Dad of two, two months on tirzepatide

Week 12 DEXA: down 18.4 lb fat, up 0.8 lb lean, and my bench actually went up 10 lb while my squat stalled. The weird part: my weighted pull-ups improved most when I dropped volume and added one heavy triple a week. Everyone talks scale weight; for me, the labs and bar speed told a different story. Waist down 4.5 in, but deadlift lockout felt like a different sport until I added heavier rack pulls.

Sleep was my hidden variable: 6.5 hrs vs 7.5 changed my RPE way more than the scale.

$1,100 out of pocket at week 4 is the number that still stings, and it had nothing to do with the tirzepatide itself—my insurance decided the PA wasn't medically necessary after covering the first fill. I'd been tracking everything in a Google Sheet like the OP: daily weight, weekly waist, DEXA at week 0 and 12, squat/bench/deadlift numbers, and every lab. At week 12 I was down 17.2 lb on the scale, 5.1 inches off my waist, and my A1c went from 5.9 to 5.4, but the appeal got approved because of a two-sentence note about hypertension, not because of my spreadsheet. That was a weird gut punch. I'd spent hours color-coding lifts and lipid panels, and the thing that moved the needle was a checkbox. The part that rarely gets said out loud: the stress of the insurance fight tanked my recovery for two weeks, and my bench dropped 15 lb while my calories were fine. Now I keep tracking, but I also keep a one-page summary for prior auth battles: dates, weights, waist, A1c, and the specific diagnoses they care about. If you're in the U.S., build that file early. The body comp data is motivating, but the paperwork is the real side quest.

Week 12 DEXA is a weird beast — mine said I dropped 13 lb of fat but also 3 lb lean and I about lost my mind until I remembered I'd been squatting the same 235 for sets of 5 the whole time. Performance and the scan disagreed, and the barbell was right. Stuff that helped me read it: I scan same time of day, fasted, never morning against afternoon, and I look at the visceral number separately from total lean because visceral fat moves way faster than the scale ever suggests. Also pull the week 0 and week 12 images side by side — my leg lean was flat while my trunk lean dropped, which is exactly what you'd expect and not a problem. What did your lean mass do?

The deadlift dip is probably the most honest number in that whole spreadsheet.

Sleep wrecks my spreadsheet more than food does. Two nights uder 6 hours and my next squat session feels 20 lb heavier, and it shows up 3-4 days later, not the next morning. I also stopped weighing myself the day after a salty late dinner — that 2-3 lb bump was pure noise and it was messing with my head. How's your sleep been since you started?

Your labs list is the part I'd stare at hardest. Mine at week 12: hs-CRP 2.9 down to 1.2, fasting insulin 15 to 8, but my LDL went UP about 18 points and I nearly panicked — my doc said that's pretty common while you're actively mobilizing fat and it usually settles once weight stabilizes. A1c barely budged because it was already fine. The other thing nobody warns you about is ferritin and B12 drifting if you're eating way less red meat than you used to, and that shows up as garbage workouts before it shows up anywhere else, so I'd ask about adding those if they weren't on your baseline. What did your fasting insulin do? That one moved for me way before the scale did.

40M, about 14 weeks into a cut/recomp tracking block — the weirdest win was how jeans hung, not the scale. Down 18 lb by week 12, waist 38.5 to 35.5, but the real tell was the waistband staying put all day instead of sliding down under my gut. Counterintuitive part: weight stalled weeks 6–9 while the tape kept creeping down almost weekly, then whooshed 4 lb in five days after a higher-carb weekend. If daily weight was the only metric, that would’ve caused a panic and a bunch of unnecessary changes. Lifting belt went in two notches even though squat/bench numbers barely moved, which made the recomp feel real. For anyone tracking this stuff: did your DEXA show lean mass roughly flat, or were you losing a little there too?

I’m 41M at week 13, and the only tracking trick that hasn’t lied to me is a pair of 33x30 jeans I try on every Sunday before coffee — scale down 17 lbs, tape waist down 1.75", but those jeans went from “zip and pray” to actually comfortable, which was the first time the number and my body agreed. The turning point for me was week 10: I dropped 2.5 lbs overnight after a super salty dinner, tape didn’t move, and my squat actually felt easier the net day, so I stopped pretending every scale drop was fat loss. I also started logging a 1–10 “clothes feel” score next to weight, and its 7-day average tracks my waist better than the daily scale does. Since your squat/bench are holding but deadlift slipped, I’d be curious if your lifting slot or pre-gym meal timing changed around then — mine did at week 11 and my pulls looked down for two weeks until I moved my session an hour later.

Hi, I’m only a week in and still in the nervous-question phase, so forgive me if this is basic. I drive a lot for work too, and the one thing that’s helped me not inhale whatever’s at the next gas station is a little soft cooler with turkey sticks, cheese, and grapes. Do you have a go-to stop or order when you’re stuck on the road? Also, has anything changed with your knees yet, or is two months too early to notie that kind of thing? Appreciate you sharing your experience.

