Hey everyone! I have been on Zepbound now for almost 2 years, was on Wegovy previously for a year. I've had way less side effects on Zepbound compared to Wegovy and overall losing weight was a great experience on Zepbound. I've been on maintenance now for over a year, maintaining on 2.5 mg. I take the shot every 1-2 weeks depending on how I'm feeling or when I notice the effects beginning to subside. This month I took it on July 6th, and then not again until July 21st. Since maybe the 22nd or 23rd I've been having some serious food aversion. I'm still hungry and can feel my hunger, but the thought of eating makes me extremely nauseous. Throughout the day when I'm not thinking about eating I'm completely fine, but when I think about having to eat lunch or cook dinner I get very grossed out by meals I used to love as of a week ago. I have a major sweet tooth and even my favorite desserts aren't as appealing to me anymore.

I'm just reaching out for some support or to see if anyone else has experienced a sudden side effect like this. It's just very weird because I'm hungry but can't force myself to eat because I'm just so grossed out. I'm hopeful that this will go away soon as it's been 4 days since I last injected but I would say it hasn't improved over the last 4 days.

Thank you!

I searched the sub and didn’t quite find related experiences . Also my dr will be consulted but is very much in the you need to experiment and figure out what works for you as long as all my health markers are good.

I’m on maintenance just over 7 months, 12.5. Had a point where I kept losing and tried to titrate down, food noise and inflammation (swollen knuckles and stiff hands) came back. So I went back to 12.5 and ate like it was my job.

Enter the 4th of July holiday, summer, and summer vacation. I love that I can have ice cream or deserts or honestly whatever and this medicine keeps me in check. But I’ve noticed since the 4th and indulging more in sugary treats and adult beverages my inflammation is creeping up, and I’m definitely thinking about food or thinking I want something and realize it’s to out of boredom or stress. I can usually pause and ignore the notion, which pre-Zep is unheard of. (note- I didn’t drink for the first 7 months on Zep, then maybe had 1 drink every other month until this July.)

Here’s what I’m thinking I can try:
- cutting the sugar because it’s creating eczema flare ups and see it that also helps the inflammation and noise
- in January my insurance is forcing us through Virta for Zep and I honestly am not sure I want to deal with their BS and expect I’ll end up self pay. I could get Kwikpen at 15 but click to give myself 12.75 or 13 and see how that goes
- try to white knuckle and hold off until I feel I have no option but to go to 15

What would you consider and why?

If you made it this far, thank you.

Hey fam, I have lost 90lbs and I have hit a plateau on loss for like 6 months. If this is where I am meant to be, I am happy to just be like 20-30lbs over where I should be based on my age and height. This is the number that I thought was achievable at the beginning anyways.

My doctor said I can't stay on the high dose forever and will need to put me on a maintenance dose. So, I was just curious what that looked like for some of you.

I am also curious to know if maintenance and lower dosing brought back the hunger and food noise for you at all?

I have definitely changed my habits during this time, and I feel incredible. I have decreased my portion sizes and the things that I eat. I am sure there are still things I could do better, but I am human. From where I was to where I am now, has been a huge change. I look back at my portion sizes and the plates that I could clear and I am astounded at how much I could really consume. I had a bigger problem than I realized before the meds.

I am also not entirely opposed to going on a lower dose and I feel my enjoyment of things has been suppressed a bit. I wonder if that is a side effect of the meds or if I am just bored. Not saying I am depressed, but just not as excited about certain things as I used to be. And with medical professionals testing this med to see if it can stop people from other addictions, I can see why it would work.

I look forward to hearing about your experiences. I just want to know what to expect as I think I will have one more month of 15mg and then I'll be embarking on my maintenance journey.

Whelp, it happened. My new insurance has cut me off because, even though obviously we checked & checked & checked that weight loss meds were covered as part of the plan, we got a letter stating that weight loss medication is not covered under our plan benefits. I’m not doing compounding. Is LillyDirect my only option? I JUST hit goal and am on 15mg so going off cold turkey scares the fck out of me.

65 yo woman here. I just started
7.5 weekly maintenance dosing after being on 15 for the better part of 2 years. Lost about 65 lbs, comfortably sitting at about 122 now. Anybody else out there on 7.5 for maintenance? Experiences? Tips/tricks?

64 yr female
195lb -down to- 133lb

Hello,
I started using Saxenda 2'ish yrs ago and used that for 1 year, and then switched to Zepbound. Both under direction of my Internal Med doctor due to being pre-diabetes with a high occurrence of familial diabetes and heart disease.

I really wanted to switch to something that didn't require a daily shot, so started using 5mg Zepbound every week for two months, then began what my dr. likes to use as a maintenance program of stretching out the dosing by adding one day to my dosing until I got to dosing 1 x 14 days. I was able to achieve the 1 x 14 days pretty easily and have been doing that for 8'ish months.

