I want to try mounjaro

[Shwish]

There I've said it. It doesn't seem fair that I can't and just have to work and still stay a little bit fat but others are allowed to use it down to a much lower BMI than me. I'm BMI of around 25.5 / 26 so overweight but not THAT big. But I have constant food noise that I really want to switch off. I eat way more than I should and I can't seem to stop. The only way I've been managing to keep my BMI at the level it's at right now is by exercising ALL THE TIME. I walk 3 miles every morning before the kids get up, do push ups and squats and sit ups the minute I get out of bed in the morning and go to the gym 5 times a week. It's exhausting. I have PCOS and insulin resistance which I think might be the cause of my constant hunger tbh.
Meanwhile my cousin started with a BMI of about 28 so got prescribed mounjaro, she is now MUCH slimmer than me with - she says herself - pretty much no effort. And she's allowed to stay on it till her BMI is down to 22, then she'll switch to a maintenance dose to keep her there.
Why can't I use it? I don't really understand the logic. I actually have been thinking of stopping the exercise for a month or two to push me over the 27 BMI (I have high cholesterol so would qualify at 27) just to make my life easier. Is that nuts?

The rules aren't there to be mean, they are there because it is a balance of risks. If someone is prescribed it (via an honest route) with a BMI of 27 is is because they have other risk factors that make it worth the risks of the medication.

People are able to continue taking it once they have started because of the (rather depressing, imho) fact that having carried so much body fat has changed their body chemistry for the worse and science hasn't worked out how to change it back again. Without continuing to pay out and take the risks of the medication they have 95% chance of regaining weight and going back to square 1. If they could get back to your kind of BMI and stay there without these injections then they wouldn't be allowed to continue.

Take heart from these advances though, the more they study these things the greater the chance they will find something with a lower risk profile that means it is suitable for you if you wanted it.

You know that what you did was stupidly dangerous and not something that you should be remotely proud about doing and I certainly wouldn’t be encouraging others to fudge the numbers a bit to get their hands on some medication that has very real and very dangerous side effects but hey what does that matter so long as your losing weight and looking good right.

I researched it for ages before I started mj and agree with the OP that I couldn't see why I would be more at risk with a BMI under 30 than someone with a BMI of over 30.

In fact, the more I read the more I thought the risks and side effects might even be less for me because I was very healthy and had less physical health problems than someone in the obese range.

It's my body and my choice.

I haven't suggested or recommended that anyone do what I did. I'm simply stating my own story and that it's been fine for me.

I disagree about it being very risky and dangerous.

It's the best decision I've made in a long time.

But like I said, I don't recommend others do what I did. Everyone should make their own informed choices about their health, weight and medical care and I'd advise others to speak with their GP.

This happened to my dad, he completely stopped eating and got ill so came off it. Not good for him at all. Didn’t do that much for his not well controlled diabetes either.

It’s not magic. People still need to eat healthily and exercise or they lose muscle mass too. There are numerous side effects which medics/pharmacy balance v obesity side effects not being just slightly overweight.

No wonder they are tightening up how this is given privately if people are fraudulent with the info they give. It can risk the pharmacists job if they approve it.

Me too. I stayed on the lowest dose, counted calories, lost a stone and have kept it off and I feel and look great.

The manufacturer is going to start trialling the drug for much lower BMIs. It isn’t approved yet because the trials haven’t taken place, but I believe it will be soon enough.

I’ve certainly done much riskier things in my life! Posters can fume about it all they want, and then get on with living their own lives.

I see your point.

If your friend is allowed to stay on it at full dose when they teach your BMI then why can't you start it at that same BMI?

It’s such a shame really because it can really help to control people’s diabetes but only if it’s actually going to work and not cause more issues. My mums diabetes is the best it’s ever been her sugars have been brilliant but she is very closely monitored by the diabetic nurses. Which is something that I don’t think people who are buying off some fake internet doctor are really taking into consideration that you have to be closely monitored while your using it you can’t just go off and inject yourself with some random substance that you got from the local hairdressers or a fake doctor on the internet. It’s not harmless it can give people some very real and very serious side effects but as we all know people like to treat side effects as oh it will never happen to me until it does. If people are going to use I would like to think that we would encourage them to go to a reputable pharmacy for it not the internet or the hairdresser. I’m overweight I asked the doctor about it and got told to just go and look on google to see where I can get it from so the GP’s are no better than people on here openly admitting to fudging their numbers online just to get their hands on it. I honestly believe that people think inject themselves once a week and they will eat hardly anything and the weight will fall off but the reality is that they still have to diet and exercise they can’t stuff their face with burgers and ice cream and still expect to lose weight that week it won’t happen. I hope your dad has found a better treatment for his diabetes it’s not an easy thing to manage I’ve watched my mum struggle with it since she got diagnosed.

"I’ve certainly done much riskier things in my life! Posters can fume about it all they want, and then get on with living their own lives."

I'm pretty sure there's an element of gatekeeping here. Not from everyone obviously. Some people are genuinely worried about potential side effects. but in the same way that you sometimes see people accuse slim people of wanting to keep their "friends" fat to make themselves look better.

