u/roane-72

(I hope I have the right flair on this.) When I started tirz, I was very anti-tracking because I didn't want to fall into that diet mindset again. I slowly eased into it because I wanted to make sure I was getting enough protein/fiber/water each day. Then I asked my dietician for a bottom threshold for calories (i.e., a number to try not to go below). And somehow along the way, tracking has become... joyful for me?

Like, every time I get enough protein/fiber/water for a day, it feels like a little dopamine rush, like "yay, I gave my body what it needed today!" I see my (probably inaccurate) step count on my phone and I'm like "yay, I moved!" (That happiness is huge given my limited mobility.) I don't beat myself up if I don't make it. I don't restrict anything.

I'm feeling so much happiness in tangibly seeing the ways I'm caring for myself mentally and physically, ways that felt impossible before tirz. I'm wondering if the difference is that I'm not tracking in order to limit? Tracking seemed so counterintuitive to an anti-diet mindset for me, but it's become so helpful.

Has anyone else experienced this? It sounds nuts and I never would have believed it beforehand.

Y'all, I am struggling today. I've been on 2.5mg of Zepbound for four weeks and the past couple days it's like it's stopped working completely.

I'm not worried about the scale, except that water weight is absolutely flying up (there's no way it's fat gain, when I say flying up, I mean FLYING) and my knees are a misery again. I'm assuming it's the inflammation coming back. The appetite suppression and increased satiety are still okay but not what they were.

I start 5mg tomorrow and I'm hoping all the good things happen again.

I'm also debating changing my shot day. It's been Friday, but Thursdays are my busiest days and I've noticed Thursdays tend to be when I feel the worst. Does this ever even out, or am I going to be cycling through each week from good to not good? Is this normal?

I (56F) have been on tirz for just a month now. I have osteoarthritis in my knees and back and I'm waiting on a referral to a rheumatologist about possible autoimmune disease. I have barely lost any weight so far on 2.5, but what I have gained is a level of mobility I didn't think I'd ever see again.

This weekend I was at an event with my barbershop quartet ( r/barbershop, if you're curious about that). Normally these events involve a lot of walking (around the hotel, around performance venues), and I've been using a scooter at these events for the past year or so. I tried not to assign any sort of good/bad value to that. I was just doing what I needed to still enjoy my hobbies and my life.

But since tirz, my pain has improved so much that I was able to use my cane for shorter distances and it felt so good! Like, physically good. It felt good to move my body in a way it hasn't for years. My close friends (who know I'm on tirz) have commented on how much easier I'm moving, which is great confirmation to me that I'm not imagining things. Even better, I wasn't in pain the next day, which I absolutely would have been before.

I really hope that someday these meds are prescribed for more than just weight loss because I never anticipated this would make such a difference in my life.

No, seriously! My housemate has an armchair in her room that's very low. Because of my arthritic knees, she'd have to help me get up.

After 3 weeks on Zepbound, my knee pain has gotten so much better that I can just pop myself up out of that sucker now. Even my joint instability seems better. I'm really starting to feel the antiinflammatory effects, and it's amazing! So glad I was able to start this med.

I have an appointment with a dietician on Wednesday and I have no idea what to expect. The last time I went to one, I got lectured, but that was years and years ago.

I've started logging food in the app she uses and I'm happy to see there's no calorie listings, at least.

So what did you talk about with yours?

Hey all. I took my first shot last Friday and it started having an effect right away. Side effects are annoying, but no worse than a bad IBS day for me. What's tripping me up is how my bad old diet thoughts are trying to creep in.

The other night I took a smaller portion for dinner, just to test out what makes me feel satisfied now. I had given myself full permission to eat more if I wanted more. Even with that, I was having a constant refrain in my head of "I'm not eating enough, I'm going to be hungry later, this isn't enough food!" It was so anxiety-producing, and a complete flashback to being a 7 year old on a diet. (Here's where I should mention that I'm in touch with my old therapist and hopefully I'll get to see her soon.)

I also have been keeping track of calories, initially with a sense of curiosity--I had started tracking a few days before the first shot to see where my baseline was, and I wanted to see how it changed. Then I wanted to make sure I wasn't eating too little. That may have been a mistake. I've had days where my calories came in at dieting levels, and it always freaks me out a little. Like again, "that's not enough!!" I end up eating a little more after dinner, and it feels a little out of control. Definitely more food noise, at the very least.

I know the lingering food noise (which overall is a LOT better) is because I'm still at 2.5 dosage, and I also read that sometimes early on the drug loses some effectiveness a couple days before the next shot, which could explain why last night was hard.

How do you manage it when the dieting mindset tries to come back? This is EXACTLY why I never got surgery--the idea of essentially being physically forced to restrict severely for the rest of my life sounded like hell on earth.

I was just approved via the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge Program and I'm so excited. I spent 20 of the first 25 years of my life focused on dieting. My first diet was when I was five, and I spent most of my childhood trying to lose weight. As an adult, I moved into fat acceptance/body-positivity and got away from that mindset.

I'm not going to lie and say that I'm not excited at the prospect of losing weight. I saw someone comment about always being the biggest in the room and that's me too. I'd like to be more mobile and have a wider selection of clothes and to just feel better. But the biggest thing I'm excited about is potentially fixing my metabolism and helping inflammation. I haven't been diagnosed with any sort of autoimmune/inflammation disorder yet, but I have a lot of the hallmarks, including widespread pain and fatigue.

My biggest worry is that this will trigger my old dieting mindset and I'll start restricting and becoming overly aware of my intake. Has anyone else experienced anything similar? I do NOT want to go back to that obsession with CICO and the scale.

Thanks all, happy to have found this place.

Hey all! I'm deeply jealous of folks who are at BHS International right now! So, I'm at home working on my book, a romance between a man and a woman competing in rival barbershop quartets. And I have a question.

The barbershop organizations in the book are obviously not the real ones--I can do more with fictional entities and not get sued at the same time! :) That said, I am trying to at least be fairly realistic about barbershop culture. So, folks who are at international or who have been before: Is it customary for SUI and HI queens to wear their crowns out and about? Obviously not if they're competing or otherwise on stage, but just around? This is normal at SUI and HI conventions, I wasn't sure if it was weird at BHS events.

I'm writing my first book (contemporary romance) in about eight years, and I'm super happy with how it's going, but worried that I'll fizzle out. I've been talking to some book coaches on Reedsy and I'm considering it.

Have any of you used a book coach before, and was it worth it? What can a book coach do for you that a good writing group can't? (And btw, anyone know of any good writing groups?)

Hi all! I'm diving back into writing romance after about ten years away from it, and about seven years away from writing at all.

What would you say is the difference between writing romance vs. fiction with romantic elements?

In my current project, at the moment I'm more focused on and excited about the external plot than the romance. Granted, it's very early in the process, but it's making me think.

How plot-driven are your works vs. character-driven?

I am a singer (primarily barbershop at this time but I have classical training) and a writer. In my current project, one of my characters is working on a masters degree in vocal performance. I would love to find someone (or someones) who would be willing to talk to me about their experiences as a student, things like the academic culture, course work etc. I realized I have a lot of barbershop-related resources, but not so much in the classical world!

Thanks!