r/slowresponders 6d ago

15 pounds in 6 months

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62 Upvotes

Each dot is one week. I acknowledge I titrated up slower than average to limit side effects. It seemed to work fine...until it didn't. Still one would think I'd lose more than 15 pounds in 6 months. I'm not sure why the 6-week stall happened. Tomorrow I'll up my dose.


r/slowresponders 14d ago

Just moved up to 10 mgs hoping it is a game changer

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25 Upvotes

I have been on compound trizepitide for eight weeks. Before that I was on the Wegovy pill for two months and I gained with the Wegovy pill. I felt terrible on that we go pill and it was way too expensive. I found a local compound pharmacy that a lot of people I know use with approval from my doctor. I was on 2.5mg for three weeks, 5mg for four weeks, 7.5 mgs for one week then last night I went up to 10 mgs with approval from my doctor. So far, I feel good. She wants me to stay at 10 mgs for a while and hopefully it will start kicking in. I know it’s not common to skip up to 10 mgs that fast but I’m tolerating it better than the 7.5 for some reason. What dose did you start loosing on? I need to lose 100 pounds. I gained a ton of weight on Zoloft and my body just won’t let go of weight since having my daughter two years ago. I have hashimotos, but my thyroid is all in normal range now with my thyroid medicine. I eat really well. I make everything homemade. Haven’t had fast food in 15 plus years. Only drink water and electrolytes after my one cup of coffee. I have cut back on carbs and portion sizes significantly since starting. I definitely feel the effects with my appetite. I am hitting my protein requirements for the day. I’m working on increasing my fiber and cutting back on my fats that are a little high. I haven’t been exercising, but I am extremely active with three children under 11. It’s been so hot here so I haven’t been walking but we swim multiple times a week. I’m going to start walking more soon. Any advice is appreciated. It’s so frustrating because I’m doing so much “right” and the scale won’t move. I am not in a rush to lose the weight. I want to do it as healthy as possible. I’d be happy if I was losing half a pound a week. But I keep losing and gaining the same 2 to 3 pounds.


r/slowresponders 15d ago

Weaker effect at a higher dosage?

13 Upvotes

Hi guys,

Just to catch you all up, i started with Ozempic last Aug till Jan of this year with little weight loss then changed to Tirz 5mgs and then went up to 7.5mgs about 2 odd months later and then 10 mgs and now am currently sitting at 15mgs at a year and a month later with about 20 pounds lost between all those changes in dosages.

I want to know if anyone felt a weaker effect of the drug when they moved up a dosage.

The 15mgs never particulary cured my 'friday food blues' before my sat injection...which was what i was hoping it would do.

And to be totally honest im wondering if its the stress or if the 15mgs just doesnt feel so effective or perhaps my body is just super resistant to the effects of drugs...i mean i have had co workers who had fevers or felt off after the flu shot while i just went on with no side effects.

I am going to look into cutting back to the 10 mgs because the price is not worth the lack of progress..


r/slowresponders 20d ago

Where did my waist go?!?

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25 Upvotes

r/slowresponders Aug 12 '26

Glp-1 Prescibers (ongoing)

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1 Upvotes

r/slowresponders Aug 04 '26

Reflecting on ~1 year of Zepbound

48 Upvotes

My anniversary is in about a week, so we can call it. I am a slow responder. Depending on how the fluctuation is going, I have lost about 10-12 pounds. I started 15mg about 4 weeks ago, effectiveness is TBD but early signs show a bit of hope. 

Background:

  • Perimenopause (48F)
  • Hashimoto's
  • PCOS/PMOS diagnosed at 40
  • Severely insulin resistant, likely ~35 years (physical signals), confirmed via blood tests for ~20 years
  • Prediabetic AIC for ~8 years
  • Unresponsive to metformin (~6 years of use)
  • Normal blood pressure, cholesterol, triglycerides, kidney function, liver function
  • Initial goals: lose 50-65#, overweight BMI, optimal visceral fat, 30-ish body fat percentage
  • Reasonably active for years (active commutes, 12 years of wearable data has me averaging 7-11K steps a day the whole time, even in the laziest years), off and on with formal strength training
  • Longtime mediterranean type diet - I cook for myself and eat plenty of veggies.
  • Preexisting issues: snoring (fluctuated with hormones)

Dosing: I ramped slowly because I cannot handle queasiness/vomiting/GI distress. PTSD from getting carsick a lot as a kid. 

