Lifting weights and mounjaro

[Mrylls]

Have any weight lifters gone on mounjaro? I lift weights about 3 times a week and spin twice a week but have 3 stubborn stone to lose

Not quite, I'm taking WLI but on wegovy. I chose it because the people I know on mounjaro have struggled to eat at all, because it makes them feel that full that they can only manage a few mouthfuls. I know everyone reacts differently, but on wegovy I've been able to eat my regular meals and fuel my training, just without being tempted to have excessive portions and snacks on top.
I'm two months in on a low dose and haven't noticed any impact on my strength.

Thanks @Proteinpudding thats encouraging

I started lifting weights after starting mounjaro, so not quite the same. But I'm a year in and have gained a lot of strength, lost 3 stone but definitely gained muscle, I now have visible biceps that I'm quite proud of 😆
I've focused my diet on protein and have also recently started taking creatine, and I'm 48 and perimenopausal. If I can build muscle then you can definitely maintain it I reckon.

Oh this is helpful. I train hard with lifting heavy & metcon (HIIT/SIIT) but have a stubborn 5-10 kilos to lose. I live on about 1500 calories a day & lift OK on that, but I travel a lot & then it's difficult to stay on such a low calorie count. I was looking at mopunjaro, but was wondering about wegovy (via Voy?) as a lower impact on eating, although it seems to have higher side effects.

My PT is dead against WLI, as he says they don't adjust your eating habits, but I'm a bit desperate really. I'd love to stop thinking about my weight, and just get my BMI down!

@Wadsworthy thats the thing, some weight lifters I know are very against WLI but im definitely not!! Think its some sort of dumb pride

@Shudacudawuda well done!!!!!

I've started wegovy in the last week at 5'2" and BMI 27.
Very early days, but on the starter dose it's taken the edge of the emotional/ hormonal side of eating and made my choices more rational. In the past few days, I haven't had the hormonal carb urges that I get at this time of the month, and I've just stopped eating with a bit more spare food on my plate at meals. I've felt hunger in my stomach rather than my brain.

I'm currently injured (yet again) and I think body mass gains in the last few years have contributed to that cycle as it's more strain for running, so hopefully I can avoid injury weight gains and reduce injury risk by getting back into a healthy zone.

My general diet isn't bad but I've reached an age where I'm struggling to balance hormones and energy and there's no easy sacrifices to make to shed calories. I don't want draconian diets for the sheer joy of life or for the impact on being able to exercise (including lifting). I just want to reverse a few years of creeping gains and stop them escalating.

Is it going to change my lifestyle long term? I don't know. It might shift a few unhelpful habits, but I'm not in a position of needing to radically overhaul my lifestyle anyway.

For being a bit overweight and wanting modest loses, I shouldn't need significant doses, and the physical changes aren't going to be drastic.

We'll see how it goes...

I grudgingly lift weights 3 times a week and lost a stone on Munjaro over a couple of months. I’m late 50’s and would’ve lost it without the lifting.. but apart from being good for me, it gave me muscle definition and a fairly flat stomach.

How do you gain muscle when you’re in a calorie deficit?

I have been on WeGovy (with Voy) since December and have lost 20% of my body weight. I had been lifting for two years prior to the WLI, and I do a team sport.

It’s been life changing. I already ate healthy, protein-focused meals, but ate too much and was prone to inhaling too many mindless calories when hungry and stressed in the early evening. All that has gone. I now know what it’s like to be part way through a meal and think “great, that was delicious, but I’m done now”.

I am at BMI <23 and plan to lose another half stone or so. I am so much faster and fitter. I have lost a bit of outright strength recently, I think, but I have only been getting to the gym once or twice due to work stuff. You can certainly see my muscles a LOT more (getting lots of nice comments - was asked if I was a PT the other day!)

I plan to taper off, so it may well end up being a year on WLI (am at 7 months). We’ll see. I’m short and have a sedentary job, so despite doing as much sport as I can fit in, I really can’t eat much before I gain weight. I do at least know what that looks like on a plate now.

Good luck!

I did, trained 4 times a week and was on mounjaro up until 12.5mg then stopped, lost 5.5 stone

had to really make sure I was having enough protein and force myself to eat before working out or I’d get really dizzy, I lost body fat and gained a lot of muscle too and it took about a year

With great difficulty!
The reality is most people don't. It's either retaining and revealing muscle they already had, or their body driving them to eat more than they realise so they're in a very slight excess. Given that excess might still be a lot lower than they were eating before starting jabs (ie TDEE going down as weight goes down) that might still feel like a deficit.
It is still really important to do some sort of strength training on jabs to retain muscle though, even if it's relatively light, like using bands or bodyweight exercises.

Well, I've taken the plunge and applied to Voy for Wegovy. I just want to drop around 10 kilos, and maintain that weight. I'm pretty strong, so I hope I don't lose my strength, but I train heavy weights at least 3 times a week. We'll see!

I'm a bit nervous, as I don't think my PT or my family will approve, so wish me luck ... I guess I just won't tell them. I eat around 1500 calories a day when I'm being consistent, but I travel a lot for work, and tend to emotionally eat - calories eaten in a hotel room don't count. Silly, I know.

I've been on Wegovy 2 months now. BMI down to 25.5 which looks better on me already, and my muscle mass doesn't look particularly impaired plus I can see what I've got a little better. I'm short so small differences show easily and the BMI margins are smaller. 27 was looking squishy and my clothes didn't like it so it was time for action.

It's not been a rapid weight loss- at a rate that I could naturally lose at in my early 30s on a well balanced diet, so that helps with keeping muscle. Being holiday season, plus being injured my training hasn't been the most consistent but saying that, my parkrun times are picking up from peak injury and I have been getting down to the gym for upper body work. For running, the rest of my body has moaned less and it's just my tendon bothering me.
I'm now back to my morning dose of creatine; another habit that slipped over the holidays.

I'd like to lose another couple of kg to get back into the "healthy" zone with a bit of margin. I'm not sure if there's slack beyond that as while I was comfortably around BMI 22-23 in my mid-30s, I wasn't doing so much weight work then and my body composition may have changed.

It's been the usual story of a weight creep over the years. 2020 was a big one and I haven't got down past it since. My general routine is to maintain, but I've just hit the point where I can't naturally undo the off-routine like Christmas, holidays and injury so it shuffles up slightly over time.

That’s reassuring to hear @AnotherPidgey Ive now got my first shipment of Wegovy but am travelling for work over the next week so putting off the first injection.

How were the side effects? I eat healthily probably 70% of the time so I’m hoping I can keep up lean protein and vegetables, just less of it! And no comfort eating

I only want to drop around 10 kilos so am happy to take it slowly while training hard. It’d be nice to actually see my muscles! My problem is that up to my mid-30s I could eat whatever I liked and stay somewhere around a size 10 (at 5’ 6” height). Now in my mid-60s I gain weight if I eat more than 1500 kcal a day.

My 1RM. Deadlift is 107.5 and I’d love to get to 110 kilos by 2027, but I know that mass lifts mass. I may have to sacrifice that for skinnier arms and back!

I felt a bit bloaty and queasy at times in the first month, but not badly and not constantly.

My general diet is decent. I wouldn't write a blog about it, but it doesn't need a radical overhaul either. It's just hard having the metabolism of a short, middle-aged woman in a family of active, lanky teens and 6ft husband.

I also have no intention of living off meat, rice and steamed veg indefinitely or life will feel far too long