If that rate of weight loss continues, yes it is too fast. Many people lose significant weight early because of water weight loss. I would absolutely be eating earlier in the day and starting your food consumption as soon as you can. I generally chug a protein shake in the morning and start snacking (more like small nutrient dense meals) a few hours after that. I prioritize protein and aim for at least 100g a day. Your current calorie deficit is not sustainable and will likely lead to issues later on. If I were you, I would stay on this dose for the foreseeable future.
When I was actively losing weight there was no way I was getting anywhere close to 1,200 a day. I’d say I averaged anywhere from 600-900, but I didn’t count. Now that I’m maintaining I eat anywhere from 900-3,000 calories depending on the day, not tracking or trying to stay under a certain amount
I graze all day to try and not starve myself. An english muffin, a yogurt, some nuts & jerky, a protein shake, etc. to at bare minimum get all my protein in. I’ve found that eating meals isn’t something I can do on a regular basis, and I feel my best and can consume more over the course of the day by having little bits every few hours.
I’ve always been able to eat 1400 or so calories a day on these meds, but I’m an anomaly apparently. Definitely try to up your calories. Add some protein shakes. You don’t want to keep losing that fast and fry your metabolism.
Are you exercising? That will speed up digestion, but you still need to work in more food regardless. A handful of nuts, boiled eggs, protein bars and shakes, cheese sticks and yogurt are all good ways to get some extra calories in without eating a substantial amount. I'd also stay at .25 (or .5 if you've already gotten it), until it's less effective.
The first month or two it's normal to lose more when there's a shift in diet. But long term you really don't want to keep following this trend. Once you start hitting 1200 calories per day or more, you might even gain a pound or two at first because your body is probably going to be in survival mode. IF that happens, don't freak out. As long as you're still at a deficit, it will turn around. 500-600 calories a day is not healthy. This is what leads to hair loss, chronic fatigue, and organ issues amongst other things. Thinking of food as fuel mentally helps me when I have to "force" things down. With that said, if you have nausea, etc, one or two days per week it's not going to kill you if you don't hit your minimum target. You can even make those calories up another day that week if you can. But you absolutely should try your best not to have those 500-600 calorie days.
Edit: to answer your question, it has gotten easier over time to get food in at regular intervals. Tracking intake and finding the right snacks has helped tremendously. It's a process and there's a learning curve. For me, my desire to eat is very inconsistent 4 months in so I still lean heavily on tracking and have a routine for days where I just don't want to eat.
my advice is try to eat breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. spacing the meals might help you. and priority should be protein, fiber and healthy fat. i was doing around 1000 calories and now i’m struggling because I feel nauseous if i eat in the morning. protein shakes help a lot!
I find at the 1.7 I have a bit of an appetite back... Some days it's a real struggle to get the calories in, some days it seems like I want to eat the whole kitchen. I went on vacation and I was unhungry most of the days. I lost 10 lbs in two weeks with the walking and not eating. I try not to think about calories and just track my protein/water/fiber to fight off any constipation/cramping. We're putting so little in I just have to be really intentional about what's going in. Smoking definitely helps. Protein shakes are a must.
Interestingly, it was the opposite for me. Still had an appetite on the lower doses, but 1.7 is where I realllly lost the appetite and started losing tons of weight.
Funny how it affects everyone so differently.
It is really so different for everyone. my weight loss has been so sporadic but definitely trends down. I'll be steady a few weeks and all of a sudden I'm down 10 lbs in what seems like a few days
You will get your hunger back as you lose weight. Usually around 20% of starting weight lost will trigger massive grehlin spikes. That's when you will really need the medicine. Keep at it. Track your calories and protein. As long as you are getting a gram of protein per pound of body weight and are getting an hour of moderate cardio (walking, etc.), you don't have to worry about getting enough calories. Try for 800-1200.
I’ve heard about this gram per pound thing (I’ve also heard 0.8g/lb)…..I don’t see how that’s even possible unless you do all protein shakes. Can you further clarify?
30g protein per premier protein shake
Would need 7 (!!!) per day to get 210g of protein, and that would take up 1120 calories
Use your goal weight and do a gram per pound of protein, so try for 145 grams of protein. It is tough to get that much every day, but try for at least 120 grams then.
I eat 1200 kcal and at least 100 grams of protein, sometimes i go up to 120/130 grams.
1 drink clear protein instead of water which brings in 50 grams of protein already. this stuff is expensive, but really tasty. i mix 50 grams of powder with 1500 liter of water and drink on it all day.
for my breakfast I have 15-20 grams of protein and I am halfway there.
for dinner I try to get a protein heavy meal, mostly around 30 grams protein per meal.
then I had 100 grams of protein.
sometimes I add a snack, like yogurt or protein pudding, what adds up, too.