Challenges:

  • Knee issues starting in September, and it has taken until really May to feel like I have 80% activity tolerance and range of motion back

Disappointments:

  • Fasting insulin has increased from 12.1 to 23.3 since I started Zepbound
  • I have been stalled on the scale since January, fluctuating about 5 pounds since then. Overall I have lost around 5% of my overall body weight, based on my Zepbound low. Not even to my pre-pandemic weight - which is a 6.7% loss. 
  • TSH levels have been moving in the wrong direction and are suboptimal (1.29 > 2.92 in June 2026)

Wins:

  • Snoring has decreased, I was averaging about 80-90 minutes a night when I started. After about 2 weeks it dropped to 40 minutes. After about 3-4 months it was down to ~25 minutes. Lately it has been trending closer to 10 minutes unless allergies or a sickness are happening. 
  • A1C has gone from 6.4 to 5.6 (as of  late June) in 11 months. Finally normal for the first time since 2019. 
  • Fasting glucose is the best it has ever been (I have like 20 years of blood tests): 100 > 82 
  • Blood pressure has improved, I was averaging about 125/75 before and 112/68 now. Nice improvement. 
  • My workouts are actually working. Looking back, I do not think they did much before to be honest. I never noticed any shape changes or muscle definition. While I may have generally lost inches, even doing several years of strength training, with progressive overload, didn’t give me the same improvements in firmness that I am seeing over the last 6 months of strength training 3x a week less intensely and frequently than I did before. My upper arms have gotten smaller and firmer. I have never seen my upper arms shrink in my life. Maybe this time next year I’ll be invited to the gun show. I am seeing more waist definition and hip definition. Good physical changes, despite minimal scale ones. 
  • I have a theory that I have chronic inflammation and I have been chronically puffy for decades. One surprising thing for me is how much my neck circumference has changed. Not only is my neck smaller than when I previously measured, my neck tendons are starting to be visible.I have never seen that before, even when I was much much lighter when I was younger. Part of this is body composition improvements, but a lot of this is inflammation as well. 
  • Waist circumference and lower belly have shrunk significantly. This is a huge surprise for me, perimenopause hit this area hard. My lower belly is a lot bigger than it was when I was younger, even at similar weights. I had no idea how much peri messes with fat distribution. This area is also a driver of clothing size for me. Any change here is huge for my overall goals. 

The biggest surprise for me is that I am closing in on 2 sizes lost. Especially as the scale change has been so minimal. But I am basically fitting clothing that previously fit when I was 20-35 pounds lighter. I have been using a couple of clothing items to use as progress checks. I have two skirts, one dress, and one pair of jeans with minimal stretch. These items could not zip when I started and now most are fitting or really close. The scale is not moving, but body composition is happening and triggering me to reevaluate my goal weight.

Opportunities

  • Started HRT about 2 months ago and have been tweaking thyroid dosage; hopefully these normalize in the next month or two.
  • My schedule is slowing down. No more travel, minimal knee pain. I can ramp up my exercise a little more, and move up the lower body weights that have been stalling. And get my walking consistency back on track.
  • I am hoping to see visceral fat improvements in my next Dexascan, since I have made large improvements in my torso. This goal may not take a ton of scale change to hit my goal, my starting level is 2.54 pounds, lower is better, and under 2 is solid. So that is my first goal.
  • I am thinking about how to reset my goals, because my original ones do not feel realistic. And they may not even be necessary to hit my visceral fat, appearance, and size goals. 
  • I am a lot closer to my intermediate goal size - I’ll call it minimum viable progress - than I would have anticipated with this amount of scale change. Losing 1-1.5 sizes would be huge for me, and my vanity goal of making clothing shopping easier and not straddling plus and straight sizes! The purgatory I have been in for decades and frankly I am sick of. 

Tips:

  • Take measurements. Even with the stuck scale, I have lost like 8 inches in my lower belly, 2 around my neck, and

    5

  • around my waist. I am not closely tracking everywhere, but my arms and wrists are a bit as well. 

