The starting dose is deliberately too low to produce dramatic weight loss. It exists so your body can adapt. Expecting otherwise is the most common reason people quit in week two, so here is what the month actually looks like.
Week one is adjustment. Some people notice appetite dropping within days, others feel almost nothing except mild nausea for a few days after the injection. Both are normal.
Weeks two and three are usually where the appetite change becomes obvious: meals left unfinished, snacks forgotten, the afternoon craving simply not arriving. The scale may have barely moved, and that is expected.
Do not wait for nausea to force it. Smaller meals from day one prevents most of the discomfort people describe.
Weigh weekly, not daily
Daily weight moves with fluid and salt and tells you almost nothing this early. Weekly gives you a trend you can act on.
Get protein in
When you eat much less, what you do eat has to carry more. Protein first protects muscle while the weight comes off.
Report before month two
Anything that is not settling should be raised before the dose steps up, not after. That is what the first review is for.
Common mistakes
What people get wrong in month one
The two big ones are expecting a dramatic number on the scale, and eating the same portions out of habit until it hurts. Both are avoidable and both account for most early dropouts.
How much you should lose, when appetite changes, and what is normal.
Typically a few pounds. The starting dose is a settling dose, not a treatment dose, and the meaningful loss comes later as the dose steps up. Anyone promising more than that in month one is overselling.
Often within the first one to two weeks, sometimes within days. The appetite change almost always arrives before any noticeable movement on the scale.
Yes. The starting dose is low by design. If nothing has changed by the time you reach a therapeutic dose, that is worth discussing, but week one is too early to judge.
Weekly is more useful. Daily weight swings with fluid, salt and sleep, and early on that noise is larger than the actual trend.
Usually after four weeks, if the current dose has settled. If it has not, holding longer is normal and is not a setback.
