Anyone taken weight loss injections and regretted it?

[itsallfoggy]

I feel losing weight wouid help me build my confidence and get life back on track but im
just really scared that something awful will happen. I am very close to ordering online. I need to lose around 2 stones. It just won’t shift. Please share your experiences. Thank you ☺️

That's absolutely not true. Read up on major weight loss studies; ALL diets lead to weight rebound within a couple of years. Almost everyone who does a 'strict diet and exercise regime' will regain the weight they lose plus extra and it will happen quickly. That's how the diet industry keeps going - yoyo dieting had had many of us in its clutches for a very long time. WLIs are no different in that respect, but there is the possibility of staying on a maintenance dose long-term.

Also, as many people have explained, you get best results from WLIs by doing a healthy diet and exercise regimes whilst on them - not waiting until after you stop taking them! That's nonsensical.

No regrets at all. I came off the at the start of the year after losing 4 stone and am keeping it off. I’ve actually lost another 1/2 stone since then.

Best thing I’ve ever done for myself.

I didn’t regret taking them. I do regret moving so rapidly up through the doses - from 5 of mounjaro upwards I had really uncomfortable side effects (bowel related). 2.5 was fine for me and that’s what I’ve reverted back to.

I wouldn’t want to look all baggy like people do after WLI

This I agree with . The normal way.

Thank you ❤️ and yes I totally feel that!! It’s not scientific but I feel like my heavier/ fat body coped with the medicine as it was spread out over a larger surface area so I never felt ill on it? Now that I’m a size 10/12 I’m on the lowest possible dose so again, not feeling the side effects? I’m not a doctor or a scientist, that’s just what I think!

If OP only has two stone to lose and does it slowly, it's a risk she can hope to manage. But it is something you have to factor in with any weight loss.

The normal way is to not lose the weight and, if you do, to put it back on again.

The question is about people’s experience taking jabs - not what judgemental people who don’t have a weight problem think about it!!

Using Mounjaro has changed my life! I always struggled with obesity since my earliest days. More than a decade ago I lose nine stone through extreme diet and exercise and really thought I’d cracked it. But then life got in the way and the weight crept back on. Mid-life crises and lockdown didn’t help. By summer 2022 I was 144kg and shocked and ashamed.

I managed to “reset” myself and through diet and exercise and I shed around 35kg. Great. But I was still obese and then the weight started to creep back on again. So finally in March last year in complete desperation I started Mounjaro. I went down from 107kg to 86kg. I’m now on the border of “overweight and obese” - BMI hovering around 30 - so far from skinny but good enough for me. It has probably saved my life.

When I spoke to a health professional before starting the jab they were actually trying to persuade me that I would never reach the correct BMI and just to be happy with the weight I had lost so far! I’m glad I didn’t listen to them and made my own decision to take advantage of modern medicine.

I’ve not really had side effects. But then I really was obese and needed it and followed all the instructions very carefully. I do look a bit scrawnier and wrinkly! Fine. I can live with that. So much better than being fat.

I still eat a calorie deficit and exercise at least three times a week.

I’d say go for it if your BMI is over 30 and you have another health problem linked to weight! Just be aware you won’t end up as Kate Moss. The jabs are expensive too but I’m glad I invested in myself.

Good for you.

Ahh you’ve solved the age old problem of excess weight gain! Simply eat less all, thank god you are here to help..

People who are morbidly obese will always have an element of skin sagging regardless of how they lost the weight

You don’t sound like you qualify to be honest. Are you obese?

I started on WLI back in Feb, I had been trying to lose weight but not doing particularly well, gaining rather than losing even with a PT twice a week.
I'm short 5'3'' with a BMI of 37.2 weight 96kg when I started currently I'm the same height BMI at 31 and weight at 80.3KG to get to a BMI of 25 I need to lose another 15kg (2.5 stone) I think I will be happy with dropping another stone. once I get there I will taper the injections down with the intention of coming off them.

side effects have been few, but the positives have been good IBS has improved a lot and blood pressure is almost normal.

I have always ate fairly healthily but with a big plate of food, now the plates are smaller so a win. financially it isn't going to be sustainable long term but I'm £1k in so far plus the PT! Ohh and the clothes bill is quite high!!

I’m not baggy. What an unpleasant comment.

I’m sure you have supermodel looks

I think it’s too early days for regret. Most people who have used them are still using them. They haven’t gotten to long term maintenance and stopping them and keeping the weight off. That will come in a few years and then I think people may feel differently about the experience, particularly for those who gain back more than they lost.

