Best diet while on tirzepatide?

therealdlg

therealdlg

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Hey everyone! Hope you're all doing great! I'm wondering whether I ought to remove carbs from what I eat once I begin tirzepatide? It's tough for me to picture that as something I could keep up, and I'm concerned that having brown rice at both lunch and dinner might ruin my progress? What has worked in your experience?
 
I don't really stick to any specific diet plan. I just keep an eye on my total calories and make sure I'm getting enough protein, and honestly that naturally ends up being fairly low carb. That said, when I'm craving carbs, I eat them — for example, the fresh baked biscuit I had this Sunday morning for breakfast. I'm losing about 1.9 pounds per week on average, so it seems to be working fine for me. A lot of the time I'll throw together a rice and meat dish in my rice cooker and pick at it over several days until I can't stand it anymore, and whatever's left goes to the birds. I'm old, and I'm just enjoying the freedom Tirz has finally given me to simply eat, without treating any food group as the enemy.
 
Back when I began using GLP for losing weight while holding onto muscle, my habit was to have carbs either before my workouts, after them, or both.

If it's a day I'm not training, I aim to keep carbs low-ish, since I've read—at least in the morning—that carbs get in the way of how GLP's work. The exact mechanism escapes me. Go look it up yourself, damn it. 🤣

That said, carbs aren't the villain. The real problem is processed food loaded with garbage oils, tons of sodium, preservatives, and other nasty chemicals that might work against the GLP's you're on.

Keep in mind that Tirz keeps your intake low, so the quality of what you eat counts far more than you'd expect—particularly if your goal is keeping muscle while dropping fat.

And brown rice actually has far more carcinogens than white rice. On top of that, you'd need to consume huge amounts of brown rice before its perks—fiber, some micronutrients—would do anything for you. Just go with white rice. 🤣
 
therealdlg said:

Hey everyone! Hope you're all doing great! I'm wondering whether I ought to remove carbs from what I eat once I begin tirzepatide? It's tough for me to picture that as something I could keep up, and I'm concerned that having brown rice at both lunch and dinner might ruin my progress? What has worked in your experience?
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Wishing you the best as you begin Tirz!!

A common mistake I notice with folks new to these compounds: they just shrink portions of the same junk, so it's great that you're already considering lifestyle and eating patterns.

Carbs aren't the enemy. They serve as energy and fuel. Dropping carbs alone won't burn extra fat; ultimately, calories drive the outcome. Over-restricting carbs mostly means initial water loss that comes right back once you eat them again, plus after a while your mood will suffer, which can happen on GLP1 for some people regardless

Keep carbs in ur diet, just stay in a deficit. If you train, I'd time the bulk of your carbs around your workout. If not, simply have them with your regular meals.

I'd also target roughly 2g of protein per kg of ur goal bodyweight. That matters because you don't want to shed too much muscle, or any at all. If you do, you could wind up looking flat with a higher body-fat percentage at a lower scale weight.

Begin with a modest deficit at the start. Step on the scale once a week in the morning and track the trend across every 7 days so u can tweak calories when needed. Typically you'll drop water fast in the first few days, then fat loss settles into a steadier pace. So don't freak out if u lose 4kg in week one and then just 0.6–1kg per week afterward. Slower tends to be better and easier to sustain.

Also, don't drop fats too low. Your hormones still need a healthy amount of fats in your nutrition
 
My approach went against the grain of much common advice: at the outset I made no changes at all and left everything to the tirz. If progress stalled or halted, I would move the dose up when the schedule allowed and make a small addition—more activity, fewer calories, reducing carbs, removing the majority of hyperpalatable items.

I began in late June of last year with roughly 60-65 pounds to shed. At this point I am 2-6 pounds away from my target, and as I have gotten nearer to it I have kept escalating things, since the gap between what I take in and what I burn has come to carry more weight. My current pattern is low-ish carb with some whole-food carbs, almost no sweets, almost no hyperpalatable foods, gym multiple times per week, and daily bicycling or long walks—because that is what it takes to force off those final pounds now that I am already fairly lean.

Had I attempted to "start strong" from day 1, even with tirz, this would have been awful. Instead, the whole thing has been relatively mild. There is also less need to lean on the last of my food-based comforts or my sitting-on-the-couch-binge-watching-Brooklyn-99-clips comforts, now that I move through the world as a hot middle aged woman with great outfits, a body that does not chafe or sweat excessively during workouts, and just about everyone telling me [[Q1]] I do not require the same amount of comfort from other places that I did in the early days.
 
Lean, green, plus additional protein. Fruit, veggies, and nuts are my only carb sources. 104lbs lost over 1 year. I have 3 meals daily along with 2 snacks. Cut out every processed food, fried food, and soda. Stick to whole, natural foods.
 
The easiest change I've made is cutting out processed carbohydrates. Really, processed foods overall, but especially the carbs. When you eat mostly whole foods, it's hard to consume too much.
 
The thing that has genuinely helped me keep losing weight is sticking to one very straightforward principle.

