How to keep a tirzepatide injection log

What to record for each shot

Record six things for every tirzepatide shot: product, dose as labeled, the real date and time, the site, the device and any notes. Tirzepatide is a once-weekly shot, so one short line a week is enough. The time matters as much as the date.

• Product: Mounjaro®, Zepbound® or the compounded product named on your pharmacy label.
• Dose: exactly as your label or care plan states it, in the same unit. Don’t convert units yourself.
• Date and time: when you actually injected, to the hour, even if it was later than planned.
• Site: the area and side, so you can follow the rotation in your instructions.
• Device: single-dose pen, KwikPen or vial, and which dose of a multi-dose pen or vial this was.
• Notes: symptoms, site reactions and questions for your next appointment.

Why to the hour? Both the Mounjaro and Zepbound prescribing information give their timing rules in hours as well as days. A log that says only “Monday” can’t answer an hours question. If you also want the wider picture of what a GLP-1 log can hold, see our GLP-1 medication tracker guide.

Pens and vials: track the pen cycle

Tirzepatide comes in more than one kind of device, and that changes your log. A single-dose pen is used once. A multi-dose pen or vial holds several weekly doses, so it helps to note when you started it and which dose you’re on. That way you always know what’s left.

The Zepbound prescribing information lists four presentations: a single-dose pen, a single-dose vial, a multi-dose vial and a single-patient-use KwikPen. Its instructions say the KwikPen and the multi-dose vial each hold 4 weekly doses. The Mounjaro prescribing information also lists vials, single-dose pens and a KwikPen. Your prescriber and pharmacist decide which one you get, and the instructions for that device are the ones to follow.

A pen-cycle note also helps with refills. If your log says “dose 3 of 4”, you know a refill is close. Questions about storing, reusing or throwing away a pen or vial go to your pharmacist.

A sample tirzepatide log

Here is what one month can look like with a multi-dose pen. The entries are made up and show the format only. The dose column says “as on label” on purpose: copy your own label exactly. The extra pen column is what sets a tirzepatide log apart.

Compare it with our semaglutide injection log guide: that one focuses on copying prescribed details across Ozempic®, Wegovy®, tablets and compounded forms. This one adds the pen cycle and exact hours, because tirzepatide labels lean on both.

Prefer paper? Our printable GLP-1 shot and site log is a free PDF with room for date, time, pen and site.

Brand and compounded products

Write down the exact product and the pharmacy that supplied it. Mounjaro and Zepbound are both tirzepatide made by Eli Lilly, prescribed for different conditions. Compounded tirzepatide is made by a pharmacy and isn’t FDA-approved. Your log should mirror whatever your own label says.

The FDA has published concerns about unapproved GLP-1 drugs, including the risk of dosing errors. Some compounded labels give the dose in syringe units rather than in milligrams. Log the number and the unit exactly as written, and never convert between them yourself. If the label is unclear, ask the pharmacy before you log anything.

If you switch products, for example from a compounded vial to a brand pen, start a new line that says so. Include the date and who made the change. That keeps the before and after easy to read at your next visit.

Late or missed doses

Log what actually happened, including a late or missed dose, and write down your question. What to do next depends on your medication and how much time has passed, so that’s one for your prescriber or pharmacist and the instructions that came with your prescription, not for a log or an app.

The labels explain why exact times help. The Mounjaro and Zepbound prescribing documents state their missed-dose and dose-day rules in days and hours, so a log with exact times gives you and your pharmacist something precise to check against. Read those rules in your own Medication Guide, ask your pharmacist or prescriber what they mean for you, and never borrow a rule from someone else’s medicine.

When a dose slips, write down when it was due, when you noticed and when you took it, if you did. With those three times in hand, reading your Medication Guide or talking to your pharmacist is quick.

Zepbound’s own instructions even include a medication calendar with space to write your chosen weekday and the dates you inject. A log simply keeps that habit going, with a little more detail.

Symptoms and questions

Next to each dose, note how you felt in the days after: what the symptom was, when it started and how strong it was. Over a few weeks, that makes it much easier to describe your experience at an appointment. If a symptom is severe, worsening or worrying, contact a healthcare professional rather than waiting for your next visit.

A simple way to keep notes short is to count days from the dose: “day 2, mild nausea in the evening.” Our side effect diary guide has a full weekly format. Before a visit, bring your last few weeks of entries and open questions. The guide to a progress report for your doctor shows how to put it on one page.

Site reactions belong here too. The tirzepatide labels list the abdomen and thigh, with the back of the upper arm when another person gives the shot, and ask you to rotate sites with each dose. Logging the site and who gave the shot makes that easy to follow. Our injection site rotation log shows a simple layout.

How PenPal keeps the log

PenPal works with Mounjaro, Zepbound and compounded tirzepatide. Log each dose in mg, mcg or units the way your label reads, tap the site on the body map, and set a reminder for the next one. PenPal never converts units or calculates a dose. See the shot tracker.

• Time stamps: each dose keeps its date and time, and you can change them when you log a shot late.
• Supply: the optional supply card keeps a count of the doses you have at home, including several in one pen, and gives you a heads-up before you run low.
• Sites: the body map shows your recent sites and the one you used longest ago as “Next in rotation”.
• Symptoms: a Body Check-In logs how strong each symptom was and which day after the dose it happened.
• Sharing: export a PDF progress report with your dose log, sites and symptoms.