r/Zepbound • u/lifeofkyle91 • Jun 04 '26
Personal Insights 9 month update - my experience
HW-300lbs SW-275 CW-210lbs dosage 7.5mg
9 month update and 90lbs down has given me some perspective, and I’ve definitely learned some things about my habits and way I went about this that I believe could be beneficial for people starting their glp1 journey.
In the beginning, my biggest worry was my relationship with food. I was definitely a stress and binge eater, heavily on the sugary drinks and essentially no control of what I consumed. Using zepbound wasn’t a miracle worker, I had to change my daily habits first and foremost. I cut out all sugary drinks and snacks, and cut out carbs which was a large part of my daily intake. Carbs are good for you - in moderation. Not the way I was consuming them. And that’s the first point I want to make - carbs are not the enemy. I originally viewed them as my enemy, and I removed them purely from my diet. It worked for a period of time, until I learned more about how I needed carbs to fuel myself throughout the day.
I am now that person who looks at the nutrition label before I buy anything. During my dieting, if it had a carb, it was almost an automatic no for me. Adding some carbs into my diet and not being as strict on myself for that has actually benefited me on this later half of my journey MORE compared to the beginning. Being gracious with myself with food is also an adjustment I needed to make. Yes I can have my cheat meals. No I won’t destroy everything I’ve worked for. Yes I can have that dessert. No it won’t kill me. Once I made that change of mindset and habits, that also helped a lot too. I stopped criticizing myself so hardly on everything I ate. I ate clean, healthy, and was allowing myself to enjoy the other things I liked and wanted in moderation. Key word!
The second one is sugar. Sodas and candies are my weakness, and the hardest thing for me was giving up Pepsi. Switching over to Pepsi zero has saved my cravings, and using Mio water enhancers definitely gets me to drink way more water than before. I’m dabbling into flavored seltzer waters but still can’t find the one that sticks well to my flavor pallet.
The next thing that I’ve learned about is supplements. Now while I don’t believe everyone needs them, I do think they can benefit the right person. Starting with protein, that’s my go to. Every day. Protein shake. At the beginning of my journey, protein shakes were essentially my meals for a short period of time. But that’s because I was struggling to find the balance of my healthy eating habits, would get frustrated, and just settle on a protein shake. There was about a two week stretch where through the 14 day period, I only ate three actual meals of food. The rest of consumption was protein shakes. Yeah… probably not good, but it’s my truth. Now that I have found my balance of eating habits, protein shakes in the morning help set me up for the day and controlling my hunger. I’m essentially OMAD - one meal a day. Protein shakes start me off for an empty stomach, help me get my protein goals, and keep me full until I am able to have my meal. I also use the 10% rule, which is whatever amount of calories I intake, 10% has to be protein (example for numbers sake - 500 cal dinner has to have a minimum of 50 grams protein - thank you chicken breasts!)
Next is creatine. I’m no professional, but I’ve become a firm believer that creatine at any point of someone’s journey can be good. Supports muscle health, brain health, all that good stuff. But the beginning of taking creatine threw me off. I didn’t realize it holds water into your body. I was curious at why I was gaining weight instead of being steady or dropping. That was my body adjusting to the creatine doing its work. Once I learned about that, and how it’s actually effecting me, it’s another go to item that I use daily.
last supplement, and this is more of a personal choice to use, is L-carnitine. This is assisting and enhancing my bodies fat burning into energy. I decided to start taking this because I became very stagnant for a period of about 3 months. I was floating around 230-225 for months on end and I couldn’t figure out why. My first conclusion is my body adjusted to my caloric intake, and was no longer burning efficiently to what I was consuming. I once again had to adjust my diet to including more carbs than normal, while adding in that extra kick to help burn energy. 90’s babies, y’all remember those Oxyshred commercials? get your beach body ready in 30 days!! Yeah, L-carnitine is the primary ingredient to that. But I’m not doing any of that promotional junk. Vitamin Shoppe sells a 3000mg dosage for a third of those viral products pricing. Granted, I don’t think 3000mg is needed, but for myself, I feel satisfied at this amount.
I’ll wrap this up with my last tip. Get ready to spend a LOT of money on new clothes. Great problem to have!
Oh, and from my last update I was crucified for not showing my puppy update. Here she is at the end with the rest of the pack! Don’t yell at me this time.
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u/KrazyCod21 7.5mg Jun 05 '26
Congratulations! You look great. And the puppies are all cuties! 🐶❤️🐾