First Week on Tirzepatide: 2.5mg Experiences?

[Hotlongs]

I'm in week 2 at .250mcg. Appetite is still blunted for me, but the day after injecting I started getting some acid reflux along with nausea. Seems like I'm very sensitive to tirz.

At night I used famotidine for the reflux, and by morning everything had cleared up.

Today I managed to eat a little more than what I could handle last week, and no nausea came with it over the course of the day. Food allergies and gastroparesis have been issues for me before. So far it feels like my body is processing what I eat, and I'm eating what I want without any mental pressure, if that makes sense.

 

[bjw76]

I've now spent 8 weeks at 2.5mg, and hunger control has gradually begun returning, though it remains entirely manageable. That opening month felt almost unreal—I had to make a point of getting enough food in, and on certain days hitting an adequate calorie total was a struggle. You should drink much more water than feels necessary, and consider adding calcium alongside magnesium supplements.

Next week I'm heading off on holiday, so my plan is to step up to 3.5mg right before leaving, since I'm certain the urge to overindulge will be pretty strong. Not long after, I'll likely increase to 5mg once weekly, but my hope is to remain at that level for as long as I can.

 

[lil ghost]

My initial tirzepatide kit should get here tomorrow! Reading everyone's experiences on this forum really calms my nerves and gives me hope

 

[CornPop]

lil ghost said:

My initial tirzepatide kit should get here tomorrow! Reading everyone's experiences on this forum really calms my nerves and gives me hope

Wishing you the best!

 

[Jdo414]

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

 

[hoobz]

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

I'd say wait a bit longer. What's odd is that during week 3, 2.5mg of Tirz seemed a bit less potent to me than it had in weeks 1-2. Yet by weeks 4 and 5, and now into week 6 (which I began today), the same 2.5mg dose is hitting me at full strength.

 

[skeptick]

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

Rushing your dose upward isn't wise. Solid reasons exist to hold off, and moving too fast may actually push you backward. Ask me how I know.... Dose 1 partly stacks onto dose 2, and both of those stack onto dose 3, continuing onward. Everything accumulates. Begin low and titrate gradually is the best medicine, as plenty of the 'old timers' will confirm. Personally, 5mg was working well for me, but I got impatient to move things along faster and leapt to 7.5mg, which brought brutal sides. After experimenting with split doses for a few weeks, then dropping back down for several more weeks, I wound up restarting from scratch at 5mg, and even there it took additional weeks before the worst sides faded. I sacrificed all that time and subjected myself to misery purely because I had the "if a little is good lots must be better" addictive mindset. The GLP's aren't 'magic' on their own ,there's work that has to be put in...

 

[spanky2026]

At this point I'm close to 4 months in. What I recall from my very first day: I woke up (I'd injected the evening before, then slept) sure that Tirzepatide wasn't doing a thing — I felt basically nothing. Then I sat down for a meal... and I could barely get through any of it. And the small amount I did eat was ...if I can say this....sufficient. The thought that stuck with me that entire day, and has stayed with me since, was: "My God, is this what a normal relationship with food is like?" Not having it on my mind constantly. Getting a regular-sized serving and feeling totally content with it. Amazing. That surprise still hasn't worn off. So all these folks who never had to deal with obesity, they go through life like THIS? Wow.

 

[Jdo414]

hoobz said:

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

I'd say wait a bit longer. What's odd is that during week 3, 2.5mg of Tirz seemed a bit less potent to me than it had in weeks 1-2. Yet by weeks 4 and 5, and now into week 6 (which I began today), the same 2.5mg dose is hitting me at full strength.

skeptick said:

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

Rushing your dose upward isn't wise. Solid reasons exist to hold off, and moving too fast may actually push you backward. Ask me how I know.... Dose 1 partly stacks onto dose 2, and both of those stack onto dose 3, continuing onward. Everything accumulates. Begin low and titrate gradually is the best medicine, as plenty of the 'old timers' will confirm. Personally, 5mg was working well for me, but I got impatient to move things along faster and leapt to 7.5mg, which brought brutal sides. After experimenting with split doses for a few weeks, then dropping back down for several more weeks, I wound up restarting from scratch at 5mg, and even there it took additional weeks before the worst sides faded. I sacrificed all that time and subjected myself to misery purely because I had the "if a little is good lots must be better" addictive mindset. The GLP's aren't 'magic' on their own ,there's work that has to be put in...