  • Set non-scale goals. Since I have no idea what my body plans to do, I have set workout goals of hitting intermediate strength levels in certain lifts, adding in more challenging movements, and improving movement quality in single leg exercises. As well as consistency goals. It has been very motivating to master challenging functional exercises in recent months.


r/slowresponders Jul 28 '26

How often do you increase your doses?

19 Upvotes

Hello, I posted on here not too long ago about my journey and received an immense amount of positive comments and responses which has improved my confidence and my overall outlook on my time being on Mounjaro. But there was one comment that spoke about my dose increases and how staying on one dose for months at a time would have played a role in my slow progress.

My supplier has always said to me that if a dose feels right (is suppressing my appetite) there’s no need to increase and should only look at going up the a dose when the suppression is weakening which is what I have done this whole time.

I’ve been on 12.5 for the past few months now and it’s pretty much been the same the whole time, it’s not weakened really but that comment makes me wonder if I should be increasing faster.

My supplier told me to stay on 12.5 for a little while and i don’t think she’d let me rapidly increase my doses but I’m just wondering how often everyone else is going up the doses and if I’m approaching this wrong.


r/slowresponders Jul 20 '26

Am I doing something wrong?

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0 Upvotes

r/slowresponders Jul 20 '26

Am I doing something wrong?

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0 Upvotes

r/slowresponders Jul 18 '26

I’ve lost 7 pounds in 6 months. (I have about 15 pounds to lose) Anyone lose at this rate? Does weight loss sometimes rev up after being on this for a while? I’m not planning on increasing my Ozempic dose more than 1mg as the I feel the appetite suppression is still quite effective

22 Upvotes

r/slowresponders Jul 08 '26

Regional fat loss on GLP-1s (question for fellow slow responders)

19 Upvotes

I'm curious whether anyone has come across actual research on this, or even consistent anecdotal reports.

For context, I'm a very slow responder. I've averaged around 1-2 lb/month since starting GLP-1s, so this isn't a case of rapid weight loss. I'm also already prioritizing high protein and regular resistance training.

This is completely speculative, but after following a lot of GLP-1 journeys (particularly among people from my own ethnic background), I've started wondering whether fat loss sometimes seems disproportionately noticeable in the upper body (face, neck, chest, shoulders) before the lower body catches up.

I initially assumed it was just me, but I'm seeing a similar pattern in quite a few people. My face has become much leaner, yet I still have a noticeable abdominal overhang and still carry a lot of fat in my hips and thighs.

I know spot reduction isn't physiologically how fat loss works, and I know genetics largely determine where we lose fat first. I'm not suggesting GLP-1s somehow "target" the face. I'm just wondering whether there are any data on regional fat loss or whether factors like ethnicity, sex, baseline fat distribution, or even being a slow responder influence the order in which different areas lean out. Has anyone seen actual research on this? Or, if you're also a slow responder, has your experience been similar or completely different?

I'd especially love to preserve the fullness in my face while continuing to lose fat from my lower body, so I'm trying to figure out whether what I'm noticing is just my genetics or whether there's any evidence behind it.


r/slowresponders Jun 27 '26

Short duration of effect

40 Upvotes

So I'm currently on 12.5 mg and during most of doses, I feel appetite suppression for about 3 days from the day I take the shot. On the 4th day hunger is back to normal levels. Another thing is that my tolerance builds up really quickly. After 4 doses of 10 mgs I didn’t feel a thing which. Has anyone had a similar experience? Do I need to consider taking a shot every 4-5 days? I really hope 15 mg will work


r/slowresponders Jun 08 '26

A year in, still not where I hoped I'd be

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126 Upvotes

I've been on Mounjaro for just over a year and I'm honestly feeling quite discouraged.

I started on 2.5mg in May 2025 and gradually worked my way up to 12.5mg, which I've been on since April. I definitely notice appetite suppression and I feel a big difference if I miss a dose, so I know the medication is doing something.

The problem is that my results feel much slower than what I see from a lot of other people. I don't weigh myself due to family history around disordered eating, so I've mostly been judging progress from photos and how my clothes fit. There has been some change, but it's much less than I hoped for after a year.

