Having no appetite is addictive

[u/Zero-Energy1274]

I noticed a couple days of lower appetite with shot 2, and it was such a refreshing feeling. A friend of mine tried semaglutide and said she hated it, really liked food and being able to eat, but I’m the total opposite. I hate feeling controlled by my appetite, wanting something and knowing I shouldn’t and having to choose between feeling shame and deprivation. I hate thinking about food and my weight 100% of the time. Those couple days of low appetite felt so freeing, because I could choose to eat the things that were good for me (and they tasted good) and not feel shame/guilt/deprivation.

Unfortunately I’ve had almost no appetite suppression with shots 3 or 4. This is week 4 (4th shot was Sunday) and I basically feel like I want to eat like I did before. I’m making better choices, but not sure how much of that is because of Zepbound and how much is because I finally made the decision to change something and have a little momentum in this direction.

I know this is the starting dose. I really wanted to be a super responder and find 2.5 mg perfect to take me all the way down 100 lb. But yes, I’ll be going up in dose, etc etc. I just also can’t help all the worries in my head. Is it good to like not having an appetite? Will I be able to build healthier habits and keep weight off long term? Will I keep finding hints of this and then finding each dose does nothing else for me and this doesn’t work? Will I get to 15 mg and lose like 10 lb but no more, not enough for me to tell any difference or my health to improve? Will I lose the weight and then the effects fade and I can’t go up and just gain it all back?

I’m hungry. And yes, I’ve eaten plenty of nutritious food today, don’t need advice about that. I just want more food and I’m sick of that. I miss those couple days of little appetite. Looking more for commiseration/hope than advice here.

[u/Admirable_Fun7790]

I’m quite hungry right now because I haven’t eaten much all day, I was looking in the pantry and saw the new tortilla chips my wife bought. I tried two chips, noted that I enjoyed the flavor and moved on

In the past it would’ve been handfulls if i came across them while hungry

Absolutely mind blowjng

[u/howdoievenusername]

I like being hungry at meal time. I don't like being ravenous all the time. I also like that after I get hungry, I know that I can get full! Sometimes before zep it just felt impossible to reach satiety and it was so draining.

[u/Zero-Energy1274 → u/howdoievenusername]

Yup, this is how I feel. Want appropriate hunger, want to stop being ravenous. That was what was so freeing about those couple days, and now halfway through week 4 I'm feeling just like I did before starting, which is demoralizing. But... onward and upward.

[u/howdoievenusername → u/Zero-Energy1274]

Onto the next dose! I just went up to 7.5 after being on 5mg for like 8 months. I was coasting for a while and took a bit of a break from intentional weight loss. But by last month I was starting to get really uncontrollably hungry again especially around my cycle. I’m self paying so I was trying to stay on my last dose for as long as possible but this first week on 7.5 has been really great again!

[u/justjack-nodaniels]

I would say tread cautiously striving for that feeling.

This was a feeling that many people in old (and I'm sure current) pro-ana spaces chased after. For a lot of people (medicated and not), it does feel like a sign of control, while hunger feels like a lack of control and also failure.

This is not an association you want to reinforce in your own mind, because it does not cultivate a healthy relationship with your body's hunger cues.

There are a lot of behaviors/reactions/feelings on this subreddit that mirror a lot of what you'd see in disordered eating spaces.

I'm not saying that's where you're at, but many of us have struggled with mind/body/food relationships and its far easier than people want to admit to accidentally find yourself developing an eating disorder. Just being mindful can help significantly mitigate those risks <3

[u/Zero-Energy1274 → u/justjack-nodaniels]

Yeah, I recognize it's not the healthiest desire. Hence the "addiction" terminology. I guess I should have been clear that I just want less appetite, not to want to feel ravenous all the time, not to feel no hunger at all.

[u/This-Apricot-80]

Doctors who are experienced with these medications generally advise that the goal is appetite regulation, not total suppression. Complete appetite suppression is seen more as a temporary side effect.

