Does Mounjaro work for you if you've always been overweight?

[DrinkReprehensibly]

I've just started on Mounjaro and I see a lot of people talking about how they want to lose the weight they gained during difficult times or with age, to get back to what they used to be.

Is there anyone else out there who is on Mounjaro who has been overweight their whole life and hoping this is the thing that can help them? I have clear memories of being overweight at playschool and my parents used to boast about how I could eat from the adult menu etc.

I've tried all the diets from as soon as I realised I was overweight... Probably around aged 10. I'm 43 now and never been normal weight. Currently have about 5st to lose.

I'm only in week one so it's hard to say but so far I'm feeling like appetite suppression is working. I'm just wondering if there is anyone further along the Mounjaro journey who started it with a history similar to mine? Has it worked for you?

I've always been overweight, in fact I was at my highest weight as a child, when I weighed myself and saw I was 250lb (age 12). I had learned eating habits from family (I'll keep that as vague as possible!) and spent a long time unlearning them. I lost 50lbs in high school and have spent my entire life fighting to keep it off, basically.

Which obviously still puts me at 200lbs even on a good day, which is still obese.

I'm now in my late 40s and the medical conditions which come with obesity are catching up with me, and it's harder than ever to lose the weight.

MJ has been a fucking miracle. I've lost 8 kilos so far (sorry for change in weight systems, my start weight was as a child in the USA, current weight is how I weigh myself now! 😄) and I've been on it a month and a half.

Yes, it does, at least from my point of view. I was always overweight from aged 8 or so, and was very overweight by the time I was a teen and young adult. I was put on diets as a teen but they never did much.

I lost weight at uni but only through fairly disordered and controlled low calorie eating. Plus a tonne of exercise and having the mental capacity to be so controlled over my life. Since then it's gone in the classic yo-yo down a bit and then up a bit more and I haven't been a healthy weight since my early 20s.

I have a lot more weight to lose than your starting point. I've been on Mounjaro for 11 weeks and have lost 3st 4lbs so far. I need to lose another 8st and a bit more to get to my final goal weight. For the first time I actually think it's possible, whilst being on the injections.

Yes it does. I was always overweight. I’ve lost 4 stone 11 pounds on MJ since February and have taken my final dose. I think the key for me is being lighter has allowed me to build better habits. I maintained at 14 for a long time. It was the yo yo nature of dieting and feeling defeated at having a large amount to lose. MJ made it far easier.

It's so encouraging to read your replies. It feels like I've had a lifetime of yo-yo diets, disapproval and an underlying feeling of desperation as I've just never known how to change things in a sustainable way. It's hard to be normal with your habits if you've never presented as acceptable in the eyes of the doctors and the health professionals. It's always seemed about as possible as winning the lottery or seeing a unicorn. This gives me hope though. Thank you.

I felt like that my entire like too, @DrinkReprehensibly My Dad had a heart attack in January and I was ready to take the plunge with Ozempic. But MJ had just come out and everything suggested it worked better with less side effects.

I was posting back on thread 1 and the weight loss section didn’t even exist then lol. We were all so clueless. Now so many are far into their journeys.

I never thought I would be slim. Ever. I’m 42 and the last time I was a size 10 before this was never. I cannot believe I’m here 8 months on at nine and a half stone, feeling so much healthier.

No, it is not cheap. But being overweight comes with more costs than money. I am so happy I went sod it back in February. Very best wishes if you go ahead.

Thanks @FlappyFish

I've taken the plunge too. Took my first dose Thursday last week and so far feeling okay. Feeling optimistic now. 😊

Hell yeah! Been overweight /obese since my teens. Going up and down weight admittedly trying different diets etc. But mostly been big. Yes it works. No need to doubt at all. Good luck.

Started at 17st 6lbs and currently 12st. Still more to go but I know I will get there 😊

I've been fat since I was 11. Forty-odd years of being everyone's fat friend, and the butt of constant jibes from my mum, who over-fed me and then made fun of me for being fat.

I lost quite a bit of weight about ten years ago because I had a friend who made me go to the gym with her every lunchtime. I went from a size 18-20 to a generous size 14 in about 2 years - but I didn't change my eating and drinking habits, so as soon as I stopped going to the gym, all the weight piled back on.

Now, my eating habits are so different. I was a hefty size 20 in April, and I've just had to pick up some stop-gap size 18 clothes which are themselves feeling decidedly roomy! I barely drink alcohol any more, haven't had crisps for months, and rarely bother with carbs. It's very weird, but I am happy with my incredible shrinking derrière!

Best of luck, @DrinkReprehensibly , I am sure you will smash it!

I wouldn’t go so far to say I resent the people who used to be slim and want to get back to it but it’s a very different experience to those of us who have been overweight all or most of our lives.

I know lots of MN posters think people like me are just greedy and eat junk but, like a lot of people who were fat from childhood, I have spent my entire life trying to get thinner and controlling what I ate to stop myself getting even bigger.

I’m now size 10. I’m facing some fairly profound feelings about my identity, and just getting used to taking that new space up in the world. But MJ has changed my life and I know these drugs are now there to help me in the future if I need them. It wasn’t a quick fix.

Well, I don’t want to discourage anybody but I am in week 4 now and MJ does not appear to work for me, at all, I’m afraid. As it is the very last hope for me after many years of endless diets, I start to feel a substantial frustration. Hope it will change soon. Wish you all better luck!

@Ondratej after 4 weeks on the starting dose that isn't intended to produce weight loss for the majority, how can you say that Mounjaro isn't working for you? Some people need to move up the doses before it has the intended effect, even up to the highest 15mg dose.

There are some people it never really works for but you're far too early on in the process to decide that it's the case for you.

I've now been on it for 5 months and although it's felt like slow progress in comparison to some people, I'm now over 2.5 stone lost and people are really noticing. I'm now on 10mg dosage. I felt some effects straight away but not everyone does and it's definitely been slow and gradual for me, about 1lb a week.

Oh congratulations! That’s fantastic progress and I’m so glad it’s working out for you!