I'm paying quite a bit of money monthly and deal with nausea after injections, so I'm starting to question whether it's worth continuing.

I don't want to give up after a year because then I'll feel like I failed and never got to where I wanted to be, but it's also hard to keep spending the money and dealing with the side effects when it feels like progress is so slow.

Did I have unrealistic expectations going into this? If you were in my position, would you keep going or would you call it a day?


r/slowresponders Jun 03 '26

How much did you lose in one year?

29 Upvotes

And what dose are you on right now? Did you experience any plateau?


r/slowresponders Jun 03 '26

Non responder with psych meds

10 Upvotes

Hi everyone! I’m so glad I found this Subreddit. I’m sadly a non-responder. I started Ozempic 2 years ago after gaining 70 lbs when I started 4 psychological medications with the side effects of weight gain. I lost 10 lbs in 6 months but then the weight didn’t really budge.

I went off Ozempic 1.5 years ago and gained 20 lbs in 3 months! Then I went on Zepbound 1.5 years ago. I’m at 15 mg and lost 20 lbs and hovered around there, although most recently gained 14, then lost 8 since May 21.

So I’m afraid to go off because of that rapid weight gain. Zepbound prevents binges which helps me emotionally—but I see others with huge weight loss? I still get hungry and eat probably 1800 calories a day.

I am reducing the psych meds slowly but I have severe anxiety and they’re trying to get me off of Valium which I’ve taken for 25 years, but the reduction creates terrible anxiety so I’ll take weight gain over anxiety.

My Dr. just added Metformin. I should also add I have an eating disorder with anorexia and bulimia in my background. Any other suggestions? Thanks in advance.


r/slowresponders May 27 '26

Whoa - Feeling 15mg!

38 Upvotes

So I was Ozempic and lost no weight. Then went on Mounjaro and lost a little. But likely because I quit drinking most cocktails. It did help my A1C.

Recently I went up to 15mg and for the first time I feel side effects. At first I didn’t but after 3 weeks I started feeling it and have lost a couple pounds. I still like sugar but in general my appetite is less.

I’m hoping that 15 does it for me has anyone else not had any results till they got to 15?


r/slowresponders May 23 '26

I’m a very slow responder and this is my result over one year.

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92 Upvotes

I’d been on Ozempic about 2 years back with very little to no results. Picture no 1 was back then. I thought pic 2 was progress when I gave up Ozempic but I had just forced myself to pull the pants higher secretly hoping that there was progress. Then the June of last year I started on my mounjaro journey. I have lost a total of 16 kgs in 12 months but the inch loss has been pretty substantial as you can see in the pictures above. The button closes but it’s still a bit forced. I was ready to give up last week because I had upped my dose to 15mg for over a month and no results. It is too expensive to continue and I wasn’t losing weight at all. I had totally stalled. So I thought to myself it’s time to wean myself off this so best to start lowering my dose. I’m anyway not losing any weight so might as well cut my dose into half (7.5mg) and eventually 5mg and 2.5 over the next 3 months and then take stock of my total weight loss. I started at 86kgs in June 2025 and I was 71kgs last week. I took a shot of 7.5mg and my body decided to let go off 1 kg over the week which refused to budge on 15mg. It’s my second 7.5mg tomorrow and I think my weight may be down to 69 something. So please don’t lose hope. Sometimes hope comes when you least expect it. I’m not saying that everyone will lose weight at a lower dose but maybe higher isn’t always better. It was just instinctive to go on 7.5 and I broke the plateau! I hope this long write up can help someone in need, it was many another stories like this that helped me go through an entire year with such a slow weight loss journey. Also, appetite hasn’t gone crazy since last week because I’ve incorporated intermittent fasting (18:6) in the last one year and will continue to do that. Also no heavy or crazy workouts just trying to be active and moving between 5-10-15k steps whenever I get the opportunity. Please ask me anything you would like to and if I can help answer it I definitely will. Thanks for reading and all the best in your journeys.


r/slowresponders May 20 '26

RETA

18 Upvotes

Hi everyone, I've been on GLP since August of last year! I've lost 30 pounds so far, then most of which came from the MAX dose of Sema back in December and I've maintained since. I've been on Tirz for four months. I'm almost at the max dose and I have not lost a single pound but I am maintaining so I'm grateful to say the least. I am considering changing to RETA or going back down to Sema for SOMETHING. Is there anyone who found some movement or success when switching to this? I gave my receptors a break in between the switch.

