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AIBU?

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Original poster

To expect more than 0.5 pound weight loss?

231 replies

Epicentre · 08/12/2025 07:47

On 25th October I weighed 11 stone 7 pounds.
I stayed that same weight for weeks. Wouldn't budge.
Then eventually a month later I went down to 11 stone 6 pounds.
Then magically last week I dropped to 11 stone 3 pounds.
Hooray! I thought. The looooong plateau has gone. I'd dropped 4 pounds.
Got back on scales today and I weigh 11stone 6.5 pounds.
So in 6 bloody weeks I've lost a grand total of 0.5 pounds.
This is on 15mg mounjaro and 1,200 cals a day.
I weigh myself once a week, no more.
I track my calories carefully.
No I'm not an idiot who vastly overeats more calories than I think I'm eating. (This seems to get trotted out a lot on MN).
I am SO SO SO pissed off.
0.5 pounds on 15mg MJ in SIX WEEKS!!!!!
Humph.😡

OP posts:
McChubble · 08/12/2025 09:30

I’m sorry OP, that must be so disheartening. It could be the recent gain is an anomaly due to time of the month or something but I think it’s nonsense for people to say 1200 calories is too much to lose weight when presumably you were eating more previously.

weigh daily as people say, hopefully the recent gain will have disappeared, but other than that I wonder have you been tested for thyroid issues or anything?

KilliMonjaro · 08/12/2025 09:59

I’ve been losing 2.5lbs a week on WLI - eating under 1000 cals a day mostly. No way could I do it without the jabs.
Tracking my calories, cutting out sugar and alcohol and focusing on protein at every meal has helped.
Yes it’s very low - but it’s the only thing that’s worked in 13 years.
Try cutting back to 1000 for a week op and see what happens?

KilliMonjaro · 08/12/2025 10:03

I also have a blip once a month related to my cycle. Like clockwork - attaching my WL chart of the last month to illustrate…

To expect more than 0.5 pound weight loss?
Frenchfrychic · 08/12/2025 10:07

Agix · 08/12/2025 08:49

If you are not losing weight but you want to, you need to eat less. That's all there is too it. You're eating too many calories.

I'm not saying you're counting calories wrong, you may be counting them perfectly, but it's too much.

A lot of people do not lose weight on "recommended weight loss calories", because it's too much for them to lose weight on. People don't like really admitting it or talking about it, because it's actually pretty bad for you nutrition-wise to eat little enough to lose weight (for those people).

Many people on the weight loss jabs who are suddenly losing weight when they couldn't before are losing it due to now being able to eat very little. Much less than you imagine. Again, won't be admitted, because it's terribly bad for you.

Edited

Do you have evidence for this? As anecdotally from the fhousands of social media posts I’ve seen this is far from correct and certainly wasn’t for myself.

IsItSnowing · 08/12/2025 10:21

I assume if you're on 15mg that you're lost quite a bit of weight before this plateau. If so, that's not that unusual. The body can have these periods where it is adjusting to it's new weight and will stall.
Realistically though, weight loss is just calories in calories out. So if you're not losing over a long period on 1200 calories then you're either eating more or that is too much for you.
I reached this situation myself. I was on 1200 calories, stopped losing. I personally can't manage on less than tha per day so I had to increase the amount of exercise I do. That was fairly easy for me as I was very lazy before lol.
I also agree with what some other people have said, some people don't need the average number of calories per day. My online calculated tdee is about right for me - a bit high but I've adjusted. But for some people it is wildly inaccurate. You have to adjust it yourself.

Original poster
Epicentre · 08/12/2025 11:24

Achangeintone · 08/12/2025 07:50

Heavens, there’s no way around it. That must be incredibly disappointing. Particularly as a lot of money presumably involved?

Yes! A bloody fortune, literally hundreds of pounds, on the current exhorbitant prices for the 15mg dose!! For nothing. Well, for half a pound.
Bloody fuming.

OP posts:
Original poster
Epicentre · 08/12/2025 11:24

TinySaltLick · 08/12/2025 07:51

Sorry but unless you are extremely small with a an almost unfessibly low metabolic rate, you must be counting calories wrong

And here we go........🙄

OP posts:
Original poster
Epicentre · 08/12/2025 12:00

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 07:58

I put on 3lbs whenever I ovulate- you need to weigh daily and look over months not days 😀

also I think until you have a few days of consistent weight at the 11st 3 you haven’t actually secured that weight loss- it can take a few weeks to stabilise.

this is without MJ but I’m assuming as you don’t weight much you’re on a low dose and wouldn’t be expecting rapid weight loss?

eta- I misread you were on 0.5mg 😱

Edited

I'm on 15mg MJ. Xx

OP posts:
Original poster
Epicentre · 08/12/2025 12:01

PigeonsandSquirrels · 08/12/2025 07:57

Sounds like your calories aren’t low enough for weight loss then OP. How tall are you? You should have lost a lot more than that on such a high dose.

I'm 5ft 7. xx

OP posts:
TinselTitts · 08/12/2025 12:07

No I'm not an idiot who vastly overeats more calories than I think I'm eating. (This seems to get trotted out a lot on MN).

You don't have to be an idiot to not realise exactly how many calories you're eating/drinking.

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 12:14

TinselTitts · 08/12/2025 12:07

No I'm not an idiot who vastly overeats more calories than I think I'm eating. (This seems to get trotted out a lot on MN).

You don't have to be an idiot to not realise exactly how many calories you're eating/drinking.

