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?

I don't regret it at all. It's been life changing.

I plan to taper slowly down the doses before stopping and will do that v v slowly. I also plan to increase my running as I decrease my doses. So by the time I stop I'm running a decent mileage every week and working towards longer and longer distance events.

Don't bother tried it for six months, watched what I ate, went to the gym twice a week and it made no difference. Snake oil

I'm currently taking mounjaro and I have CONSTANT food noise. Constantly starving, always thinking about food.
I'm loosing weight but it might not be the magic cure you think it is.
I have also shat myself. Multiple times. (Unpleasant side effects)

I am also concerned about gaining back after I stop so am trying to educate myself about the biochemistry of fat cells.

I heard/read something somewhere that in order to keep the weight off, you need to keep it off for at least 2 years (maybe it was 5!) because after this point the body gets rid of the fat cells rather than just emptying them out (to put it crudely).

From Oprah magazine:
When we quickly put on a lot of pounds in early childhood, at puberty, and sometimes even as adults, we can grow new fat cells. Known as hyperplastic obesity, it poses a daunting challenge. The only way to be thin if you have an excessive population of fat cells is to shrink them below normal size, which is where things get really tough. The cells begin to produce less leptin, a hormone that signals the brain when you're full. You'll end up feeling ravenous all the time. If you find the will to lose more than 10 percent of your body weight (more than 20 pounds for someone who weighs 200), eventually you'll induce a process called apoptosis—cell death. You could begin trimming your population of fat cells. Once you do, you'll find that maintaining a lower weight gets easier.

There are many on here still on MJ etc with healthy BMI but not yet at goal, who started out overweight/obese. Why is this ok and not as or more ‘dangerous’ than someone theoretically on it who marginally misses overweight threshold criteria?

Because a body that has been obese and is now a healthy weight doesn't behave in the same way as a body that's always been a healthy weight. The former is far more likely to become obese again.
It is medication designed to treat obesity, which includes maintenance, and not a quick fix to treat wanting to lose a few pounds before the summer.

You won't get it at BMI 28 either unless you have an underlying condition.

Lots of us who are BMI 28 have tried hard to lose weight for many years also, 15 years for me. I used to be BMI 19 before having kids.

I have an underlying condition and have been prescribed it. Hence the dilemma. Honestly just trying to get some experiences to help me decide what to do.

My worry with these drugs is that yes, your body will lose weight, but the weight will be composed of fat plus muscle mass. Then when you come off it, your metabolism will be in a worse state meaning you need to eat even less than before in order to maintain.

Yes that sounds plausible. I'm worried about messing my body up even more. But carrying on as I am which isn't working also not a good option.

Quite & hear you on quick fix but a body that just meets threshold isn’t same as one morbidly obese for decades surely? If someone is happily now mid healthy BMI for months but not yet at target this is fine?

Any weight loss in any form comprises losing muscle mass & fat surely? The gym & right food can mitigate muscle loss.

Fascinating!

I don't set the licensing guidelines 🤷🏻‍♀️ The folks who do though have assessed the risks and benefits and decided the criteria. It's not about what's fair, it's about the assessed licensing of a prescription medication for a disease.

I hear you but I keep hearing about this disproportionate ‘danger’ for some, which doesn’t feel always logical & there are those who appear to be legally & medically sanctioned to ‘micro dose’ too. No doubt we’ll see all sorts of positive help/advances in time for broader categories.

Like any medication, WLI come with risks - pancreatitis for eg being one of the most written about. The risk of taking the medication, as with any medication, has to be weighed up against the risk of not taking it.
The MHRA have seemed that risk, on balance, as worthwhile for someone who is obese and therefore has risk to their health from obesity. The risk is not deemed worth it for someone of a healthy weight. Bluntly an obese person might die because of their weight, a person with a healthy BMI won't.
Thet doesn't mean that the jabs are more dangerous necessarily for someone of a healthy weight but it's unknown as medical trials haven't been run.
I don't believe microdosing has been approved, or trialed, but is a way some people are going off menu. Again, that may not be any more dangerous that taking the prescribed doses but it too is unknown as trials haven't been run.

