So overweight yet I can’t stop eating

[Person246]

I have changed my username for this post. Basically I am massively overweight and obese (weigh just over 16 stone and I am 5”7).

I tried mounjaro for 7 weeks and then gave up.

Eating makes me happy. It makes me feel good. It provides comfort. But for literally the 5 minutes I am eating it.

I don’t know how to stop. Where to start eating better. What changes to make. I know it’s making me depressed but I can’t seem to just get out of my rut.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated 🌷

I’d say you need to have some therapy about your eating rather than just going on the injections. Once you lose a noticeable amount you’ll start to feel better about yourself so it’s worth giving it another go, but in conjunction with some professional help.

I agree with previous posters on both sides of the argument - obesity (for me) is caused by metabolic issues AND emotional ones. Mounjaro (again, for me) addressed both in a way I've never experienced before.

In terms of anxiety, yes I felt some heightened anxiety when my self-soothing strategy of bingeing was taken away. I couldn't physically manage to binge and food lost its calming effect. So when those feelings came up, I couldn't shove them back down again. However, while this was alarming in the immediate moment, I realised that a binge was only ever a very temporary solution. A binge would always be followed by worse anxiety - what have I done, why did I do this - and self flagellation. So I came to realise that managing my emotions in the moment, and being forced to find ways to do that because overeating simply was not available to me, actually created LESS anxiety overall. Not having had to deal with the post-binge comedown for nearly a year now has been immensely beneficial to my mental health, and I now have learned and practiced other ways to deal with things that would always have triggered a binge previously. In that way, Mounjaro has been like stabilisers for me, and it really has helped me to build new habits and strategies going forwards.

But also, the physical correction of appetite and hormones has been truly life changing. It has addressed the very real excessive hunger I always felt and made me understand that I was not greedy and undisciplined; my body was not regulating itself properly and that was not my fault. I had enormous discipline: across the course of my lifetime I have lost many stones of weight and stuck to many diet and exercise regimes. But I have always failed eventually and regained, and done it all again. I did have resilience and determination, I was very well educated and knowledgeable about nutrition and movement, but I was always fighting against my body. Now I am at peace with it in a way I could never have been without Mounjaro.

So, OP, I would recommend giving it another go! Good luck.

Have a look at Slimpod. It’s very good for the mental side of overeating, creating a good mindset for making better food choices snd doing more exercise without just white-knuckling it on willpower .

@Person246 these injections do not suit everyone. Anxiety-type symptoms are a recognised side effect of the medication which, for some, can be very severe. Don’t restart the medication because of being persuaded by people who have had success with the drugs.

Please talk to whomever provided you with the medication, assuming it was done through reputable medical/pharmaceutical sources. If you haven’t already, talk to your GP about getting referred to an eating disorder psychologist or referral to a local Tier 3 service. With a BMI of approximately 35 (as you give approximate values of measurements) I expect your GP to help; they will have an understanding of your medical history, unlike strangers on the internet.

@Smallsalt

Well done! I’m glad it has worked for you and you feel much happier in yourself.

It addresses the root cause by regulating hormones and blood sugar But will that help those who are emotional eaters, or who eat because it’s the one thing they think they have control over, or because it’s ingrained in them, or because they don’t have any understanding of what ‘eating badly’ is, or have convinced themselves that they don’t like healthy food, or who have no concept of portion control, or a hundred other reasons that are psychological rather than physical? There are millions of people who fall into those categories for whom MJ will fail the same as Slimming World. Education and psychiatric treatment are equally as important in many cases. In fact, I think more important and more effective than medication in a lot of cases. The minute their time on the medication is done, they’re going to revert to previous patterns unless those are addressed.

I know we all ‘know someone who…’ but my ex’s mum had bariatric surgery. She desperately wanted to be slim and it was really affecting her health. She was back eating Chinese takeaway before her stitches had fully healed because she never addressed her relationship with food and the reasons behind her over eating. Unsurprisingly, it didn’t work and she subsequently passed away from obesity related complications after months in hospital. All of this was on the NHS and was such a waste of money. I think it would have been far cheaper and far more effective to include mental health and/or nutritional education. And she would have stood a chance of succeeding, possibly without the surgery.

Yes so am I, particularly chocolate, I crave it and think about it all the time but I find the fasting better because I know I'm not just saying "I'll cut out chocolate" I can still have it.

Hello everyone. I’ve decided to give mounjaro another go. Wish me luck.

Im the same OP

Think I do it as my life is so s* and it wont improve anytime soon

I don't want to give medical advice but I get extreme symptoms of anxiety when I'm dehydrated - full-blown panic attacks, shaking, sense of genuine impending doom, chest pains. I'm always dehydrated when it happens but my first thought is always "I am going to die", then I go "oh, it's that feeling, I should grab a drink".

Is it possible that the Mounjaro made you feel anxious because you were dehydrated? It impacts thirst as well as hunger so you have to make sure to drink enough.

@ChocworkOrange I think I am dehydrated all of the time. I drink at best 1 glass of squash a day. I’m being deadly serious. My other liquids are soft drinks.

I had mounjaro once in Ibiza. It gave me the munchies, not sure you should have it if you’re trying to lose weight

This isn't far off me too - I think that's maybe why it's an issue. I'm permanently pretty dehydrated so if it's warm or I've exercised or something, it tips me over. Pretty consistently, I can be anxious as hell, and I'll make a real effort to up my water intake - and it'll make me far less anxious (it also makes me way less hungry).

Soft drinks are still hydrating. Albeit not as healthy as water obviously.

It sounds like you struggle with motivation - how’s your mood generally? Are you happy?

Here's a question - were you overweight before you started the Sertraline?

@ArtTheClown yep

If you're eating processed foods and drinking fizzy drinks/squash, your body will always be craving more. Ultra processed foods are designed to do this.
If you do nothing else, I would seriously get into cooking and baking. Embrace a love of food and make it yourself. Cakes, biscuits If you want. Pies, casseroles etc get cooking and enjoy yourself.
It still won't be anywhere near as bad for you as the UPF stuff, you won't be able to eat as much.

After that, when you have reset to real food, you can start to make even healthier choices such as reducing carbs and sugars in your diet.

WLI are great but won't do this bit for you, so the risk is once you stop you'll go back to your former eating habits.

Baby steps.

Give it a go but also check out fully the stuff by Dr Chris Van Tulleken around food addiction and the struggle with overweight.
His book, Ultra Processed People is amazing, but if you don't enjoy reading there's podcasts, tv shows etc.

He's a bona-fide, fully qualified doctor who has researched this. No diets specifically recommended, he just helps us all.understand why certain food is addictive and designed to be so.