Healthcount Blog: US

Guides for tracking weight, food and GLP-1 medication

Practical, evidence-based articles for readers in the US on dose tracking, conversions, and staying consistent through your weight-loss journey and maintenance.

Four small staircases side by side, one each for Zepbound, Wegovy, the Wegovy pill and Foundayo, showing their dose ladders.
Dose & Conversion

GLP-1 Dosage Chart (2026): Every US Dose

Every US weight-loss GLP-1 dose ladder on one printable chart, from the FDA labels: Zepbound, Wegovy, Wegovy HD, the Wegovy pill and Foundayo.

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A green savings card with a white tick beside a pharmacy bag, under the words Zepbound savings card.
GLP-1s

Zepbound Savings Card 2026: Who Qualifies, What You Pay

Who can use the Zepbound savings card, what it takes off a pen or KwikPen each month, its monthly and yearly caps, and what to do on Medicare or with no insurance. From Lilly's own terms.

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A green price tag in front of a month calendar, under the words What Zepbound costs.
GLP-1s

How Much Does Zepbound Cost Without Insurance? (2026)

What Zepbound costs without insurance: LillyDirect vial and KwikPen prices by dose, the 45-day refill rule, a full year's cost, and the Medicare, HSA and insurance routes.

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A blue savings card with a white tick beside a pharmacy bag, under the words Wegovy savings card.
GLP-1s

Wegovy Savings Card 2026: Who Qualifies, What You Pay

Who can use the Wegovy savings card, what it takes off the pill, pen and Wegovy HD each month, how to get it, and what to do on Medicare, Medicaid or with no insurance.

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A blue price tag in front of a month calendar, under the words What Wegovy costs.
GLP-1s

How Much Does Wegovy Cost Without Insurance? (2026)

What Wegovy costs without insurance: self-pay prices for the pill, pen and Wegovy HD by dose, the new-patient offer, a full year's cost, and the Medicare, HSA and insurance routes.

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A green staircase titled Zepbound dose steps, rising from 2.5 mg to 15 mg, each step at least 4 weeks apart.
Dose & Conversion

Zepbound Dosage Schedule and Dose Chart (2026)

The Zepbound dosage schedule from the FDA label: 2.5 mg to start, steps to 15 mg, maintenance doses, pens, vials and the KwikPen, missed doses, side effects and storage.

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A blue staircase titled Wegovy dose steps, rising from 0.25 mg to 2.4 mg, 4 weeks apart or longer.
Dose & Conversion

Wegovy Dose Chart (2026): Pen, HD and Pill

Every Wegovy dose from the FDA label: the pen's 0.25 to 2.4 mg steps, Wegovy HD 7.2 mg, the pill's 1.5 to 25 mg steps, missed doses, switching and side effects.

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A bowl of yogurt with berries, a mug of tea and a small bowl of soup under the words Small and often.
Nutrition

What to Eat on Zepbound: Easy Foods When Nothing Sounds Good

What to eat on Zepbound, from the 2025 joint nutrition advisory and the FDA label: small regular meals, protein, easy foods for low-appetite days, what makes nausea worse, constipation and fluids. No calorie counting.

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Six coloured columns, from Nutrition and Sleep to Avoiding risky substances, holding up a roof labelled Your health.
Nutrition

Eating Less but Gaining Weight? Why Under-Eating Backfires

No breakfast, a small lunch, then a Magnum and a glass of wine at night? Why under-eating backfires, how far off calorie labels can be, and the six pillars of health. Inspired by nutritionist Dr Federica Amati.

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A smiling person with curly hair, in a loose pink knitted sweater, hugs themselves with their eyes closed against a pale blue wall.
Research

How to Improve Self-Esteem: The Rules You Live By, and How to Loosen Them

Rules like 'If I eat after 8pm, I've failed' or 'I must be slim to be liked' keep self-esteem low. How CBT spots and loosens them, what the research shows, and a free two-page worksheet.

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A woman in a chunky white knitted sweater sits at an outdoor cafe table and smiles as she bites into a sandwich filled with greens, red pepper and soft cheese.
Nutrition

Why Regular Eating Works: Hunger, Hormones and the Binge-Restrict Cycle

Eating every three to four hours is the first step in CBT for binge eating. The research behind it, where it's solid and where it isn't, and why it matters when you come off a GLP-1.

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A watercolour painting of a heap of small yellow potatoes beside a halved avocado, on a bright green background.
Nutrition

Why Your Body Needs Carbs and Fat, Even on a GLP-1

Carbs and fat both do jobs your body can't skip. What the evidence says about fibre, saturated fat, low-carb vs low-fat, and eating well on a GLP-1.

