r/glp1: rules, karma requirements and posting culture

Who posts here

Many posters are starting out or weighing whether to start, and their questions get full, patient answers. Others are well into treatment and compare drugs, doses and body scans. Nothing is sent to a weekly thread, and a basic question just gets answered.

• People deciding whether to start, often older or with a specific health reason.
• Patients on semaglutide, tirzepatide or the newer pills comparing side effects.
• Self-pay patients trying to work out what compounded medication really costs each month.
• People coming off a GLP-1 for pregnancy, surgery or cost and worried about regain.
• Founders and researchers asking for input, usually with a disclosure.

Karma and account requirements

What it takes to get a post through in r/glp1.

What you can post

What happens to a new post

Where the most recent posts ended up. Sample size: 400.

• Stayed up95%
• Removed by Reddit's filters5%

Reddit counts a removal by the subreddit's own AutoModerator rules as a moderator removal, so that share is not all human. Held by AutoModerator means the post is waiting in the mod queue.

The rules, in the mods' words

1. 1

   No harassment or bullying is tolerated

   No harassment of any kind will be tolerated

2. 2

   No Spam

   No spamming in r/glp1 or across related subreddits.

3. 3

   No Direct Messages

   Any requests or reports of sending private messages related to medications is prohibited. Be aware of scammers trying to get you to buy meds through messages.

These are the rules as archived in January 2025. Rules change. Check the sidebar before you post.

The culture

r/glp1 is the general room for every drug in the class, not one brand. About 39,000 members, around 5 posts a day, and a typical post gets about a dozen comments. Because it covers semaglutide, tirzepatide and the oral versions together, a lot of posts compare them or ask about switching.

Text is about 86% of posts and posts run longer than in the brand subreddits, around 120 words, with about a third of titles phrased as a question. The best-received posts are progress photos and frank personal ones: hiding treatment from a partner, whether to tell people, what happens after stopping. Side effects that are less talked about, like mood changes, anhedonia and cycle changes, get long, careful threads.

The fault line is money. Many members pay out of pocket for compounded medication and ask what the real monthly price is once membership fees and dose increases are added. Those threads draw replies that name the same providers over and over, and some regulars have started to read them as marketing.

What lands

• Progress photos with a plain caption about how long it took.
• Honest relationship and social posts, like whether to tell people why you lost weight.
• Questions about side effects that are rarely discussed, with your drug, dose and timeline.
• Posts sharing new research on GLP-1 side effects, with a short summary.

What gets removed or ignored

• Research peptide discussion, which AutoModerator flags in its welcome message.
• Requests to move a conversation about medication into private messages.
• Spam. The mods removed nothing in our sample, so Reddit's own filters, at about 5% of posts, are the main thing standing in the way.

The unwritten rules

• Say which drug and which dose. With every GLP-1 in one room, a question without that gets a guess.
• If you are building something, disclose it in the first line. A founder who did that got real answers, and still got a reply calling it spam.
• Price-shopping posts that read like setups for a recommendation are noticed. Ask about your own situation, not for a list.
• Comments are longer and gentler than in most health subreddits, around 30 words, and rarely carry a link.
• Reviews of specific providers have their own subreddit, which AutoModerator points to.

Self-promotion

The rule is no spam, here or across related subreddits. Moderation is light: the mods removed nothing in our sample, and a link-only post plugging a product stayed up. That does not make it welcome. Members reply to obvious plugs by calling them spam, and repeat provider recommendations are being noticed. A founder who discloses up front, asks real questions and links nothing will get answers, and that is as far as promotion goes here.

How people write here

Typical post length

120 words

Typical title length

6 words

Titles phrased as a question

35%

Typical comment length

30 words

Comments that include a link

3%

The regulars

The accounts that showed up most in our sample. Worth reading before you post: they set the tone, and they are usually the first to reply.

Top keywords

The words and phrases that show up far more often here than in other communities, from recent posts in r/glp1.

• weight 148 posts
• glp-1 89 posts
• glp1 51 posts
• lbs 77 posts
• weight loss 59 posts
• lost 75 posts
• dose 72 posts
• medication 50 posts
• food 64 posts
• eat 58 posts
• glp-1s 26 posts
• effects 51 posts
• doctor 46 posts
• zepbound 36 posts
• protein 41 posts
• semaglutide 36 posts
• wegovy 37 posts
• lose 46 posts
• food noise 34 posts
• side effects 41 posts
• glp 23 posts
• eating 44 posts
• appetite 32 posts
• taking 54 posts
• tirzepatide 34 posts
• body 40 posts
• mounjaro 20 posts
• bmi 20 posts
• pounds 29 posts
• compounded 25 posts
• diet 27 posts
• pill 19 posts
• starting 48 posts
• shot 27 posts
• injection 24 posts
• losing 28 posts
• calorie 16 posts
• less 39 posts
• calories 19 posts
• gained 18 posts

Recurring topics: medication, glp, glp-1, tirz, glp1, tirzepatide, weight, semaglutide, wegovy.

Posts that did well

• I always feel like I don’t look any different until I look at pictures. Down about 62 pounds so far!183 upvotes · 25 comments
• Started tirzepatide behind my partner's back and now we're barely speaking153 upvotes · 217 comments
• NSV69 upvotes · 6 comments
• ​Major GLP-1 study of 400,000 Reddit posts confirms hypothalamic side effects are real for some: Chills, fatigue, and cycle changes67 upvotes · 37 comments
• Progress Check66 upvotes · 5 comments
• 290 to 228 12 months47 upvotes · 9 comments
• do you tell people about the shot or just say thank you?39 upvotes · 57 comments
• No self control after stopping GLP-1 for surgery33 upvotes · 47 comments

Related subreddits

• r/Semaglutide
• r/WegovyWeightLoss
• r/Wegovy
• r/CompoundedSemaglutide
• r/Zepbound
• r/tirzepatidecompound
• r/Ozempic
• r/Weightlosstechniques
• r/OzempicForWeightLoss
• r/WegovyUK

Common questions