I wanted to share something I was really surprised to observe after a couple of weeks on Mounjaro. I started the medication to lose weight as I suffer with an auto immune condition, and was recommended to lose a significant amount of weight to address joint issues.
i grew up outside the UK, in a relatively poor household. Processed foods are a luxury in my country, and so I never really had any processed foods growing up. We even made our own ketchup and squash, as it was expensive to buy and my mother was a SAHM.
i moved to the UK in 2018 and continued this diet through force of habit - I’d cook fresh food from scratch for every meal and rarely snacked, I’d say I probably had processed food once or twice a week.
throughout this time I had 3 children and very varying activity levels (from running 10k to no exercise at all for months) but never went above a size 8.
in COVID, I lived with a CEV relative and so we minimised food shopping trips by buying lots of processed food. I started eating ramen, biscuits, cereal, cereal bars every day. My weight ballooned uncontrollably, and my joint issues started. Despite regular exercise and long periods of barely eating, I couldn’t get it to budge. I went up several sizes in a few years. I hadn’t even connected the two until this week.
i started Mounjaro a couple of weeks ago. I haven’t stopped thinking about food, I still love food. I still eat quite a lot. However, my insatiable cravings for processed foods have completely stopped. I can go to a supermarket without getting a sudden urge to buy crisps/ biscuits. I still get hungry, but it’s a slow, steady hunger instead of being suddenly ravenous several times a day. That gives me time to cook something I fancy instead of reaching for the nearest processed snacks I can get my hands on. I feel soooo much better, in my joints and in myself.
im just flabbergasted. I knew intellectually that processed food is not good for you, but I never realised how I incredibly addictive it is through the wild swings in hunger it induces. It’s been an absolute eye opener and I’ve started cutting out processed food for my whole family.
AIBU to be surprised by the magnitude of the impact processed food had on me?