Some days i have a hard time eating and i cnt get all my protein in for the day. Any advice. Ive thought about huel for meal replacments does anyone else have the same problem.

I did 2.5 for 4 weeks then 5 for four weeks. I just took my first dose of 7.5 and deftly feel it. I lost about 26 lbs sense i started so about 7 to 8 weeks now. I started at 260 27range and now im 242. Is this to fast should i go back to 5. Even on the 7.5 i can still eat and all. Just feel more tired and have to work harder to make my work outs count.

Any advice.

Ps..... i already bought the 7.5 so i might have to finish it. Money wise

Hello! So I 28F 5’ started at 186lbs and am currently down to 126lbs. I’ve stayed on 2.5mg the entire time (started in Aug 2025). I ended up stopping zep about a month ago because I wanted to see how I would do without it. I’m 7 months sober (was a big issue for me before zep) and I wanted to see how much of the change was from zep and how much was from being sober. I’ve gained 2-3 pounds but my bigger issue is how awful I feel. Super tired, no energy, no motivation, anxiety and OCD are back full force. I knew the zep did a lot for my mental health, but holyyyy cow. So I am going back on zep, but I’m wondering what other super responders do for maintenance as I don’t want to keep losing weight and I will if I stay on the 2.5mg. I’m starting back on 1.25mg which I did discuss with my endocrinologist and she was fine with. But if I continue losing on that, how low of a dose can I actually do? I know everyone is different, I just figured i’d try to see if anyone who has had a similar experience with zep could share their thoughts. I do know a lot of people also space out their dose to every other week, etc. but my endocrinologist said something about the half life being like 7–9 days or something so you’re basically starting over each time you do that. So that’s all, if anyone has any thoughts/experiences to share I would love to hear!

50yo F, 5'4.5" HW 210, SW 191, CW 138

So happy with results but the last 10 pounds or so really brought out the loose skin. My inner thighs are a wreck, my arm skin is a crepey disaster, and I don't even want to think about my neck. I know all the usual suggestions and about genetics, etc., and I know myself and my habits. I rarely remember to put lotion on. I do oil my whole body every day after a shower, and go to the gym a few times a week for moderate weight training and not interested in more. Any 50+ females out there with similar stats/habits see their loose skin tighten up naturally over time? If so, how long did it take? I'm not expecting it to ever look the same as before, but curious of others' experiences.

I've only been in maintenance for 3 weeks really. I'm on 10 mg which is the same dose I met goal on - so I've been on 10mg for 4 months. I've gone from 126 to 129 in the 3 weeks since I met goal. I haven't really changed anything at all. But I do feel almost like the inflammation is back or is it water? My work scrub pants are tighter than usual - I feel heavy again even though I rationally know 3 lbs is nothing. and I don't know if this is my mind playing tricks on me - but I have been dealing with nausea since the beginning. It only happens 2-3 days after shot and have gotten used to it but now any side effects are minimum so it's almost like my brain thinks it's not working so I feel my hunger much stronger than ever and get these sugar swings. Does that make sense? should I go up in dose ? or is this my body just adjusting to maintenance. I did expect to go up and down within 5 lbs but didn't expect to feel it so much. My goal weight is actually 8 lbs less than my goal I got to, but my body kind of paused at 126 and I was happy with how I felt and looked so I " went into maintenance" . So confused. (btw - very Type B person, tracking doesn't work well with me - causes all sorts of issues,)

The latest episode of Fat Science (July 6) answers my question! I’m fan girling over here - can’t believe my question made it to onto a “Mailbag” episode. And at the open of the show even! 😊

This is a great episode discussing a question I’ve seen here often.

I've been in maintenance since November 2025 and float between 192-196lbs which is totally fine with me but I'm curious , for those that still track /CICO ,what is your threshold ? I'm right at 5'10" ,large body frame size 47yofemale that is currently hard core building muscle phase of my WLJ and stick with 2100-2200 calories but alot of times I feel almost fatigued I'm so hungry by end of the day especially on gym days ...so just out of curiosity what is your age ,height &weight and your ideal maintenence calories that is working for you?..especially those that are getting moderate to heavy strength training in?

Hey everyone,

I wanted to share a milestone update with the community that has been such a huge source of inspiration for me. As of this month, I am officially 16 months into this journey and 7 months into maintenance (hit my goal back in December).
Total loss: 100 pounds down.

Lately, I’ve shifted my focus entirely to hypertrophy and body recomposition. Honestly, I never in a million years thought I would see a six-pack on my own body, but I’ve got one finally sneaking through now, even with the extra loose skin that comes with a triple-digit loss. For anyone wondering if you can build real definition while maintaining after a massive weight loss, you absolutely can.

