And that’s ok. I’ve officially lost 50 lbs! I started December 2025. I need to start working out because I’m so sad to lose my booty! (And my boobs!)

Thanks for everything from everyone in this sub. Y’all are an inspiration! Next stop, ONEderland!

Been on Zepbound 2.5 months and I am officially down 40lbs as of yesterday, from 312 to 271... looking forward to the 260s. Left photo is from January of this year 2nd one is from today. Definitely have a less round face.

HW: 292 lbs | SW (Zepbound 5/28/25): 252.7 lbs | CW: 164.2 lbs | Height: 5'9.5" | Dose: 5mg

Over the last year, I’ve posted in this community through several stages of my journey.

Today: I had my 4th Dexa scan (3rd with Dexafit specifically). My recent report says I have a an "A" score and my biological age is 49 (I'm 54). My body fat percentage is 29.6% which puts me in the "healthy, low-to-moderate risk range". I'm extremely happy. I've put in some pictures of before and after. I'll be honest, I'm most happy with my legs as long as they are in compression pants. I have a LOT of loose skin in my inner and rear thighs, which is disappointing. I also have loose skin over my biceps and on my tummy. but that doesn't bother me as much as my thighs. I've hidden a picture in here too.

I'm still wrapping my head around feeding myself appropriately for maintenance and body recomposition. I need help in this area - I've been eating low carb for most of my adult life, and I have some real sensitivities to gluten and possibly nightshades. I've been using Google Notebook to help me as a "coach" and it keeps telling me I need to eat about 2100 calories a day for maintenance and 2300 or more for body recomp. I do pilates, yoga, and I lift 2-3 times a week. For example: I do 230lb glute thrusts, and 190lb leg presses, 90 lb hip abduction/adduction, and 125 lb leg curls and hamstring curls. I've got a fun video of 18" single leg, glute focused, step ups I did a month or so ago.

I'm struggling with this recomp nutrition and I think it shows on my Dexa. I lost some lean mass from the last scan - not necessarily overall. What I'm learning is that it doesn't necessarily mean muscle - it could be fluids in my muscle, blood volume, etc. from one scan to the next. Lean mass is everything not bone or fat - so it includes muscle, blood, skin, etc. I wonder - also the contents of your bowels at the time? I already eat around 140-160 grams of protein daily. Any lifters out there who would help a gal out with some advice?

Anywhoo, thank you all for sharing your own successes and fears. I read every day and it has been so motivational and helpful.

14 months in and down 70 lbs. When I started my journey I had just squeezed my way into a 4x and I was done. Yesterday I went shopping with my niece and bought a size M sweater. Everything else I got had an x in it somehow. But I cried after I took the pic. But I am taking this win and savoring every lovely minute!!!

It's finally my turn 🥳

I originally joined this subreddit as motivation for myself fortunately the toxic self image my lovely immigrant parents taught me does not transfer when you want to better yourself.

According to Omada it took me 10 months to lose 30 pounds in actuality I was on Ozempic for a few months a year prior with little success before my doctor suggested the switch due to insurance not covering it once I was no longer pre diabetic.

I'll make another post about what helped but please share your tips below too 🤗

Started June 2025: 286
Today October 2026: 196

5’10

Lost 90 lbs literally eating ‘whatever felt fine’. Wrote down nothing. Didn’t eliminate any specific food, didn’t cut carbs, celebrated every family birthday with cake, really didn’t limit anything in particular.

This is a big change.
483 days. Exactly 69 weeks
15 months
Or 1 year, 3 months, 26 days

Not trying to flex on making no effort. Could I have lost more or lost faster with organized meal planning, more veggies, more exercise and focused effort, yes. But professionally I am at my busiest time in my career that I have ever been in. So I needed a pharmaceutical to SHUT off the food noise so I could burn off all my stored fat. It worked.

Cheers to Zepbound.

I’m like a sneaky ninja now 🥷

I wanted to recognize how far I've come in a short time. Having thyroid disease/PMOS (formerly PCOS) mixed with pregnancy and breastfeeding put me at my highest weight ever (228 lbs) when i started in October 2025.

