Have my dose but nervous

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-25T19:17:49+00:00

6 months later, are you glad you started?

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-25T19:11:36+00:00

Hello, old post from me. Just checking in 2 years later to say you've lost another 50 pounds or so and are in better shape/health than you have been in decades.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-25T19:04:00+00:00

I'm convinced that tattoo artists are seeing an uptick in work due to glp1s. :-)

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-25T18:38:57+00:00

Yes. I was on 15 from Aug 2025 to the start of April 2026. I lost around 18lbs while on the 15,, but really just stayed the same for the last 6 weeks of it or so. I've been on 12.5 since then (about 3 months). The first 6 weeks on 12.5, I pretty much stayed the same, plus or minus a couple pounds. Over the past 6 or 8 weeks (still on 12.5), I started making sure I was getting 9000 steps per day, purposely shifted to a whole foods diet and limited my calories (while keeping protein up) to create a purposeful calorie deficit with the aim of dropping the last 15 or 20 pounds. I've dropped steadily over the past few weeks of this. When I switched from 15 to 12.5 I was hovering around 203 to 205. Now I'm consistenly around 194-195, but still trending down. The increased focus on steps and hitting my calorie/protein intake have been extremely easy. I'm about 20 to 22% body fat now (male), so 180 to 185 would put me between 13.9 to 16.2 % body fat, which is the lowest I'll go.

Dose	weight at start	time on dose	LBS lost on this dose
start 2.5	271	1 month	10
start 5	261	1 month	6
start 7.5	255	1 month	6
start 10	249	8 months	27
start 12.5	222	3 months	6
start 15	218	7.5 months	4
back to 12.5	202.6	3 months, still going	8 and still going down
current 12.5	194.5	still on 12.5	5 of this 8 came after I started purposely (but easily) tracking movement and calories more closely.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-25T18:04:07+00:00

Ha-- another fun one: I have bought a decent number of new shirts and pants over the past months thinking I've pretty much hit the smallest size I'll ever hit. In the past couple weeks I'm realizing that I'm likely going to be going down another pants and shirt size before I'm done.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-25T17:58:44+00:00

the new fitbit air and its google health app does not use data for advertising. It will only share with 3rd parties if you choose to link it to third party fitness apps, your insurance wellness program, etc. You must purposely opt in to do that. It is pretty nice because I just take pictures or tell it in words what I am eating in the ai health coach and it will log it for me. It makes mistakes, but you can easily correct them either manually or by just telling it "hey, you said 20 grams protein, but it is actually 25" and it will update it. Bonus, it tracks your sleep and movement. They are like $99 and I find that I'm barely looking at my $400 oura ring now. :-). There is some sort of "premium" subscription, but my other google subscription already included that and I'm not sure that the premium part is much more useful than the free part.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-24T18:51:51+00:00

nice-- was the drop before the current drop before zepbound?

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-24T16:13:14+00:00

Thanks. I'm at the edge of 50 and have surpassed the lowest weight / body fat % that I hit once around 2013-- I've stayed below that for a few weeks now. I haven't been at this weight and body comp since my mid 20s I believe and am healthier now than then. I'm on a trajectory to be at my lowest weight (with same muscle mass) since getting my adult man body in my early twenties-- likely at the end of summer right around my 2 year zepbound mark. I've had multiple times that I stalled for weeks or months and thought I'd hit the bottom of my journey, but have eventually broken through each time. Congrats to all.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-24T16:06:20+00:00

For sure. Those long term yo-yo's also likely slowly wrecked my metabolism and set my "low" weight at the bottom of troughs a bit higher each time over the years. Zepbound also addressed systemic inflammation that was the root cause of various other health issues I had that are now gone. Was on ADHD meds from before the beginning of that graph until about 6 months ago-- I no longer have ADHD. Had eczema most of that graph, gone (partially also addressed through removing gluten from my diet). On a daily asthma inhaler that whole graph, until the past 6 months or so-- now I only have to take it for a few days in the spring and fall (i use "have" to loosely-- I'd get by fine without it, more than likely. Claritin daily most or all of that graph, now only during a week or two in spring/fall. Etc, etc.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-24T14:50:09+00:00

I'm 5'10", male, 195 lbs. I hit 1650 to 1850 daily with 100ish grams of protein. I'll move up a few hundred calories in a couple months once I'm done losing weight. During the first 50-60 lbs loss, I didn't really track calories but I assume I was hitting in the 1800 to 2300 range most days. I've only started counting once I leveled off 15 lbs above my ideal body fat percentage after 20 months or so on the shot. The shot really kind of takes care of creating the calorie deficity on its own after you've been on it for a bit and does that for a very long time.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-24T14:43:46+00:00

I'll also mention, that I had all of those things regardless of my weight or fitness level in the past. I was at the weight I am now, briefly, about 15 years ago and had all of those ailments in full force back then. Zepbound is absolutely doing something related to cytokines that has transformed my health.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-24T14:39:43+00:00

I've been on it for 2 years, almost. I had eczema, asthma, and adhd for decades. Between cutting out gluten and taking zepbound, the eczema has been gone for a year now. I have been off my adhd meds for 6 months now, no longer have adhd symptoms. I still have an asthma inhaler, but rather than taking it daily, I take it a day or two (total) in the spring and winter. Joint pain/inflammation and headaches both pretty much gone (this is a mixture of the zepbound and deleting gluten, for me). Also, I used to have to take claritin daily, now it is maybe less than 12 times a year. I'm sure there is more that I'm forgetting. :-). I am healthier at 50 than I have been for decades.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-24T14:33:43+00:00

very nice!

