I’ve used all 3. With Semaglutide I had pretty bad nausea the first day or two after pinning and terrible sulfur burps. Slight anhedonia. I went from working out 5-6x/week to about 3. Totally turned me off alcohol. It was my first foray into GLPs and I lost about 12 lbs. Starting weight was 176.
I switched to Tirzepatide not long after being on Sema because the nausea was getting to me and so were the sulfur burps. They’re truly disgusting. Like farting out your mouth. Both those subsided with Tirz, however I developed a pretty bad case of anhedonia and all I wanted to do was bed rot and doom scroll. I lost about 25 pounds. I also noticeably lost some muscle because I was only making it to the gym about 1/2x/week at that point and having pretty crappy workouts because it was so difficult just dragging myself anywhere. I was able to drink an occasional glass of wine with dinner without feeling like I was going to vomit. I was at my thinnest on Tirz, but I was miserable and went off of it because I could no longer stand doing nothing. I wasn’t depressed, just had very little desire to do anything.
After I stopped taking Tirz, I went a while without taking anything and got back into the gym. I gained about 12 lbs back, but felt much better about myself. I’ve worked out most of my life, so being back in the gym, I felt better, stronger and much more myself than I had in a while.
I started Reta about 8 months after being off Tirz. I started out very slow at 1mg and didn’t lose much, but I wasn’t as hungry and Reta made it very easy to maintain my weight. My biggest issues are food noise and the amount of food I can eat-it’s a lot. I eat pretty healthy and have always tracked, but it’s a struggle, for sure After several months at 1 mg, I upped my dose to 2mg and began to lose weight, albeit very slowly. I increased steadily over time and got up to 6mg and was losing weight consistently when I developed allodynia. I backed off after that and began pinning smaller doses 2x/week, which helped. I’m back up to 4 about every 6 days, losing small increments of weight along the way. I do have slight anhedonia and allodynia that comes and goes, but for the most part feel pretty good. I’m able to get to the gym, have a cocktail or two without getting sick, go on walks and take my dog to the park, etc-which may not sound like much, but after my experience with Tirz it definitely is.
What has finally been working for me for actual noticeable weight loss with Reta is doing weight loss “sprints”. I will up my dose for a few weeks, lose about 5 pounds and then back off again and maintain. The allodynia I experience doesn’t allow for me to stay at higher doses for very long. I find this works best for me. I started at 176 and am down to 140ish. I’d like to lose another 10, but it will happen over time and I’m giving myself until the end of the year
. I will say, through all of this, that my labs and general health has improved. It was decent before, but my triglycerides, cholesterol and BP have all decreased. I also go to a fxnl Medecine doctor and my hormone panels look great too (I also take HRT).
It’s taken a long time-about 4 years now-but I’ve finally found what works for me. I don’t know if others have had the struggles with these GLPs like I have, but it’s good to feel like I’ve finally found my way and believe I can reach my goals, feel good and do all the things again.