Yanbu. The stuff is a fucking wonder drug. I'm dreading coming off it.

agree :) 👍 💯 💛

I must admit I was tempted to fiddle my weight, but chickened out. I feel the same as the OP as my weight is near the top of the overweight BMI but not quite enough to qualify me for the WLI. I have put on so much weight since the perimenopause and absolutely nothing I do shifts it. It's making me miserable.

I do understand there has to be a cut off and I accept that lying to get the drug isn't sensible. But there is a little bit of me that's fed up about it all. I would like it to be more widely available and I hope that's not too far off.

I agree with a pp - look at your diet and cut calories. Exercise is less effective for losing weight in most cases.

The people who manipulate their numbers to get MJ prescribed… I’m sure there will be a few Darwin awards to hand out.

You’re not just under the obese category though since that starts at a BMI of 30. You’re just in the overweight category…. Just in. Realistically you must only have a few pounds to lose to get you into a healthier BMI ( although BMI wasn’t really designed to measure individuals in this way)
I think you need to review your eating because although you talk about exercise it’s the diet that will determine your weight loss. You perhaps would also benefit from building more muscle which would allow you a greater calorie allowance without the need for tons of cardio.

Actually no. 27 is the cut off for MJ not 30 if you have other health issues (which I do) so I AM just under the cutoff. And yes I know that it's my eating I need to sort out!! Thats the bit I'm stuck on

What is your reasoning for believing there are going to be a whole host of issues caused by these drugs? Is this based on any scientific or medical information (or purely emotional thinking)?

Ok, so eat more to be a BMI of 27 then, so you can pay £150 a month, potentially for life, to take prescription medication to lose the weight again at the same calorie deficit you're currently on. Nothing stopping you.
It just sounds like a bizarre way of looking at is as someone who had a morbidly obese BMI of 43 when I started taking it. Yes it's nice to be looking a bit trimmer each week, but the huge win for me is that my weight is less likely each week to kill me.

People have died from taking these drugs. It's only worth taking such massive risks if you're obese.

There will be a tablet form for people with lower BMIs within the next year or two.

In the meantime, have you tried keto or carnivore?

I’ve also got PCOS and have insulin resistance. I was prescribed metformin years ago for a while and that was the only thing that ever stopped the weight gain until mounjaro. I had a BMI of 40 and it’s now down to 26. I tried everything over the years and nothing worked and it was so depressing, but this has been a game changer for me. I realised my diet was already healthy - which I knew, but you know how obese people are treated in society, so I’ve just continued as I was and the weight has come off. Whilst I don’t think that it should be prescribed to people who don’t need it because their bmi is too low, but PCOS is often ignored and dismissed so 🤷‍♀️

worth bearing in mind that taking mounjaro increases your risk of anaesthetic complications so if you're sourcing it via non-traditional routes it is vital to share that with HCPs if you become unwell/need surgery.

I’m pretty sure she means buy online from a pharmacy.

Possibly. But we already know many of the myriad dangers of being overweight- which is going to be the bigger problem? I actually think these drugs are going be a game changer for the NHS (in a good way).

I've lost a couple of stone, but more importantly, when I had a blood test in January all of my blood markers had improved, some significantly. My GP actually sounded amazed at how much better my cholesterol levels were! I had also gone from being pre-diabetic to being fine. Liver function improved as well, I could go on.....oh my blood pressure is also down to a healthy level, after years of taking medication for it.

I would like to hope so but I know people are getting it online from “doctors” someone even said to fudge their numbers to get it because that’s what they did.

@MjStartsToday It’s great that it’s worked for you but that’s you not the OP just because you’ve been fine doesn’t necessarily mean that it will work for someone else though and they’ll be fine. How would you feel if someone read your comment and thought l’ll do the same thing and fudge my numbers it won’t matter and ended up dying. Think before you say something because you don’t who is reading these comments. It’s a dangerous drug with serious side effects and it’s better if your being monitored while your using it.

I agree. Then there is that thing on Tik Tock making people look fatter in photos. Perfect for this I suppose. There have always been people willing to go to lengths to harm themselves in order to lose weight.

I can relate OP. I had a moment of desperation and applied for some on Superdrug. No judgement for anyone using it but I'm scared of the side effects and what happens after.

I'm not obese but my BMI is over 28 and I've got health conditions that make me eligible so they're on they're way to me. I half hoped they'd turn down my application so I tthought I'll be completely honest about my stats etc and let fate decide. But I'm freaking out now as all the data says once you come off your hunger is out of control (like after any really restrictive diet) and you gain all the weighted back and then some. I'm pretty scared of that having experiencd similar in the past when I've been too restrictive.

I definitely wouldn't want to be on it for life which seems to be what you're signing up for with it. I really need to lose some weight to look after my health but find it almost impossible due to peri menopause, emotional/boredom eating and general exhaustion of having a young family.

I generally eat pretty healthily and try to exercise 3 times a week but it's not enough. I'm going to give it another shot at exercise and trying to get a calorie deficit before I consider using it. Feels like it's signing a contract with the devil almost.

Does anyone in a similar position regret every starting on it?