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A flat illustration of a white digital bathroom scale on a bright blue background, its green display lit with a number.
Research

Set Point Theory: Why Your Weight Moves, Why It Pushes Back, and Why That Isn't a Verdict on You

Why the scale jumps day to day, why your body defends its weight, and what the GLP-1 withdrawal trials show. Set point science, minus the fear.

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A woman holds a wooden disc covered in tangled scribbles in front of her face, a tangle of thoughts hiding who she is.
Nutrition

CBT for Eating Disorders: How Therapy and Carbs Support Weight Loss

Food obsession behaves like addiction, but abstinence can't be the cure. What the Fairburn CBT model actually says, why carbs matter for mood, and how to track without being controlled by it.

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A spread of low calorie snacks on a green background: chicken breast, prawns, tinned tuna, cottage cheese, boiled new potatoes, strawberries, edamame and vegetable sticks.
Nutrition

Low Calorie Snacks Under 50 Calories: Satisfy Cravings Without Breaking Your Budget

44 snacks under 50 calories, built from the satiety research: protein-first picks, the potato trick, and portions in grams so they read the same in the UK, Ireland, Australia and the US.

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Three Novo Nordisk flags flying against an overcast grey sky.
GLP-1s

Amycretin (Zenagamtide): What the Trials Actually Show

Novo Nordisk's GLP-1 and amylin co-agonist, in both injection and tablet form, and now formally renamed. The published Lancet figures, why the placebo arms matter, and the UK trial sites recruiting now.

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A mode-of-action diagram showing a GIP-receptor blocking antibody with GLP-1 activating peptides attached.
GLP-1s

MariTide: The Monthly Injection That Blocks GIP

Amgen's monthly injection blocks the receptor Mounjaro (Zepbound in the US) switches on, and still takes weight off. The phase 2 figures, the two numbers everyone quotes, and what the paradox means for the next decade of obesity drugs.

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A Healthcount diary day showing calories, weight and macros, above a notes field where a meal is being typed out in plain English.
Tracking

Why Writing It Down Works: The Science of Food Diaries and Weight Loss

In a 1,685-person trial, people who kept daily food records lost twice as much as those who kept none. The evidence for food diaries, how little time they take, and why they matter more on a GLP-1, not less.

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Bare feet standing on white bathroom scales on a tiled floor.
GLP-1s

GLP-1 Weight-Loss Plateau: Why It Stalls, and What Actually Restarts It

The curve flattens in the trials too. What metabolic adaptation, intake drift, dose ceilings and lost muscle each contribute to a stall, and what the evidence says restarts it.

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An overhead spread of fresh vegetables, fruit, berries and nuts in small white bowls.
GLP-1s

Coming Off a GLP-1 Without Regaining: The Maintenance Playbook

Two-thirds of the weight came back within a year in the STEP 1 extension, where the drug and the lifestyle programme both stopped at once. What that study really measured, and the six things worth having in place before your last dose.

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An older woman flexing her bicep and pointing at it, smiling.
Nutrition

Protecting Muscle on a GLP-1: The Protein and Resistance-Training Protocol

A quarter to two-fifths of medically induced weight loss can be lean mass, and that ratio is changeable. The g/kg numbers the evidence supports, the training dose, and how to hit both on a suppressed appetite.

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A woman breathing into a small handheld metabolism device, shown next to the device and its app.
Research

Can You Breathe Into a Gadget Instead of Counting Calories? An Honest Look at Lumen

Lumen measures which fuel you're burning, not how many calories you ate. What the science actually says, how strong the validation really is, the honest pros and cons, and who it suits.

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A paperback copy of The Obesity Code by Dr Jason Fung lying on a grey surface.
Research

The Obesity Code by Jason Fung: What It Gets Right, and Where the Evidence Disagrees

A balanced review of Jason Fung's bestseller: the reframe that genuinely helps people, where the insulin theory runs into the metabolic-ward studies, what the fasting trials really show, and how he suggests you eat.

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A woman lifting a loaded barbell across her shoulders in a gym.
Research

I Never Wanted to Push Myself in the Gym. Then I Treated It Like Medication.

I never wanted to push myself in the gym, my life was already hard. The shift was treating exercise and sleep with the same non-negotiable status as medication. The behavioural science of why we resist movement, and how to actually change it.