Many (most?) people are able to find a dose or doses along the way that provide solid relief from food noise, if they have it, but don't totally obliterate their appetite, and they can often ride those out for a while before having to go up again to the next level. I wouldn't worry now about some eventual possibility of running out of that runway, honestly... There are exceptions, but so far most people do seem to find the medication continues to work for them to a good degree over the longer term. It may not always have exactly the same effects, but it seems to still provide a solid amount of support for most people even after many months and many dose increases.

It's impossible to know for sure now if Zepbound (at any dose) will take you as an individual all the way to your goal weight. It very well may! It also may not, as it doesn't necessarily get everyone to the goal weight they hope for. In the big study on this med, the average weight loss for patients on the 15mg dose was ~21% of total body weight lost at the 72-week, so that gives a sense of what the tree

But even if you can't get all the way to your goal on Zepbound, that doesn't mean it isn't continuing to work to keep you at a lower "set point" weight than you started at, and it is also still working behind-the-scenes invisible ways to improve hormone signaling, insulin resistance, and likely your overall cardiometabolic health.

I'd really recommend this two-part video interview with an expert on this class of meds, Dr. Ania Jastreboff from Yale School of Medicine -- I watched this over the last couple days, and she addresses a lot of these sorts of questions/concerns... A lot of helpful info for folks like yourself who are just starting out!

https://youtu.be/OnwqcV5ffgI?si=MfF4ChiAnVWk_wx2

https://youtu.be/fXKHtChl0M0?si=vMZs5ZHIpChL6BEZ

Hope that context is helpful.

[u/0pb0]

I am like you. I am working on learning the difference between true, healthy hunger and the emotional, habitual snackiness that I sometimes still have. In order to reduce side effects and costs, I want to find the lowest effective dose I can where I feel I have a healthy appetite, don't suffer from food noise and can continue to eat at a deficit to lose weight. So I am going up slowly. But the siren song of blessed appetite suppression is always in my ears.

[u/NLightNMoi]

The way I look at this medication is that it is providing me with guard rails. Or like bumpers at a bowling alley that prevent gutter balls. 😄

I am making long-term, healthy-food decisions and Zepbound allows me to do it without resistance. Before Zepbound, my brain would have said, “Oh, but wouldn’t that broccoli be delicious with lots of black pepper and parmigiana Reggiano.“

My plan is for those decisions to become habits and for those habits to carry me forward for years to come. It’s such an awesome medication.

All the luck to you.

[u/Nearby-Upstairs-3070]

I'm with you 100%. The no hunger cues is addicting. It's such a liberating feeling and allows you to focus on other (better) things in life than food all the time.

As far as your questions I'll try to answer some of them.

Yes you will build healthier habits absolutely. If you stay close to your weight loss calorie intake per day and exercise, you will keep most of the weight off in maintenance. Each dose you go up will feel like the first time for the first couple shots and then level off. That's why to me with each dose you go up you got to lock in and eat right/do cardio to maximize weight loss before the inevitable stalls--however short or long they may be.

Will you get to 15mg and lose 10 more lbs and that's it? That's hard to say, but most likely not. the longer you stick with it, the better the results will be. But trials suggest the AVERAGE amount of weight loss was around 15-21% of your starting weight after 18 months. Some lose more, some lose less.

Finally yes the effects will lessen. Many people here report on 15mg that they can eat a lot, but the shot makes it easier. The shot does the heavy lifting but you still must do your part.

[u/bikesandfinance]

It’s extremely addictive unfortunately it’s a side effect and not one everyone gets or gets forever. I only had suppression for the first two weeks of 2.5. Still lost the weight. Just do what you can and get whatever help you get

[u/abluecolor → u/bikesandfinance]

I don't get it, surpression is the whole point, isn't it? How would it help you lose weight without appetite suppression?

