The medication does make me feel fuller faster, so I eat less when I do eat, and I stay fuller longer. This helps me lose weight because it reduces the number of calories I consume.
The side effects make me feel so sick in those days after that I am effectively fasting all day (I have a small dinner, but keep drinking water so I don't dehydrate). That helps in losing weight.
That said, my original comment was meant slightly tongue in cheek - I know it is effective, but sometimes it's kind of darkly funny to think feeling bad from it is having the highest impact.
The hardest part about this diet for me has been finding sources of protein that get me at my goal with the small sizes of the meals I do eat.
I am at the second dose up from the starting dose (5 mg vs 2.5mg), and the side effects are about the same between the two doses. They didn't start out that way, but they ended up at about the same level of misery.
I tried Trulicity when it first came out. It was not as effective, but the side effects for me personally were less.
I'm on Mounjaro for type 2 diabetes, not weight loss, so my main focus is on how it treats my t2d. The weight loss is a nice side benefit.
What dosing are you on? If you’re still doing 2.5mg (smallest available in the auto injectors) perhaps try a compounding pharmacy for a month or two and you can experiment with lower doses and a different dosing schedule?
During my peak weight loss period I found that matching my injection schedule to the 5 day half life of Tirzepatide and adjusting the dose downwards to match this schedule helped with any side effects - including the “fading” of effects those last 2 or 3 days for me. There are half life calculator spreadsheets available on the internet that can help dial it in and keep your theoretical concentration more flatline vs peaks and valleys.
The current dosing regime is based on the single FDA trial that LLY did and is certainly not going to be the common practice a decade from now. It’s largely designed around patient compliance than anything else.
That said - everyone responds to this drug much differently. My little group I’m in is all over the map. Some folks lose weight consistently with tiny doses every 2 weeks, some are going above the recommended maximum weekly dose.
I also found food choices matter. A lot. The best part of tirz for me was being given mental space to stop eating shit food and start eating “clean” consistently. When on high dosing I absolutely would have a bad day if I decided to take my shot and then eat a typical American diet later.
The primary mode of action from the drug is simply you eat less. But it shouldn’t be due to you feeling too sick to keep anything down. That sounds pretty horrible.
tbqh being extremely overweight sucks in a whole lot of ways. While the side effects sound miserable, they will only be temporary. The damage done to my body and metabolism as a result of being this heavy for this long piles up every day, so if I have to suffer like this then I'd rather do that than have a stroke and die in front of my family.
I feel sick for three days in a row after taking it. Even after several months on the same dose. I get horrible gut cramps, sour stomach, near constant nausea, and occasionally vomiting and diarrhea. I have to take my shot on Thursday night because I'll feel bad the next day and supremely sick the next two days. If I took it earlier or later in the week it would absolutely impact my ability to work during the work week.
It has had amazing effects. I've lost about 60 lbs in the last year and my A1c is now around 6.2.
It's a very effective drug, but it is brutal on my body. I'm not sure anything in the medication is causing the weight loss. It just makes me feel so sick that even if I'm hungry I don't feel like eating.