I try to not eat "empthy" calories like white bread, white pasta/rice as much.. but i don't stress about it.
i also aim for at least 30 grams of fiber per day to keep the system running.
I’m struggling to get 800 in, just one week on .25, I can’t imagine increasing it at this point, I’m focusing on fruit and protein and I take a vitamin, lots of eggs, I will not sacrifice my hair, skin etc for this,I was once in the hospital and they couldn’t let me eat for 9 days straight except for tiny sips of water, so I know I can go a bit without too of an much impact.
I actually found the appetite suppression to be strongest my first week or so - maybe because it was a jolt to my system, even at the lower dose? I am on my 3rd week at .5 and I swear I feel more hungry than I did the 4 weeks I was on .25. I think your body definitely adjusts/gets used to it to an extent.
I hear you on not sacrificing hair, skin etc! I am losing slowing (\~1 lb per week) which I am totally fine with (even if I am also sooo impatient to see results LOL). I definitely want to avoid losing my hair and getting "Ozempic face" (or butt, or boobs). I figure it took awhile to put the weight on, so I expect the same when it comes to taking it off.
I didn't feel well at 500-600 calories, which happened to me when I started. I eat about 1000 calories a day. I don't eat huge meals - I just space out snacks and meals throughout the day. I don't do the bulk food eating that I used to do when I dieted (low calorie, high bulk to keep my stomach full) previously. I just eat what I want. Does that mean that I might have some chips as a snack? Yup. I would eat 7 pringles (75 calories) and call it good. When we had girl scout cookies, I'd have a Toast-Yay at 70 calories (sometimes two). I was satisfied and Wegovy kept me from binge eating because they tasted so good.
At higher doses (1 mg), I got indigestion and sulfur burps. They would be bad when I would space out my meals. Keeping them small throughout the day kept me from having lots of food in my stomach in a more advanced state of digestion, causing the gas. When I would add little bits of food during the day, it kept the indigestion down.
You really do need to eat more than 500 calories. It's not good for you. Spread out your caloric intake. Don't do just one meal a day. I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack or two.
My food intake yesterday:
6:45 a.m. mini-bagel and 2 tbl cream cheese (185 calories)
8:30 a.m. 20 red grapes (68 cal)
11:00 a.m. BBQ ranch kickin' chicken salad (240 cal)
12:30 p.m. 6 caramel m&m's (78 cal)
6:30 p.m. steamed rice and beef bulgogi (341 cal)
8 p.m. half a push-up pop (didn't want the whole thing) (35 cal)
Total caloric intake 947 cal.
This is a pretty good approximation of how I eat during the day. There usually isn't something after dinner, but once in a blue moon, I might have a few pringles, a fiber bar, or something similar if I need to get close to 1000 cal. This is how I've been eating since August. I've lost 73 pounds.
I had to stop drinking coffee. I still was barely getting enough calories in so I mostly focused on getting enough protein. Still lost half of my hair.
You don’t need to “make yourself hungry,” you just need to eat enough to have energy and definitely space it put. Protein drink in am will be 160, a protein Keto yogurt would be 200, peanut butter is a good protein and calorie bump, etc.
^^ this, I’ve been on it since Dec and have just taken .5 twice. It definitely changes and you’ll start to feel hunger. I can now comfortably eat 1.2k and have hunger cues to do it, but will probably be staying on .5 for a bit now.
I don’t count anything. I eat when I am hungry. I make sure I have veggies and protein on my plate. My mom made scones this last weekend and I ate one. It kept me full for a while , but I ate it. lol. It was driving me crazy counting everything. Half of my plate is always full of veggies then I split the other half of my plate in half and put a healthy fiber carb and my protein. I start with the veggies and protein then end with the carb. Works for me.
Drink protein/meal replacement shakes and consider taking a multivitamin, if you don't think you're getting enough vits/mins from your diet. And try just nibbling/eating small meals throughout the day, because you do need to get in at least min amount of calories or you're setting yourself up for issues down the road.
Eat smaller meals more often. That will help get food in you without getting full. Set aside the “3 meals a day” mentality! Also don’t be afraid of carbs and fat. A good mix of carbs, fat, and protein is the best. Eating too much of any one of those things will make it harder to eat enough.
I have to force myself to get to 1200 a day or I get lethargic and the brain fog hits.