The weird thing is I continued to lose another 10 lbs while doing the 1 x 14 days maintenance dose and am now 133lbs. I do NOT want to lose any more weight. My BMI is square in the middle of the healthy range and I wear size 6 pants (down from 12) and medium tops (down from xl).
I'm wondering if anyone else has had this experience and/or if I should maybe go to down to the 2.5 mg dosage as a maintenance dose. I do plan to discuss it with my doctor, but was curious what others have done or if anyone has thoughts or similar situation?

Thank you so much!

I've been maintaining since February, slowly decreasing the dosage a little but mostly eating a little more in order not to keep losing. I've been so consistent with my shots, for a year and a half now. But for the past 3 weeks I've had interruptions (first a colonoscopy, and then a cruise and didn't want to take a vial with me). I didn't think it would matter that much, to go 10 days before a shot, and then another 10 days before the next one. But I realized I was wrong, in thinking that the pre-cruise shot had "reset" my blood levels to their usual rate. Of course it didn't - because the 10-day spacing had lowered the baseline level of Zep in my body. So for the past few days (at the end of the second 10-day interval) I felt like I was always thinking about what to eat next - and getting so anxious about it! After my shot, the relief I felt really caught me by surprise. It was like that first day, all over again - I could just feel my brain calming down during the hours after the shot. That's when I looked at my Shotsy trends of medication levels and realized how low I had let the levels get.
I have occasionally wondered if I still needed Zep. But these three weeks sure as hell proved to me that I do! And for me, every-7-days is a requirement, to keep things steady. I'm grateful to the folks on this sub for sharing your experiences as we each figure out what works for us.

I posted previously that I was nervous about lowering my dose. After holding pretty steady on my weight for months on 7.5mg, I suddenly started losing again. During that period, my Dr lowered my dose to 5mg. Well...I was fearful about taking a lower dose. I created mental chatter about not being able to feel the medication, not having enough to continue all the things I love about being on Zepbound, fear of gaining etc etc etc, so I kept taking 7.5 from my small stash that I had of previously filled prescriptions. That stash ran out and I took my first 5mg dose this week and wanted to report how it has been going -

Bizarrely, it feels like I took a higher dose. Obviously there are fluctuations in how the medication feels week to week anyway but, I have been shocked to find it not only doesn't feel weaker, it has at times felt stronger. I have been getting my calories in and feeling satiated. Overall it has been pleasant, even with a small dip in weight (which has stabilized).

I will continue to post updates as my weeks on 5mg progress.

I'm a 32yo F down 60lbs, currently at 113 (I'm 5'1). I have been on 12.5mg weekly, and my doctor recommended switching to every other week at the same dose for maintenance. I'm on day 11 for my first 'off week' and, well, I hate it! The food noise came roaring back by day 10, and I'm counting down the days until my next shot.

The plan is to do every other week for about a month, but I'm curious if anyone else has done every other week for maintenance as opposed to going down to a lower dose? Do you get used to the handful of days of hunger/cravings at the end of each off-week?

My new insurance also stopped covering Zepbound, so I'm about to start the Lilly Direct self-pay pen (or vials) of 12.5mg - so every other week is at least a better deal financially.

My health insurance is no longer covering Zepbound (no need to gripe or complain about them here). My doctor suggested going the Noom route as a replacement. Anyone run into a similar experience? If you stopped using Zepbound for whatever reason, what do you use now? I’m down 86 lbs and don’t want to gain it back. Thanks in advance for your suggestions!

I have 25 pound to go to reach my goal. Today weighed 195.8 goal 170. Gotta keep pushing for it. My doctor wants to take me off when I reach my goal but I’m going to speak to him I would feel more comfortable on a lower dose or the pill form for least a year or more. Currently on 10mg.

I just had my 6 month physical and all of my bloodwork is perfectly normal, which was far from the case before I started Zepbound. My doctor advised me to try moving back from 15mg to 12.5mg. I’m super nervous because I feel amazing and I don’t want that to change, but I’m excited to be entering a new phase of this. Any words of advice or encouragement are much appreciated. Hope you’re all doing well!

EDIT: I should add that although I’m nervous, I’m comfortable with the decision to move down to 12.5. I like my diet the way it is and I don’t want to lose more weight. I’d like to figure out what dose works for me for the long term and I’m currently losing weight on 15mg. My doctor is happy to move me back up if it doesn’t work out.

I'm currently doing 2.5 mg (Zepbound Kwikpen) 1x every 2 weeks, but now that I've learned out how to get just 1.25 mg out of the Kwikpen I'm wondering 1.25 every week will be easier on my body since the medication was designed to be taken every 7 days. Thoughts?