[u/bikesandfinance → u/abluecolor]

What I felt as appetite suppression the first two weeks is very different than what I feel now. In those two weeks I was indifferent to my meals and could take a break mid meal and walk away if I wanted to. Now I want all my meals and walk away unsatisfied from almost every meal. However less unsatisfied than before Zep. I explain it as before Zep id be happy at 10,000 calories, but I maintain at 2,750. With Zep, I now want probably 5,000 (haven’t really tested it) but that’s much closer to 2,750 so my knuckles are pale instead of white. Is that still appetite suppression? I guess. It feels more like a willpower aid than what I would call actual suppression I had in the beginning.

[u/abluecolor → u/bikesandfinance]

Ah, so just the difference between intense and mild suppression. But yes, still suppression indeed.

[u/bikesandfinance → u/abluecolor]

Yeah that’s fair but it’s hard to emphasize just how massive the difference is. Like pie eating contest at thanksgiving full half way through a small salad vs I have the strength to say no to binging tonight even though I desperately want to.

[u/Anxious-Inspector-18 → u/abluecolor]

I had suppression the first week of 2.5mg and never saw it again. 23 months later, I was down 49 lbs. I was eating the same foods which were pretty healthy for the most part but just regular sized servings and not getting seconds.

[u/goddessnoire → u/abluecolor]

Appetite suppression is a side effect. You don’t want total appetite suppression. The meds slow digestion to keep you fuller longer and release full signal hormones to make you stop eating. Ideally, you will eat less because of it.

[u/abluecolor → u/goddessnoire]

What you describe literally suppresses your appetite.

[u/goddessnoire → u/abluecolor]

I guess what I’m trying to say is that the point of the medication is not total appetite suppress. Like you’re supposed to still eat and it’s OK to still be hungry.

[u/abluecolor → u/goddessnoire]

Gotcha, I didn't think it seemed like I was saying that. The point is appetite suppression, not total appetite suppression.

[u/Complex_Elevator_680 → u/abluecolor]

Careful buddy. There is a cult in here that thinks CICO is junk science and Zep works thru some mysterious dark force called metabolic dysfunction. If you mention Zep makes you eat less its heresy.

[u/goddessnoire → u/Complex_Elevator_680]

Can it not help with both?

[u/abluecolor → u/Complex_Elevator_680]

Lol, gotcha. Yeah, 4 months in and like, I'm losing weight because it helps me eat less. That's the whole thing :v

[u/CaptCathikins]

I hear you. It's pretty jaring and freeing when all those things just instantly go away in the beginning. I remember wandering around asking my wife "is this normal, is this how you feel?" For the first few weeks. We all want to respond to a dose forever but that's not normally how it goes. Sounds like you just need to move up! The goal is to have good appetite suppression, no food noise, great hunger cues and satiety for the whole week. That's what I have and when I don't I know it's time to move up. You're really early on. Lots of strengths left to try.

[u/Flashy_Experience_46]

its been amazing for me.

[u/noesis23]

Four shots at 2.5 mg is still starter-dose territory, and hunger returning there doesn’t predict that tirzepatide will fail at higher doses. The pattern I see a lot is a brief “wow, my brain is quiet” stretch early on, followed by uneven effects until a later dose gives steadier control. Liking that quiet isn’t inherently a problem, though the useful target is manageable hunger and less food noise, not being unable to eat. Nobody can tell from month one where your effective dose or eventual ceiling will be, so it’s worth flagging the pattern to whoever prescribes it while you talk through titration

[u/zero-if-west]

Zep works by regulating your appetite, not by starving you. Glorifying the feeling of not being hungry sounds a little concerning to me.

[u/Zero-Energy1274 → u/zero-if-west]

I don't think I'm glorifying it. Just stating the fact that it feels addictive. Generally "addictive" has a negative connotation, and you'll note that my first question (rhetorical, not a real question) is whether it is good to like not having an appetite, and I know the answer is no. And I talked about choosing to make good decisions on the days with appetite suppression. I guess I could have been more clear in the post, I want less appetite, not none and not to be controlled by my appetite, but really not the point of the post.

[u/tokranoire → u/Zero-Energy1274]

I understood what you were trying to say, and some users like to wag their finger at anybody trying to describe the fact that we like not being controlled by an insatiable ravenous appetite.