I've been on Tirz since October 2025, and initially the food noise disappeared and I'd feel nauseous. I titrated slowly and have been at 5mg for 5 weeks now. My injection day is Saturday. But today the noise is really bad — worse than it's been since I started. I realize I'm not following Eli's recommended schedule, but I'm hesitant to jump to higher doses quickly if staying lower can still work for me.
Struggling with Food Noise on 5mg Tirz — Need Advice
- Thread starter fatty33
- Start date
woundcarping
Explorer
Since you'd rather stay at lower doses when they work, you're sitting below the usual titration steps—yet food noise is still giving you trouble...
I get that you didn't actually ask anything, but in just 6 sentences you laid out both the issue and the fix.
Hey 33, a few questions to run through. First, is this a fresh vial you're using? Are you getting it from the same place as before? I'm wondering whether differences in where it comes from might mean different strength. Second, how are you doing on protein? You'd want roughly 1 gram for every pound of your goal weight. Third, are you getting enough sleep? Fourth, are you drinking enough water, plus some electrolytes?
For me, Tirz worked great at the start. RETA, on the other hand, was terrible! It took several weeks of titrating before I got to around 3mg and the noise finally quieted down. I also started adding .25 to .50mg of Cagri each day, taken after the Reta. If all the other boxes are ticked, maybe a small amount of Cagri could be worth trying? Best of luck. I hope at least one of these ideas is useful.
cheaperseeker
Explorer
If lower-than-standard dosing works for you, fantastic. Here, though, that doesn't appear to be the case. My recommendation is to increase the dose before introducing any additional compounds.
CNCCurrency
Explorer
Perhaps introduce cagri?
DragonOfTheSea
Explorer
I agree with this, and it's essentially the same point woundcarping made.
After 6 months and still sitting at 5mg, there's zero risk of reaching a "high dosage" any time soon. For you, 1-2mg might be enough to change everything, without needing to source, risk, or schedule anything extra into your routine
skeptick
Explorer
You're not obligated to stick with the EL protocol. One option could be 6mg, then increase further if it doesn't do the trick.
FarmgirlRebel
Explorer
By midweek, my food noise started coming back while I was on 5mg. My injection day is now Friday at 5mg, and I also introduced a 500mcg bump dose on Tuesday, which appears to give my levels a lift and carry me through. Should that not be sufficient, I will raise the Tuesday bump to 1mg...this approach keeps my levels steadier rather than having them peak and then lose effectiveness.
FartfulCodger
Explorer
Moving the dose up is the obvious fix. Sitting at just 5mg across 6 months was always going to wake your appetite back up. But if going up really is off the table, then I'm with the split-dosing and/or Cagrilintide crowd.
lessthanhalf
Explorer
Raising the tirz dose looks like the clear move here. When someone still has a lot of weight left to lose, deliberately holding at low doses tends to work against them. That said, if you are set against going up right now, a 1-2mg top up on days when hunger is bad is an option — it will probably do the job, and then you can wait and see. Should the same pattern show up a week after a 5mg dose, that gives you a firm answer: going higher is sensible and it will help. Serious gut side effects are unlikely — feeling genuinely hungry and feeling nauseous at once is hard, and nausea is the side effect that shows up most often.
Since I know nothing about your age or starting weight, I can't guarantee that tirzepatide helps your long term health, though for most people it does, and the benefit grows if someone is older, sicker or more obese. Broadly, then, taking it at full doses supports long term health rather than damaging it, whereas remaining at low doses when there are no side effects and hunger is present has little to recommend it.
Since I know nothing about your age or starting weight, I can't guarantee that tirzepatide helps your long term health, though for most people it does, and the benefit grows if someone is older, sicker or more obese. Broadly, then, taking it at full doses supports long term health rather than damaging it, whereas remaining at low doses when there are no side effects and hunger is present has little to recommend it.
That shot used up the whole vial. On the drive back I found myself unsure and thinking about it. And no, I am not meeting my protein target. Honestly, there are times when hunger is getting the better of me, and having a protein drink genuinely helps in those moments. I also need to start taking electrolytes, because right now I do not use them at all. I did take them in the beginning, but I never kept up with it. Sticking with protein drinks is something I find difficult. Since it was the weekend, I definitely did not drink enough water. Weekdays are fine for me, but weekends are a different story. Getting enough sleep is a struggle for me too, even though I have a cpap machine. Thanks for asking these questions, I am going to take another look at how I am handling all of this. Going up quickly in my mg does not seem necessary to me. What I really need is to focus on the things I am NOT doing. <3
I'm not dead set against increasing my dose, but I'd rather take it slower. My worry is: once I reach the maximum, then what? What options remain for me to keep losing weight? Maybe that sounds silly, but I really don't want to hit the ceiling.
Your username is great.
DragonOfTheSea
Explorer
fatty33 said:
I'm not dead set against increasing my dose, but I'd rather take it slower. My worry is: once I reach the maximum, then what? What options remain for me to keep losing weight? Maybe that sounds silly, but I really don't want to hit the ceiling.
Your username is great.
Given how careful you've been and how slowly you've moved up in dose, I honestly can't picture you reaching 15mg — which is a fairly conservative "ceiling" dose right now — for at least another year.
What's your goal weight? And how tall are you?
FartfulCodger
Explorer
Sounds like your goal is practically within reach! Because of that, topping out probably isn't something you need to stress over. That said, if you could source some Cagrilintide, it would bring an entirely different layer to how well your appetite gets suppressed. It hits a separate receptor--shutting down hunger through a mechanism your brain cells haven't built a tolerance to yet.fatty33 said:
I'm not dead set against increasing my dose, but I'd rather take it slower. My worry is: once I reach the maximum, then what? What options remain for me to keep losing weight? Maybe that sounds silly, but I really don't want to hit the ceiling.
Your username is great.
On the other hand, it may be worth simply trying a higher dose of Tirz first, which would save you from having to buy something entirely new. And be sure you're getting in no less than 10,000 steps daily. That wipes out an extra 400 calories you might otherwise be tempted to eat.
Appreciate the kind words about my name!
randompersonrandom
Explorer
wow, that is absolutely going straight to the top of the chat I share with the women from work — we're spread across maybe fifteen different departments, yet we've built enough trust to keep one group going where we talk about everything in our lives.
Fordhayes
Explorer
Cagri is something I’ve never used, but when it comes to suppressing appetite, Sema is the original. The price is extremely low as well. Not long ago I put it back into my routine. At a low dose it does the job nicely and causes me no problems. Each week I use 0.75 mg. Instead of beginning with the 0.25 mg dose, I went with 0.5 mg for 2 weeks, after which I stayed on 0.75mg. My experience with GLP1’s goes back 2.5 years, and in the beginning Sema was the only one I used.
Derby
Explorer
As my grandmother used to put it, "Don't borrow trouble." You're worrying over a "problem" that doesn't exist—one you've invented in your own mind.fatty33 said:
I'm not dead set against increasing my dose, but I'd rather take it slower. My worry is: once I reach the maximum, then what? What options remain for me to keep losing weight? Maybe that sounds silly, but I really don't want to hit the ceiling.
Your username is great.
Bump up your dose. Then return and ask for help if you reach 15mg and find it isn't working.
CNCCurrency
Explorer
Switching to a different option or stacking is always possible.fatty33 said:
I'm not dead set against increasing my dose, but I'd rather take it slower. My worry is: once I reach the maximum, then what? What options remain for me to keep losing weight? Maybe that sounds silly, but I really don't want to hit the ceiling.
Your username is great.