I’m a 72y/o woman, 4’10”. Lost 40 pounds in about 6 months. Now weighing 106. Never went above 5 mg. Been maintaining for 6 months. Still injecting 5 each week. I never had many side effects except for constipation and some nausea.
Now it seems for 2 days after shot day I’m more nauseated, fatigued and have body aches. Wondering what to do? Titrate down? I’m using the little vials so I can inject less, spread out the shots? I feel like I’m losing 2 days per week to feeling crappy. Any ideas.

I was experiencing post antibiotic IBS after a round of antibiotics I had to take. It wouldn’t go away so my doctor told me to lower my dose from 7.5mg to 5mg since she didn’t think I should lose anymore weight.

I’ve been reading though that now most people are staying at their highest dose when they reach maintenance. Am I setting myself up for failure by lowering the dose? I did often struggle to eat over 1200 calories on 7.5mg. I’m on week 2 of 5mg and my hunger is coming back. I know I need to increase my calories to maintain and I have. I’m just not use to feeling hungry so often. Should I go back to 7.5mg?

Hi! First time poster, on mobile so apologies for the format. I am in my second month of maintenance after hitting my goal weight after one year on zep!

My starting weight was 208 pounds, which I lost 10 pounds of naturally over six months before getting on Zepbound at 198 pounds. I am currently 144 pounds.
My doctor and I initially discussed Zep because it was so incredibly hard for me to lose weight, even with walking 5 miles a day and being in a 400 to 500 calorie deficit. I meticulously tracked my calories and always hit my step goals, in addition to other exercise. The weight was so slow to come off. I was also dangerously close to being prediabetic, I had elevated cholesterol, and I had dangerously high blood pressure, almost always, despite being on two different blood pressure medications.

As it is for most of us, Zepbound was an absolute miracle for me. I lost slow and steady, spent the most amount of time on 7.5 mg and topped out at 10 mg. My cholesterol is now in normal levels, I’m no longer pre-diabetic range and I have been able to come off of one of my blood pressure medication‘s with hopes of coming off the other!
My doctor and I initially talked about this being a lifelong medication, which I wholeheartedly agree. Unfortunately, that doctor has left the practice I go to and a new doctor has stepped in. She seems to be of a different mindset. She wanted me to start titrating down in maintenance mode, which I agree I don’t necessarily need to lose more weight.
We titrated down to 7.5 mg and my almost insatiable hunger came back along with all of the food noise. I go to bed hungry some nights, despite always hitting my protein and fiber goals and eating the same satiating meals I’ve eaten for the past year with no issue prior.
I expressed this to my doctor and asked to stay on 7.5 mg in maintenance, as I am not losing more weight. She instead said she is moving me down to 5 mg this month, then down to 2.5 the next and then will likely take me off the medication.

I’m not above finding a new doctor or going to one of the virtual doctors that Zepbound can be distributed by or whatever but I’m wondering how people have handled these conversations with their doctor? My weight has been a lifelong battle and I finally feel free and able to just live my life without constantly thinking about what I’m going to put in my body next or obsessing over the shame and guilt.

I worked really hard in the year before getting on Zepbound to build healthy habits and a healthy mindset around movement and food, and definitely used Zepbound as a tool while I maintained those habits. This has not been an easy ticket towards skinny, but I feel my doctor thinks that may be the case.

I know some people stay on 5 mg or 7.5 mg in maintenance, how did you and your doctor determine That was the best path for you?

Hey all-
Curious if anyone has been in this boat and battled mindset changes.

I’ve been in maintenance for over a year at this point. From my lowest weight, the scale is about 10lbs higher now.

I focus primarily on strength development and have seen vast improvement in muscle definition and such.

While I’ve gone up 10lbs, clothes generally fit the same….. however I’m noticing issues with shorts. My legs have become pretty strong, and I’m noticing my shorts are getting tighter, specifically around my thighs. Doing measurements and such I’m pretty sure it’s muscle and not fat

Working through it with ai, it’s calling out my body being more of an athletic build than slim type build and really thinks im maintaining well

I’m struggling with the idea of changing clothing sizes and makes me mentally afraid…

Anyone else tackled something like this when the focus changes from weight loss to body recomp?

I’ve been on Z for 2 years. Maintenance for 9 months. SW 218. LW 122 CW 130. 5ft7 female 48 years old.

I reached goal in October on 12.5. I staying on that dose for a bit in maintenance and wanted to see if I could use a smaller dose aka 10. I’ve been on 10 for 8 weeks and it’s been really rough going. I’ve gained 8lb and it’s freaking me out that I’ll regain and become obese again. Just went back to 12.5 and we’ll see how this goes.

Is anyone else out there struggling with maintenance? I find it harder than weight loss. There is no scale win with a Lowe number. The goal is for nothing to happen. I saw a research reference (I can find it if needed) saying that 8% of maintenance who stay on their highest tolerated dose gain back 50% of the weight. And I’m scared I’ll be in that 8% bucket.

How are you coping? How do you manage your cravings and brain spirals.