Taking it slow makes sense to me too. My wegovy journey began at 0.25, moved to 0.50, and I've now wrapped up 1mg. The thing is, I was drawn to 5mg tirz because I came across some sema-to-tirz conversion charts showing that 5mg tirz matches 1-2.4mg sema.

Even so, I played it safe and began tirz at 2.5mg. But by day 3, the appetite suppression had worn off, which makes me wonder if 5mg would have been the right starting point.

 

[skeptick]

Jdo414 said:

hoobz said:

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

I'd say wait a bit longer. What's odd is that during week 3, 2.5mg of Tirz seemed a bit less potent to me than it had in weeks 1-2. Yet by weeks 4 and 5, and now into week 6 (which I began today), the same 2.5mg dose is hitting me at full strength.

skeptick said:

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

Rushing your dose upward isn't wise. Solid reasons exist to hold off, and moving too fast may actually push you backward. Ask me how I know.... Dose 1 partly stacks onto dose 2, and both of those stack onto dose 3, continuing onward. Everything accumulates. Begin low and titrate gradually is the best medicine, as plenty of the 'old timers' will confirm. Personally, 5mg was working well for me, but I got impatient to move things along faster and leapt to 7.5mg, which brought brutal sides. After experimenting with split doses for a few weeks, then dropping back down for several more weeks, I wound up restarting from scratch at 5mg, and even there it took additional weeks before the worst sides faded. I sacrificed all that time and subjected myself to misery purely because I had the "if a little is good lots must be better" addictive mindset. The GLP's aren't 'magic' on their own ,there's work that has to be put in...

Taking it slow makes sense to me too. My wegovy journey began at 0.25, moved to 0.50, and I've now wrapped up 1mg. The thing is, I was drawn to 5mg tirz because I came across some sema-to-tirz conversion charts showing that 5mg tirz matches 1-2.4mg sema.

Even so, I played it safe and began tirz at 2.5mg. But by day 3, the appetite suppression had worn off, which makes me wonder if 5mg would have been the right starting point.

View attachment 10862

Appreciate it — that chart is new to me, and I hadn’t come across a Sema/Tirz comparison before, though it does make sense. Do what works for you, and keep us posted on the results...

 

[lessthanhalf]

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

I once tried to figure out how much tirzepatide would match my semaglutide dose. My rough math put 0.8mg/week of sema in the neighborhood of 3-5mg of tirz. Back then I had no idea grey peptides existed, so the only way it could pencil out was if the dose stayed low enough to stretch a single 60mg pen across at least 3-4 months, given the $690 Aud price per pen.

That plan did not survive contact with reality. On 0.2mg of sema every 2 days I felt pretty rough nausea, yet tirz gave me almost none, and it also suppressed my appetite less. To get my hunger controlled slightly better than sema had done, I wound up at 15mg of tirz, though with far fewer side effects. Finding this forum and inexpensive chinese peptides was what finally fixed the cost issue.

How each GLP affects people, both in benefits and in side effects, varies from person to person, so any conversion chart is only a rough reference. The real approach is to titrate based on hunger control and side effects.

 

[hoobz]

Jdo414 said:

hoobz said:

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

I'd say wait a bit longer. What's odd is that during week 3, 2.5mg of Tirz seemed a bit less potent to me than it had in weeks 1-2. Yet by weeks 4 and 5, and now into week 6 (which I began today), the same 2.5mg dose is hitting me at full strength.

skeptick said:

Jdo414 said:

I've just wrapped up my initial 7 days on tirzepatide at 2.5mg. Before this, I was using wegovy 1mg pens. My original plan was to jump straight to 5mg of tirz, but concerns about adverse reactions made me opt for the starting dose instead.

Side effects were minimal — just some burping that cleared up within 24 hours. What stood out to me was feeling hunger suppression only a few hours after the shot, something that never occurred with wegovy. That caught me off guard in a good way.

That said, the effect seems to fade around day 4. I recently found out that tirzepatide's half-life is 5 days, unlike semaglutide's 7. So I'm thinking of moving to 5mg for the next injection and possibly switching to a 5-day schedule.

On a related note, wegovy helped me drop roughly 30lbs over 3 months. I'm eager to see what tirzepatide can do — I just need to dial in the right dosage for my body.