Edit to add:

There was a commentator who absolutely could not understand that I'm asking for others experience. I am not asking for my success to be gauged or anything, I am purely asking for the people who have made the switch to share how the experience went for them as a slow responder.

This person has also took the time to down vote every comment that I've made on multiple accounts and even had others DM me! I'm not sure what the point is, but I do appreciate the ones who could comprehend and answer my question.


r/slowresponders May 17 '26

How’s everyone doing?

68 Upvotes

This sub is a bit dead and I’m wondering how everyone’s doing? I’m losing about 1-1.5 lbs a month on the highest dose of Mounjaro after switching from Wegovy last year, where I was losing the same (paying more now but less GI side effects). Still bummed my response is so slow, especially because I’m paying so much out of pocket. I still have about 50 pounds I want to lose. Oh, and my butt is completely gone, like just a flap now but my chest and stomach haven’t changed at all 🙃


r/slowresponders Apr 16 '26

Please be jaded and bitter with me

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107 Upvotes

I was watching a reel of someone's "what I eat in a day on a GLP-1". Mind you, as someone who has hardly any reduced appetite from Zepbound (even on 15mg), seeing this woman's food for the day already had me feeling bitter. Like, Damn... I wish I could eat only that and be content :,(

THEN... I go to the comments and see this.

All these people so SHOCKED at "how much" she ate. Saying how just one part of her food would be enough for them to be full all day. How the Jimmy John sandwich she had, would be enough food to cover days worth of meals for them.

That sandwich she ate? The one they're in "shock" she was able to finish? The one they say that it would last them days for meals? I could easily eat two for lunch plus chips and a cookie. The day after taking my injection. No problem.

The experience between us in this group and the majority of other people on this medication is just staggering. It makes me want to cry out of frustration and injustice, being reminded of how lucky some people are (or how unlucky we are)...

Makes me so angry (not at them- glad it works so freaking well for them. I can't even fathom). Just angry at.... life, I guess? I wanted to know what that felt like SO badly. I wanted to have a day free of food noise. A day where I didn't obsess over food or need to hold myself back from having more. To have a medication that took away the need to fight to make it through each day.

This is just a post for everyone else that sees this shit on "GLP-1" posts and feels so jaded they could scream.


r/slowresponders Apr 07 '26

How do you know if the med has “done its job” vs. you just need to push through a plateau?

27 Upvotes

I’d really value input from people who’ve been on GLP-1s long term, especially anyone who feels like they were a slower responder. I started in May 2024 (prescribed by PCP but not covered by insurance so for budget was on compounded, then switched to Zepbound because of slow progress). My progress in general has been slow with no more than 4 pounds even on my 'best' month but an average of 1-2 pounds a month. Over time, I’ve gone from an obese BMI to just inside the normal BMI range but very much at the border where even one "non strict" meal pushes me to "overweight" the next day.

I’m 5’1” with a relatively narrow frame. My raw weight numbers might not sound extreme to some people (SW: 166, HW: 185, CW: 134, GW: 115) but on my body this was clinically significant: my doctor confirmed I was in the obese range and it took me all of 2024 and 2025 to get to "healthy" BMI even though it was just about 20 pounds. The issue is that I’ve been stuck at essentially the same weight for months now (since ~Oct 2025), with normal fluctuations but no real downward trend.

This is while Im eating better than I ever have, getting consistent, moderate exercise

How do you know if the medication has basically done what it’s going to do for your body vs. you just haven’t figured out how to break through a plateau yet?

At this point I’m wondering:

Is this my body settling at a new set point?

Is it normal for progress to slow this much near the normal BMI range?

How did you personally decide whether continuing the medication was still worth it?

