explain Mounjaro to me

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HIya

I have lost 5 stone through calorie defecit and my BMR means my defecit now brings my daily calories down to 1200 to lose weight
(I know the Maths is right)

I've been plateaued for a year (I'd like to lose 2 more stone) but it just won't shift (I'm 50)
I watched a weight coach talking about how low calorie will stop working as the body will adapt, but I was wondering how does Mounjaro work then?
Doesn't that just make you not want to eat as much , therefore low cal?
If I tried it for this last bit would it work?

Mounjaro for me just stopped me from being hungry, ever. Stopped food cravings. I lost my appetite and interest in eating, so only ended up eating a couple hundred calories a day when I remembered to have something. The weight melted off at an unbelievable rate. About 2st in 8wk.

so is it just incredibly low calorie?
I am really tempted to give it a go - but if it's only low cal, maybe I'll try SlimFast or something instead.
I'm a bit scared of the injections

If your weight coach is talking about starvation mode, it's a myth. MJ enabled me to keep to vlc intake that otherwise would have crept up over time.

For me it just makes the calorie loss so much more effortless and achievable. It's like doing a long bike ride on an electric bike and feeling the hills melt away. I'm 7 stone down since the end of October and it feels like an absolute miracle. I suspect I'll need a maintenance dose but will cross that bridge when my BMI is below 25 (about 10 more pounds to go).

I feel very lucky in that I've had no side effects. I still love my food too and look forward to it. I eat less than half what I would have done to feel perfectly satiated now though. I never did eat particularly unhealthy food, just too much of it.

The way it works is that your appetite goes, so you naturally eat far less and mark smarter choices, yes. Obviously you can do low calorie any way you like but some struggle to fight their appetite and cravings and end up overeating. I found it hard to stick to 1200-1300 without meds. With mounjaro I'm struggling to eat 300 max.

MJ helped me stick to my diet plan with more focus than in previous attempts. I stopped snacking all together because I wasn't thinking about food all the time. To lose weight I reduced my TDEE by 500 calories and then focused on eating the right things and more protein.

You will need a BMI of 30 (or 27 if you have underlying conditions like high blood pressure) to get privately prescribed MJ.

I wonder if you have lost muscle mass and hence your BMR has gone so low that it’s hard to
lose more?. Suggest get into resistance training (alongside the MJ). But yes MJ will reduce appetite so easier to stick to reduced calories.

That's an incredibly dangerous intake and not recommended. You shouldn't be taking it if you aren't able to eat a healthy amount. Eating 300 calories a day puts your health at great risk, denies you of essential nourishment and is a quick way to lose your hair, muscle mass and organ function. That's absolutely not what MJ is intended for. That's severe eating disorder territory.

No, it's not an incredibly low calorie regime. It regulates blood sugar and slows gastric emptying. It means you feel full more quickly and it reduces your appetite, however, should not suppression it entirely - you should feel hungry for meals! It stops the blood sugar swings and crashes that create cravings.

However, if you're trying to lose the last little bit of weight, will you meet the prescription criteria? You need to be obese to start taking it.

What concerns me about MJ is thinking that I will never eat out or enjoy food at a celebration, on holiday etc ever again. Is that the case? Also, I want to eat an evening meal with my family. Would i lose interest in that too? I don't want it to impact negatively on my lifestyle /family life.

That hasn't been my experience at all. I enjoy food far more on Mounjaro than ever before. I think it's because I don't ever feel desperately hungry, so I like cooking or preparing food now - I'm not ravenous and impatient, I don't snack while I'm doing it so when I sit down I can really appreciate what I've made. I have found lots of great salad recipes and I love wfh and putting together a fresh and colourful lunch that's nutritious and sustaining. I used to feel so out of control around food and that's completely changed.

I can't finish a full portion in a restaurant but that doesn't make me enjoy what I have any less. I just don't eat the whole thing. I always have dinner with my family and we all eat the same food. I have taken two all-inclusive holidays while on MJ and had a great time at the buffet selecting fresh fruits, salads, grilled meat and fish, vegetables - all delicious food in exactly the quantities I want and need. My energy levels are consistent, the afternoon slump is gone. I work out and make sure I eat enough protein for strength training. I have stayed on a low dose, never pushed higher in pursuit of stronger suppression and have lost five stone in a year.

All weight loss involves calorie restriction but with mounjaro you just don’t have to deny yourself or suffer through your cravings and hunger pangs because you do not have any interest in food nor do you crave food at all. You will realise at 6pm you didn’t eat all day and force yourself to have toast.

eating 300 calories a day?! Thats insanity. - bordering on eating disorder category really.

This is really unhealthy though and not my experience on MJ at all. I've been lurking on a long-running thread here since I started and that's not how anyone seems to be experiencing it. Everyone is talking about protein, fibre, fruit and vegetables, weightlifting - health and nourishment. The MJ threads here are full of people really focused on health and wellbeing; we have years of obesity behind us and want to be strong and healthy. It's not - or shouldn't be - about using it to tolerate a starvation diet. I'm hungry for my meals on MJ; I eat breakfast, lunch and dinner and I enjoy them all.

Way past bordering! It's deep into dangerous and extreme disordered eating.

It removes your cravings for all food including healthy necessary foods and does not address the food psychology behind why we crave or feel drawn to certain foods. It also weakens the part of your brain that is strengthened when you do something you know you should but don’t want to and this affects your brain across all areas of life in your decision making not just food. There are also various side effects.

I eat about 1500 a day so not incredibly low. I have lost 6 stone using MJ, it just supports my brain to stop craving food and be able to eat proper healthy meals.

I think those who say they eat 300 calories a day or have to force something down when they realise they haven’t eaten all day aren’t on the correct dose or aren’t suitable for the drug. You should be eating. Small, healthy meals with plenty of protein. You’re seriously at risk of doing your body lasting harm and are giving the wrong impression of the purpose of the drug.

To answer op, it’s helped me reduce my portion size considerably as they’d become out of control. I don’t constantly think about what my next meal would be. Sticking to my calorie deficit is easy. As a side note I’ve lost any desire for shit food. We’re on holiday at the moment and I’m eating salads and meats/fish while the rest of my family eat things I’d have gone mad for in the past but I just don’t want it.

As it stands, if you’ve only got a few lbs left to go before you’re in the healthy bmi bracket, you won’t be eligible for mounjaro.

I eat out regularly and evening meals are standard in our family. At the start I wasn’t able to eat much but 8 months in I have the perfect balance.

Please can you provide evidence of this?

So we need to ‘crave’ necessary foods? I manage to eat them without craving, what’s the issue there?

I’m so glad to hear that because it mirrors my experience too. I’ve never been so healthy. I eat incredibly well and do cardio and weights at the gym 4 or 5 times a week. It’s completely changed my mindset when it comes to my health.

I do eat healthily on it as much as I can. Only if I genuinely forget to eat because there’s no cue of hunger and I’m racing around work or the kids do I actually eat way too little.

It’s just easier to eat less and more healthily because you’re eating to fuel yourself rather than eating for pleasure (in my experience). I have to force myself to eat every meal because I have zero hunger.

Zero hunger isn’t the aim of the drug though. I feel hunger before I’m due a meal and I’m on 12.5! You need to speak to your provider.

Perhaps I will now I know your experience - just assumed what I felt was normal!

Thank you.