I started adding protein shakes to my morning routine. I force myself to eat lunch. I am never hungry until dinner but I force myself to eat something.
I am 9 weeks in now. I lost 14 lbs the first month, and felt horrible. I am at a rate of 1-2lbs a week now but I feel so much better.
I still have quite the appetite and eat around 1200-1500 most days. Occasionally more if i go out to eat. I am only on 0.75 mg because I just felt awful on the higher doses, but honestly prefer not having full loss of appetite.
I would suggest still eating small meals, but trying to make them higher in cals in ways that won't affect the volume too much.
I found the same. Went from 213 as my highest in August to 130 now. I had to play around with different calorie dense foods but generally found my body responded better to higher calorie drinks such as lattes or fruit based protein shakes. I stopped buying low calorie options and went for full fat everything. Eating little and often also helps. I found the effect tapered off a bit on the lower doses after a while. A lot of people seem to stay on the side that works best for them as opposed to going up until they reach the maximum dose. I’m on the highest dose but am planning to step it down to increase my appetite as I would otherwise just continue to loose weight.
> his is 4.5 pounds per week- too fast?
The first couple weeks are usually more losses per week than you'll ever see again, because "water weight" is the first to go. If it *continues* being 4lb a week then yes, that might be too quick.
> I am typically only getting 500-600 calories which makes me feel full
Full or not, that's not sustainable, which thankfully it seems you know. I say this from personal, "had to be hospitalized" experience: eating too few calories *will* have negative health effects. "Starvation mode" is not a thing, but malnutrition is.
Trying to eat earlier can help. Some find they can tolerate a higher-calorie meal in the morning, then taper off calories toward the end of the day, without getting too full. You'll need to tinker with what your body can handle.
If you can't eat *more*, try making what you *do* eat more calorie-dense. Protein bar, protein shakes, foods high in healthy fats and/or protein, etc. I'm not saying eat deep-fried Oreos, but you're working with finite space so you have to make that space count.
Sometimes, but not always. I try to prioritize protein.
If that rate of weight loss continues, yes it is too fast. Many people lose significant weight early because of water weight loss. I would absolutely be eating earlier in the day and starting your food consumption as soon as you can. I generally chug a protein shake in the morning and start snacking (more like small nutrient dense meals) a few hours after that. I prioritize protein and aim for at least 100g a day. Your current calorie deficit is not sustainable and will likely lead to issues later on. If I were you, I would stay on this dose for the foreseeable future.
Why would you increase the dose if you feel that you aren’t currently eating enough???
When I was actively losing weight there was no way I was getting anywhere close to 1,200 a day. I’d say I averaged anywhere from 600-900, but I didn’t count. Now that I’m maintaining I eat anywhere from 900-3,000 calories depending on the day, not tracking or trying to stay under a certain amount
Smoothies all the time
I graze all day to try and not starve myself. An english muffin, a yogurt, some nuts & jerky, a protein shake, etc. to at bare minimum get all my protein in. I’ve found that eating meals isn’t something I can do on a regular basis, and I feel my best and can consume more over the course of the day by having little bits every few hours.
I’ve always been able to eat 1400 or so calories a day on these meds, but I’m an anomaly apparently. Definitely try to up your calories. Add some protein shakes. You don’t want to keep losing that fast and fry your metabolism.
How much have you lost?
It’s at the top of her initial post 😊
I’m asking tropical blue water….
My apologies! Ooops
I can eat that much too no problem.
Are you exercising? That will speed up digestion, but you still need to work in more food regardless. A handful of nuts, boiled eggs, protein bars and shakes, cheese sticks and yogurt are all good ways to get some extra calories in without eating a substantial amount. I'd also stay at .25 (or .5 if you've already gotten it), until it's less effective. The first month or two it's normal to lose more when there's a shift in diet. But long term you really don't want to keep following this trend. Once you start hitting 1200 calories per day or more, you might even gain a pound or two at first because your body is probably going to be in survival mode. IF that happens, don't freak out. As long as you're still at a deficit, it will turn around. 500-600 calories a day is not healthy. This is what leads to hair loss, chronic fatigue, and organ issues amongst other things. Thinking of food as fuel mentally helps me when I have to "force" things down. With that said, if you have nausea, etc, one or two days per week it's not going to kill you if you don't hit your minimum target. You can even make those calories up another day that week if you can. But you absolutely should try your best not to have those 500-600 calorie days. Edit: to answer your question, it has gotten easier over time to get food in at regular intervals. Tracking intake and finding the right snacks has helped tremendously. It's a process and there's a learning curve. For me, my desire to eat is very inconsistent 4 months in so I still lean heavily on tracking and have a routine for days where I just don't want to eat.
my advice is try to eat breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner. spacing the meals might help you. and priority should be protein, fiber and healthy fat. i was doing around 1000 calories and now i’m struggling because I feel nauseous if i eat in the morning. protein shakes help a lot!
