Subject: Fwd: Nobody Lost 7 Pounds of Fat in Their First Week on a GLP-1. Let's Talk About Why.
From: TJ Bourdeau <[email-masked]>
To: [email-masked]
Date: Mon, 16 Mar 2026 10:27:30 -0400

TJ

Begin forwarded message:

From: Derek from Peptide Price <[email-masked]>
Date: March 16, 2026 at 10:25:49 AM EDT
To: [email-masked]
Subject: Nobody Lost 7 Pounds of Fat in Their First Week on a GLP-1. Let's Talk About Why.
Reply-To: Derek from Peptide Price <reply+35so0v&4iwoe6&&[email-masked]>

Research & Educational Content Only — Not Medical Advice

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Nobody Lost 7 Pounds of Fat in Their First Week on a GLP-1. Let's Talk About Why.

Derek

Mar 16

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Research & Educational Content Only — Not Medical Advice

This is a rant, and it’s a necessary one.

Social media is full of people claiming they lost 7, 8, even 10 pounds in their first week on a GLP-1. And on the flip side, people who stopped their GLP-1 and claim they “gained 7 pounds of fat back” in days. Both narratives are spreading fast, and both are doing real damage to people who are quietly comparing their experience and wondering what’s wrong with them.

Nothing is wrong with them. The scale is just lying, and nobody is explaining why.

Let’s fix that.

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You Cannot Lose 7 Pounds of Fat in a Week

To lose one pound of actual body fat, you need to burn roughly 3,500 calories more than you consume. To lose 7 pounds of fat in 7 days, you’d need a 24,500 calorie deficit in a single week — that’s 3,500 calories per day. Unless something truly extraordinary is happening, that number is physiologically impossible for the vast majority of people.

So what is actually happening on that scale? Water. Almost entirely water.

The Carb-Water Connection Most People Don’t Know About

Here’s the piece of education that changes everything. Your body stores carbohydrates as glycogen — essentially a fuel reserve kept in your muscles and liver for quick energy. The critical detail is that glycogen does not store alone. Glycogen is stored in the liver, muscles, and fat cells in hydrated form — three to four parts water for every part glycogen. PubMed

What that means in plain English: for every gram of carbohydrate your body stores as fuel, it holds onto roughly 3-4 grams of water alongside it. Each gram of glycogen is associated with 3-4 grams of water. As your body burns through reduced dietary carbs and into glycogen stores, the water attached to the glycogen is lost as well — resulting in what’s commonly known as losing water weight. There’s no fat loss here yet. 8fit

Run the math on someone eating a normal diet. The average person stores several hundred grams of glycogen at any given time. At a 3-4:1 water ratio, that’s easily 3-7 pounds of water weight sitting in your body right now — just from carbohydrate storage alone. Add sodium into the mix, which also causes your body to retain fluid, and the swings get even larger.

What Actually Happens When Someone Starts a GLP-1

GLP-1 compounds work by suppressing appetite, slowing gastric emptying, and improving insulin sensitivity. The appetite suppression in particular is real and meaningful — most people naturally and significantly reduce how much food they’re eating, often without even trying.

Here’s where it gets interesting. When someone starts a GLP-1 and their appetite drops dramatically, a few things tend to happen at the same time:

Carbohydrate intake drops significantly because they’re eating less overall

Sodium intake drops because they’re eating fewer processed foods and restaurant meals

Total food volume decreases, meaning less food mass sitting in the digestive system

Every single one of those things causes the scale to drop — fast — and none of it is fat. It’s glycogen being depleted and the water leaving with it. It’s sodium dropping and fluid following. Glycogen losses are associated with an additional three to four parts water, meaning as much as 5 kg of weight change might not be associated with any fat loss at all. PubMed

That’s over 11 pounds of potential scale movement that has absolutely nothing to do with body fat.

The Same Thing Happens in Reverse

Anyone who has done serious cutting and bulking phases in the gym already knows this intuitively. When you come off a cut and start eating more — especially more carbs and sodium — the scale jumps fast. A 5-7 pound swing in a matter of days is completely normal and expected. It doesn’t mean you gained fat. It means your glycogen stores refilled and brought water back with them.

The same thing happens when someone stops a GLP-1. Their appetite returns, food intake increases, carbs and sodium go back up, and glycogen refills. The scale goes up 5-7 pounds in a week and social media screams that they “gained all the fat back.” They didn’t. Their body just rehydrated.

Actual fat regain takes weeks and months of caloric surplus — not days.

So Does Any of This Mean GLP-1s Don’t Work?

Absolutely not. GLP-1 compounds are well-researched and the fat loss over time is real and meaningful. The appetite suppression is genuine, the metabolic effects are genuine, and for many researchers the long-term results are significant. The point isn’t to discredit the compounds — it’s to set realistic expectations so people don’t get discouraged when their first week looks different from someone else’s highlight reel.

Stop Comparing Your Research Journey

This is the bottom line. Social media rewards dramatic results and big numbers. Nobody posts “I lost 1.2 pounds this week, which is probably mostly fat.” They post the week they dropped 8 pounds of water and call it a transformation.

Your protocol is yours. Your starting point, your carb intake, your sodium habits, your hydration — all of it is different from the person you’re comparing yourself to. A slower start on the scale doesn’t mean the compound isn’t working. It might just mean your body was already reasonably hydrated and your diet was already reasonably clean.

Trust the process, give it time, and ignore the noise.

This post is for research and educational purposes only and does not constitute medical advice.

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