Weight Gain vs Side Effects

I’m a big fan of this drug, but I’m spiraling a little bit, so I thought I’d share my thoughts with you fine folks in a supportive place.

I’ve been on Zep since Dec 10 and I’ve lost about 25 lbs in that time. I titrated up monthly, but began having difficult side effects from the jump to 5mg and again at 7.5mg. These included explosive diarrhea until I eliminated dairy (id been eating more in an effort to get non-meat protein), extremely itchy, swollen injection site, nausea and fatigue, food aversion, and occasional vomiting. I switched injection sites from my belly to outer thigh and it helped some, but I found it difficult to eat more than a few hundred calories at the beginning of the week and by the end of the week was eating whatever I could and often included fast food and other calorie-dense, nutritionally-poor foods. It felt like my previous attempts at weight loss with a restrict and overeat cycle happening weekly.

I was finally able to meet with my doctor and she moved me back down to 5mg this week. It has lessened the side effects. I’m not feeling the low-level nausea or feeling like I want to puke when imagining cooking or eating, no diarrhea or vomitting and as a result I’m eating more throughout the week.

What’s tripping me out right now is that my steady 2lbs per week loss has become a 3 lb gain this week. I’m hoping that this is my body readjusting to the meds and not what my mind is telling me: that I’m a failure, that I’ll gain it all back AGAIN, that I’ll never reach my goals, etc.

Any tips, advice, or general support you can give would be helpful.

I’m not exercising beyond a little weight lifting with 10 lb dumbbells and walking. It didn’t feel good to do my usual Peloton classes without the right nutrition to support the work.