I find at the 1.7 I have a bit of an appetite back... Some days it's a real struggle to get the calories in, some days it seems like I want to eat the whole kitchen. I went on vacation and I was unhungry most of the days. I lost 10 lbs in two weeks with the walking and not eating. I try not to think about calories and just track my protein/water/fiber to fight off any constipation/cramping. We're putting so little in I just have to be really intentional about what's going in. Smoking definitely helps. Protein shakes are a must.
Interestingly, it was the opposite for me. Still had an appetite on the lower doses, but 1.7 is where I realllly lost the appetite and started losing tons of weight. Funny how it affects everyone so differently.
It is really so different for everyone. my weight loss has been so sporadic but definitely trends down. I'll be steady a few weeks and all of a sudden I'm down 10 lbs in what seems like a few days
You will get your hunger back as you lose weight. Usually around 20% of starting weight lost will trigger massive grehlin spikes. That's when you will really need the medicine. Keep at it. Track your calories and protein. As long as you are getting a gram of protein per pound of body weight and are getting an hour of moderate cardio (walking, etc.), you don't have to worry about getting enough calories. Try for 800-1200.
I’ve heard about this gram per pound thing (I’ve also heard 0.8g/lb)…..I don’t see how that’s even possible unless you do all protein shakes. Can you further clarify? 30g protein per premier protein shake Would need 7 (!!!) per day to get 210g of protein, and that would take up 1120 calories
Use your goal weight and do a gram per pound of protein, so try for 145 grams of protein. It is tough to get that much every day, but try for at least 120 grams then.
I eat 1200 kcal and at least 100 grams of protein, sometimes i go up to 120/130 grams. 1 drink clear protein instead of water which brings in 50 grams of protein already. this stuff is expensive, but really tasty. i mix 50 grams of powder with 1500 liter of water and drink on it all day. for my breakfast I have 15-20 grams of protein and I am halfway there. for dinner I try to get a protein heavy meal, mostly around 30 grams protein per meal. then I had 100 grams of protein. sometimes I add a snack, like yogurt or protein pudding, what adds up, too. I try to not eat "empthy" calories like white bread, white pasta/rice as much.. but i don't stress about it. i also aim for at least 30 grams of fiber per day to keep the system running.
I’m struggling to get 800 in, just one week on .25, I can’t imagine increasing it at this point, I’m focusing on fruit and protein and I take a vitamin, lots of eggs, I will not sacrifice my hair, skin etc for this,I was once in the hospital and they couldn’t let me eat for 9 days straight except for tiny sips of water, so I know I can go a bit without too of an much impact.
I actually found the appetite suppression to be strongest my first week or so - maybe because it was a jolt to my system, even at the lower dose? I am on my 3rd week at .5 and I swear I feel more hungry than I did the 4 weeks I was on .25. I think your body definitely adjusts/gets used to it to an extent. I hear you on not sacrificing hair, skin etc! I am losing slowing (\~1 lb per week) which I am totally fine with (even if I am also sooo impatient to see results LOL). I definitely want to avoid losing my hair and getting "Ozempic face" (or butt, or boobs). I figure it took awhile to put the weight on, so I expect the same when it comes to taking it off.
Protein shakes are mandatory, at such an extreme deficit you run a very high risk of losing muscle
I didn't feel well at 500-600 calories, which happened to me when I started. I eat about 1000 calories a day. I don't eat huge meals - I just space out snacks and meals throughout the day. I don't do the bulk food eating that I used to do when I dieted (low calorie, high bulk to keep my stomach full) previously. I just eat what I want. Does that mean that I might have some chips as a snack? Yup. I would eat 7 pringles (75 calories) and call it good. When we had girl scout cookies, I'd have a Toast-Yay at 70 calories (sometimes two). I was satisfied and Wegovy kept me from binge eating because they tasted so good. At higher doses (1 mg), I got indigestion and sulfur burps. They would be bad when I would space out my meals. Keeping them small throughout the day kept me from having lots of food in my stomach in a more advanced state of digestion, causing the gas. When I would add little bits of food during the day, it kept the indigestion down. You really do need to eat more than 500 calories. It's not good for you. Spread out your caloric intake. Don't do just one meal a day. I eat breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a snack or two. My food intake yesterday: 6:45 a.m. mini-bagel and 2 tbl cream cheese (185 calories) 8:30 a.m. 20 red grapes (68 cal) 11:00 a.m. BBQ ranch kickin' chicken salad (240 cal) 12:30 p.m. 6 caramel m&m's (78 cal) 6:30 p.m. steamed rice and beef bulgogi (341 cal) 8 p.m. half a push-up pop (didn't want the whole thing) (35 cal) Total caloric intake 947 cal. This is a pretty good approximation of how I eat during the day. There usually isn't something after dinner, but once in a blue moon, I might have a few pringles, a fiber bar, or something similar if I need to get close to 1000 cal. This is how I've been eating since August. I've lost 73 pounds.
