Anyone else dealing with occasional food noise?

[krsct]

I reached my target weight and have kept it steady with a GLP-1 for 2-1/2 years. Once in a great while, I'll have an off day and grab fast food as a fourth meal, or eat something late at night. That used to be a regular habit before GLP-1, but now it almost never happens. Has this happened to anyone else? Luckily, my overall weight loss hasn't been affected.

 

[Estarossa19]

Well done on reaching goal weight and holding it there! My take: as long as it is not an everyday thing and it is not holding you back, let yourself enjoy it!

 

[lessthanhalf]

You ought to name the specific medication — there's no reason to use abbreviations for these on this forum. My hunch is that if your weight loss is being maintained, does it really matter? Keeping weight off over the long haul, which it sounds like you're managing, is genuinely far tougher than taking it off. Ultimately it boils down to livability — meaning, can you sustain eating the kinds of foods and quantities that hold the weight loss steady without misery or relentless superhuman willpower? Having less healthy food or extra food once in a while isn't truly an issue, provided it's infrequent and doesn't snowball into uncontrolled eating or weight regain.

I suppose it partly hinges on how you interpret these slips. If it registers as losing control over eating, then it might feel like a problem, though even then it's the gentlest imaginable form of binge eating disorder at most — and possibly not even that, if no harm comes of it. It also depends somewhat on how significant this was for you prior to the weight loss. Assuming there are no side effects, you're not at the highest doses, and shedding a few extra kilos isn't a concern, you could experiment with marginally larger doses to see whether that helps — but it sounds like the real issue lies more in the psychology of it.

 

[Glpsince2021]

(61 y/o F) on GLP since 2021, hit goal in 2022 (BMI 22), maintaining ever since (2.5 mg Sema/1 mg Cagri at the moment).

Sure, some days my appetite runs higher and I eat past what I meant to, yet the overall picture is steady. Back when I began the meds the suppression felt like pure magic, as if air alone would do. Eat? Food was for other people! That faded in time and hunger came back into the room, though nowhere near pre-GLP levels. So now and then I sit myself down and pull things back into line.

Reality check: slim people by nature also have days of eating more. Occasional lapses only become a problem once they turn into regain. Keep an eye on it. Is the weight creeping up? Are the days coming more often? Have they slipped past your control? If yes, what would correct it? Could a dose increase be the answer?

The drugs carry most of the load, but appetite does push through at times.

 

[K2UGA]

Same here. I do my best not to beat myself up over it, yet the worry lingers that I'll slip back into who I used to be and lose my grip. That's exactly why, ever since I began tirz, I haven't allowed alcohol past my lips. One fed the other — drink set off eating, eating set off drinking — an endless, nasty cycle.

 

[Glpsince2021]

I also want to mention that certain weeks come along where it feels as though the medication suddenly loses most of its potency, almost as if I had injected water instead. This occurred even during the period when I was using the brand name version. A week afterward, the appetite suppression returned. The first time it happened, I became extremely scared, convinced that this was the end - everything had fallen apart and the meds were no longer doing their job. Then it simply righted itself.

These days it doesn't scare me nearly as much. I understand that the medication hasn't quit working; this is just how things naturally go, and I take whatever steps I can to soften the impact. As far as I know, nobody has reported regaining all the weight they lost while still taking the medication, so that gives me some comfort.

 

[hoobz]

Glpsince2021 said:

I also want to mention that certain weeks come along where it feels as though the medication suddenly loses most of its potency, almost as if I had injected water instead. This occurred even during the period when I was using the brand name version. A week afterward, the appetite suppression returned. The first time it happened, I became extremely scared, convinced that this was the end - everything had fallen apart and the meds were no longer doing their job. Then it simply righted itself.

These days it doesn't scare me nearly as much. I understand that the medication hasn't quit working; this is just how things naturally go, and I take whatever steps I can to soften the impact. As far as I know, nobody has reported regaining all the weight they lost while still taking the medication, so that gives me some comfort.

That's exactly my situation right now, following my 3rd Tirz injection. The 1st and 2nd doses wiped out the food noise and hunger instantly. Today I did my 3rd shot, and I'm feeling the way I did yesterday—some mild food noise, I consumed a little extra over the course of the day, and I'm craving something sweet. I honestly wondered whether I'd administered the shot properly. Naturally, I'm at 2.5mg (as I mentioned, just beginning week 3).

 

[Grogu]

lessthanhalf said:

You ought to name the specific medication — there's no reason to use abbreviations for these on this forum. My hunch is that if your weight loss is being maintained, does it really matter? Keeping weight off over the long haul, which it sounds like you're managing, is genuinely far tougher than taking it off. Ultimately it boils down to livability — meaning, can you sustain eating the kinds of foods and quantities that hold the weight loss steady without misery or relentless superhuman willpower? Having less healthy food or extra food once in a while isn't truly an issue, provided it's infrequent and doesn't snowball into uncontrolled eating or weight regain.

I suppose it partly hinges on how you interpret these slips. If it registers as losing control over eating, then it might feel like a problem, though even then it's the gentlest imaginable form of binge eating disorder at most — and possibly not even that, if no harm comes of it. It also depends somewhat on how significant this was for you prior to the weight loss. Assuming there are no side effects, you're not at the highest doses, and shedding a few extra kilos isn't a concern, you could experiment with marginally larger doses to see whether that helps — but it sounds like the real issue lies more in the psychology of it.

When I finished the OP's post, what struck me first was the possibility of mild BED — maybe an eating disorder of some kind — since the pattern reads as psychological. That said, I don't rule out the return of old habits even while someone is on tirzepatide. And honestly, fast food in moderation isn't something I'd condemn. If the OP has a "bad day" and then falls back on a familiar coping mechanism, my guess is that's more about psychology than about the medication failing.