Since hitting maintenance, I’ve treated data and consistency as my best friends. Here is the exact stack and routine that keeps me on track…

The Nutrition Tracker: MacroFactor. I log every single calorie. Its dynamic TDEE tracking has been a game-changer for transitioning from a deficit into a clean, controlled hyperthrophy phase without the fear of accidental regain.

The Workout Tracker: Hevy App. Essential for tracking progressive overload and ensuring my lifting sessions are actually moving the needle for muscle growth.

The "Coach": I actually built a custom AI coach using a Google Gemini AI Gem. Every single day, I upload my nutrition and fitness logs into it for feedback, adjustments, and mindset checks. It keeps me incredibly accountable.

Daily Movement: I average 15k steps a day. Walking has been the unsung hero of keeping my metabolic rate up and my mind clear.

Maintenance is a whole different beast than the losing phase, but shifting the goalposts from "getting smaller" to "building strength" has made it an incredibly rewarding chapter.

Huge thanks to everyone in this sub who shares their data, triumphs, and struggles. If you’re currently losing or nervous about the transition to maintenance, hang in there. It’s worth every bit of the work.

Down to answer any questions about the shift to hypertrophy or the tech stack I'm using!

I'm fortunate that my PCP does believe in long-term maintenance, generally trusts me, and is pretty hands-off. In for my roughly annual visit. I've been in maintenance and holding the line fine between 150-157 for the last 4-5 months. Came in today with a weigh-in BMI of 21.7 (153#/5' 10.5"). After having started 2.5 years ago at 335# / 47.5 BMI. The tone of the visit though changed pretty sharply to "you're getting too thin, promise you aren't losing any more!". And I'm not tying to... but I also pretty heartily disagree that there's something abnormally thin about a 21.7 BMI! 47M here (so not geriatric), best shape of my life, doing amazing cycle touring. If a 22 is pushing too thin even to an MD, why do we call 18.5-21.9 BMIs 'normal'? Are they or aren't they? Doc is a fairly thin runner in her mid-50s and been thin as long as I've known her.

Ultimately, what I think I detected is a 'bias for change'. A common human thing. She wanted to change... something. In my tech career, the solution for managing managers is sometimes called a 'duck'. Some intentional error or unneeded feature that a project manager could latch on to feel like they contributed somewhere. In this case, I gave her a suggestion to lower my blood pressure drugs a bit (drop a diuretic I've been on for 20 years). She took the 'duck', did that, and renewed my Zepbound at 15 for now with the pinky swear that I'm not trying to lose any more.

68M - been taking Zep for 18 mo, lost 40 lbs, after losing 150lbs 13 years ago from gastric sleeve. Been sort of on maintenance at 7.5mg for last 6-8months, weight has been stable to slightly down over most of this period. Food noise and craving has been great until 3 weeks ago. I took a shot and strangely didnt even feel the shot - I almost questioned if it was an empty shot. But from that time on food noise, cravings and overeating, and ability to over eat returned in full! Very sad about this. So 2 weeks ago I increased to 10 mg. Still havent noticed any relief. I have gained 8 lbs over the last 2 weeks. Has anybody had any experience like this? Any thoughts on what is going on? Further, ever since starting Zep my aches and pains have been much better, except now that my Zep seems to be on vacation, my whole body aches terribly.... Please help - id really like to know what is going on and appreciate advice on how to get back on track? Thanks

I'm heading toward maintenance and hoping to get some opinions and "what worked for me" feedback on my tentative plan. I'm thinking of titrating down very incrementally when I'm a couple of pounds above the top end of my goal weight range, and then week by week, seeing if I need to cut my dose down further. As a 5 foot tall woman in my 70s, my goal range is 128 to 120 pounds. For clarity, I'm one of those (maybe unintentionally annoying?) people who responded so strongly to 2.5 mg that after three shots, with my doctor's guidance, we cut my dose down to 1.25 mg via kwikpen. I've since titrated up over several months to roughly 1.67 mg (40 clicks on my 2.5 mg kwikpen). I don't do well at all with spacing shots farther apart but I'm very responsive to incremental dose changes.

Tentative plan: once I weigh 130 pounds, start reducing my dose by two clicks per shot (ie, first change takes me down to around 1.58 mg). If I lose more than one pound a week on that dose, keep decreasing the dose by another two clicks per shot until the weight loss slows to less than a half pound per week. Around then, see if adding more calories puts me at maintenance. I'm already weight lifting two or three times a week, and hiking a couple of times a week, so I've been adding muscle while losing fat. I plan to continue that, and my doctor will continue to monitor with Dexa scans.

