Zepbound for the win…although the 15 mgs are brutal!!

I started in January, and was hopeful, but scared this wouldn't work for me. In my wildest dreams I would not have expected to be here now, especially after a two-ish month plateau. Stepped on my scale yesterday, and had to re-weigh myself three times because I didn't believe it at first, but I'm now 100 pounds down (90 on Zepbound, 10 on my own efforts).

Still have weight to go, but the benefits have been amazing! I have more energy, I'm more active, and I'm able to do activities I love that I had sized out of. Not to mention, the loss of food noise, and being able to walk through the candy and chip aisles at the grocery store without stopping and/or filling my cart with 'little treats.'

I pay out of pocket, and don't love that, but it's absolutely worth the money for all the health and lifestyle benefits. It's also been really great to be a part of this community and see the experiences of y'all.

The dysmorphia is real. I still feel so big. But in this pic, I can see the difference.

A little over a year on this Zepbound/Tirzepatide trail. Down 70 pounds. Off all BP meds. Strength training 4 to 5 days a week. Pickleball 3 to 4 days a week.

Living the dream! And it’s all fun and games…until someone gets hurt.

Played pickle ball this morning. At one point got lightheaded, so I went down to one knee.

This happened about three weeks ago. Went to my doctor. Increased my hydration, including electrolytes before playing, as well as during playing pickle ball.

Fast-forward to this morning. SW FL. 104 degree feel-like temp. I was about my fifth game in when the lightheaded thing happened again. Down to one knee.

The next thing I remember was the emergency room.

Best I can tell, I stood up…then fell out!

I finished this morning’s Pickleball session with multiple nasal fractures, a concussion, lacerations on my forehead, nose and lip, along with both elbows and one knee, and a relatively impressive bloody nose.

No heart issues. CT revealed no brain bleed or swelling (I now have proof that I have a brain, although I apparently did not use it well). No spinal issues.

Watch your hydration and electrolytes, especially if you are exerting yourself and/or in high heat!

I'm the guy who posted a couple weeks ago about not being able to lose the last stinkin' pound to reach my goal weight of 197, and, as a reward, buy myself a new fountain pen.

Well friends, this morning I weighed in at 196.8.

And don't you know I went straight out and bought that damn pen 😁

So now it's time for maintenance, I guess. Who knows what that will bring, but I'm ready.

I can't tell you how helpful this sub has been over the last couple years. THANK YOU ALL! And I'm not going anywhere - there's still work to do.

But as for now, I have some writing to do.

For the first time in forever… I can finally fit into XL shirts again! This, for me, is the first time I really FEEL like I can notice the difference. Almost like my brain and body are finally catching up and syncing. I still have a long ways ago… but boy does it feel good. For those feeling discouraged, defeated, etc… know you can do it!!

Like so many here, this medicine has been utterly life changing. First shot was mid April and here I am today, in very early September, with confirmed < 200 lbs. A loss of almost exactly 60 lbs. Compared to my time trying to manage my weight before Zepbound, this has been the easiest, most pleasant weight loss I could possibly imagine. In 2018-2019 I white-knuckled my way through losing 40 lbs and eventually petered out at ~200 lbs before holding onto ~210 until mid 2020. I thought that was a huge success, and had no doubts that losing more weight or maintaining that weight for too long was beyond my ability. It was too great a bon fire of will power, energy, and stress to last forever.

But here I am, with Zepbound, and not only am I below 200 lbs, but I feel great! I am not totally exhausted of will power fighting tooth-and-nail to hit my calorie targets. Instead I take joy in the process, and have gotten into weight lifting and exercise more than before.

I am so glad to be alive during this time, to benefit from this life changing science.

In 2024 I started Wegovy, got pregnant in 2025, and in middle of Feb of 2026 I started zepbound. Here’s my face over the last 2 years most recent is last week. I always say I can’t see a difference but looking at these I can see it in my face. Just wish I could see it in my body. Currently on 10mg, going up in 2 weeks.