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Two raw salmon fillets on a wooden board with lemon slices, rosemary and garlic.
Nutrition

Eat the Protein First: Why 500 Calories of Salmon Isn't 500 Calories of Chocolate

500 calories of salmon does something very different in your body than 500 calories of chocolate. The science of eating protein first, food order and blood sugar, and why your body keeps you hungry until it gets the protein it wants.

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A large glass bowl of mixed salad leaves with chopped red and orange pepper, red onion and walnuts, and a wooden spoon resting in it, on a dark wooden table.
Nutrition

The Case for Big Salads: Volume Eating for Losing and Maintaining Weight

Built well, a big salad is huge, filling and barely dents your calories for the day. The satiety research on energy density, protein and fibre, plus how I actually build mine.

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Close-up of an analogue kitchen scale dial with its red needle resting on the 1kg mark, set on an orange base.
Tracking

A Kilo Up After Two Holidays: How Much of It Is Actually Fat?

The scale jumped a kilo after a week away and your brain says a month of work is gone. The maths disagrees: glycogen, water and salt explain most of it. What the scale is really weighing, and what to do next.

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A hand holding up a white chocolate coated ice cream on a stick, studded with chopped nuts, against a blurred sunny street with a brick archway.
Research

Two Magnums and a Wave of Guilt: How the All-or-Nothing Cycle Works, and How to Break It

One 'bad' food, a wave of shame, then either punishing restriction or the rest of the tub. The cycle has a name in behavioural science, decades of research, and a way out.

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White analogue bathroom scales with the dial reading zero and a yellow tape measure looped across them, on a pale grey stone surface.
GLP-1s

Quitting GLP-1s: What Actually Happens, and How to Do It on Purpose

The withdrawal trials tell us what returns and how fast. Quitting is a phase to plan, not a cliff to fall off: the data, the biology, and the structure that helps.

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A wooden bowl of new potatoes on a rustic wooden table, with loose potatoes, a small kitchen knife, a chopping board and a red gingham tea towel.
Nutrition

I Used to Think Potatoes Were Bad for Me. Then I Read the Satiety Research

Boiled potatoes top the satiety index at three times white bread, yet potato products top the weight-gain charts. Both are true, and the kitchen maths explains everything.

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A person holding a high plank on a blue exercise mat, hands flat beneath the shoulders and bare feet behind, on a dark wooden floor.
Research

Bodyweight Training on a GLP-1: Protecting the Weight You Want to Keep

A quarter to two-fifths of GLP-1 weight loss can be lean mass. Resistance training largely prevents it, and your own bodyweight is enough kit. The evidence plus a no-kit routine.

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Two speech bubbles beside a pink and white tablet.
GLP-1s

How Are People Finding Orforglipron? Three Months of Real-World Reports

Foundayo launched in April 2026. What early users consistently praise, what they struggle with, and how the anecdotes square with the ATTAIN trial data.

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Four paper speech bubbles with cut-out question marks, in pink, beige and brown, above an open lined notebook and a gold pen on a brown background.
GLP-1s

The 25mg Pill vs 0.5mg Injection Confusion: Why They're NOT the Same Dose

Why a 25mg oral GLP-1 pill and a 0.5mg injection aren't the mismatch they look like. Bioavailability explained, why there is no mg-to-mg conversion, and what the numbers really mean.

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A person in a grey T-shirt pulling the cap off a blue injection pen at a white table, with several capped pen needles scattered in front.
GLP-1s

Why Some People Choose the GLP-1 Pill Over the Needle (And What It Means)

Needle fear is common and keeps some people off GLP-1 injections. With the Wegovy pill now approved in the UK, here is what the pill option really means, and how well it works.

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A white bottle of Foundayo (orforglipron) tablets marked Rx only, with two tablets embossed Lilly and L beside it on a navy background.
GLP-1s

Foundayo (Orforglipron): Doses, How to Take It, and How It Compares

Foundayo is the brand name for orforglipron, Lilly's once-daily GLP-1 pill, FDA approved April 1, 2026. Every dose from 0.8 to 17.2 mg, missed doses, side effects, and how it compares to Zepbound and Wegovy.

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Three Healthcount phone screens: a diary day with calories, weight and logged foods, a dose schedule calendar, and a weight trend chart coloured by dose.
Product

How Healthcount Works: A Complete Walkthrough (Start Here)

A step-by-step tour of Healthcount, from sign up to your daily diary, dose schedule and trends. Everything you can track, what the icons mean, and how to get the most from it.

