bbbilly said:
i know this will probably earn me some backlash. still, here is my own tirz and BED story.
back in my 20s, roughly 11 years ago, i dropped just over 100lbs through nothing but stubbornness and hard work. after that i began regaining gradually while fooling myself that i was bulking to add muscle. covid arrived, everything closed, i was laid off multiple times, and most of the weight came back.
when i started again i shed around 60lbs across about 10 months and thought "why not, i meet the criteria and have pre diabetes, this could make it easier" and it did. the following 50ish pounds came off with almost no struggle because i repeated what had worked for the first 60 and the 100 before that.. simply push my hunger aside and eat my prepped meals, only this time with far less mental strain. whenever my weight slowed or stalled i would redo my meals slightly lighter, or bulk them up (tip: toss in some pre shredded coleslaw mix for crunch at roughly 3 calories)
after i reached the normal bmi range my PCP told me to stop losing and hold the total weight, and to spend about 6 months getting used to what and how much i eat. then the worst thing hit.. i lost my day job and with it the health insurance that covered my brand name zepbound. once more i told myself "well ill do a bulk and try to put on some muscle and enjoy the holidays" and gained 35lbs in about 4 months, then had to take it back off... without the zep i removed 25lbs in roughly 3 months. then i found this forum and got back on the sauce.
which brings me to now. i take 1.25mg tirz every 7-8 days. compared with the 2.5mg i used to lose the 50 before. the first time around i only went up to 5 for about a month before the job thing happened so i got nothing from that. this time though im deliberately stretching the gap a bit more and taking a bit less, specifically so i can feel the hunger and food noise returning as a reference before i wipe them out. i know what to eat because i just follow whatever the calorie calculators tell me, and if they are slightly off i tweak the final couple hundred calories but i always keep a little space for those BED episodes i only notice once im already inside one by sticking to the routine and getting the chance to think "i haven't eaten something over the sink in my underwear in a while.. why am i doing it now?"
because tirz kept me from being hungry i had that realization of "why am i eating when i feel so full already?" because for me its not about hunger, i just want to EAT. so when i lost access for a while i just told myself "im not actually hungry right now, my stomach is lying to me". and would simply ignore it. i eat what im supposed to eat and maybe a couple bite my wife leaves over and just go about my day.
TL

R i used my time on tirz to learn my stomach is a liar and just ignore it, stick to my calories and move on, but also how to spot a BED episode when im in it and to avoid falling into one to begin with.