Tirz-Appetite suppression or weight loss?

[psyhfm]

The dose of 2.5mg is to get your body accustomed to a glp-1. You are not expected to lose any weight at that dose. Please don't lose hope. I did not start losing weight until 7.5mg/week. And that is what the studies show (I have researched this extensively in the medical journals). Stay at each dose for a month before increasing. If you start losing on 5mg, stay at that dose until you stop losing. Only increase when you stop losing but again, studies show weight loss starts around 7.5mg. Other people may lose at lower doses but that is not to be the expectation. I have learned that I must have 100mg of protein a day in order to have any weight loss. I'm currently on 12.5mg and have stopped losing. Food noise is back, eating larger amounts is back. So everything I had and the reason I went on Tirz is back. However, I think that is because I have stopped placing this journey as number one. I have a lot of things to rethink and redo. I have lost 70lbs in 9 months. Please don't expect tons of weight loss at the beginning, patience and it will happen for you as well. Good luck, you have this.

Wow! I really appreciate all this!

I do eat 100 grams of protein a day. I do log my food and weigh it (I have 11 years of logging on My Fitness Pal, even Christmas Day when I eat 4500 calories—I’m an expert). I’m strict on macros, especially protein, carbs and fiber. I’ve done Atkins for 7 months testing to make sure I was in ketosis the whole time. My question may make it seem like I’m blindly in this but I’m no newbie at weight loss, well, except the loss part. Before these meds came out I went from doctor to doctor to nutritionist to nutritionist to gym trainers. Literally I tried everything. Then I gave up for a couple of years. These meds gave me hope. I’m trying not to lose that hope but it’s fading fast.

I am a newbie at is Tirzepatide. I don’t understand how it works and since it’s not working on me for weight loss I’m trying to figure that out. I don’t care about appetite suppression. At all. I care about losing weight.

I’ve never heard anyone say that TDEE doesn’t work on hormonal imbalances. That’s good to hear.

I will work on the water. I do use Liquid IV but will increase. Thank you.

 

[penewbie]

The dose of 2.5mg is to get your body accustomed to a glp-1. You are not expected to lose any weight at that dose. Please don't lose hope. I did not start losing weight until 7.5mg/week. And that is what the studies show (I have researched this extensively in the medical journals). Stay at each dose for a month before increasing. If you start losing on 5mg, stay at that dose until you stop losing. Only increase when you stop losing but again, studies show weight loss starts around 7.5mg. Other people may lose at lower doses but that is not to be the expectation

I am sorry but your "research" is wrong.

All studies clearly show the average person begins losing weight at 2.5mg, that is the rule not the exception.

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Top right graph, weight loss at 2.5mg during the first 4 weeks is pretty damn strong.

However, that being said, just because the average person loses weight on 2.5mg doesn't mean everybody does, and there are in fact studies done on people who are late responders, and the conclusions are that even though it takes a while, it's worth it.

 

[Laxfinity]

Try DSIP (Delta Sleep Inducing Peptide), if you are comfortable with daily injections. It improves my sleep quality exponentially.

This is really interesting. Thank you for sharing this... going to do some research as I never heard of this. Did the hydroxyzine not work for you?

 

[Valerie]

On Reddit if you ask about results on different doses nearly everyone reports whether a certain dose is suppressing their appetite or not. They seem to titrate up only if their food noise and appetites are back.

My goal is weight loss. By the appetite measure I could stay at 2.5 mg for probably a long time, except the last 3 weeks on 2.5 mg I lost no weight. So I can’t get a “read” on if higher doses will help me lose weight beyond appetite suppression. Or if the magic is simply appetite suppression. 900-1000 calories a day has only lost 2 lbs in the last month on 5 mg. Wanting food isn’t a problem—no food noise, no hunger, no craving. Don’t tell me I’m eating too little. I’m post menopausal and I’ve eaten 1200 cal a day for 3 years without scale budging—tracking every bite. I have definite hormonal challenges to weight loss—PCOS, insulin resistant, etc.

Does Tirzepitide help hormonally resistant weight loss at higher doses? Or should Tirzepitide be considered just a terrific appetite suppressant? I’m honestly trying to figure out how the medicine works.

 

[Valerie]

I’ve been on Terzip compound for 9 months and found it’s an excellent appetite suppressant and I lost weight. I went past goal and now in maintenance. I was 225, dropped to 185 the exercise diet way, my body would go no further despite best efforts and I started with Zep. Goal was 140.