Rushing your dose upward isn't wise. Solid reasons exist to hold off, and moving too fast may actually push you backward. Ask me how I know.... Dose 1 partly stacks onto dose 2, and both of those stack onto dose 3, continuing onward. Everything accumulates. Begin low and titrate gradually is the best medicine, as plenty of the 'old timers' will confirm. Personally, 5mg was working well for me, but I got impatient to move things along faster and leapt to 7.5mg, which brought brutal sides. After experimenting with split doses for a few weeks, then dropping back down for several more weeks, I wound up restarting from scratch at 5mg, and even there it took additional weeks before the worst sides faded. I sacrificed all that time and subjected myself to misery purely because I had the "if a little is good lots must be better" addictive mindset. The GLP's aren't 'magic' on their own ,there's work that has to be put in...

Taking it slow makes sense to me too. My wegovy journey began at 0.25, moved to 0.50, and I've now wrapped up 1mg. The thing is, I was drawn to 5mg tirz because I came across some sema-to-tirz conversion charts showing that 5mg tirz matches 1-2.4mg sema.

Even so, I played it safe and began tirz at 2.5mg. But by day 3, the appetite suppression had worn off, which makes me wonder if 5mg would have been the right starting point.

View attachment 10862

Appreciate the chart!

There are folks who prefer stepping between the "official" doses — moving from 2.5 up to 3.75 rather than jumping straight to 5, for instance.

Once 2.5 loses its effectiveness, that's probably the route I'll take. My plan is to stay at the smallest amount I can. That said, it may not pan out for everybody; some slow responders could require a higher dose. Keep us posted on your progress and best of luck!

 

[lessthanhalf]

Tirzepatide's standard step-ups seem sensible to me: each increase is 2.5 regardless of the current level, which keeps the chance of rough side effects lower.

If the side effects you're already feeling are mild and manageable, that's a decent signal to either hold the dose steady or bump it only slightly, so you avoid getting slammed all at once by something much worse.

Reta's 2 4 8 12 progression is less cautious, and I'd slot 6 and 10mg into it.

Semaglutide's 0.25 0.5 1 1.7 2.4 isn't as carefully designed, though newer drugs had more time and real-world experience to refine their schedules. Going straight from 0.5 to 1mg isn't wise; it ought to be 0.75, particularly since that drug already tends to produce more GI issues.

 

[Elocin]

Ozempic was prescribed to me before, but it didn't help much at all. All it really did was make me super constipated lol. For me, that was money down the drain.

Before beginning Tirz, I read up quite a bit and settled on a schedule of every 5 days.

Dose #1 was 1mg. For dose #2 I went with 1.5mg. Honestly, that first pin gave me nothing noticeable, but once the 2nd one hit, appetite suppression came on strong. That's precisely what I need to get my binge eating under control. Eating is no problem for me, I just eat much less, which is great. Still undecided whether pin #3 will be 1.5mg again or 2mg.

My husband is a different story.. he appears to be extremely sensitive to GLP1's. The poor man dealt with terrible gastro side effects from Ozempic, and Tirz seems to be doing the same to him. It's funny how reactions vary so much from person to person.

 

[CornPop]

Elocin said:

Ozempic was prescribed to me before, but it didn't help much at all. All it really did was make me super constipated lol. For me, that was money down the drain.

Before beginning Tirz, I read up quite a bit and settled on a schedule of every 5 days.

Dose #1 was 1mg. For dose #2 I went with 1.5mg. Honestly, that first pin gave me nothing noticeable, but once the 2nd one hit, appetite suppression came on strong. That's precisely what I need to get my binge eating under control. Eating is no problem for me, I just eat much less, which is great. Still undecided whether pin #3 will be 1.5mg again or 2mg.

My husband is a different story.. he appears to be extremely sensitive to GLP1's. The poor man dealt with terrible gastro side effects from Ozempic, and Tirz seems to be doing the same to him. It's funny how reactions vary so much from person to person.

Taking it gradually and increasing only when needed seems like a wise approach to me. That said, my first 2 weeks went smoothly with nothing to report, but once I hit week 3 I became incredibly irritable. It was worst at night. The irritation and mood swings made no sense at all.

After I picked up some magnesium and completed a 24-hour fast, things improved a lot. My guess is that my body wasn't adjusted to such a large deficit and wasn't tapping into my fat stores. The fast pushed my body to burn that stored fat instead. How much of a difference it made really surprised me.

 

[Elocin]

sylvieon said:

hi c: i started tirz yesterday at 2.2mg and the effect is so mild (no side effects at all) that i honestly questioned whether it was doing anything lol. but today the food noise is gone. that inner voice suggesting i eat more just because i'm bored or whatever? silent. i actually had to remind myself, "yeah i guess eating is a good idea." i'm not hungry. the only side effect on day one was the anxiety i stirred up in myself by second-guessing whether this was even a good idea, but i'm over it

This resonates with me a lot!! haha. My anxiety and panic disorder are pretty severe. Luckily, I managed to calm myself down

 

[Not_Your_Dad]

Elocin said:

Ozempic was prescribed to me before, but it didn't help much at all. All it really did was make me super constipated lol. For me, that was money down the drain.