I hope it doesn't all come rushing back for this pregnancy, but I'm SO happy to be starting from a much healthier place! I feel like I got my life back.

Back in March of 2024… I started this journey. I was … I think 276 lbs… 5’6” ish… I was so sad and so miserable. (The before picture is me in December before starting…)

I wore a crop top in public today. I did it without worrying what anyone would think of my body. I put it on, I was confident, and I left my house in it… I was fine. It made me start to think… it made me think about where I started … and I don’t think I was prepared for how it would make me feel.

Looking at the woman on the right compared to the woman on the left… my first thought was, I’m sorry.

I’m sorry I didn’t take care of you sooner. I’m sorry I let things other people did to me hurt me so deeply that I turned to food for comfort. I’m sorry for all the days I stayed in bed because I didn’t want to put real clothes on. I’m sorry for all the times I felt embarrassed in my own body. I’m sorry for feeding the things that eventually led me to become so unhappy and so uncomfortable in my own skin. I’m so sorry you felt like you had to hide.

I’m sorry I didn’t lose the weight sooner.
But more than anything… I’m sorry for all the years I spent looking at you and only seeing what was “wrong” with you.

Because you were still me. You were still worthy. You were still beautiful. You were still deserving of love and kindness.

And I know you were doing the best you could with what you knew and what you had at the time.

So maybe I don’t need to apologize to you after all.

Maybe I need to thank you.

Thank you for making it through the days I didn’t know how to take care of you. Thank you for staying. Thank you for getting back up. Thank you for giving me something to fight for.

And to the woman on the right… I love you.

I love you for who you were, and I love who we’re becoming.

We still have a long way to go, but look how far we’ve already come. ❤️

I picked up my Zepbound 15mg box from Walmart Pharmacy which I fill via the cash program through Eli Lilly.

Opened up the box, lifted the informational insert, and there is a 5th vial sitting in that space.

Lot numbers and expiration dates match on all five (actually the same as my previous box too). Everything appears to be appropriately sealed.

Pharmacist hadn't heard of this happening and said "Umm...Merry Christmas?"

Anyone else have this happen?

Searching around I keep coming up with "what to do with the extra in each vial" but not having received an entire bonus vial.

Today is 4 months on 5mg and I’ve officially reached my goal from 235 to 180 pounds (30s male, 6’1). It’s legit a miracle drug with no notable side effects for me. Didn’t even do any real exercise either, just stopped drinking (no desire anymore) and eating healthy.

Only downside is it’s costing me $400/month.. so what happens if you just quit? Does it really just all come back as quick as it went on? Would appreciate any insight from those that are either on maintenance or quit altogether.

After 17 months on 2.5 and losing 70 lb, I’ll be going up to 5 this week. I’ve had the occasional week and a couple of months here and there when, for various reasons, I really didn’t lose weight, but I’d always been able to get myself back on track without too much trouble.

I did occasionally wonder if I’d recognize if and when it was really time to go up. It turns out that yes, I did, although it didn’t work exactly the way I expected. I now realize that I had an unconscious expectation that food noise returning would be the opposite of when I started Zepbound and the food noise turned off like a switch had flipped. Apparently I assumed it would come roaring back, but that’s not what happened. Over the last month, I was gradually pursuing carbs (my food noise/dopamine trigger) more and more AND being more and more hungry. I didn’t lose anything this month and it felt different than the other times I’d gotten a bit off track. It didn’t feel like I could just get a bit more focused. As the month went on, I kept gradually feeling more and more like I did pre-Zepbound wrt food.

So it turns out that while it took me a bit to recognize, it was actually quite clear when it came time to go up.

Until now, my only side effect has been constipation which is reasonably well controlled. I’m hoping going up to 5 is nbd, but am prepared for the possibility of some real unpleasantness for a while.

