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Persistent Cravings on Tirzepatide Despite High Dose

23 replies16 peopleFeb 11, 2026☆ Follow
Summary

Why am I still having intense food cravings and slow weight loss on 15mg tirzepatide even though it worked at first?

The starter reports strong ongoing urges for burgers, steak and sweets after initial craving reduction on tirz, noting lifelong difficulty losing weight. Others suggest titration pace, possible stacking with reta or sema, checking labs for other benefits, water intake, emotional eating factors, or switching compounds like cagri. Several share personal results with different peptides, metabolism effects, and daily activity levels while the original poster describes a physically demanding routine and calorie intake under 2000.

What this discussion establishesWhere people disagree

Views differ on whether to add or switch to reta/cagri/sema versus staying on tirz at higher doses or addressing thyroid and emotional factors first.

Still open

Whether the cravings stem mainly from emotional patterns, prior medication tolerance, or an untested factor like thyroid levels.

Nothing here is advice.

23 replies · 16 people
WarmHarbour28archiveopening postFeb 11

When I began Tirz the cravings dropped quite a bit at the start. Later my mind started winning anyway. I know overeating would bring bad results, yet because I have never dropped a pound in sixty years the urges feel just as strong. Most people have had at least some success or ups and downs, but nothing ever worked for me until now. I am losing weight but still wonder if I am just stubborn. Who keeps wanting a cheeseburger or steak all the time? At 15 mg I still crave those awful Hostess apple pies.

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AmberLantern22archiveFeb 11

How quickly did you raise the dose? Moving up too fast tends to work against you.

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SlowBramble78archiveFeb 11

You are handling the tough mental part while the body does its work. That is not being thick-headed, that is really hard. Most people would give in, but you are not. Keep at it. I really like Zolli pops, the sugar-free kind. Someone tell me how to quit eating these things.

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RustCompass54archiveFeb 11

You might be using the wrong compound. Or maybe nothing will work, though I doubt that. Reta changed how I feel about food right from the first shot. I have not tried sema, tirz, cagri or the usual ones discussed here. I cannot say what would suit you, but tirz by itself may have gone as far as it can for you. Trying or adding something else could be worth considering. The group here might have ideas that help sort it out.

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ClearHarbour45archiveFeb 11

How long have you been on it and how many sources have you tried? There is sometimes bad product around. Consider reta, work the dose up, and add 1 mg of sema. Reta affects metabolism. I drive long hours, do no cardio, and lift briefly a few times a week. Tirz only took off six pounds for me and that was it. Reta added another fifteen over a year. Without a calorie deficit and some activity the loss is very slow. People coming from much higher calories and weight drop more. If you are already around two hundred fifty and do not eat a lot to begin with, the change is smaller. If nothing else improves, check blood pressure, liver enzymes, triglycerides, HDL, LDL, glucose and A1C. Better numbers after six months still count as progress.

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SharpCinder28archiveFeb 11
↳ replying to @ClearHarbour45

Exactly. I enjoy getting lab work done. Watching the scale alone gets tiring.

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ClearHarbour45archiveFeb 11
↳ replying to @SharpCinder28

First time my lipids have been good in about five years, along with the other markers. I order the labs myself for around a hundred dollars instead of going through insurance that bills seven hundred and charges me four hundred.

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WarmHarbour28archiveFeb 12
↳ replying to @AmberLantern22

I began with Mounjaro pens. Each one came with a sheet showing the full schedule, so I followed the standard steps exactly.

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WarmHarbour28archiveFeb 12
↳ replying to @RustCompass54

I tried adding reta but probably did not raise it enough. I am thinking about tesamorelin. Thanks.

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WarmHarbour28archiveFeb 12
↳ replying to @ClearHarbour45

That is useful to hear. I stay under two thousand calories without much trouble. I am losing but it feels painfully slow. I get hungry yet do not dare eat much. My work is fairly physical, though in winter it drops to four or five hours instead of all day. It is not weight lifting, it is farm work like making hay and running saws. Labs look good and I am due again in March. Thanks.

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ClearTimber11archiveFeb 12

Have you had your thyroid levels checked?

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IronThistle42archiveFeb 12
↳ replying to @WarmHarbour28

Look into cagri. It is said to shut down appetite for a lot of people. I have some but have not used it yet because I reached my goal with tirz and sema. From what keeps coming up here, cagri would probably handle strong appetite suppression if that is the main goal. Results vary.

