Since starting this medication I've noticed my mood has been all over the place, some days great and some days surprisingly low, even though the scale keeps moving in the right direction. I'm curious whether anyone else has felt their mental health shift while the pounds come off. Does it even out over time, or did you find things that helped you cope?
The first couple months for me were a weird mix of pride on the scale and foggy, flat days I didn't expect. It did even out for me around the three month mark, and getting outside for a walk even when I didn't feel like it seemed to take the edge off. Worth mentioning to your prescriber if the low days stick around though.
Only 6 lbs down myself so I'm earlier in it than you, but I've had a couple of those low days already and it threw me since the scale was cooperating. Trying to remind myself my brain is adjusting along with my appetite. Good to hear it leveled out for you both eventually.
I had the same shaky stretch around the 50 lb mark, mood dips that made no sense given the progress. For me it steadied out once I stopped tying my whole day to the scale number and just kept up the routines that helped early on. If the low days run long, that's worth flagging to whoever manages your meds.
Same here, the ups and downs hit hardest for me somewhere around 20 lbs down, then things leveled out once my body got used to the appetite change. Journaling on the flat days helped me see the pattern instead of spiraling on it. The scale wins feel hollow when your head isn't in it, but it does get steadier.
Around 40-something down I hit a rough patch too, and what helped me was getting outside for a walk on the flat days even when I didn't feel like it. The dips did fade once my eating pattern stopped feeling so new. Hang in there, it's a weird side effect nobody warns you about.
I hit my rough patch right around where you are now, mid-40s down, and the mood swings genuinely surprised me too. For me they eased up once the food side of things stopped feeling so strange, and a walk on the low days helped more than I expected it to.
I'm about the same distance in and the swings hit me hardest in month three or so, then leveled off once my meals became routine again. Journaling on the flat days helped me spot that the lows usually followed days I ate way less than usual. Worth checking whether your low days line up with your lightest eating days too.
I noticed the same thing around my 40s-down stretch, and looking back my worst days were the ones I barely ate. Once I made a point of getting real protein in even with no appetite, the lows got much less frequent. It evened out for me after a couple more months.
29 lbs in myself and the lows for me were definitely tied to days I barely ate, so the pattern the others spotted rings true. Getting some protein in even when nothing sounded good made the flat days much shorter for me. It did settle down once my routine stopped feeling so new.
Only a few pounds down here but the mood dips already showed up, and honestly mine track with the days I forget to eat at all. I started keeping a shake on hand for those zero-appetite evenings and the fog lifts faster now. Sounds like it evens out once eating stops feeling like a chore, which is good to hear.
Six weeks in and only a handful of pounds gone, but I've already noticed my low days line up with the ones where I look back and realize I basically skipped food. Not as dramatic as what others are describing, but the pattern is there for me too. Worth tracking whether your dips land on your emptiest days before assuming it's the med itself.
My 16 lbs in, my rough days were mostly the ones where I ran on coffee alone till dinnertime, so the appetite connection checks out here too. Eating something small early in the day made a bigger difference for my head than I expected. The swings have chilled out a lot now that my schedule feels normal instead of new.
At 74 lbs down I can confirm the under-eating thing held up for me the whole way through - my foggy, flat days almost always tracked back to meals I skipped. I set a phone reminder to eat something with protein before noon and that alone smoothed out most of it. The identity-catch-up part got easier for me once I stopped treating every low day as a sign something was wrong.
I noticed the same pattern around 20 lbs down, my worst head days were always the under-eating ones, so the food link sounds right. Once I got into a rhythm with actually eating breakfast the swings leveled out for me too. Also worth remembering a big loss like yours is a real identity shift, some of my early low days were just my brain catching up to a different body.
45 lbs down on tirzepatide here and I second the food-mood link, my flat days almost always traced back to barely eating till afternoon. What also helped me was journaling on the low days so I could see the pattern instead of spiraling about it. It really did even out for me once eating became routine.
Down 58 myself and the skipped-meal connection held true for me too - my lowest days were always the ones where I looked back and realized I'd had basically nothing before dinner. A small snack mid-morning made a bigger difference than anything else I tried. The mood swings did settle down for me once eating stopped being an afterthought.
Around 40 lbs down and my pattern matched everyone here - my worst head days were always the ones I realized I'd barely eaten. I keep nuts in the car now so I can't use being out as an excuse. The lows still show up occasionally but they pass faster when I'm not running on empty.