Before beginning Tirz, I read up quite a bit and settled on a schedule of every 5 days.

Dose #1 was 1mg. For dose #2 I went with 1.5mg. Honestly, that first pin gave me nothing noticeable, but once the 2nd one hit, appetite suppression came on strong. That's precisely what I need to get my binge eating under control. Eating is no problem for me, I just eat much less, which is great. Still undecided whether pin #3 will be 1.5mg again or 2mg.

My husband is a different story.. he appears to be extremely sensitive to GLP1's. The poor man dealt with terrible gastro side effects from Ozempic, and Tirz seems to be doing the same to him. It's funny how reactions vary so much from person to person.

If your husband is open to it, Reta could be worth a look — after moving off a high dose of Tirz, I barely get any stomach trouble from it. I didn't ease in either: began at 2 mg, then stepped up to 6 mg every 84 hours across 8 weeks.

Broadly speaking, sticking with your current dose seems sensible so long as it keeps working toward what you're aiming for. I've come across people who stayed at or below 5 mg the whole time and still dropped 40% of their body weight. As for Mrs. NYD, she's shed more than 50% of her body weight, though it took pushing all the way to 10 mg every 84 hours, and she's now making the switch to Reta because the GI side effects at that dose were truly awful for her.

 

[Elocin]

Not_Your_Dad said:


Have hubs consider Reta - I switched from high-dose Tirz and the gastro sides are almost non-existent for me. I went full send on it too, started at 2 mg and titrated up to 6 mg every 84 hours over 8 weeks.

On the whole, I think it's reasonable to keep the dose you're on as long as it's effective for your goals. I've heard of some folks never going over 5 mg and losing 40% of their body weight. Mrs. NYD has lost over 50% of her body weight but had to work up to 10 mg every 84 hours and now she's transitioning over to Reta as the GI sides have been absolutely brutal for her at that dose.

Click to expand...

50% is amazing!!

Besides the GI problems, were there any other side effects when you moved up every 84 hours?

I’m absolutely going to bring up Reta with him. If the GI stuff goes away, I believe he’d be open to giving it a try.

 

[Not_Your_Dad]

Elocin said:


50% is amazing!!

Other than the GI issues, any other side effects titrating every 84 hours?

I will definitely talk to him about Reta. I think he would be willing to try, if the GI stuff stops.

Click to expand...

When she was taking 10 mg every 84 hours, the GI side effects were a bit milder, though she still had a hard time with them.

As for me and Reta, no. While I was on Tirz at either 12.5 or 15, the 48 hours following each injection left me feeling like a train had run me over. The GI problems were terrible too. On top of that, my weight loss had been stuck for 8-12 weeks (I can't recall the exact number anymore). If the weight had kept coming off, I would have put up with those sides, but since nothing was happening, I reached my limit. With Reta, even at the high dose I'm currently using, the most I get is some occasional nausea. What I notice is that I simply have zero desire to eat, and I can go 18 hours on around 300 calories before the nausea gets so bad that I'm forced to eat something. In my head, I think I'd be okay going 2 or 3 days without food, but my body reacts so strongly (and honestly, humans aren't supposed to want to eat only once every 72 hours) that eating becomes necessary.

 

[Elocin]

Not_Your_Dad said:


She had slightly less difficult GI sides with 10 mg / 84 hours, but it was still rough for her.

For me on Reta, no. I was at either 12.5 or 15 on Tirz and for 48 hours after that shot I felt like I got hit by a train. And the GI sides were awful. Plus I had stalled on loss for 8-12 weeks (I don't remember any more). I would have dealt with the sides if I continued to lose, but with no loss, I couldn't do it any more. The worst I have with Reta, even with this high dose I'm on, is a little nausea now and then. I find that I just absolutely don't want to eat, and I'll go 18 hours on maybe 300 calories and then I'll get so nauseous that I have to eat something. Mentally I'd be fine not eating for 2 or 3 days, I suspect, but I get such a strong physical reaction to it (and lets be real, as humans we should not just voluntarily want to eat only every 72 hours) that I have to eat.

Click to expand...

Appreciate all the insight!! It definitely got hubs thinking about a few things.