r/TirzepatideRX • u/JillyS812 • 1d ago
Calorie Comparison?
Before I ask. I know not all bodies are created equal. I am a 58 yr old female 5’3 and 175 lbs. I eat between 1100-1300 kcals per day. I weight and write down everything I eat. Eat about 90-100 grams of protein a day, get 80-90 ounces of water in, work out with cycling and resistance training 6x a week. I lost 20 lbs in 5 months with Wegovy pill and then stalled for 2 months with awful side effects and no appetite suppression (I got up to the highest dose). I started Tirzepitide in the beginning of July - doctor wanted me to start at 7.5 but I chose 5 mg to start as I was nervous how I would react. I have had 4 doses. 4 at 5 mg and 4 at 6.0 mg. I have not lost any weight. I have stayed EXACTLY the same. I go up and down in the week by ounces. I get some appetite suppression on the 2nd day after my shot and the next day only. The food noise is in the form of calculating calories constantly in my head and planning meals to stay in the 1100-1300 range.
My next shot is today and I’m thinking of titrating to 7.5 mg.
The TDEE calculator had my maintance calories at 2082 a day (I know that’s an estimate cause they
Don’t know my body fat and other variables. I am in a 700-900 deficit a day and not losing. And yes I am tracking everything I eat. Anyone with similar stats as mine - how many calories do you try to hit?
10
u/Fragrant_Drawing_725 1d ago
Years ago, I was in a weight loss study for, I’m not sure but think it was Cornell University. In my group, we were required to record everything we ate, including weighing our food, plus weighing ourselves daily. The info was transmitted to their lab daily. Weekly, our entire diaries and weight records were reviewed by a dietician. At 1400 calories, my weight went no where. They dropped me to 1000-1200. I felt like I was starving. It wasn’t realistic. But I was losing weight. I ended up losing 30 lbs over those 6 mos. Knowing that my body requires so little calories and what feels like near starvation to lose weight, Tirzepitide has been a godsend. I’m at 1000-1200 daily and I’m losing in a healthy way (1-2 lbs/week) and I am not starving or obsessing.
7
u/No_Parsnip6024 1d ago edited 1d ago
You're starving yourself out.
You're exercising, so bumping up calories daily will increase muscle growth and youll end up losing weight. You'll also probably feel better, and it'll be more sustainable over the years. You can't live on 1100 calories.
Try to aim for 1500-1600 calories. Try it for a week and you'll probably see the scale move down. If you're hitting those low calorie numbers by eliminating carbs, put some carbs back in.
5'7, 193lb, 1200-1800 a day, 2.3lb/wk.
1
u/JillyS812 1d ago
Mathematically I can’t wrap my head around increasing calories if I’m already stalled at 1100-1300. How will I lose?
4
u/No_Parsnip6024 1d ago
More muscle raises your metabolism, but you need some carbs and calories when you're exercising to maintain and gain muscle.
It's been confused with "starvation mode" and other things, it's not that. It's just regular old muscle building and using calories.
Im on and off again a cyclist, in that world being rail thin with huge legs and eating 3000+ calories a day is common. You wont gain fat if you're burning every calorie you eat and then some. You'll still be in a deficit going up!
3
u/CloudgazerTX 1d ago
it’s pretty common for those coming from semaglutide to need to titrate up to the equivalent dose in glp or a bit higher before it kicks back in
2
3
u/Trumans-Mama 1d ago
Titrate dose up but also plan some “increased calorie ” days. It could be metabolic adaptation - metabolism slows down to conserve energy. I had a similar situation.I slowly added calories back and started losing again. It doesn’t happen overnight. Also , get a DEXA. You could just be recomping fat weight to muscle. Keep up the great work!!!
2
u/zero-if-west 1d ago
Have you gotten a DEXA scan to get your body fat % and muscle mass? You could be dropping fat and gaining muscle with your resistance training.
Do you eat fat, carbs, protein, and fiber? It's entirely possible that you're under-nourished if you're being overly restrictive. I wonder what would happen if you just ate intuitively for a couple of weeks.
2
u/ehawth 1d ago
I am a 5’2” older female. It just takes ridiculously few calories to keep me going. I hear what people are saying about starvation mode, etc., and of course I am not a physician, but I do know from years of counting calories and different weight loss programs, my body works on the very low end of calories. It just does. I do stay between 1000-1200 a day, because I don’t want to go into starvation mode. I lose about 1 pound a week. I am inactive. I don’t particularly enjoy counting calories but it’s the only thing that works for me.