I’m sure it happens but it is quite insulting to assume everyone is too dim to count their calories accurately.

Periperi2025 · 08/12/2025 12:15

Epicentre · 08/12/2025 12:01

I'm 5ft 7. xx

Show quote history

So you are now a normal BMI (just), it is possible that the upper end of the normal range is YOUR normal, and this is you done, or at least not loosing much very quickly any longer. There is nothing wrong with being a BMI of 24.

TinselTitts · 08/12/2025 12:16

Bambamhoohoo · 08/12/2025 12:14

I’m sure it happens but it is quite insulting to assume everyone is too dim to count their calories accurately.

Show quote history

I've never seen anyone assume everyone is too 'dim' to count them correctly.

I've only ever seen people being asked if they're sure.

And sometimes it turns out they're not counting them correctly.

FerrisWheelsandLilacs · 08/12/2025 12:20

tamade · 08/12/2025 07:54

Doing once per week weighing is just a snapshot, it is kind of meaningless a glass of water or a pee is a few hundred grams. You would be better off measuring your waist, hips and neck or weighing everyday and looking for a general downward trend (weekly max weight decreasing over time, weekly min decreasing over time etc).

Good luck

This. I was weighing myself twice a day (when I woke up and before bed) when I was tracking my weight. Weighing myself once a week would have been totally meaningless, and instead of looking at my specific weight, I set a goal of weight banding I wanted to be in (I started at weighing in anywhere between 130-135 lb across a week. I knew therefore that I could set a 5lb band for my target weight, and aimed for 120-125lb. Now I fluctuate mostly between 121-122lb when I weigh myself intermittently but won’t count it as weight loss unless I see 119lb on the scales, and won’t worry about taking action on my weight creeping up until it gets to 125lb).

Youcancallmeirrelevant · 08/12/2025 12:21

You need to weigh every day so you can see the natural fluctuations of your cycle

SilenceInside · 08/12/2025 12:22

The up side is that you have maintained your weight just about at the top end of healthy for 6 weeks, which is a win surely. 1200 calories would seem to be about a 500cal deficit for someone of your height and weight, so you should see some weight loss eventually even if it's slower than you'd like.

I don't think you've mentioned exercise? If you are able to exercise, you could try adding in some additional strength exercise and maybe some more cardio.

Sometimes I have shaken up a plateau by doing OMAD for a week, or IF of various lengths.

Ritaskitchen · 08/12/2025 12:23

Are you using my fitness pal or another app to count your calories and weighing/measuring your food? So entering everything you eat?

Parcell · 08/12/2025 12:25

I sympathise OP. The only way I lost weight is by VLCD for a limited period of time and intermittent fasting when eating normal food. Have a look at Jason Fung’s books around insulin resistance - they made sense to me.

InMyOodie · 08/12/2025 12:25

Try alternating 1,200 calorie days with 1,000 or 900 ones. On 15mg of MJ you should have good enough suppression for it.

Huddledinmyhoodie · 08/12/2025 12:30

You're the same size and weight as me and I lose weight in a similar pattern on around the same intake but no WLD. Im 52 and its definitely harder to lose. But neither of us is very over weight so the losses would be smaller

Isobel201 · 08/12/2025 12:33

I've lost two stone overall and my body stalled its weightloss for three months. It happens - I decided to change things up, so I've increased my protein and got my dose increased to 7.5 from 5mg. Hopefully as the supression has been stronger, the weightloss will start again.

Achangeintone · 08/12/2025 12:54

Are you ok with posting pre MJ diet and post?

Twasasurprise · 08/12/2025 12:55

Eating a little more/ adding in a small portion of "treat" carbs for a day or two would usually help me get past a stall.

I don't know if the theory about increasing calories temporarily so your body gets out of starvation mode has been debunked, but it worked for me. I'd maybe have a small slice of pizza, a bun with my burger (indulgent!), a small packet of crisps, or a couple of biscuits with my cup of tea.

I agree that weighing weekly likely isn't showing your full progress and fluctuations. I weighed daily before my morning shower. If I weighed later in the day, I would be at least 3lb heavier.

Towards the end of my WL journey, I would lose a lb, then go back up and down that lb several times over a week or two before that loss bedded in. Then a couple of weeks later, another lb finally lost, but again with the up and down before it settled.

PigeonsandSquirrels · 08/12/2025 13:16

Twasasurprise · 08/12/2025 12:55

Eating a little more/ adding in a small portion of "treat" carbs for a day or two would usually help me get past a stall.

I don't know if the theory about increasing calories temporarily so your body gets out of starvation mode has been debunked, but it worked for me. I'd maybe have a small slice of pizza, a bun with my burger (indulgent!), a small packet of crisps, or a couple of biscuits with my cup of tea.

I agree that weighing weekly likely isn't showing your full progress and fluctuations. I weighed daily before my morning shower. If I weighed later in the day, I would be at least 3lb heavier.

Towards the end of my WL journey, I would lose a lb, then go back up and down that lb several times over a week or two before that loss bedded in. Then a couple of weeks later, another lb finally lost, but again with the up and down before it settled.

Please stop using the term ‘starvation mode’. It’s largely a myth used to exaggerate metabolic adaptation. Exercise helps to stave this off.

daffodilandtulip · 08/12/2025 13:18

TinySaltLick · 08/12/2025 07:51

Sorry but unless you are extremely small with a an almost unfessibly low metabolic rate, you must be counting calories wrong

I'm short and old, and put on if I eat over 1200.