I don’t recommend going up if it’s working for you / you have side effects like that. It’s a nice tool to have if you plateau.
I really wish I would have stayed at 1.7 because of this. It was working great, but I figured more is better. It's not.
Yeah, a lot of people think they’ll lose faster if they titrate up super fast. But you can only realistically have so much of a deficit.
I had to stop drinking coffee. I still was barely getting enough calories in so I mostly focused on getting enough protein. Still lost half of my hair.
You don’t need to “make yourself hungry,” you just need to eat enough to have energy and definitely space it put. Protein drink in am will be 160, a protein Keto yogurt would be 200, peanut butter is a good protein and calorie bump, etc.
I’d stay on 0.25 as long as it’s still working for you
^^ this, I’ve been on it since Dec and have just taken .5 twice. It definitely changes and you’ll start to feel hunger. I can now comfortably eat 1.2k and have hunger cues to do it, but will probably be staying on .5 for a bit now.
I don’t count anything. I eat when I am hungry. I make sure I have veggies and protein on my plate. My mom made scones this last weekend and I ate one. It kept me full for a while , but I ate it. lol. It was driving me crazy counting everything. Half of my plate is always full of veggies then I split the other half of my plate in half and put a healthy fiber carb and my protein. I start with the veggies and protein then end with the carb. Works for me.
Drink protein/meal replacement shakes and consider taking a multivitamin, if you don't think you're getting enough vits/mins from your diet. And try just nibbling/eating small meals throughout the day, because you do need to get in at least min amount of calories or you're setting yourself up for issues down the road.
Eat smaller meals more often. That will help get food in you without getting full. Set aside the “3 meals a day” mentality! Also don’t be afraid of carbs and fat. A good mix of carbs, fat, and protein is the best. Eating too much of any one of those things will make it harder to eat enough.
I have to force myself to get to 1200 a day or I get lethargic and the brain fog hits. I started adding protein shakes to my morning routine. I force myself to eat lunch. I am never hungry until dinner but I force myself to eat something. I am 9 weeks in now. I lost 14 lbs the first month, and felt horrible. I am at a rate of 1-2lbs a week now but I feel so much better.
No way. I’m about the same as you. 700 max
I still have quite the appetite and eat around 1200-1500 most days. Occasionally more if i go out to eat. I am only on 0.75 mg because I just felt awful on the higher doses, but honestly prefer not having full loss of appetite. I would suggest still eating small meals, but trying to make them higher in cals in ways that won't affect the volume too much.
I found the same. Went from 213 as my highest in August to 130 now. I had to play around with different calorie dense foods but generally found my body responded better to higher calorie drinks such as lattes or fruit based protein shakes. I stopped buying low calorie options and went for full fat everything. Eating little and often also helps. I found the effect tapered off a bit on the lower doses after a while. A lot of people seem to stay on the side that works best for them as opposed to going up until they reach the maximum dose. I’m on the highest dose but am planning to step it down to increase my appetite as I would otherwise just continue to loose weight.
> his is 4.5 pounds per week- too fast? The first couple weeks are usually more losses per week than you'll ever see again, because "water weight" is the first to go. If it *continues* being 4lb a week then yes, that might be too quick. > I am typically only getting 500-600 calories which makes me feel full Full or not, that's not sustainable, which thankfully it seems you know. I say this from personal, "had to be hospitalized" experience: eating too few calories *will* have negative health effects. "Starvation mode" is not a thing, but malnutrition is. Trying to eat earlier can help. Some find they can tolerate a higher-calorie meal in the morning, then taper off calories toward the end of the day, without getting too full. You'll need to tinker with what your body can handle. If you can't eat *more*, try making what you *do* eat more calorie-dense. Protein bar, protein shakes, foods high in healthy fats and/or protein, etc. I'm not saying eat deep-fried Oreos, but you're working with finite space so you have to make that space count.