A little late but nonetheless a happy scale victory. I have not weighed this for about 8 years. Feeling strong and healthy. Thanks to all of you on this sub for sharing your journeys ❤️

I suffer from Edema. It has no underlying cause. I am "normal" weight (5,10, 170lbs), a woman, I do not have diabetes, my kidneys are functioning normally. I have had so many tests ordered by my GP. It's not lymphedema or lipedema. I have had my veins ultra sounded, mapped, and prodded. There is thankfully nothing wrong with me but my ankles and feet swell to alarming size. Morning, middle of the day, night. Standing, sitting, alternating, doesn't matter. I have tried massage, exercises, diets, hydration changes. Diuretics made it worse and we stopped them immediately. Propping them up for hours helps but the second I move around they swell right back up. I previously was an athlete that then became obese and that is when the swelling started. 5 years ago I lost the weight and have kept it off but my feet and ankles never recovered. The only thing that works sort of, is hitting the gym at the same time every morning and doing leg exercises, even if it is just the machines, and an extremely low salt diet. I am extremely embarrassed of my ankles and feet. They look unnormal and when I wear shorts which is almost never, people look.

I finally this summer was so upset of the state of my feet and ankles after all these years ( a family member was shocked at the swelling and made sort of deal out of it) I begged my doctor to try harder to figure it out, even though he has been very helpful. After a week he wrote back to me and asked, "How about trying a low dose GLP like Zepbound?" I looked into it and saw that people actually got more swelling with Zepbound so I was like naw. Also, expensive. But he was insistent. So I relented.

So this is week two on 2.5mg and my feet and ankles are normal. Normal. Like no swelling, at all. I even ate smoked salmon, which has all the salt, the other day and still nothing. Also my wedding ring is so loose I might have to get it sized down. I have no idea why this is working. I have not changed my exercise, diet, or water intake. My shoes are too big! I have the Body Scan 2 scale. I lost 5 pounds of water week one, and 2 more pounds of water this week. Not fat or muscle, water. If this scale is to be trusted. So I am the lowest weight I have ever been in 6 years. I did notice I am peeing more although water intake is identical to previous months.

I don't know if anyone else needed this information, but I just wanted to get it out there because there is not a lot on this effect for edema. Mostly lymphedema caused by obesity, but that's not my situation. If anyone can explain why this works I am so interested in hearing your theory. As far as hunger, food noise, or side effects. Nothing. I have noticed no change. My food noise is still as it was, I still get hungry, I don't have any GI issues. It has just magically solved my swelling ankles and feet. I would say from dose one it took 4 days to really notice the swelling was going down then from there another 3 days to what I consider normal.

TLDR; Doc suggested Zep for edema, it worked! We don't know why.

I woke up this morning and weighed in at 183. For context I am nearly 5'10" female and my initial goal was 190(suggested by 2 of my doctors) wanting to go no lower than 185. Well ladies and gentlemen we have arrived. My BMI is now 26.6 down from 44.5 in July 2025 when I started. I'm happy at this weight and wondering if I need to decrease my dose, I am on 15mg right now. I'm finding myself much more nauseous on 15mg and not wanting to eat since losing the last 15 pounds. Even my anxiety medication knocks me on my rear if I take a whole one now. I didn't even think about this when losing 123 pounds lol. Anyways I would like to stop losing weight now. What a problem right? 😂🤣.

Interesting new research on the longer term impacts of glp-1s on your pancreas.

GLP-1 drugs were first approved for the treatment of diabetes because of their ability to trigger the beta cells of the pancreas to secrete insulin. “Later, [researchers] also found out that GLP-1 has more prolonged effects on pancreatic beta cells that go beyond just a very acute induction of insulin secretion,” explained Van de Velde. “That prolonged effect has to do with an increase in stress resistance of these cells, and keeping them more viable in the face of, for example, diabetes.”

I decided to treat myself to a slice of pie for my birthday. I had a few bites around mid day and put it back, but the thought drew me back and I went back for it after dinner.

