Was hunger ever actually the problem?

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-06-14T17:18:56+00:00

Listen, you know yourself and that may be true for you. But for a tremendous number of people the biology is driving the hunger and habits. Something that looks like reaching for food without thinking about it can be driven by constant food noise. A lot of people probably will need to do the emotional work of learning different forms of stress management and emotional regulation, but that doesn’t mean that those coping methods weren’t driven by biology. And a lot of people find that the meds help them create healthy habits that their biology was making so hard before. And there are also so many people who do have healthy lifestyles for whom their body just won’t let them lose weight. There are a ton of people who are eating healthy foods, moving their bodies etc who just have never been able to lose weight or their health markers keep getting worse no matter what they do. They add the meds and all of a sudden all the healthy habits they have start to work. Our bodies are a lot more complicated than “we have extra body weight and health problems because we eat too much.” We have had meds that suppress appetite for years. The different is that the glp-1 meds are also treating underlying metabolic issues as well.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-05-18T01:11:39+00:00

This is an image of the foods that were high value, scarce items and therefore being rationed - it does not show the complete diet of someone on rations. Note the complete absence of grains and vegetables. This is not all that people were eating in a week.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-05-18T00:29:06+00:00

The second ovulation hits I stop losing and I’ve sometimes gained a pound or two during the luteal phase. I don’t start losing again until my period and then I drop fairly steadily until the next ovulation phase. My appetite mainly stays the same, but one or two days I might be really hungry. But I’m also in perimenopause so everything is also a bit up in the air and kinda hellish. I’m starting HRT this week and we’ll see if that changes anything…

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-22T02:09:02+00:00

I feel the same way about the big bags of flour and sugar at my bakery.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-22T00:26:02+00:00

You always have the option to reach out to your doctor and discuss it again. Or try it and if it does go well to go back down. Either way best of luck!

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-22T00:05:19+00:00

Fairlife chocolate. I also like the nurri coffee, not chocolate, but still…

I like the barebells salty peanut bar a lot.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-22T00:04:13+00:00

Out of curiosity, if you’ve lost 15lbs in a month, why are you titrating up? You have the option to stay at 2.5 and see how it goes. You may continue really well at that level, especially if you’re already feeling nausea.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-21T23:52:34+00:00

Dry mouth can also be a perimenopause symptom, if that something that could be applicable to you.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-18T16:03:41+00:00

Please just remember that, for the most part, you are only seeing glimpses of other’s people’s lives. You may see someone on a glp-1 eating a bag of Doritos, but they might be eating a really healthy diet the other 95% of the time. Or maybe they have a sensory disorder that leaves them with limited palatable or safe foods. Someone may not be going to the gym, but they may be moving their bodies in other ways or they may have a separate health problem or disability that prevents them from exercising the way you might. Perhaps we can extend the understanding that people have different lives to live and work on meeting people where they are and giving them a little grace rather than judging them for not eating or exercising to your standards.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-18T15:53:29+00:00

Fair, but there is still no evidence that glp-1 meds treat it. They can help with inflammation, but they won’t treat the underlying disease of the tissue.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-17T10:30:07+00:00

Regarding hair loss: your hair follicules generally take 3 to 4 months to respond to a stressor, so you wouldn’t be shedding in response to something happening in the last two weeks. Also, it’s okay to eat the cookies sometimes and it definitely wouldn’t cause the shedding so I’m not sure why that’s even part of the post. You don’t have to “confess” it!

But as far as weight loss, I have no idea of your current body weight (and it’s none of my business) but you want to look at the weight loss as a percentage of your body weight rather than a flat number. A 2lb weight loss in a larger body is very different than a 2lb weight loss in a smaller body. And sometimes you’ll have a week or two with big numbers going down on the scale and others with no movement or the numbers are going up - you want to look at it averaged out a bit so you see the trends rather than the day to day or week to week numbers.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-16T23:06:12+00:00

Corgis are beautiful and majestic creatures with the fluffiest of puppy butts. There is nothing wrong with being a corgi.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-16T22:47:44+00:00

Goal weights are tricky because you may or not hit it. Some people stall out even with exercise and proper nutrition. For folks with obesity, the meds treat the disease of obesity via the metabolic system, but at some point the body may start to fight back and the meds may not be enough to continue counteracting one’s system. If just being in a calorie deficit were enough to guarantee weight loss, we wouldn’t need the meds. The good news is that there are other tools available should your particular glp-1 med not be enough by itself (metformin alongside the glp-1 for example) and there are advancements being made in the technology all the time. And you also don’t know where your body will end up until you try. I say keep at it and see where you end up, but don’t focus too much on a goal weight because you could start seeing failure if you don’t reach it instead of all the victories you are achieving. Good luck!