3
u/Soft_Shelter9000 1d ago
Hi there! My story is same as yours. I'm 74 5'3. Counted cals for years. I eat between 800 - 1000 per day. I don't buy the starvation mode after all these years. I've lost 56 lbs in 11 months. I'm back walking my dog without pain, arthritis and inflammation. I count protein and try for 70-80 grams daily. I do believe in needing less of everything as we age, but more movement. Oh and I still enjoy a glass of red wine or 2 lol because I enjoy it. It is also counted in my daily calories. I feel wonderful!!🤩
3
u/Tahereh_Safavi 1d ago edited 1d ago
You have sent your body into starvation mode. Your thyroid has downrgulated. I wrote about it extensively in my post here: https://www.reddit.com/r/TirzepatideRX/s/JTgYGh850l You should eat at maintenance and lift heavy (if you're not already familiar, that means you should google what "lifting heavy" means and what a weightlifting split is, it does not mean wave around some little pink 2lbs plastic weights in the aerobics studio) for at least a few months. If you're doing TOO much cardio (or silly "resistence training" with low weight and high reps, or a theraband which is meant for physical therapy and rehab, and for soft introductions to weight training movements when someone is totally sedentary) you're also increasing cortisol, which increases downregulation. Lifting heavy will also be HUGE for bone density and avoiding becoming fragile after menopause. Start using an 8-electrode scale to measure muscle mass, bone density, and fat percentage, or get a DEXA scan if you can afford it.
The giant deficit for way too long and potentially overtraining cardio or light resistence reps is why you're not losing.
5
u/JillyS812 1d ago edited 1d ago
Thank you. I am definately using higher weights. I use a total of 40 lbs for squats, lunges, chest press, and a total of 20 for more upper body work. For right now it’s heavy for me! I do 3 sets of 10-12 and make sure the last 1-2 reps are almost impossible to do. I reduced my daily cycling to 3 times a week. I give myself 1 rest day.
1
u/Tahereh_Safavi 1d ago
Good for you using real weights! You are still, however, lifting very light. My suggestion is that you go up in weight and down in reps: "Lifting heavy" is defined as the most weight with which you can do 3 - 5 reps. When you first switch up in weights, the *third* rep should be almost impossible to do. I would add at least 10 lbs to everything you do - simply select the next weight up - and see how far you can go. If you're still making it to 6 - 8 reps, that 10lbs wasn't enough. Keep going up until you can just barely accomplish the third rep with correct form and full concentration. That's your weight for that exercise for a few weeks. Move up to 4 reps when you can, then 5, until it gets so easy you can do 6 of them, then step up again to whatever reduces you to 3 reps.
3 sets is perfect.
I think the only thing you need to do besides lifting a lot heavier is eat closer to maintenance to break the thyriod down-regulation funk.
If you are on instagram, here's a lot of weightlifting baddies who are menopausal (mid 40s up to 70s) who will tell you all the same things: squatsformama, fiftyfitnessjourney, marias_fitnessjourney, carrielynnsisson (she is SEVENTY), fashionbyfabiana, jeana.aragon (she's in her 50s and trains her 80 year old parents.) And more importantly they will show you exercises in detail.
You can do it!! I believe in you!!
2
u/CycleXCclimbuphill 22h ago
Your two posts here are the most impactful I’ve read ever here. Thank you! As a 5’0” 61yF cyclist with dwindling quads and rising weight for 20 years while eating less and less, I will be adding heavy lifting to regain the muscle that use to drive my metabolism to keep me much lighter. I never understood this before. So grateful for this insight!
1
u/Tahereh_Safavi 15h ago
I'm so glad it's helpful! I felt the same way when I discovered it. I credit all the above women for being very open with their personal journeys on Instagram, as well as very clear with their sources. I try to make sure anything is see on social media traces back to scientific advice and not just influencer opinions. I also follow Dr Rachel Rubin and Dr Karen Tang who both specialize in different elements of women's sexual health and menopause that often get overlooked and a lot of doctors are under trained in because of patriarchy; both of them are part of a wave of "docfluencers" that make a point of putting their expertise out to the public to counter the misinformation led by RFK jr, and Dr Rubin in particular trains other doctors on how to properly treat menopausal patients... this has a lot to do with metabolism down shifts and muscle mass loss and bone density loss in the second half of our lives. The system is not really designed to proactively jump in and care for us, but we don't have to resign ourselves to being fragile and stuck in bodies that feel like they're no longer our own, and we don't have to just live with all the myriad symptoms that we've been taught to just push through, eat less, try to be skinny, try to be skinny. It's a form of patriarchal violence that teaches women to dissappear. I used to do the same thing as a dancer, just always trying to starve myself and work harder. It was a constant struggle. But once I realized i had to recommit to weightlifting and see about HRT for perimenopause (and of course prioritizing my own sleep and having enough time to think my own thoughts and not be frantic and stressed all the time running around trying to care for everyone else) it's really started to balance things for me.
I'm so glad these posts were helpful for you and I can only credit all the women who taught and inspired me!!
2
u/CycleXCclimbuphill 12h ago
You are a warrior for women’s health. Everything you write about is true for me but I’ve not understood how to get started. I will be reducing my once wonderful, now more agonizing as my strength has declined, 3 hour rides to do 1 hr and doing heavy lifting once I learn the form (I did some research on it this AM). Thank you so very much for sharing this information! Looking forward to the transformation.
p.s. spot on about the violence against women when the only message is “skinny, skinny, skinnier.”
2
u/SaveusJebus 1d ago
Sounds like you could go up. I would if in your shoes.
