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Zepbound Diaries: 25 Shots in Edition
Last Friday was my 25th Zepbound injection according to my tracker, and my first on a 10mg dose. I've gotta say going from 7.5 to 10 was a bigger adjustment than I'd expected, I went from 2.5 to 5 to 7.5 pretty much without any issues but 10 had me feeling run-down and perpetually semi-nauseous for about 3 days. Unpleasant for sure, but not really that bad as these things go. Similar to a mild flu I'd say, especially when combined with seasonal allergies which has led to much sneezing and dripping to my coworkers' exasperated amusement. To provide a brief recap:
Sex: Male
Age: 29
Height: 71.25"
Starting Weight: 278.0lbs
Goal Weight: 200lbs
Starting BMI: 38.8
Insurance has been generally fairly cooperative with my prescription aside from one minor kerfuffle when they switched up how they wanted my Doctor to send my prescription in which resulted in me missing an injection. They twisted my arm to get me to switch to 3-month prescriptions instead of 1-month prescriptions, but my 3-month cost is $25, same as my 1-month cost was, which I'll admit is slightly confusing but I'm not going to complain.
As of Sunday morning I weighed 231.0lbs. Since beginning Zepbound 6 months ago I've lost 47lbs and I have every confidence I'll drop below 230 in the next week or two bringing my total to 50lbs. I have a current BMI of 32.2, putting me firmly in the middle of Obese Class I, meaning that without much fanfare I have de-prestiged from Level 3 Fat to a mere Level 2 Fat.
In terms of side-effects, the nausea is mildly irritating. Before starting Zepbound I prided myself on having an iron stomach. Pretty much the only thing that could get me to puke was sticking a finger down my throat and doing it on purpose after an overly exuberant night of drinking. Smells didn't do it, gross sights didn't do it, I either made myself puke or I didn't puke. These days having an extra bite of dinner on injection day is enough to send me sprinting to the sink. Fortunately I'm getting much better about eating slower and actually listening when my stomach says "fuck off we're full" so these incidents are few and far between. Also, tragically, hair loss. Possibly a function of age as I'm getting to about that point in my life, but I have my mom's hair and her side of the family never suffered from male pattern baldness, so I'm calling it a side-effect. Not super noticeable yet, but definitely some thinning on the peak. I'm hoping it comes back when the weight loss slows down, but if it doesn't oh well. Plenty of guys can pull off bald but you know what helps you pull off any look? Not being fat.
On the non-scale victories front, a friend commented that I looked thinner, and specifically called out my face as looking significantly slimmer. I thanked him politely and tried not to show that the little fat kid inside me was doing cartwheels and shouting "yippie!" because that is Simply Not Done.
All in all, I'm deliriously happy. I'm losing weight. I'm not a grossly obese fuck anymore, I'm a merely obese fuck. Progress.
FWIW, I've had similar results doing it the ghetto way, aka. Chinese peptides, 16 weeks in. I more or less followed this article and went with retatrutide from a vendor that was cheap but had reasonably good test results from those who'd submitted them. I've probably saved what I spent on it ($250 for a 6-month supply. Having to pay with crypto was annoying to my non-crypto using self, but not a dealbreaker.) from cutting my grocery/takeout budget (I don't know about my bar budget. I'd say I've been drinking less/going out less frequently but it's still easy to spend money in a hurry when I do go out.).
As far as side effects go, I've had mild nausea/heartburn at times, not so much at the time I've eaten something, but more from waking up in the morning still full. Hangovers have been rough, but it's hard to disentangle side effect from just drinking on an empty stomach. The main negative I'd say is that there's some substance to the FUD about increased heart rate. It was noticeable and irritating for the first two months, not so much since then, and the last time I took my blood pressure it was okay/as expected if not great: 132/80 at a BMI of 27 (I really have to be careful about my weight when it comes to blood pressure. It starts going up quickly if I allow myself to become overweight at all.). Other side effects have been to be expected with a fairly aggressive calorie deficit, a lack of energy and being cold AF most of the time (I keep my place at 76F and my boss likes it at 68-70F at the office, so I'll be that guy wearing a jacket inside during a Southern summer.).
Note, due to a math error I started off on a higher dose than intended, 4mg for the first two months instead of 3mg. Since, I've increased the dose slower than indicated by OP's graph, going with 5mg instead of 6 for the third month and 7.5 instead of 9 for the fourth month. In hindsight I'd have started out with a lower dose and escalated more slowly instead of being sloppy and impatient so I wouldn't have been so tired.
I've bounced between 190 and 225 since my mid 20s but started this at 235lbs (went from a semi-physical job to being a desk jockey at a trucking company and put on 20lbs in ~6 months). Roughly 16 weeks in (I skipped a week two months in due to being sick AF.) I've lost 45lbs. My goal for now is to get back to my college weight, 170. Maybe I'll go for 160; I'm not overly muscular or particularly active so there's no reason to lie about muscle that isn't there.
On another twitter rumor, reta hasn't been a magical "not an addict" shot. Being allowed to vape in the office is still my favorite perk on the job, as is the free Diet Mountain Dew. On the other hand I've been drinking less, though I'm not sure how much of that is the shot versus being thoroughly bored with the crowd at my usual bar and/or busy at work for the last few months. My patience for being at the bar and not entertained has been very low as of late.
I know people are exploring GLP-1s for this as well, but I've had a similar experience with Zepbound. I still start my nicotine habit each morning around 7am with a double-lipper of zyn and refresh as needed throughout the day.
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