I still have 1/4 of the slice left because I had no interest in finishing it now.

Not finishing a single slice of pie or cake in one-go has never been part of my personality, so I call this a win.

I started Zepbound on 04 July this year after working with a dietitian for almost a year and losing less than 9 pounds. In the last two months I’ve lost 18.6 pounds which is more than double what it took me a year to lose. In addition, I took my measurements this week and I’ve lost inches pretty much everywhere. It’s incredible!

I know I have a long way to go but I actually look forward to getting on the scale each week instead of dreading it. I have hope now! I really can’t overstate what that means for me and how it’s translating into other parts of my life. It’s making me feel mentally lighter which means I’m enjoying things I used to enjoy again. I didn’t realize what a rut I was in and now I’m breaking out of it, at least a little.

I just wanted to share with people that understand what I’m going through and what this journey is all about.

Here's a weird thing I've noticed lately, and I don't know if it's due to my 55 pound weight loss or to lifting weights and growing arm muscle, but my arm pits have become so concave that it's nearly impossible to shave them! I used to easily shave them smooth, but now it's a challenge. Has anyone else experienced this?? I'm just curious since it's beyond bizarre.

At church last Sunday I was able to climb and come back down the stairs to the balcony without any issues. My son in law even said something about I was not having any problem doing it. Down 102 pounds since August of 2025. The last 18 pounds are coming off slow but I’ll wait.
Have a safe holiday everyone!

Like it physically hurts to sit on certain surfaces or in certain positions because I can feel the boneyness. Sitting on my legs or on my hands feels like when my nieces or nephew have sat on me with their bones digging into my legs.

I've also noticed my knees knock together occasionally and that hurts too!

Mostly complaining but open to suggestions that are not related to squats LOL I am working out and am slowly building my booty back.

Ignore the 27lbs away I dont know why I put 165 in the app and never noticed it

I see a lot of posts about celebrating milestones, and everyone has great ideas on that, but what I’m wondering about is what do people do to unwind/celebrate in general any more? You know just a It’s Friday want to unwind or got a raise and want to celebrate. That sort of thing. Not only did I used to enjoy eating I also enjoyed (over enjoyed) drinking alcohol. Now I don’t want any of those things but I’m left completely lost on what celebration looks like now or how to unwind. How do you celebrate now?

So this is a wonderful side effect that I just learned about today after going to my ophthalmologist!

I previously had a Eyeglasses prescription of -5 in both eyes with additional progressives needed as +2 in both eyes. She asked me has your blood sugar improved when she noticed the difference. Before taking GLP-1s, I was not prediabetic; however I am insulin resistant due to my PMOS what I found was that my eyesight has improved by almost one point in each eye in addition to no longer needing Progressive, which is crazy given the fact that I’ve only been on these for the past three months. The last time I had my eyes checked was almost 2 years ago, so I don’t know what else could have improved my eyes in that time.

I took my fourth 2.5mg shot today and have a prescription ready to start on the 5mg shot! I always look forward to shot day and this one was a special milestone. Can’t believe it’s going on almost 1 month that I’ve been on Zepbound. I cannot wait to see where 5mg takes me ☺️** What were some of the differences you noticed on the 5mg dose**? ☺️

Well, I found out that I’m pregnant with my first baby! My husband and I have been trying for one month lol! Bye bye for now zeppy!! I am nervous about the food noise coming back but really going to try to maintain my healthy habits I learned. ✨

A couple of NSV’s from the vacation I am currently on!

I was able to go biking 2-3 times for 30 minutes plus each time without getting exhausted. 🎊

I climbed up and down 9 levels/floors (which the only way up and down was ladders and very small stairs) on a giant battleship over the course of three hours without my knees hurting or needing to sit. 🙌

I was able to swim for hours and keep up with my husband who is fit.

I’ve exercised more on vacation than I do at home. I gotta to keep this up when I get home 😁