Yesterday marked exactly 1 year on Zepbound. I’m 5’2” and currently weigh 126.3 pounds. My end goal is about 115 pounds (I have a very petite frame), which is right in the middle of my healthy weight range. Another major milestone is that I am no longer pre-diabetic. Here are my before and afters and a new outfit that I finally feel confident wearing! 

I started my Zep journey weighing 189.6 pounds and feeling hopeless. A few years prior, I had a lot of success eating a low carb diet and doing alternate day fasting (ADF) after reading The Obesity Code by Dr. Jason Fung. If you haven’t read it, I HIGHLY recommend it or as an alternative, search for “Dr. Fung two compartment problem” on YouTube to watch an eye opening 30 min talk he gave several years ago. 

Anyhoo…after losing over 30 pounds, I was laid off and then a week later, my younger brother passed away (6 months after I lost my dad). To say it all hit me like a ton of bricks would be an understatement. I gained back almost all the weight within 6 months. I also found it very hard to get back into eating low carb and fasting again.

Fast forward to starting on Zepbound. I knew I needed to do something to get back to a healthy weight. Though I had side effects at the beginning, they were fairly minor and usually consisted of fatigue for the first few days after the shot and those awful sulfur burps that a lot of folks get, the benefits were mind blowing. The food noise was silenced, I felt full faster, and I stopped craving things that weren’t serving me or my health goals. 

To combat the side effects, I started incorporating alternate day fasting, which helped tremendously and also helped me to get into autophagy to start healing my insulin resistance and repair damaged cells (including getting rid of excess skin). I still have quite a bit of excess skin but weight lifting and fasting have helped a lot. 

I plateaued twice as I’ve gotten closer to my goal, but I really think when that happens, my body is doing some major healing internally.  The plateau always breaks and usually with a huge “woosh” so if you are plateau or not losing as fast as you like, don’t get discouraged, your body may be healing in ways you can’t see.

If you are just starting Zepbound or thinking about starting, I’d highly recommend incorporating strength training earlier rather than later in the process. Don’t get too caught up on what the scale says, take measurements and use those as well to help gauge your progress.  Add protein to each meal, I am no longer strict low carb but now I try to prioritize protein and eating whole unprocessed foods. If you get discouraged, use this Reddit! Everyone here is so supportive and they usually have great advice. 

I am so grateful for this community, your stories have been inspiring to me!

One year Zepversary and almost at goal!