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Six household items on a mustard yellow background: digital kitchen scales, bathroom scales, a treadmill, a blender, an air fryer and a set of four kitchen knives.
Nutrition

What's Worth Buying on Your GLP-1 Weight-Loss Journey (and What to Skip)

What genuinely helps on a GLP-1, what to skip, and the order to spend in. Contains clearly marked paid links.

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A person in a white crop top and black leggings holding a scoop of pale brown powder over a white shaker bottle.
Nutrition

Protein Powder and GLP-1s: The Good, the Bad, and What to Look For

Why protein matters so much on a GLP-1, how much you actually need, whey versus plant, what to look for on the label, and the marketing claims to ignore.

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Seven blue day cards from Monday to Sunday, with Monday marked as shot day and short note lines under each day.
GLP-1s

Wegovy Weight Loss Tracker: Your Whole Journey on One Dashboard

US guide to tracking your Wegovy journey: the 0.25 to 2.4 mg dose ladder, missed-dose rules from the FDA label, 2026 cash and insurance prices, and what to log each week.

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Seven day cards from Monday to Sunday, each with a yellow tablet and short note lines.
GLP-1s

Wegovy Pill Weight Loss Tracker: A Daily Routine You Can Actually Keep

How to track your Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide 25 mg) journey: the empty-stomach morning routine, the dose ladder, missed doses, weight trends, and food, all in one simple dashboard.

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White tablets and capsules of assorted shapes and sizes scattered across a coral pink background.
GLP-1s

Wegovy Pill: Doses and How to Take It (2026)

The Wegovy pill (oral semaglutide) from the FDA label: doses from 1.5 to 25 mg, the morning routine, missed doses, why it's taken on an empty stomach, and how it compares to the injection.

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An empty open-plan office with rows of desks, computer monitors, desk phones and blue swivel chairs under strip lighting.
Research

Metabolic Syndrome and Your Desk Job: What Modern Work Does to Your Health

What metabolic syndrome is, how sitting all day, shift work and office snacking raise your risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease, and what you and your employer can do about it.

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A hand circling the dates 11 to 15 in red marker on a paper calendar, against a pink background.
Research

Your Period, Your Weight and Your Mood: What Really Happens Across the Month

Why the scale rises before your period (it's water, not fat), why you're hungrier in the second half of your cycle, and how to track your weight as a woman without the monthly panic.

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A woman with a dark ponytail in a pale green zip-up hoodie, standing in a park beside a black lamp post, with bare autumn trees behind her.
Research

Does Your Environment Affect Your Weight? The Obesogenic Environment, Explained

Why your surroundings, not just willpower, shape your weight. The obesogenic environment explained, plus simple ways to design your home and workday for weight loss.

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A white measuring scoop heaped with fine white powder on a rust brown surface, with a few grains spilled beside it.
Nutrition

Creatine: The Benefits for Body and Brain (and Why Women Needn't Fear It)

An evidence-based guide to creatine for body and brain: strength, muscle preservation, mood, safety and dosing. Plus why it's especially useful, and safe, for women and anyone on a GLP-1.

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A brown bowl piled high with curved, uniformly shaped potato crisps in an orange seasoning, on a pale stone surface.
Nutrition

Ultra-Processed Food and Weight: What the Science Actually Says

What ultra-processed food really is, what the strongest studies show about UPF and weight gain, and realistic swaps for busy people, without the food guilt.

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Vegetables scattered on a bright green background, including lettuce, cucumbers, a carrot, tomatoes, an orange pepper, broccoli, a red onion and a potato.
Nutrition

The Best Vegetables for Weight Loss: A Simple Tier List

A simple S-to-C tier list ranking vegetables by calories, fibre and protein. The best low-calorie and high-protein veg for weight loss, and where potatoes really fit.

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Three clear snack boxes on a white surface: pretzels with hummus, celery and carrot sticks, and hummus with pitta chips.
Nutrition

Low Calorie Snacks: The Best Picks and a Simple Swap Ladder

The best low calorie snacks ranked by how full they keep you, plus a swap ladder to gently step down from crisps, chocolate and biscuits. No banned foods.

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A watercolour painting of fruit on white paper: watermelon slices, strawberries, cherries, a green apple, a pear, citrus slices, blueberries and leaves.
Nutrition

The Best Fruits for Weight Loss: A Simple Tier List

Not all fruit is equal for the calories. An S-to-C tier list ranking fruit by fibre, water and sugar, so you know which give the biggest nutrition for the fewest calories.

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Six small tomatoes on a stainless steel digital kitchen scale on a pale wooden table.
Nutrition

Do You Weigh Food Raw or Cooked? How Cooking Changes the Calories

The same food has different calories per 100g depending on how it's cooked. Why raw vs cooked weight matters, the biggest offenders, and the simplest way to log accurately.

