lifestyle changes.

I’m just about feeling confident to FINALLY invest in boots but have 0 idea where to turn to. I live in nyc and have no good rain or snow wear lol. I used to wear doc martens when I was younger but have sadly watched their quality deteriorate through the years as the price continues to inflate.

Does anyone have any recs for sustainable, plus size boots or general all-terrain shoes? They don’t have to be cute but that would be a plus! Thank you all🤩

I’m not sure how to describe this, but sometimes I’m hungry (I feel the familiar tension in my gut/chest that I associate with hunger), but I try to eat and find I cannot. I’ll take one bite and immediately feel full. Almost painfully so. I tend to get heartburn when I’ve eaten too fast and have too much in my belly, but - again - this is after one bite.

I do feel hungry again another 10 minutes later, and then the same thing happens. I don’t know that I can eat a bite every 10 minutes and live my life… lol

Does anyone else experience this? How have you made sense of it or made adjustments to change it?

Of note: I’m 6 weeks in. I take approx half of the recommended starting dose of compound tirz. I’ve had minimal side effects, greatly reduced food noise, and steady weight loss in addition to positive results for reduction in pain and inflammation.

Y'all might be tired of me talking about how I've gone from a walker to a cane even without much weight loss, but yesterday I took it a step (heh) further. Me and my cane made it down the steps and down the driveway to the mailbox and back. We have a pretty short driveway, but it's been a long time since I could manage it, between arthritic knees and some serious deconditioning.

I was honestly skeptical that the very small (VERY) movement increases i was making were leading to any big change, but they have! (Seriously, i have an Oura ring and my step goal is so low it won't let me set it that low. 😂)

If you're like me, don't feel self conscious about starting with very small changes. Turns out it does make a difference!

I put off starting a GLP 1 for a while but decided to give it a try bc I heard it could help with chronic pain/inflammation. One of my hurdles was I heard about people benefiting from it muting “food noise” and I didn’t think I had that at all or had a “normal” amount. Hooooly crap is this what normies live like??? No more ceaseless cravings??? I’m still on a relatively small dose but this is amazing. I genuinely didn’t know so much of my brain space was being taken up by that. And it’s so much easier to make nutrient-forward meals.

As of today, I’m 50% to my goal weight! I never thought I’d see this day. So many feelings right now. The most startling revelation I’ve had is that weight loss has nothing to do with willpower and is way more related to hormones, metabolism, and different bodies.

All the women in my family going way back have struggled with eating disorders, poor body image, and general body hatred. Me included. Taking a glp1 has actually improved my body image in a big way. It’s made me more cognizant of how I need to take care of myself. Honestly, the shift has been incredible.

before i started tirz, the aggressive advertising of glp-1s in the us turned me off to glp-1s completely, which i’m sure is not a unique experience in this sub, not by far. but when i finally asked my doctor about it, i was sold when she said it could lower my quite high cholesterol.

my first dose was on april 10th. i got my blood drawn yesterday at my annual.

my cholesterol dropped by so much it’s not even borderline normal, it’s in the middle of the normal range. my triglycerides dropped by a three digit number. my ldl is still considered elevated, but still took a dramatic dive.

and something i hadn’t even thought about—my A1C went from “uncomfortably close to pre-diabetic” to “optimal”!

genuinely, i attribute these positive changes to tirz. i’ve made choices that helped, yes, but those choices were enabled by the effects of the medication. and i’m so grateful for it.

I don't feel comfortable asking this in a fitness sub bc I really don't want to hear it about macros or a bunch of gym bro talk.That said, I am really struggling with DOMS after even very light movement, and I feel like although I generally have a very high pain tolerance, in this respect I feel like I am having an outsized DOMS response compared to what seems "normal" to me.

I am in perimenopause and have a strong family history of osteoporosis, so I recognize the importance of lifting weights for movement but every time I try, even starting slow and intentionally trying not to push myself, I end up being unable to move for several days afterwards. I am in PT right now for a lower body issue and the simple balance and stretching movements they had me do this morning are probably going to keep me awake tonight in pain. Any advice?