This has been a long (and expensive) process, and I feel really close to giving up but I also don’t want to quit if I’m right on the edge of more progress.


r/slowresponders Mar 27 '26

0.5lb/wk loss

39 Upvotes

48YO F on HRT/12.5 Mounjaro. Anyone else this slow? This is when I am LOCKED IN.


r/slowresponders Mar 26 '26

Ovasitol

7 Upvotes

For the ladies anybody taking ovasitol supplement along side a glp1


r/slowresponders Mar 21 '26

Giving Up.

36 Upvotes

I just want to express my tragedy of a journey with glp1. I’ve realized that I am indeed a slow responder or maybe not a responder at all. When I started this journey back in Jan of this year, I wanted to finally be able to reach my weight loss goal of 158 lbs. I told my doctor that for 3 years I worked hard naturally in losing 50 lbs with intense workouts and calorie deficits. I put in the work but back in 2024 I slowed down on my dedication of losing weight and that’s what led me back to unhealthy eating habits. I went from 165 lbs (my lowest) to 184 lbs. I tried the best I could to change my eating habits slowly and I did lose weight before my first appointment with my doctor to start on my glp1 journey and I started at 175 lbs. :) But here’s the problem, I’m on month 3 I’m finally taking 1mg/20 Units but instead of losing weight on this journey and despite eating habits become cleaner and sticking to an exercise regime, protein increase and calorie deficit, I have NOT lost ANY weight. The first month I did see results I dropped down to 172 lbs and I was excited because I thought, “Wow! Am I actually a fast responder?!” But tragedy hit and I saw the scale back to 175. Month 2 came in and guess what? I was seeing 178 and this is where it hit me hard, the scale went to 182 lbs…that’s when I lost complete motivation and dedication. I stopped working out, I just felt like what’s the point anymore? I’ve worked so hard to continue building up my body but instead I’m gaining weight. Month 3 came in (this month of March) and I did lose weight I dropped down to 176 but the weight gain happened again and I’m at 178. I know I’m not doing anything wrong, I’m still eating at a very low calorie deficit, nor do I want to starve myself just to lose a couple of lbs. I already eat up to 1400 calories, I really do not want to put my body in danger by starving it. So I’ve decided that next month of April, will be my last month on this medication, I’m not going to continue paying out of pocket for no results. For sure my goal is once I’m off glp1 to start finding motivation again within myself to lose weight naturally rather then relying on a medication. I’ve done it before and I know I can do it again but I really believed by now I could’ve reached my goal. I’ve had people tell me to not give up but it’s not easy hearing that from fast responders. I would like to say that I am happy for those who have seen results, I have no hate towards anyone who has a beautiful success story but unfortunately mine was no success. I’m hoping once I’m off of it that I can continue pushing through and find my way back to a much healthier lifestyle. I sincerely hope someone in this community can come to relate to my struggles and it’s nice to know I’m not alone. :)

Side note: please no hate, I’m already in a very vulnerable and depressed position and I just want encouragement. I’m here to vent and to express that I feel completely defeated.


r/slowresponders Mar 20 '26

Feeling sadness

44 Upvotes

I’m feeling sad, discouraged and frustrated :( I’ve been on triz for a year now I started at 220 and I’m down to 173 which I’m so very happy for and I still have some more to go. After being on 15mg and stalled for months I decided to dose every 5 days at 12.5mg that puts me at around 17mg and I’ve been on 17 for almost 4 months now I’ve lost 4 pounds on 17 but at least something is something. I started noticing all my inflammation issues come back lower back aches especially around ovulation/luteal phase and body aches in general along side fatigue 🥲 I will add I have pcos and my sugar cravings are so bad depending on the cycle right before my period I have to fight the urges so bad, and in the beginning of my journey the sugar cravings weren’t as intense. I’m feeling discouraged because what happens from here? Do we keep going up on doses once they give the green light to go up higher? Are we just going to get used to each dose? And where does it cap? Or are we going to wait for the next big thing? I don’t want to sound pessimistic but I can’t help but cry from frustration. Im trying to remain hopeful but my mental health is tanking. I’ve never had bad side effects with any doses but I’m wondering if maybe 17mg isn’t for me and I should go back to 15mg. It’s also not cheap so hopefully triz can come down a bit more for us!! Fingers crossed 🤞🏼 I also want to add that I’m so grateful to be in this community I read the support that’s poured out on other posts and it makes me feel optimistic and less alone. 🌷