Tracking a GLP-1 protocol
Last reviewed 2026-06-11 · 5 min read
Bottom line: GLP-1s are weekly, titrated and long-lived in the body. All three properties make memory a bad logbook — and make a written dose history unusually valuable.
Titration means your dose has a history
Semaglutide and tirzepatide protocols typically climb through defined steps (for example 0.25 → 0.5 → 1 → 1.7 → 2.4 mg for semaglutide, or 2.5 → 5 → 7.5 → 10 → 12.5 → 15 mg for tirzepatide) with several weeks at each step. Six months in, "what was I taking in week 9?" is a real question — for you, your clinician, and for making sense of your own weight curve. A log that records the dose at each injection answers it in one glance.
A week is a long time to remember
Daily habits are self-reinforcing; weekly ones aren't. The single most common GLP-1 logging failure is the honest blank: "did I inject last Tuesday or the Tuesday before?" A reminder on the right weekday plus a one-tap "taken" mark closes that gap permanently — and the streak it builds is its own motivation.
Half-life context
Semaglutide's half-life is about a week, tirzepatide's around five days. Practical consequences worth understanding (both are visible on a half-life chart):
- Levels build for roughly 4–5 half-lives before flattening — early weeks aren't steady-state.
- A missed week doesn't drop you to zero; levels roughly halve. The official labels have specific guidance for late or missed doses — that's clinician/label territory, not guesswork territory.
- Side-effect timing often tracks the level curve, which is why noting when nausea or appetite changes happen (not just that they happen) is informative.
Stack draws this curve for you: an "in your system" model from each compound's published half-life, anchored to your actual logged doses. See the semaglutide and tirzepatide library pages for the numbers.
What's worth logging alongside
- Weight — same scale, same time of day; the weekly EMA trend beats any single weigh-in.
- Injection site — abdomen/thigh/arm rotation, see the rotation guide.
- Side effects — a one-tap note ("nausea, mild, day 2 post-dose") becomes a pattern after a month.
- Supply — pens and vials run out on schedule; a projection beats a pharmacy surprise.
One place, not five apps
The point of tracking isn't the data, it's the correlations: dose step ↔ weight trend ↔ side effects ↔ adherence. They only line up when they live in the same log. That's the whole design thesis of Stack. Get the app →