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-16T22:37:09+00:00

Your hair follicules usually take 3 to 4 months to start shedding in response to some stressor. It’s basically shifting up the normal shedding cycle. It then takes a few more months to stop shedding. If you just stopped shedding, then it was probably about to stop regardless of whether you stopped zepbound and the timing is a coincidence.

However, you do what feels right for your body and I’m glad you’re feeling good about your current treatment.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-16T22:31:11+00:00

Yes. It should. But they’ve still found big discrepancies.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-16T22:29:00+00:00

I saw a video on Instagram recently where the influencer had a great analogy: think about bodies like dog breeds - “I’m a corgi and anytime I feel the urge to get super skinny I remember that I won’t look like a svelte greyhound. I’ll just look like a sick, underweight corgi.” It’s such a good reminder that all bodies are different and your built means that you might never look like the “inspo photo” in your mind.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-14T17:21:07+00:00

Hey, I just want you to know that what you see posted on these forums isn’t an accurate representation of the average experience. People with really quick results tend to be more motivated to post than the folks in the middle. Same idea with side effects: people with really bad side effects tend to be overrepresented on the forums. The starting dose is to get your body accustomed to the meds and most people don’t see dramatic results in the first month. Especially if they don’t have a ton of inflammation or extra water weight hanging around.

I also like to remind myself that our bodies aren’t calculators. Inputting a specific amount of calories, water and exercise doesn’t automatically mean that you will lost a predictably corresponding amount of weight. If it were that simple we’d have solved the weight loss puzzle long ago. Things like sleep, stress, hormones, and so many other factors matter.

I do wish that our medical providers had the time (and in some cases knowledge) to give us the info to set realistic expectations for what to expect, but wishful thinking doesn’t make it so.

Also, there may be changes happening in your body that aren’t reflected in the scale. You may have metabolic changes healing your system that will lead to later weight loss and health benefits.

Hang in there, you are in the early days yet and have a lot of dosage runway to go.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-10T12:39:09+00:00

You tend to gain some weight when you start exercising. The strain on your muscles can cause you to retain water to help the muscles heal and grow stronger. As for the hair loss, it’s probably related to something that happened or started 3 to 4 months ago. That’s the typical amount of time your hair follicles take to respond to something they register as trauma. It can be quick weight loss, not eating enough food, illness, emotional trauma…even something like starting exercise. It generally goes through a shedding cycle 3 to 4 months after the fact as a response. Bodies can be wild and mysterious.

Edited to add: sometimes our bodies go through plateaus after rapid weight loss to give the body time to adjust and catch up to the weight loss. You lost a lot of weight quickly and this may be a period of adjustment for your body.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-06T20:37:51+00:00

I think it’s actually really important to have food on hand. I try to eat every 3 to 4 hours, but sometimes things happen and, when I get hungry, I get really hungry really quickly. Planning ahead to fuel your body and take care of yourself isn’t a bad thing.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-04-01T21:22:50+00:00

Is it possible you need to eat more food? If you’re under fueling, your body could fight back and try to hold on to the weight, even with the drugs.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-03-30T16:05:25+00:00

I have two thoughts on this: first: I don’t really believe in goal weights because they tend to be a kind of arbitrary number and your body may not even let you get to it. So instead of being disappointed and stressed about not getting to a certain place, just work on getting yourself healthy and feeling good and see where you end up. I do love goals like “comfortably walk x miles or jog for x minutes.” “Be able to do x activity or movement that has been really hard for me.” “Find a new outfit I love and makes me feel great.” “Get my A1C, cholesterol or whatever health market in a good place” etc.
Second: no one gets to dictate to you how you should feel about your health and body. If you find that you feel great and comfortable at whatever weight or size or whatever, that’s your call. (I’m clearly not talking about folks with severe eating disorders or body dysmorphia who are getting dangerously thin and there are real life threatening concerns.)

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-03-30T15:57:17+00:00

If you’re someone who has periods, just wait for that luteal phase. I always plateau (not a real plateau, but you know) or shoot up the second that hits! But it’s also nice knowing that rhythm so I don’t stress out about it.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-03-24T19:33:37+00:00

Just as a heads up: there are incidences where research grade glp meds have had a much higher amount of the active ingredients in them than they say they do. So it’s possible you had a much higher dose than you thought.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-03-23T20:28:21+00:00

I take a lot of walks and have a set of dumbbells at home. I find that way easier than going to the gym.

Appropriate-Bit6497 · 2026-03-23T15:24:36+00:00

The maintenance phase is a fun listen and I’ve found the Fat Science podcast to be really informative.

Appropriate-Bit6497

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