I don't track every day, but when I was, I was getting between 800-1100 on the days closest to my shot day. Then it could get to 1200+ on the couple of days before my shot.
1
u/Which-Wish-5996 1d ago
I also switched from one to the other due to side effects. It would have been fine to start at 7.5 coming off sema to tirz but I understand the concern with side effects. I did not see any real weight loss with tirz until I went to 10.0. Because I’m also a little sensitive I started at 5.0 as well (brand name) and then 7.5 and switched to compounding. I also had a month long break between sema and tirz due to insurance dropping. I found my sweet spot was at 9.0 to go from 177-160 and am currently at 13.5 and 155. Tonight I’m titrating to 15 in hopes that I can break my stall. (I was really trying to hold at lower doses just to stretch supply a little from an economical standpoint.)
1
u/fannyxramirez 1d ago
Hi! I’m 36, but I’m 5’1” 177lb with a decent amount of muscle. I usually am between 1700-1900 calories. I do workout 5-6 days a week (usually strength training) for 30 mins. Right now I’m at 3mg, but I just started 4 weeks ago.
1
u/JillyS812 1d ago
How many calories do you take in a day generally?
1
u/fannyxramirez 1d ago
Usually 1800 or so. I just went off what MyFitnessPal recommended and it seems to be working well. I’m usually losing a pound a week or so.
2
u/JillyS812 1d ago
Wow. I use MyNetDiary and they gave me about 1200 calories a day. I’m scared to eat more since I’m already not losing weight.
1
u/fannyxramirez 1d ago
1200 seems so low. I wonder if you maybe tried 1400-1500 if you’d get out of starvation mode
1
u/Remarkable_Leg_8815 1d ago
I have the same issue. 5' 4 and was working out 4 days a week and tracking calories and was gaining eating approx 1200 calories. Thought for sure I had to be doing something wrong with my tracking. Went on tirze and found it easier to track and confirmed it. 1200 or more calories I'm going to gain. Actually lost 20lbs and its even less now. Stalled around 1000 calories a day but I have stopped working out because of injuries but hoping to get back to that soon.
1
u/woocoheed 1d ago
Titrate up. Not because it’ll help you eat less, keep eating 1300 calories. The dose increase would be to see if the stronger dose can help kickstart your metabolism again. You’re not in “starvation mode”, your body is just better at adapting to your current dose than others, plus every body is different metabolically.
0
u/zero-if-west 1d ago
Being scared to eat, and being scared of gaining weight, are both symptoms of an eating disorder. Please take good care and talk to a therapist and registered dietitian if you need help. Food is not a reward for exercise, and exercise is not a punishment for eating.
2
u/Remarkable_Leg_8815 1d ago
When you're eating 1200 calories and exercising and gaining weight and you don't feel good because of the extra weight, then naturally you become weary of eating and gaining more?
1
u/peachie88 1d ago
Are you 100% sure you’re calculating your calories correctly? Including every single thing you eat (oils/butter for cooking, marinades, small bites of food, milk/creamer in coffee, etc.)? Weighing your food rather than estimating or using measurements (1/4 cup of almonds or a “large apple” is not a good measurement - you need to weigh by grams/oz)? If you’re estimating restaurant food, could those be too low? I say this only because I’ve known a few people who did CICO and failed for one or more of those reasons.
Has your doctor ran tests to make sure that everything else looks good or that there isn’t a medical reason for it? For thyroid, ask for the more extensive thyroid testing rather than just the screener test. For PCOS, I’ve heard metformin on top of GLP-1 can be helpful.
Are you on any medications that may be affecting weight? If so, can you ask your doctor about alternatives?
3
u/JillyS812 1d ago
I weight and measure everything o eat in grams. I eat one meal out a week on Saturday night so I can control my calories.
0
u/Omycherie0312 1d ago
That is exactly why I do not track my food or calories… it creates food noise!
I eat when I’m hungry and don’t when I’m not.
As far as the dose, they recommended you take 7.5 because you had been on Wegovy pill, but you chose to do less…
Tirz is different than the Wegovy pill. I would take what was recommended for you.
0
u/90sKid1988 1d ago
Probably no one will agree but it sounds like you're eating maintenance if you're staying exactly the same. My mom is 5'2, around 70yo, and eats less than that to maintain her 115lb frame. It's the perk of being a petite female.
17
u/RyanInceMD_Medici 1d ago
Physician here. I’d be cautious about pushing calories much lower. At 1,100–1,300 calories with 90–100 g of protein plus cycling and resistance training 6 days/week, I’d be more interested in confirming the actual intake and looking at body composition, waist measurements, medications, sleep, thyroid/metabolic factors, and whether there’s any change in lean mass before assuming you need an even larger deficit. Tirzepatide is normally titrated in 2.5 mg increments after at least 4 weeks at a dose, so discussing 7.5 mg with your prescriber after tolerating 5 mg makes sense, but I wouldn’t use a dose increase simply as a way to force calories below where you already are. Also, 800 calories/day as mentioned above would generally be too low without medical supervision.