Lean ProtocolAn Ardenholt programARDENHOLT · EST. 2026

§ XI — The complete guide

The GLP-1 guide,
written for the first year.

The complete guide · 2026

Side effects and their timeline, what to eat, holding on to muscle, why the scale stalls, which drug is which, and what happens to drinking. Plain English, details one click away.

Around eight million Americans are on a GLP-1 and the number is climbing fast. The drug works. What does not arrive with it is a manual — you get a pen, a leaflet, a pharmacist who has already seen six other people that hour, and a manufacturer app telling you to live your best life.

This is the field guide we wanted to exist: what actually comes up on semaglutide and tirzepatide, in order, with the detail one click away. Read it through, or take the part that is your week.

The thread running through all eight is that your response is personal — which foods stop working, where the fatigue is really coming from, how a step up in dose lands, when you stall. Lean Protocol is where those turn into a record about you rather than a search history.

Educational, not medical advice. Your prescriber sets your medication and your dose.

  1. What's normal, what's notNausea, constipation, sulfur burps, fatigue — which are expected, when they peak, what helps, and the signs that mean ring your prescriber today.Side effects
  2. What to eatWith appetite suppressed, every bite does more work. Protein first, fiber and fluids, what to go easy on, and why the trigger-food list is yours alone.Nutrition
  3. Keeping your muscleThe silent failure mode: losing lean mass alongside the fat. The two levers that work, and how to tell whether they are working.Body composition
  4. When the scale stallsLower burn, adaptation, lost muscle — what to check before you decide the drug stopped working, and how to move the goal.Plateaus
  5. Ozempic vs WegovyThe same drug — semaglutide — under two labels. What differs is the approved use, the maximum dose, and what your insurer will pay for.Medications
  6. Mounjaro vs ZepboundThe same story one molecule over: both are tirzepatide, one approved for diabetes and one for weight.Medications
  7. Semaglutide vs tirzepatideOne receptor or two, what the trials found, how the side effects compare — the context for a conversation with your prescriber, not a verdict.Medications
  8. GLP-1 and drinkingMany people want to drink less, and feel it more when they do. What changes, why the calories matter more than they did, and what is worth logging.Alcohol
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