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SteadyQuill55archiveFeb 12

If the cravings have any emotional side, these peptides might not fully address it. There is some discussion that a few of them can influence dopamine release and affect purely emotional eating rather than physical hunger. People with binge eating patterns sometimes report that the peptides do not always produce the complete lack of interest in food that they give to those who are simply always hungry. I have a history of binge eating and they do help me, though part of that may be psychological. I try not to overthink it.

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ClearSparrow87archiveFeb 12
↳ replying to @WarmHarbour28

Could it be about water? When I was on lower doses and drank a good amount, roughly ten gulps, I felt full right away and the feeling stayed for a while. I was not even thirsty and it did not feel forced. Even now on a high dose when I am not really hungry, my mind still sometimes wants sugar for no clear reason. I usually give in a little because it does not happen often and I keep the amount small.

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CopperSignal27archiveFeb 12

Without more of your background I am not sure this will apply, but I lost the weight by avoiding extreme hunger and rebound hunger. I limited foods that might spike blood sugar or trigger a strong dopamine response to high-calorie items, which later led to intense hunger again. The more the eating pattern resembles binge eating or food addiction, the more this matters. Eating only low-calorie-density foods at most 1.5 kcal per gram kept hunger down and let me eat enough to feel satisfied without many calories. That meant keeping fat very low, using lots of lean meat, fruit, vegetables, and avoiding high-carb high-glycemic items like bread, pasta or grains. I add a bit of low-fat high-protein yogurt and once a day twenty grams of dark chocolate because oddly it does not set off the rebound hunger for me. Plenty of low

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WarmHarbour28archiveFeb 12
↳ replying to @SteadyQuill55

I was going to send a direct message but this might help someone else too. I have been on fenofibrate for a long time for cholesterol. It has recently been linked to side effects like becoming over-emotional, tearing up at small things. I used to wonder about that. It might be countering the effect of another substance. I will not know unless I stop one or the other, and that will not happen soon. I do not think it is binge eating disorder. Thanks for the suggestion anyway. I am still highly functional and have too much to do to dwell on it long. That busy schedule might actually be helping me. Thanks.

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SteadyQuill55archiveFeb 12
↳ replying to @WarmHarbour28

Happy to share something that might be useful to you or others.

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WarmMeadow92archiveFeb 14
↳ replying to @WarmHarbour28

Checked out that option but figure it works better near the target weight. Don't know your current status though. It mentioned boosting hunger and focuses more on shifting fat around instead of dropping pounds. That hunger increase made me think it's not the time for me right now, haha. Given your positive results controlling hunger with the other med, maybe try higher than the usual max. I've been using around 17-18 units weekly, varying, and no issues. Heard from others online about 20 working well too. Been combining the main one with a small amount of the alternative since beginning of last month, and it eliminated those food cravings in my head. I enjoy the sensation from the alternative on injection day and following days. It's distinct from the primary one.

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LevelTimber64archiveFeb 14

Nothing to add, just offering support while you figure out the next steps.

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WarmHarbour28archiveFeb 14
↳ replying to @WarmMeadow92

I looked into cagri as well and even sema because it is inexpensive. There is something to be said for keeping things simple though. Still, reta may end up replacing tirz once it has full approval. It is surprising how slowly established medicine moves. By the time reta is released the early users will probably have moved on. That pattern is not new.

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WarmMeadow92archiveFeb 14
↳ replying to @WarmHarbour28

Dr. whats-his-nuts? Do you mean the one who was caught with cocaine on toilet seats? Early users of reta will be followed by people waiting on the sidelines for approval. I have not started reta yet, mainly because I want to see how far tirz and sema can take me rather than waiting on approval. I do not see any of these GLP-1s being replaced, just added as more tools against obesity. Liraglutide is still prescribed, and so is Rybelsus, even if they are not viewed as highly now.

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QuietTimber26archiveFeb 15
↳ replying to @WarmHarbour28

Tesamorelin or any other growth hormone secretagogue is unlikely to help much with weight loss. It is worth learning about the IGF-1 and growth hormone axis and at least getting IGF-1 tested before starting one. I skipped that step and went ahead, and I regret it.

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PatientAnchor11archiveFeb 15
↳ replying to @ClearSparrow87

Congratulations on the thirty-six to thirty-seven pounds lost. I am practicing the kilogram conversion. Is it 2.2 pounds per kilogram or 2.2 kilograms per pound? I always get mixed up.

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ClearBeacon24archiveFeb 15
↳ replying to @PatientAnchor11

The first one.

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Persistent Cravings on Tirzepatide Despite High Dose · ZyraTrack Community