Zepbound was stronger than compound tirz at the same dose as were the side effects. I haven’t tried Pep tirz ; it’s on the way.

2.5mg was a loading dose with minimal wt loss. Wt loss began at 5mg and I stayed there for 3 months and lost 20lbs. I stalled for about 60 days as my body adjusted to the new bmr which was frustrating but in hindsight a great thing as my skin snapped back into place nicely. During that time I increased 1mg about every two weeks and progress began again at 8mg. I increased 1mg a month after that landing at 12mg which gave me full control for 7 days of what and when I chose to eat. I lost the remaining 25 lbs. I probably didn’t need to go that high but it’s been my favorite dose. After 5mg my side effects didn’t increase as I went up. All food noise was eliminated.

The 1 constant side effect has been fatigue especially prevalent for 48 hrs 2 days after injection.

I’m interested in seeing if I notice any difference between compound and pep; I hope not because I’ll certainly enjoy the savings.

 

[hexagonal]

Exactly, the TDEEs are useless to those with weight that is metabolically related.

I'm sorry, but this just isn't sound science. There's growing (but not universal) scientific consensus around the constrained energy model of energy expenditure (though even the best studies with doubly labeled water, etc. have some flaws in them), but none of these state that TDEE is useless. At most they mean that the efficiency is not 1:1, and the efficiency rate gets lower the more you push yourself. If you burn 1000 calories exercising, your body might try and save 500 calories throughout the rest of the day vs. your usual expenditure by lowering energy usage in other ways.

Metabolic issues can make weight loss massively more difficult for a variety of reasons, and no one should just go "CALORIES IN CALORIES OUT LOL," because it ignores the complexity at hand. But human beings require energy be burned to be alive - your body can't function without fuel. Starvation is obviously a thing that occurs. And that energy has to come from somewhere. If you're not eating enough to provide that energy, it will come from the stores in your body.

There's a lot of ignorance that goes around with people just shrugging and saying "eat less" ignoring the difficulties there, the impact metabolic disorders have on your base levels of energy expenditure, how the body adapts to a variety of things, etc. And you certainly can't exercise out of a bad diet. But to say that TDEE is useless in any situation is throwing the baby out with the bathwater and denies physics. Increasing your TDEE will burn additional calories, and if those calories aren't available from your diet, it will come from your body mass. It just might not be as simple as saying that an hour on a stationary bike increases your TDEE by 600kcal because your body might then decide it needs to reduce your energy expenditure elsewhere by 300kcal.

 

[Needsalife]

I’m the original poster. I did increase my dose to 5 mg and did start consistently losing. I’m down 52 lbs now and have a much better handle on what Tirzepatide can do and how my body handles it. I can’t say I did anything earth shattering to break a stall, then or now. I just keep doing what I’m doing and increase dose when I’ve stalled several weeks. I’m up to 10 mg. Thank you for your insight and advice. It helped.

 

[Needsalife]

New update - original poster. I’ve been on Tirz for 14 months. I was on 12.5 mg and stalled for 4 weeks in August 2025 but knew I would have to go off Tirz for the first time for surgery in late September so I did not titrate up or try anything to break the stall. In October when I was able to resume Tirz I started back at 10 mg. I had not gained any weight during my weeks off and never had terrible food noise or hunger return. I inexplicably started losing weight again at 10 mg when I resumed!? I am down almost 90 lbs and 25 lbs to goal.

 

[arron9999]

New update - original poster. I’ve been on Tirz for 14 months. I was on 12.5 mg and stalled for 4 weeks in August 2025 but knew I would have to go off Tirz for the first time for surgery in late September so I did not titrate up or try anything to break the stall. In October when I was able to resume Tirz I started back at 10 mg. I had not gained any weight during my weeks off and never had terrible food noise or hunger return. I inexplicably started losing weight again at 10 mg when I resumed!? I am down almost 90 lbs and 25 lbs to goal.

Thats brilliant, thank you for the update. I have just read this whole thread because of it.

 

[cldfront]

New update - original poster. I’ve been on Tirz for 14 months. I was on 12.5 mg and stalled for 4 weeks in August 2025 but knew I would have to go off Tirz for the first time for surgery in late September so I did not titrate up or try anything to break the stall. In October when I was able to resume Tirz I started back at 10 mg. I had not gained any weight during my weeks off and never had terrible food noise or hunger return. I inexplicably started losing weight again at 10 mg when I resumed!? I am down almost 90 lbs and 25 lbs to goal.