If it doesn't come from the ground, off a tree or bush, or from an animal I could kill and eat, it doesn't go in my mouth.

I do allow myself some cheese, seasonings and butter (never margarine).

So carbs are still part of my diet, just not the processed kind, and protein always comes first for me.

I still eat out now and then, and every so often I'll have something indulgent, like the eggroll and egg Mei Fun I had today.
 
These days I find myself having to figure out what I can realistically get down. My appetite is basically gone. In the past I made protein the priority and I still eat carbs (rice, sourdough bread, and similar things), just not a huge amount, and I try to work in more greens, plus a protein shake with flax seeds & collagen at night.

Every now and then I'll get something from a restaurant, like a burger, but I can hardly get through half of it
 
therealdlg said:

Hey everyone! Hope you're all doing great! I'm wondering whether I ought to remove carbs from what I eat once I begin tirzepatide? It's tough for me to picture that as something I could keep up, and I'm concerned that having brown rice at both lunch and dinner might ruin my progress? What has worked in your experience?
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Moderation is the rule for everything. Brown rice is fine. That said, it works better as a now-and-then side dish in small amounts (1/2 cup cooked) instead of something you build your meals around. Quinoa, califlower rice, or lentils could be stronger choices next to protein and veggies.

Carbs overall tend to get blamed unfairly, though much of that reputation comes from simple carbs, which genuinely are the issue and are worth steering clear of.

So no, removing every carb from what you eat doesn't strike me as a good idea. Healthy carbs are fine, and I've dropped weight while still eating them, so they won't derail your progress.

The main takeaway: putting protein first matters, and staying in a deficit is what really drives weight loss.
 
FarmgirlRebel said:

The thing that has genuinely helped me keep losing weight is sticking to one very straightforward principle.

If it doesn't come from the ground, off a tree or bush, or from an animal I could kill and eat, it doesn't go in my mouth.

I do allow myself some cheese, seasonings and butter (never margarine).

So carbs are still part of my diet, just not the processed kind, and protein always comes first for me.

I still eat out now and then, and every so often I'll have something indulgent, like the eggroll and egg Mei Fun I had today.
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She dropped over 50% of her starting weight — her advice deserves your attention!!!!
 
chewonmysac said:

Lean, green, plus additional protein. Fruit, veggies, and nuts are my only carb sources. 104lbs lost over 1 year. I have 3 meals daily along with 2 snacks. Cut out every processed food, fried food, and soda. Stick to whole, natural foods.
Click to expand...

FarmgirlRebel said:

The thing that has genuinely helped me keep losing weight is sticking to one very straightforward principle.

If it doesn't come from the ground, off a tree or bush, or from an animal I could kill and eat, it doesn't go in my mouth.

I do allow myself some cheese, seasonings and butter (never margarine).

So carbs are still part of my diet, just not the processed kind, and protein always comes first for me.

I still eat out now and then, and every so often I'll have something indulgent, like the eggroll and egg Mei Fun I had today.
Click to expand...
Absolutely — eat whole, unprocessed food.

Things that aren't sold in boxes or wrappers.

Human bodies developed eating real food.

Not the artificially colored processed stuff.
 
Broadly speaking, GLP medications do their job whether or not your food choices are healthy ones — the effect is simply that you consume smaller amounts of the less ideal items. Getting enough protein while using a GLP is worthwhile, aiming for 1.5g/kg of bodyweight daily, which helps limit muscle loss.

My view is that avoiding hyperpalatable, calorie-dense, high glycaemic index carbs makes a lower calorie way of eating easier to maintain over the long run. Part of the reason is that it smooths out the blood glucose spikes and dips that can set off more hunger, and part of it is that it teaches you to take pleasure in foods that are not so calorie dense. When you regularly treat yourself to very rich foods, the slightly less rich options that fit better into a lower calorie diet stop tasting as good, because you have those richer items to compare against. That reasoning seems sound to me.

Carbs on their own, I don't see as the problem. The difference is that when they come from minimally processed fruit, vegetables or whole grains, they do a better job of keeping hunger in check over time than the more calorie dense, high glycaemic index versions such as breads, processed cereals, cakes or biscuits — even when the calorie count is identical.
 
This whole grain package delivers protein, fiber and healthy calories. It's a fast, simple go-to alongside the standard protein lineup: chicken breast, salmon, eggs, cottage cheese and greek yogurt. I keep veggies I enjoy ready because bell peppers, cabbage, carrots, celery and onion are simple to chop, sauté, and spoon over the whole grain blend. I'll fill a Tupperware with chopped veg so I can take a handful and toss it into a pan with hot olive oil. Berries — blue berries are something I eat as well
 
Cutting your daily calorie intake makes it tougher to maintain adequate vitamin levels, and supplements can't fully make up for that gap.

Should you decide to remove carbs, watch out that you don't go overboard on fatty items—that can end up causing problems later.

Using a tracker such as Cronometer is something I'd suggest; it lets you monitor not just calories but nutrients too! (Some entries may need to be added by hand if they aren't included automatically). Since vitamin shortages can creep up quietly, it pays to see which ones you're short on.
 
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