That said, it is possible to lose weight by living a healthier lifestyle if you’re actually honest with yourself. I’m not talking about people with metabolic conditions who are morbidly obese. But everyone who is a bit overweight and wants to get healthier. I stopped drinking and lost 10kg. I changed my diet a tiny bit (I’m not on a diet, never hungry, I just eat lots of fruit and veg and protein and not many carbs) and have lost nearly another 10kg. I’m perimenopausal too.

Dh is constantly going on about how he can’t lose weight. But he’s constantly snacking, clears the dc’s plates of everything they don’t finish, will drink 10-12 beers a week. He doesn’t even notice he does it. The eating and drinking is just habit, but it’s easy to pack away 500 calories here and 500 calories there.

The question is about people’s experience taking jabs - not what judgemental people who don’t have a weight problem think about it!!

An excellent point.

Clearly some people experience negative side effects, in some cases really bad ones. There is a risk to WLIs and it's sensible to weigh that up against the risk of keeping the weight on, which statistically is what is likely to happen. We know that some people do regret them.

But I doubt many people who wish they hadn't gone on WLIs do so because someone who doesn't know the first thing about the issue told them they should just eat less!

If you’re not eligible for the weight loss injections, I would not consider them due to the increased chance of complications.

I did Zoe - it showed that the diet that i thought was okay was a long way from ideal. The diet changes gave me more energy for exercise and I joined a gym. Not only did I lose the weight, I feel a lot stronger and in a better place to face my 60s.

I wouldn't if I only had 2 stone to lose, to be honest. I have more than twice that to lose. My loss is extremely slow (think less than a pound a week most weeks) and it kills me to think of the amount of money I am spending when I am losing so little. But it is sorting out other health issues so it does have benefits. But if it's just purely a weight loss tool for you, I dunno..

It's possible to lose weight through a healthier lifestyle if you're actually going to do it, yes. But actually, for a lot of us being honest with ourselves means admitting that we're not going to be able to stick at it.

If you have not only done this but continue to do so over the long term, I am/will be glad for you but the reality is that you're bucking a trend. It would be nice if formerly obese brains and bodies could be counted on to behave like yours is. They cannot.

Yes there is lots of evidence and more is coming out all of the time.

Most places that you get the injections from will also talk about weight gain afterwards too as it’s a known thing.
If you look on the pharmacy websites they’ll have it on there too.

And yes a lot of diets do lead to weight gain because you’re restricting yourself and then go back to bad habits.

But the difference with most other diets is that you are consciously restricting yourself and trying to change your mindset around food.

The injections quieten the food noise, reduce sugary cravings and in simple terms store less calories from the food that you are eating.

So when you come off of them the food noise and sugary cravings are going to be way worse because you’ve got used to not having them. And your metabolism will be back to its normal self.

Obesity costs the NHS millions every year and so if these injections led to long-term weight loss then it would be cheaper to give them to everyone who was overweight for 6months and be done.

Anyone who is obese I would say definitely try them because they can improve self esteem etc which leads to long term healthier eating and exercise.

But like with OP who only has a couple of stone to lose, it’s weighing up whether it’s worth it or not.

If you don’t have much weight to lose then perhaps stay on a low dose and just be very conscious of what you’re eating and exercising afterwards.

Yes most gain after any diet but I imagine it’s easier to put back on with WLI because the food noise all comes back unless staying on a low dose, which most don’t be able to afford long term. They haven’t had hunger to deal with. Hopefully it becomes more affordable

Yes there is lots of evidence and more is coming out all of the time.

Could you link to any of it please @cucy? Not just that there's likely to be weight gain after stopping the injections, but that it's greater than the likelihood of regaining the weight after traditional dieting and that it's likely to result in being heavier than when you started. As this wasn't my understanding at all.

I don't intend necessarily to come off WLI - I totally accept that this may be something I take for life.

Yes it's expensive but it will be worth it for my health.

And I don't know that it's all that expensive in the end as I do also save money.

So when you come off of them the food noise and sugary cravings are going to be way worse because you’ve got used to not having them

There's nothing to back this up particularly, but there is plenty of research to show that the continual restriction of other diets is a trigger for bingeing behaviour - the mind and body react to continuous and difficult restriction by obsessing about food until the dam breaks. WLIs don't feel restrictive and so can reset a much more positive relationship with food than the construction of food as a dangerous enemy embedded in many other diets. Weight regain is very real, but it does not apply more to WLIs than other types of weight loss.