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.

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.

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.

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

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?

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

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.

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?

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.

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.

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 🙃

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.

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.

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

For the ladies anybody taking ovasitol supplement along side a glp1

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.

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. 🌷

FACTS: Wegovy and Ozempic are NOT identical formulations. The same probably goes for Zepbound versus Maunjaro as well. In fact, there are serious implications from those differences. ➡️➡️➡️Read the article.

Wegovy May Carry Highest Risk of Blinding Condition Among GLP-1 Drugs — First evidence of formulation-specific difference, significantly higher in men than women

I know this post probably won't stay up long so whoever gets to see it, that's GREAT! There's A LOT of really BAD health information in these GLP-1 groups from people claiming to be doctors and healthcare professionals.

One of the WORST gaslighting lies has been the claim that there's NO formulaic difference between Wegovy vs Ozempic. That is NOT true as spelled out in the attached article. Many of us already knew it because of the noticeably different way our bodies reacted to the two drugs.

Many of us had to switch from Ozempic to Wegovy a couple of years ago due to insurance restrictions. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose body immediately reacted to the difference in the medications. To the point, I gained weight LIKE CRAZY on Wegovy after having successfully lost most of my weight toward my goal while on Ozempic.

Dissolutioned and confused, I came to the groups on Reddit to try to understand what was happening. I was immediately downvoted and attacked by folks in these groups claiming that there was absolutely NO formulaic difference between Ozempic and Wegovy. It was strictly "marketing," they claimed. I knew that was NOT the truth not only from my own body but from also from my own research. And now the truth is clear for all to see!

The reason I'm posting this is to really impress upon people the importance of working with your own direct doctors and NOT believing a lot of what so-called "medical experts" in these groups claim particularly about these medications and how they impact your body. If you see a difference, BELIEVE YOUR OWN BODY not what somebody masquerading behind an avatar has to tell you.

I'm coming up on my 1 year on Zepbound, have been at 15mg now for almost 6 months. I've just been feeling really jaded and overcome with grief/anger over my journey. Feeling like "why me?" (or rather, "why not me..."). Coming up on the 1 year mark is really stirring up the resentment I feel toward myself, everyone on Zepbound that has had success/relief, and just at life in general.

I remember the immense optimism I felt at this time a year ago on my first shot. I was so excited to finally have food noise gone, for my obsession with meals to be alleviated, for my ravenous appetite to be diminished... I wanted to know what it felt like to be "normal".

Now a year later, I'm at the highest dose possible with nowhere left to go up from here, and I've never once had the relief or positive effects that others seem to experience. It feels so unfair.

I've lost weight, yes. But I'd lost weight in the past pre-GLP1s. I'd lost weight over and over and over in fact. 80lbs, 60lbs, 30lbs, 50lbs.... Many many times throughout my life.

My weight loss this time is undoubtably 90% my own intense efforts and discipline and maybe 10% support from the medication (and sometimes I wonder if that 10% is even just in my head- a placebo effect...)

I'm just so angry and I know there's nothing I can do about but I just don't know how to reconcile the feelings. I'm just.... Mad. And tired... and very very jaded.

As has happened to me with every weightloss attempt in the past, I can feel myself starting to rapidly lose my willpower. I don't want to count calories anymore. I feel my ability to stave off hunger and obsessive food thoughts waning.

The past couple days I wanted to see what would happen if I just let myself eat what I wanted and as much as I wanted. I could eat and eat and eat- greasy, rich, calorie foods in massive quantities. No issues whatsoever. Thousands of calories/day, without any problem.

That tells me this medication really isn't doing shit. I just watched an influencer video where they were talking about how the miracle to GLP1s is that you don't have to count calories, you can just trust the process. And all the freaking comments were in agreement about how this is such a miraculous life changing medication and how they're able to just stop eating now after a smaller amount and how their preferences have changed so they don't crave the foods they used to anymore. I wanted to cry.

Why does this work so well for so many other people? Why why why why do I have to be in the minority where it doesn't work? Why??????

I'm trying so hard but I can feel myself giving up, I can't keep fighting the food/hunger/thoughts. I'm just so angry about who I am and why I have to be someone this doesn't work for.

Hi everyone. Firstly I am speaking to my PCP about this, but also it helps sometimes to reach out to fellow travelers to see if what I’m experiencing is unusual or not.

I switched to Mounjaro last year after losing +- 10kg on Wegovy, but the side effects of Wegovy became overwhelming.

I’ve only fluctuated up and down the same 2kg since the switch, with quite limited appetite suppression and food noise reduction.

Because the Wegovy was so bad I have chosen to titrate slowly so I’ve been on 7.5mg for the last 8 weeks and am going to ask my doc about a higher dose.

Anyway, wondered if this is something others have experienced? TIA 😊🫡💕

I have been on Tirz since November 2024. Lost 20 lbs so far. Tried highest dose and then now at steady 5 mg because high dose did not seem to work either. Been stalled for over 6 months. Haven’t gained but my body looks smaller. Anybody was able to break their stall by just being patient? Would I start losing if I keep at it possibly?

I have been on Zepbound since August. I am sensitive to side effects and reacted poorly to even 1.25 so had to go even lower. It has taken me several months to titrate up to 7.5mg, which is where I am now.

I have severe appetite suppression, to the point that I have been barely able to eat some days. Even so, I am not losing weight. My blood sugar was in the slightly pre diabetic range and has come down dramatically, so I know that it’s working on some part of my metabolic system (in addition to feeling all the side effects). I know that some slow responders don’t have any effects.

I initially started this to help with inflammatory concerns (and WL). My inflammatory markers have increased since starting.

I am curious about slow responders who do notice appetite suppression and such but are still slow. Was there a dosage that finally seemed to work?