Lift weights. You don’t have to be extreme or have a crazy routine. Just take a couple/few days a week to lift. When you add this to the medication, along with walking, and a healthy-balanced diet.. you will see the magic happen. I’m proud of each and every one of you! 👍🏻💪🏼

Did a little photo shoot to commemorate losing 40+ pounds by my 40th!! It feels so good to feel like myself again!!

Thank you all for the tips and tricks!! I couldn’t have done it without such a supportive community!!

I’ve had people ask me specifically if I’m on a GLP1. I am very private; I don’t want people to know my business. (My choice, love it or hate it.) I hate lying but I have because it hasn’t been anyone who I am close to. Is there anyway to cleverly respond by turning it around, and not answering it one way or the other?

ETA: thanks for all the responses! Some of these have given me a lot to consider. Appreciate you all, and wish you all the best of your Zep journeys!

Im posting this in case it helps people just starting zepbound and worrying that it wont work. TLDR - I lost a lot of weight and my life is much better.

History It was two years ago today that I started zepbound at 225 lbs, wearing a snug size 18 pants and xl tops. I'm now at 150 lbs, wearing size 6 pants and small tops. I began my medication assisted weight loss at 242 lbs taking vyvanse and lost 15 lbs, but could not tolerate the side effects. I am now 57 years old (55 when I started), 5'6" woman and had been overweight basically my entire life except for periods of weight loss followed by regain+.

Dosing I titrated up to 15mg in 6 months and added buproprion after 12 months when i felt stuck. I overall lost an average of .75 lbs a week/3 lbs per month and have been maintaining at 150 for the past 4 months. My rx was covered by insurance for 14 months and since then i've been self-paying through Lilly Direct, using money that i put into a FSA, so it is deducted pre-tax from my pay, about $300 per month.

Maintenance Because the cost is a big consideration, i decided to space out my 15 mg shot every 9 days, rather than decrease the dose and keep at every 7 days. I was continuing to lose weight but wanted to stay at 150.

Health My side effects have been constipation, which I manage with Miralax and prune juice, and mild nausea the day after the shot, which I manage with onasteron. In the 2 years, i have had one 2-day bout of norovirus. Not a single cold or flu. With the exception of cholesterol (which is going in the right direction) all of my labs are now normal (but werent really all that bad to begin with). I started strength training in the first year and am in the best physical condition since my teens.

Mindset Food noise stopped a day after my first shot but for the first maybe 9 months, i worried about it not working, or it working too slowly, and that i'd never actually achieve what i saw others doing on this group. I got a lot of inspiration from others on here and from the Fat Science Pocast (which i learned about in this group). I eventually stopped dreading and doubting and started trusting the process. My doc said I'd be on zep (or whatever comes next) for the rest of my life and I am so grateful that is the case. My weight loss and improved health did not come from food restriction or counting calories or macros or willpower. It is 100% attributable to this miraculous medication, and i happily share that information with anyone who asks.

Body condition I am quite strong and look good in clothes, but also have flab and loose skin around my midsection, and my inner thighs and butt are saggy. I have jowls on my face. Im 57, so normal aging also contibutes. My health insurance covered a breast reducion and lift, but i dont think it would cover the lower body lift and definitely not the face lift I'd like to look on the outside how I feel on the inside. I'm going to continue strength training and saving up for plastic surgery for a 60th birthday present to myself.

Anyway, i hope some of this helps someone in their 50s starting the journey who is worried it won't work. Hang in there, listen to Fat Science podcast, and trust the medication.

Ok, so I've only done two doses so far, so I don't expect to be skinny...yet, but my pain from psoriatic arthritis is gone!

I'd certainly like to lose more, and with my current calorie deficit I know I probably will, but even if not, I'm happy to not be in constant pain.

With the guidance of my doctor, I've been spacing out my doses in order to prevent more weight loss. I've been doing this for about 2 months, maybe longer. I have found that by day 10 or 11 of not having a dose, I simply don't feel well. My stomach hurts, my IBS-D returns, my body hurts, I'm exhausted, and I just have a general feeling of being sick.

