I’ve lost 7 stone on Mounjaro and plan to be on it for life. AMA

[LifeOfAShowGirl]

:)

Do you mind saying how old you are?

Congratulations on your loss! I’ve been very vocal about it, because for me it’s transformed everything about me. I felt like I wouldn’t be truthful if I didn’t say I was on it, but thankfully everyone has been very positive!

I’m 26 :)

I have lost a lot of weight as well. It has been amazing for my confidence. Have you ever wondered why you were overweight in the first place? Thought about counselling? I realise now I only need a meal a day, that anything more is totally surplus.

I would be more robustly optimistic than that. You’ve come a long way. You’ve lost almost my entire body weight in a year.

And once you’ve lost the rest there’s no reason not to work towards normalised eating and exercise. No reason why you can’t get there.

You’re very young to be taking drugs that have the potential to be damaging long term for the rest of your life.

I can see where some of my issues came from, but I’m also from a very large family. Nobody around me has very healthy eating habits

The long term effects of obesity are by far worse than any potential side effects. Almost every piece of literature and research to do with these drugs have come to the conclusion that these drugs are amazing, and do amazing things.

Btw- love the username 😉🧡

I am considering MJ. I am mostly concerned about feeling sick/ nauseous all the time. I work nights so can’t be feeling rubbish. Has this been your experience? X

No one is denying that, but there is no reason why you can't maintain a healthy weight once you've got there with sensible eating and exercise....

Just to say op, I am on a break. Stick to my usual food routine and now exercising properly because I am so much thinner and it’s easier quite frankly. I haven’t needed to restart them yet. So stay open to the possibility… but I understand why you plan to stick with it, I would too if that’s the only choice.

Haha, and yours!

I’ve had very few side effects. Mild nausea for the first few weeks/months but nothing more than that. I was never sick, I’ve been sick once since starting and that was through anxiety rather than the jabs. I found staying hydrated and eating whatever I could manage helped the nausea.

My body, my choice 😉

I just think for me, it’s changed my life so much that I find it hard to imagine not being on it. It’s not just weight loss - it’s the mental health benefits for me.

Can I ask you, where do you inject yourself? Do you do it once a week, same day and time ?

Thank you!

Either my upper thigh or stomach - I rotate depending on how I’m feeling. I’ll be doing stomach for the next few weeks as I bruise easily (like a peach!) and I’m off on holiday, so I’d like to keep my thighs looking relatively okay 🤣 I do it on a Friday, but whenever I remember really - some days I do it just as I get in from work, some it’s just before bed. This week it’ll be as soon as I get in, as I’m planning on fake tanning on Friday night 🤣

That’s very true, but (a) there are side effects, some of which are only now becoming apparent and others of which are probably yet to be discovered, and (b) nobody knows what the long-term impact of these drugs may be because they’re still very new. While the side effects/health impacts are small when compared with the risks of obesity, they’re not necessarily small enough to be disregarded once you are at a healthy weight. If you can’t maintain your weight without the drugs, the risks might be worth taking – but if you can manage without them, that would without doubt be a better outcome, particularly for someone your age. I don’t think any doctor should prescribe them for life before someone has at least tried coming off them.

Good for you. I've considered these too after family members have transformed their lives. I've started Slimpod instead and it seems to have similar effects - maybe not as pronounced, but I'm just not hungry any more unless I really, really need to eat. Sometimes that's emotional eating, but mostly not. The food noise has reduced substantially.

I'm only mentioning it because I think when you're fucked up around food and don't have an "off switch" it's hard to imagine that you might actually develop one naturally. I'm 53, with a life time of eating disorders and I've been really surprised to find I need to eat less food than I thought!

Keep going and do whatever you need to do to be healthy. Obesity is a nasty disease and there's a whole life out there for you when you've cured it 🤗

These drugs have been used for decades.

My mum did slimpod, it worked for her for a while but then it’s slowly dwindled. I did pay for it, and do keep meaning to restart it, but found in the beginning it didn’t work much for me. But I was very incredulous about it and didn’t really believe anything would work for me at the time. It’s something I’m considering though!

And if your genotype is one which pushes towards obesity, eating right and exercising is likely to be insufficient to help you maintain a lower weight. People really want to see obesity as just a problem of people not doing the right thing, without any real consideration of why it is so much harder for some people than the other. No one in addiction work would say addiction is just an issue of willpower, and yet people cling to this when discussing obesity.

I am a lot older than you, its been really slow for me but am 10kg down and lower weight than I have been since perimenopause kicked in.

But you’re already neutralising the risks of obesity so no need to lay yourself open to unnecessary risk factors in other areas.

There’s no denying it can have amazing effects on obesity but those effects come at a high cost in some people.

You’re in the thick of it now, but do consider that long term with the right support it may not be necessary to be on these drugs for life.

Yes, exactly. I can tell I have a genotype that pushes me towards obesity because my entire family on one side is obese. Obviously in an ideal world I’ll be able to come off, but at the moment it’s not worth the risk to me!

Well done op. It’s wonderful isn’t it! I’ve lost 6 and a half stone, now a size 8-10 at 5ft 6.5, work out six days a week, have visible muscle and tone. I’m mid 50s. My sleep apnea is cured, and I’m off the blood pressure meds,

I’m now in maintenance, and will stay on the lowest therapeutic dose, which is 5mg long term or till something better comes along. I feel so much healthier, I sleep 8 hours a night, wake up in a great mood, and vainly am for the first time ever very happy with my weight and appearance. I also ate my protein, and took biotin daily and my hair has never been better. My blood test results are now all normal.

i tell anyone who asks how I did it, and the healthy results are staring them in the face, could I try to go it alone, sure but I know it will come back on ultimately and I don’t want to live my life with that daily struggle,I also want the other therapeutic benefits of the drugs ie blood sugar management, insulin management and of course the new findings cardio vascular, liver and kidney health, as well as potentially, now in trials, preventing certain cancers and even dementia.

studies are now also showing it has an anti ageing effect on our internal organs, something to do with t cell production and the anti inflammatory effects, which doesn’t just slow ageing of our internal organs but in some people reversing it.

and of course contrary to the media scare stories, the instances of pancreatitis and gallstones is actually significantly reduced in people who take it, and its weight gain or rapid weight loss that causes that, so as long as you lose at a healthy rate, say 2lbs a week, then you limit risk from losing weight. Thyroid cancer was seen in mice in early trials but they tweaked it and not since, but it still goes on the box. They think over 50 million people now on the drugs globally as every developed country has approved, and thr WHO will approve next month and likely put it on their list of essential medication, which means every country with a functioning health care system needs to offer it to their population.

I just wish it was available to everyone in the right dose, but for many it is affordable, you’re only on the high doses for a short period, the lower doses really cost 20 odd quid a week if you take the 5fh dose, and that’s offset often i. the reduction is grocery and alcohol bill. We will get there though, as more drugs enter the arena.

good luck on the rest of your journey, and then maintenance, and I hope you look and feel wonderful x

Totally understand. I love the lack of stress about what to wear!!! Not being self conscious and feeling healthy. It’s wonderful and I agree you shouldn’t have to give it up.