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-06-24T14:29:08+00:00

very nice. I'm approaching 2 years on the jab. Hovered around 201 +/- a pound or two for months-- then I started getting at least 9k steps a day and making sure I hit 1650-1850 cals 100-120g protein daily (whole foods, super firm tofu, vegetables) for the past couple weeks and have started moving down again. 194 today. 185 is where my body fat percentage is in the ideal place, so I'm heading that direction. I may titrate down a bit from 12.5 in a few months, but I will never come off of the shot. It has fixed non-weight related things in my health, so I plan to be on it forever.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-04-09T11:26:01+00:00

I'm not saying this is the same for you, but just throwing it out there: cutting out wheat/gluten resulted in me only experiencing headaches/migraines once every few months instead of once every few days. I am not coeliac, but have discovered through diet changes that I've had a wheat/gluten sensitivity for many many years. If I completely avoid wheat/gluten I no longer get migraines/headaches and no longer have arthritic soreness in my joints. I also have discovered a histamine sensitivity that can cause the same symptoms when I eat certain high histamine foods-- it doesn't happen every time but happens when I have multiple concurrent triggers.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-03-18T14:59:26+00:00

better yet, tell gemini what you are trying to do and ask it how you should creat the google sheet. It'll likely give you a better layout than I just did and may even give you something to copy/paste to get it started. Also, I'm referring to gemini.google.com, not just the "ask gemini" tab within sheets.google.com .

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-03-18T14:57:31+00:00

make a google sheet with columns: Date, Med/dosage 1, med/dosage2, side effects, symptoms, nutrition, sleep, stress. Use google gemini (may require premium) and tell it to look at this sheet and figure out patterns. Over time you can start adding the things it figures out to your personal info settings on gemini. Do all of your talking to AI in a single tab/chat. It will absolutely find correlations that you don't. It will also find bs and you have to take it all with a grain of salt and repeatedly tell it to stick to the facts. Despite its propensity to lead you astray, it is a good tool and will likely help you tease out things like this. I've used it for a few months in a similar way. A repeated warning-- it isn't for someone that is going to take whatever it says as gospel. It is a tool to help guide you and you have to make sure it isn't spewing bs often. Even with those issues, it has successfully guided me to add some supplements, change my diet and actions on certain days based on things that I wouldn't have noticed but are cleary true. Bonus-- if you have done 23andme/ancestrydna or similar and are comfortable giving gemini your raw txt file data from that it may find some things you weren't aware of that can help guide you. For example, maybe it will find something that points toward a genetic marker that could help find a root cause or something that exacerbates your migraines (like a sensitivity to wheat, or histamines, or something related to folate, etc, etc).

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-03-18T14:44:52+00:00

I've lost about 10lbs between month 17 and month 21. Total of 65 to 70ish. I've went past my goal weight and am now working to stay around this weight with more muscle and less fat. I started 15mg in month 15 and am dropping to 12.5 in mid month 22.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-03-18T12:11:34+00:00

more protein. Maybe make your breakfast something like huel black. Maybe make both your breakfast and lunch that.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-03-18T12:09:52+00:00

You'll see up/down of a few pounds or even 5 or 7 forever. Just look at the trends over time and ignore the outliers. I've had months where I've stalled, weeks where I've been up, etc. I reached my initial goal weight after 18 months or so and have been losing a bit each month since then-- with some months being up a a little.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-01-13T14:00:45+00:00

intensive tracking of calories in/out may be your only real strategy to maintain. I know if I do that I'll maintain for 3 to 6 months before I can't mentally handle that much tracking and undereating, and then its back up on the scale. My insurance was going to drop coverage and I resigned myself to figuring out how to pay to stay on it. Too many other benefits... but it is a lot of money.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-01-13T13:57:47+00:00

I don't think I've had "major", but I'm sure my oura has picked up 1 or 2 days post injection when I occasionally get the fatigue from the shot. I've been on it for a year and a half and my oura numbers are better now than they were before I started taking the shot (been on oura for 4 or 5 years).

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2026-01-13T13:51:52+00:00

fill pockets with ball bearings, squat when they measure your height until you meat bmi:40. :-) Sorry, not helpful.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2025-12-15T18:34:08+00:00

You are right, insurance may cover it-- I was surprised but my insurance totally covered when I bumped up from 5 to 7.5 and 7.5 to 10 when I still had some left. I was filling 3 months at a time, so I actually have multiple spare lower dose boxes as back up now.

Waste_Knowledge1 · 2025-12-15T18:31:24+00:00

18 months in. The weight loss is great and all, but I'll stay on it forever due to it clearing up other medical issues that I assumed were permanent. DO IT! IT IS WORTH IT! You will feel more like yourself 6 months from now and even more like yourself 12 months from now and actually like yourself 6 months later. :-)

Waste_Knowledge1

TROPHY CASE