Intermittent fasting and Mounjaro

[winersrollingin]

I've been successful with intermittent fasting previously and am some days able to do this but am struggling with sweet cravings so hoping to get back on track using mounjaro. Does anyone else use mounjaro to help with intermittent fasting? I would like to go back to one meal a day

I am on MJ and do IF, I don't have breakfast so fast ~18 hrs 1900-1300 each day.

I've done longer fasts up to 72hrs in the past but now I get full so quickly that I would struggle to eat enough on OMAD, I feel I need that second meal to take in enough calories and especially protein.

MJ helps in a way, as you definitely feel less hungry so fasting is easier. But because your appetite is suppressed you're not getting used to learning cues of hunger and fullness, I don't think. I would say it's a great tool for weight loss, but treats the symptom (obesity) rather than providing a longer term solution to the cause (overeating). I'm expecting maintenance off the drug to be much more challenging and may need to be on it for a long time, which I can't really afford and isn't available yet anyway I don't think.

I eat twice a day on MJ. I don't have breakfast then have lunch about half one and evening meal about 7pm.
I don't need any other meals or snacks.
I don't strictly fast as I do have a cup of tea with a splash of skimmed milk in the morning but just staying within my calorie limit is more important to me.
I don't think you need to use strict fasting with MJ as it works its magic without having to follow other diet plans.
And it's all about learning good eating habits for the long term when no longer taking MJ.

I've done IF/OMAD successfully in the past and have tried while on MJ. A difficulty arises if you have strong appetite suppression - it becomes very difficult to eat a meal as large as it ought to be if you're fasting for the rest of the day and you end up on a very VLC diet instead, which is pretty unhealthy. The struggle to eat sufficient calories in a day is significant (it can feel that you're putting more effort into eating than into not eating and it would be very easy to slip into very disordered eating, including not eating at all) and it's probably easier/healthier to eat little, more often. In addition, any highly restrictive diet should, I think, only be followed for around 12 weeks maximum. MJ is a much more long term weight loss solution so you'll need to adopt a more balanced diet later in any event so might be better to do that from the outset.

It really depends on what type of If you are doing.

OMAD could result in eating very little calories. Dangerously low. Which isn’t the aim on MJ.

if it’s a case of skipping breakfast OR dinner it would help. But again you do need to get a safe amount of calories in.

Thanks for the answers. I don't suppose anyone does mounjaro for say 3 months and then stops then? I was hoping that I would use it to kick start my habits to get back into OMAD and then stop using it. I have put on 20kg so need to lose that again before I can go back into maintenance again. Sadly we had a few life events that meant I found solace in food and whilst I have tried to return to IF I keep bingeing on snacks in the evening (at work so not possible to remove them from my environment sadly)

I’ve been doing it for 3 months and will probably stop now. (Although part of me wants to keep going until Christmas)

I have lost 33 pounds (15kg) and I’m a healthy BMI now at 24.1.

It’s been amazing for stopping snacking. But the potential downside is that I can’t imagine ever fancying food again! It’s an ordeal to eat anything, such is my appetite. I have a wedding in 2 weeks, so I am definitely stopping before that as I don’t want to appear rude by leaving my food after one bite. But I’m undecided about whether to resume. I’m so frightened of going back to eating and drinking too much.

To be honest I think mounjaro makes intermittent fasting a bit pointless. You may naturally have a high level of appetite suppression and at times may need to remind yourself to eat. I don’t see any value in restricting yourself further by intermittent fasting- it almost feels like doubling up in a way that can lead to malnourishment