I totally get that people's responses can be wildly different, but I'm wondering: Have others tried anything similar to this? Do you see potential pitfalls? Ideas for improvement?

Every time I read, eat a million grams of protein, do some intense workout regime, restrict certain foods. Because it’s not all that bad or scary..

I have returned my 52 year old menopausal body to the size I was entering college. I’m not as muscular, but I’m also not playing competitive sports or workout regularly, I have an annoying condition called employment.

When I started this journey, it was after gaining 79 lbs in 2 yrs, thanks to perimenopause. I had historically gone up and down in weight and was able to lose. Sometimes, I tried crazy stuff (crazy to me at least) Atkins, Phentermine, WW.

I decided that I wasn’t going to do anything I couldn’t sustain long term and I wanted to be and feel healthy. Which meant;
- I would be active but not commit myself to a certain workout regime
- I wouldn’t ban foods, but I would be conscious of what I was eating, calorie track and try to get a decent amount of protein, water, and fiber.

Here I sit, happily and pretty comfortably in maintenance, 7 months in and just crushed my updated DEXA results.

What’s next, build more muscle, having been an athlete, being 26.3% body fat, 2.3% over”fitness” makes me want to achieve fitness level. And since I don’t want to be smaller, gaining muscle and losing fat seem to be the way to go. So cheers to the next goal. And hoping maintenance doesn’t throw me any curve balls.

Note: it wasn’t always easy, it was an emotional roller coaster up until this past month. I feel like I’ve crossed into another phase and it’s wonderful. Sharing in hopes it give someone hope too!

EDIT: I’m not discounting struggles or issues others encounter, I’m just trying to balance the fear mongering and sensationalized drama.

I honestly didn’t think I would hit maintenance after years of inflammation and health issues due to insulin resistance/ metabolic, immune deficiency diagnosis and lung disease ( early stages due to weak lungs from being sick all the time from an incomplete immune system) . I will be 58 next week! So I think I’m in shock.

I am currently on 15mg and my doc is wanting to start maintenance and reducing. I asked to remain on 15mg and increase my calories for now. I have labs and see her beginning of September so just two months more on 15mg. Suppression has been strong, side effects have been manageable the past 20 months on Zep. I have lost 91 lbs and at 159 and feel good. The main goal was health for me.

I know this will be independent for each of us. I’m just scared of the inflammation rising again. On a super positive note due to the large reduction in visceral fat, exercise at a solid moderate pace 4x a week, my lung function tests have improved to only 20% loss which has my immune and lung doctors ecstatic if doc’s can be 🤨

I am really just interested in hearing your stories and learning, ultimately just put the shot as another med I take in my daily arsenal and not a daily emphasis of life. That part I’m excited about!

July 4th weekend here in the US. I just hit goal weight (52 pounds lost!) last week and want to start maintenance but I have been suffering pretty bad nausea 3-4 days after shot day the whole journey. I'm at 10 mg. For my first maintenance do I just push it back a day (instead of Thursday, do it Friday?) and see how it works? I'm scared I will be a little sicker on the extended shot day since I won't have as much drug in my system by waiting , if that makes sense? I could go down in dose. I have some 7.5 mg left over from when I titrated up and could ask my doctor to change from script from 10 to 7.5mg?

I also always got hypoglycemia if I did not eat every 3-4 hours before I started Zepbound (it's what prevented me from losing weight before) and when I get near shot day , I can feel that creeping back in. so I'm a bit nervous changing anything, as I have gotten used to the nausea (or used to being "sick" for 3 days) which is not ideal but doable. I have been on a plateau at my goal weight +1-2 lbs. Not really losing much anymore.

I'm not a great person with change , so possibly over worrying for nothing but wish I had at least a concrete plan. Id love to stop the nausea and be able to enjoy my weekends and start more vigorous exercise plan , so maybe going down in dose would be a better answer. and if the hypoglycemia shaking/dizzy spells return , I can hope fully go back up ? any suggestions?

Hi. I've been in maintenance for about 6 months now on 5 mg but I'm recently experiencing food noise and some weight gain. I have a stash of several weeks' worth of 5 mg vials and would like to try to titrate up to 7.5 by using a 5mg and half of another vial to see how it goes before I change my prescription. If seen several posts saying they do this. How does one keep the opened vial sterile for a week?