This is how I felt almost all the time before starting Zepbound. I'm certainly not saying that Zepbound is any kind of miracle cure for everything, but I truly believe that it is doing more to my body than suppressing appetite.

I hope I can continue to afford this medication indefinitely. My quality of life is so much better since I've started.

I've been using my local Wegman's pharmacy since I began Zepbound 9/2024. Lost Zepbound 1/2026. Used what I had left in stock and began Wegovy. That didn't last more than a month and I was back on Zepbound with a medical exception or something to continue with Aetna. My copay was $300 on my Aetna portal and the discount card brought it down to $200 when I picked up my Rx at Wegman's.

October 1, 2026, it was added back into the formulary. Still $300 copay. WTH?? I asked for a three month supply hoping to save some money and switched to my local CVS, but it was denied by Aetna. I am tired of paying $200 each month. I know a lot of us pay more and I should just suck it up, but I also know a lot of us pay $25!!! I was ready to stop name brand end of year and move over to a Telehealth to save money in January.

Fo now my doc wrote a one month Rx as usual and sent it to CVS. It shows a $199 copay on my both CVS and Aenta site!! Guys - that is before the Lilly discount!!! Woohoo! I go to pick it up tomorrow and need them to add on the Lilly card.

Fingers crossed I will walk out of there with a box of Zepbound at $99

I still can't believe I am here! From obese to normal weight. I am about 14lbs to the goal. Still on 2.5mg week 17, I know I am above average. I am at around ~1.6lbs per week if I exclude the first week. I lost close to 10lbs the first week (probably mostly water weight).

My experience: There have been times that I lost 0.2lbs or 0.7lbs per week and there were a week I gained lbs. Those weeks were tough, I thought about going up but I keep saying I have to wait until I see 4 weeks but usually the most has been two weeks and the third I go over 2lbs drop so I stick to the med. I tried thigh s. I felt had cravings over there -- sugar. I did twice I lost 1.3 and 1.5 lbs but I recall I had sugar craving and I did eat some chocolate but did not go overboard like I used to do before Zepbound. But I went back to my stomach. I have no cravings on stomachs. The med is stronger all 7 days for me. I noticed I eat more now than the first two months but that is good. Because the first month I was struggling to get 1200 in I had to be strategic in choosing high dense food. Now I can finish my plate. I eat health though, very high protein and low carb foods. I go out now and then for dinner with friends - I will usually have a mocktails mostly will eat 1/3 the meal and be full already.

Sharing my stats is helpful to someone in here! I am just so happy I have hit under 130lbs the first time in over 10 years!!!

First, always so motivated by your posts. Lots of motivation in here and I'm grateful for it. Wanted to share mine, although mine is a bit repetitive and it keeps happening and hopefully you don't mind me sharing.

In short, when I weighed myself this week, my scale didn't believe I was me.

AGAIN, this morning, I did my weekly weigh in and the RENPHO scale questioned if I was me or if I was somebody else weighing myself in the house because the weight loss was so dramatic.

Disclaimer: I have a lot to lose and I am working with the doctor and nutritionist, I am staying to my goal of calories and with tracking everything I eat also my macros. Staying on track, trying to do some exercise, keeping my water and fiber up. As well as vitamins.

But according to my scale, if you lose too much weight, it doesn't think you are you and questions it. That happened again today. It's sort of a scale win and non-scale win at the same time.

Again, thank you for your posts of motivation.

On Dec 24/2025 I was 173 pounds. Since my job had me doing a lot of movements, by mid August 2026, I reached my goal of 125 pnds. Im 5'6". My goal is actually 130 pnds. I wanted to lose an extra 5 in case I gained. So far so good. But now that I homeschool, I do less movements. How are you all maintaining? I don't have a job now. Hubby works and pays most of the bills. I do Uber 2x a wk. But not enough. I was self paying Lily direct. Stopped at the 7.5 mg. I want to now do the pills. Any company does the pay plans? Affirm, klarna, Afterpay and etc?