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An iPhone showing the Healthcount diary in a browser: 646 calories, 500 exercise calories and 64 kg, above typed notes logging a dose, crisps, bread and milk.
Product

How to Install the Healthcount App on iPhone & Android

No app store needed — add Healthcount to your home screen in a few taps. Step-by-step for iPhone (Safari) and Android (Chrome), plus troubleshooting.

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Bottles of red wine lined up on a worn wooden table, with more bottles and pink flowers blurred in the background.
GLP-1s

Can GLP-1s Help With Addiction and Alcohol? What the Science Says (US, 2026)

Could Ozempic, Wegovy or Zepbound help a family member drink less or beat an addiction? An honest, sourced look at the evidence on GLP-1s and alcohol, and where to get real help in the US.

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Healthcount's dark green H beside the Cronometer app icon, a white apple with an arrow in a target on an orange square, on a sky-blue background.
Tracking

Free Alternative to Cronometer (2026): Why US Users Are Switching

A free Cronometer alternative for US users: macro tracking, AI meal photos, and GLP-1 dose logging for Zepbound, Wegovy, and Foundayo. No ads, no Gold tier.

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Healthcount's dark green H beside the MyFitnessPal app icon, a white leaping figure on a blue square, on a green background.
Tracking

Free Alternative to MyFitnessPal (2026): No Ads, No Paywall, GLP-1 Ready

Want a free MyFitnessPal alternative without ads or a $19.99/month Premium tier? Healthcount offers macro tracking, AI meal photos, and GLP-1 dose and supply tracking for Zepbound, Wegovy, and Foundayo.

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Healthcount's dark green H beside the Lose It! app icon, a white bathroom-scale dial on an orange square, on a coral pink background.
Tracking

Free Alternative to Lose It!: Everything Free, With GLP-1 Support Built In

Looking for a free Lose It! alternative? Healthcount gives you macro tracking, AI meal photos, and dose tracking for Zepbound, Wegovy, and the new GLP-1 pills. No ads, no Premium paywall.

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Healthcount's dark green H beside the Shotsy app icon, white moon-phase shapes on a dark teal square, on a lilac background.
Tracking

Is Shotsy Free? Shotsy Cost and a Free Alternative

Looking for a free Shotsy alternative that also tracks food? Healthcount logs Zepbound and Wegovy doses, side effects, weight, and macros in any browser. No subscription.

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Four cards: Zepbound and Wegovy taken once a week, the Wegovy pill and Foundayo taken every day.
GLP-1s

GLP-1 Comparison Chart (2026): Zepbound, Wegovy, the Wegovy Pill and Foundayo

Zepbound, Wegovy, the Wegovy pill and Foundayo side by side: what each one is, how you take it, doses, each label's trial result and common side effects.

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A diagram labelled 'Retatrutide = 3 targets', with arrows pointing to GLP-1 (a pancreas icon), GIP (a fork and stomach) and glucagon (an upward arrow).
GLP-1s

Retatrutide vs Zepbound: What the Trials Actually Show (2026 US Guide)

A plain-English US comparison of investigational retatrutide and FDA-approved Zepbound (tirzepatide). Trial results, FDA status, side effects, real US access and cost, and what to track in Healthcount.

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A curve that falls steeply and then flattens, beside a clock, showing tirzepatide leaving the body over time.
Dose & Conversion

How Much Tirzepatide Is Left in My Body After 1 to 7 Days? (Zepbound Half-Life, Explained)

Zepbound (tirzepatide) has a 5-day half-life. See how much of a dose is left after 1 to 7 days, a worked example of re-dosing early, and how long it takes to clear (about 30 days).

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A U-100 syringe scale from 0 to 100 units, filled to the 50 mark and labelled 50 units = 0.5 mL.
Dose & Conversion

Zepbound conversion to mL and units: why a full single-dose vial is 50 units

US conversion tables that map Zepbound vial draws to units, mL, and mg for every strength (2.5 to 15 mg). A full single-dose vial is 0.5 mL (50 units); a multi-dose vial dose is 0.6 mL (60 units).

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A phone showing four journal entries, the first marked as shot day.
Tracking

Zepbound Dose Tracking App: a Simple Weekly Routine That Works

US guide to Zepbound (tirzepatide): the 2.5 to 15 mg dose ladder, missed-dose rules per the FDA label, pen vs vial formats, storage, and a simple weekly tracker.

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