How many weeks did you go off the medication? Thanks for the update! I feel like it's a real mixed bag with data about stuff like this - either you reset your receptors and can then resume meds and weight loss (as you're describing) or the complete opposite happens and when meds are resumed it never works again and you gain all the weight back. Your report is encouraging!

 

[Needsalife]

How many weeks did you go off the medication? Thanks for the update! I feel like it's a real mixed bag with data about stuff like this - either you reset your receptors and can then resume meds and weight loss (as you're describing) or the complete opposite happens and when meds are resumed it never works again and you gain all the weight back. Your report is encouraging!

I stopped for 3 weeks. Two weeks before surgery and one week after.

 

[HereKittyKitty]

If you are having no food noise, no hunger and no cravings on 2.5mg of tirz, then before you increase your dose, look at other things. Caveat: 3 weeks without weight loss is not a stall and increasing one's dose should not be the initial response. A stall is much longer than that, a month, two, AFTER you've done/improved/changed other things that are in your control. Caveat: I too (like most on GLP-1s) - are, if not diabetic, insulin resistant, and for me, that's only one of many metabolic issues I've had to contend with. And yes, your PCOS is a hormonal challenge to weight loss. Also, as a result of your PCOS, insulin resistance, and whatever else, the typical TTDE calculators are useless to you. Those with hormonal imbalances, metabolic imbalances, hypothyroidism, etc. can't use those TTDE calculators as a guide for daily calories, or anything else. The calories they tell you that you need to eat are way too high. For instance, I set my daily calories at 1000, and now that I'm in maintenance, I try for more calories each day, but even in maintenance, that calorie increase is relatively small, 50-200 or so. You say you ate 1200 calories for years with no loss, and now you're eating between 900-1000 cals a day. Are you sure about that? Are you tracking your food on a food app, measuring the amounts? Many people think they know what 1/2 cup etc looks like, or how big a burger is, or how many almonds they ate, but often they are wrong, thinking the portions are smaller than they actually are. I would keep your calories as they are - 900-1000 - but start tracking them to see if those really are the calories you are taking in. Next, and immediately, you must make hydration intentional, hydration can't be something you try and do, and you should be using a packet of electrolytes daily. I prefer LMNT but there are many choices out there. And you should be drinking water from the start of your day. There are various calcs for how much water a person at a certain weight needs, you can look those up. I started out aiming for 100 ounces a day, and now drink 147 ounces of water every single day - 67 of them with one LMNT packet. Next, you must make protein your focus.There are suggestions that you calculate protein grams based on what you weigh now, or based on your goal weight, tons of ways to figure it out by googling. From the start, and even now in maintenance, I don't worry much about macros. I set my macros on the food app - I like Lifesum, but there are many others. I went through the various ways to determine my protein needs and chose 100 grams of protein a day, 93 grams of carbs and 26 grams of fat. I haven't bothered to change the macro %s because I'm used to it. I only focus on protein - and aim for a daily intake of protein between 130-180 grams. Every day. But note, in the beginning, I just tried to reach 100 grams a day. The carbs and fats come naturally with the protein you eat. It is impossible for me to get that much protein with regular food - or, if like me, one eats very little meat - so I, and others, find workarounds - starting using collagen peptides, they have protein, so your coffee becomes useful to you. Start using plant-based protein powders and make shakes. Most days, I make a shake with a Fairlife or Premiere Protein shake that has 30 grams of protein in it, and I add a scoop of Orgain or Live Conscious protein powder, and sometimes Javy protein powder, and whatever else and end with a shake that has 50 or more grams of protein in it. Oikos Pro is a great yogurt that has 20 grams of protein in each cup. If you start to track what you're eating/drinking, and greatly increase your hydration (and the electrolytes allow your body to use all that water rather than simply peeing it out, and you focus on increasing your protein, probably by a lot I'm assuming, and you give it some more time, things will likely start to change. Better to do everything you can do first before immediately going up in dose. Tirz is an appetite suppressant yes, and slows gastric emptying, but it works on the weight reduction as well. You've got the dose right for now, without experiencing side effects, so start making adjustments to what you are doing. I hope this is helpful to you.

I've read 2-3g of protein per kilo is a healthy intake. Too much protein turns to glucose. It also contributes to constipation.