Private doctors are prescribing to those such as Olivia Falcon who don’t meet official guidelines and a healthy BMI at least now & seemingly before. She explained sudden weight gain in menopause etc. Regular blood tests etc as safety mechanism plus medical supervision Interviewed on TV & seemingly positive response. Seems from what you say this is potentially playing roulette with health? At least until we know much more & not something to do lightly.

I've just ordered my first dose, my GP has referred me to weight loss clinic (BMI 39 with high bp and sleep apnoea) but it could be a long wait so I would like to try it while I wait.
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I had to submit a video of myself getting onto the scales so that they could see the weight shown was actually me. Plus I have to have a video consultation. Plus photo ID and all the health questions you have to answer beforehand, it seems very thorough.

They have, but it's rare and usually as a consequence of getting a dodgy supply from an unregulated seller, or because they did what some people have done here and 'fiddled' their weight or not told the pharmacy about certain health conditions that they have, that would make them unsuitable for the drug. If it was that dangerous when prescribed correctly to suitable people, I doubt it would be available from online pharmacies.

Unfortunately we don't have a lot of information about why there have been fatalities - your ideas about how they've happened might be right but there are certainly people who have done everything by the book and still died. But yes, it's rare, thankfully.

The common side effects can still be very brutal and we don't know about the long term effects yet, either.

I think that if my BMI was in the healthy range, I wouldn't take the risk with MJ but would hold out for the next generation of these drugs which is going to be safer and very likely even more effective.

It would be silly to fudge the numbers to get the medication, if only because the testing has not been done on people with healthy BMIs. But I think it will be only a matter of months before many more people will be able to access these and even more advanced medications that do similar things.

It's not "snake oil" as someone said upthread, it just doesn't work the same for everyone, same as any medical treatment. It has been used for many years and gone through all the clincal trials. In my case I have, in 3months, lost a lot of weight, cut my drinking from a bottle of wine a day to nothing, decreased my HbA1c and cured my menopausal night sweats. Quite good for "snake oil"

“The risk is deeemed not worth it” isn’t true. There have not yet been clinical trials for lower weights, so it can’t be approved, that is it so far.

My BMI was not in the obese range when I started mj.

I honestly couldn't and can't see that this drug is risky. Serious side effects are rare. Most medics go so far as to say it's a largely 'safe' medication. All meds, including paracetamol, neurofen and antibiotics can have serious side effects in a small monitory of people, but that doesn't stop healthy people using them. Personally, I wasn't bothered if I got minor side effects from mj such as nausea or diarrhea or whatever.

As it happens, I've had hardly any side effects, just fatigue (which lifted after the first 12 weeks) and occasional blood sugar drops. That's it! I've had no gastrointestinal side effects whatsoever

For me, the mental anguish and impact of my weight on my mental health was worth the risk of taking mj. I've had no bad effects and the drug has been life changing.

After reading copious amounts of research and literature on the topic, it makes no sense to me that this drug would be any riskier for someone BMI 26 than someone BMI 36. Everything I read on medications indicates that the healthier the BMI and the healthier the individual, the less likely they are to experience side effects or ill effects from any drug. Can't see why that would be any different for mj

You might be right. I think I'm going to stick with the medical advice though, rather than the opinions of people on social media! It's clear that the side effects have been very brutal in many cases and very serious in some. I'm glad you've had a good experience but you are still just one person.

I slightly fudged my stats when I started MJ last August. Told the pharmacy I was an inch shorter and 11bs heavier than I really was. This took my BMI from 28.6 up to the magic 30.

I lost weight slowly but steadily. My chronic sweet tooth and carb cravings disappeared. I was happy to eat less and more healthily, with lots of lean protein, fruit and veg. My junk food obsession just ......gone. I had barely any side effects. Certainly the side effects of being overweight (aching joints, swollen fingers, palpitations, rising cholesterol) were much worse.

It took me 5 months to lose 3 stones which is just under 25% of my total body weight. I went from a portly size 14 to a slender size 8/10. I look and feel so much better.

My BMI is now 22.4 and I've been on a lower maintenance dose for 6 weeks now. I have researched the benefits and protection that MJ provides against dementia, heart disease and strokes (all three are rife in my family) and have decided I will likely stay on MJ long term. Yes, it costs me £160 per month but I would happily pay twice that because of it's many health benefits. And when the patent expires in a few years the cost will drop dramatically.