Considering
You have a prescription, a lot of questions, and no dose yet.
Stage 0 is everything before the medication starts doing its work: the conversation with your prescriber, the storage question, and the two or three habits that are far easier to build now than in week three when food stops appealing. Nothing here costs money. Most of it is a plate you already own and a notes app.
Almost everything in the what-do-you-wish-you-knew threads turns out to be about eating and drinking, not about the injection.
Paraphrased from r/MounjaroSource
The nerves before a first dose come up constantly, and the thing people report afterwards is that the shot itself was the smallest part of the day.
Paraphrased from r/ZepboundSource
The worry raised as often as side effects is how long this is meant to go on for, and that question keeps getting routed back to the prescriber.
Paraphrased from r/ZepboundSource
Do this now
One habit. If you read nothing else on this page, this is the one that matters at Stage 0 — and it needs no gear.
Write down your normal week before it changes
Seven days of what you ate, roughly when, and how you felt. It takes 30 seconds a day and it is the only baseline you will ever get. In a month, when someone asks what changed, you will have an answer instead of a guess.
Try it · 2 min
Why bother logging a week you have not changed anything about?
Field assignment
Tonight, write three lines about today: roughly what you ate, roughly when, and how you felt. Do it again tomorrow. That is the whole task.
Know this
Whether this stage is yours, and what is actually going on.
You're at this stage if…
- You are talking to a prescriber, or you have a prescription you have not filled
- Your first dose is coming up, or you took it in the last few days
- You want to know what actually changes, without the hype or the scare stories
- You are trying to work out what, if anything, you need to buy
- You are reading about compounded versions and cannot tell what is legitimate
None of it sounds like you? Look at all five stages or take the two-minute quiz. Stages move in both directions and nothing is locked.
These medications slow how fast your stomach empties
That is a large part of why you feel full sooner and longer. It is also why manufacturers tell people to mention the medication to anyone planning surgery or sedation (Wegovy Prescribing Information, section 17, revised 6/2026).
Stomach and gut effects are the common ones
In labelling for these drugs, the reactions reported in 5% or more of patients include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, abdominal pain, indigestion, fatigue and burping (Zepbound Prescribing Information, Highlights, revised 4/2026).
Medication is added to lifestyle work, not swapped for it
NIDDK's own summary is that weight management medications work best combined with a lifestyle program, and that people who take them as part of one lose on average 3% to 12% more of their starting body weight after a year than people in the program alone (NIDDK, Prescription Medications to Treat Overweight and Obesity).
Compounded versions are not FDA-approved products
FDA states plainly that compounded drugs are not FDA approved, meaning the agency does not review them for safety, effectiveness or quality before marketing — and that it has seen fraudulent compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide with false label information (FDA, Medications Containing Semaglutide, drug safety page).
Some of the weight you lose will be lean tissue
Across pharmacologic weight-loss trials, reductions in fat-free mass typically account for roughly 20% to 40% of the total weight lost — comparable to other calorie-reduced approaches (Zambrano-Villacres et al., Nutrients, 2026, PMC13258902). That is the whole reason protein and strength show up so early in this guide.
Learn more
The rest of the habits for this stage, then the long-form guides. Take them in any order — or come back for them later.
The other habits at this stage
Showing the oral-tablet version — anything about needles, sharps or shot day is hidden. Use “show everything” in the bar at the top of the page to bring it back.
Ask your prescriber the four questions
What number should my protein be, how much fluid do you want me drinking, which symptoms should make me call you, and how do you want me to reach you. Write the answers down. Every number on this site defers to those four answers.
Practise protein first, at full appetite
Start each meal with the protein on the plate before the starch or the vegetables. Doing it now, while eating is still easy, means the habit is already automatic when your appetite is a third of what it was.
Read your own storage label once
Pen storage is brand- and presentation-specific — before first use and after first use are different rules, and no two brands match. Read the Instructions for Use that came in your carton once, now, calmly, rather than at an airport.
Buy nothing yet
You do not know which symptoms you will get, which flavours you will tolerate, or whether chewing or drinking will be easier for you. A small plate and a bottle you already own cover Stage 0 completely.
Guides for this stage
Hand-written, skimmable how-tos that go deeper on the habits above.
The gear that matters here
Spend nothing at Stage 0. Not because gear is bad, but because you do not yet know which problems you will have. The two things worth doing today are free: read your own storage label, and write down a normal week. If you want to buy something the day the prescription lands, buy a bottle of water and a notebook — or use the ones you own.
You told us you take an oral tablet, so sharps containers, insulated pen cases and anything else that only exists for an injection are left out below. Nothing about food, comfort or safety changes.
LeanFed may earn a commission from links on this page; it never changes a ranking. Full disclosure.
Starter
- $0
A small plate you already own
A side plate makes a Stage 1 portion look like a meal instead of a defeat. This is genuinely the best-value item on the whole site.
- $0
Your phone's notes app
Three lines a day: what you ate, how you felt, anything you would want a prescriber to know. No app, no subscription, no account.
- $0
The Instructions for Use in your medication carton
The storage rules for your exact pen or vial. Keep the carton; it is also what protects the medicine from light.
Recommended
- $15-40
A water bottle you will actually carry
One you can open with one hand, that fits your car and your bag. Sipping through the day is easier to start now than in week three.
- $8-25
One protein source that needs no cooking
A pouch, a tub of yogurt, a carton of shakes. May help you keep intake up on a day when cooking is not going to happen.
When you're sure
- $10-30
A sharps container, bought before you need it
FDA recommends placing used needles immediately in an FDA-cleared sharps disposal container, and notes smaller travel sizes exist (FDA, Sharps Disposal Containers). Cheap, and one less thing to solve on shot day.
Nothing on this list treats or prevents a side effect — these are conveniences that make the habits above easier to keep. See scored, current-price picks in the Gear section.