Day 5 here, so I’m mstly lurking and taking notes. The HVAC/driving part is what I’m nervous about

Fellow road-warrior dad—gas station snacks were basically my food group. You’re not alone in this.

I run a small cafe, so my version of truck food is the “one bite” quality check—broken cookie, scone end, spoon of soup. It added up way faster than I expected. What helped was pre-portioning my lunch before the rush and keeping it somewhere I don’t walk past constantly. Still not perfect, but less grazing. Do you have a cooler or small bag you could keep in the truck, or are the grab-and-go stops the hardest part? Also, dad leftovers are my kryptonite—do your girls’ plates get you too?

I’m a mom of two, so different chaos, same 5pm scramble. What helped me was a “grab shelf” in the fridge at eye level—pre-portioned yogurt, hard-boiled eggs, string cheese, cut fruit—plus a kid snack drawer with the same stuff in smaller bags. When I make their plates, I make mine too, even if it’s five bites standing at the counter. Otherwise I graze off their leftovers and call it dinner. Do you

Cafe owner here—my temptation is the pastry case, so I started pre-packing my own lunch in a 2-cup glass container before the morning rush. If I wait until I’m actually hungry, I’m eating a day-old scone over the bin. For your truck, maybe a small soft cooler with a couple of those containers? Boring, but it kills the drive-thru autopilot. Curious: does your HVAC route have any regular stops with a microwave or fridge, or is it truly eat-in-the-cab? That’d change what’s realistic.

Man, the road-food scramble is real—my old glovebox-stash thread still saves me on HVAC days 😅

My hack: I make a third snack plate when I make the kids’ after-school plates, and I put mine on the counter before I sit down. Otherwise I graze their crusts and goldfish while cleaning up. For the truck, I freeze a couple yogurt tubes overnight—by lunch they’re thawed enough, no cooler needed. Not fancy, but it’s the only thing that’s survived HVAC-season heat. What do you keep in the truck that won’t melt in summer?

One thing that helped me: track hunger/energy 1–10 before eating, not just weight. Sounds nerdy, but I realized my 4pm “starving” was often just not drinking water since lunch. Now I slam a $0.99 sparkling water and wait 15 min. Half the time the drive-thru urge evaporates; other half I eat a tuna packet with hot sauce like a feral raccoon. How are you handling the 3pm slump on the road? That’s my final boss.

not a dad but i work late/game late so my danger zone is 11pm. one thing that stuck: i started taking a dumb photo of every meal/snack before i eat it. no app, no calorie math, just a camera roll album. after a week i could see the pattern—my “i’ll just grab something” days were almost always two gas station stops. didn’t fix everything, but it made the autopilot obvious. you said you’re not tracking much—have you tried just photos? or does that feel like too much on top of the HVAC days?

One thing that surprised me: I started taking a quick phone photo of whatever I’m about to eat—no calorie app, just a camera roll. At night I scroll it for 20 seconds. It showed me my “little” bites while prepping meals added up, and drive days were way worse than I thought. Way less tedious than logging when you’re in the truck. Do you ever get an actual sit-down lunch, or is it mostly eat-and-drive?

Not HVAC, but I drive a ton for work. The thing that finally stuck for me was a cheap soft cooler on the passenger floor. I load it Sunday with grab-and-go stuff—Greek yogurt, jerky, babybel, cut apples—plus a big water. When I’m between stops, I eat from the cooler first. If I still want drive-thru after, fine, but usually I don’t. We had a “truck food” thread last winter that saved me. OP, what’s your cab setup like? That’s the piece I’d tweak before adding more tracking.

The phone photo trick got me—I scroll mine at night and go "oh, THAT'S why.

Mom of two here, so the chaos is similar. The only thing that’s stuck for me is a “no-prep” drawer in the fridge: cheese sticks, yogurt tubes, washed grapes, edamame. If it needs a cutting board, it’s not happening. I also keep a counter basket with jerky and roasted chickpeas so I don’t inhale kid leftovers at 5pm. What’s your one grab-and-go that doesn’t leave you starving an hour later?

Love that you’re paying attention—dad life + road food is no joke. What’s one tiny habit actually sticking?

I'm a service plumber, so same truck life. What finally helped me was a cheap 12V cooler in the passenger footwell with string cheese, turkey sticks, and a bag of frozen grapes. I still hit drive-thrus, but way less. Also, I started ordering a small fries instead of medium—not a diet, just less mindless. Lost 40, regained 25, now down 10 again. Not preaching, just saying the cooler thing was the first habit that didn't feel like punishment. What do you usually keep in the truck?

HVAC + two kids is already a routing problem. What worked for me: make lunch a default, not a decision. Sunday I stack five identical boring bag lunches; grab one on the way out. Noon me doesn’t get a vote. Second: 32oz water bottle rides shotgun, goal empty by 2pm. When the first two meals are on rails, the 4pm gas-station stop stops being inevitable. What’s your current default when a job runs long—skip it, gas station, or drive-thru?