Sobering (depressing?!) studies on life after MJ and worth consideration?

[RoastedPickleAndChips]

I'm at my target weight more or less after 8 months on MJ. Lost 5 stone and am now 9 stone 12 so quite happy with all that

As most of us are aware, there's not huge amounts of information surrounding maintenance, mainly because people are only just getting there on the whole due to MJ being relatively new to the UK for weight loss

So I've been doing some reading and digging and it makes for pretty depressing discoveries

I always knew that I didn't need to 'educate myself about heathy eating and portion control etc etc.' I could practically qualify as a dietician tbh and I always felt that the MJ does far far more than just suppress appetite

Have a look at this study .... https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/fullarticle/2812936 .... it shows that for a fact pretty much everyone will regain the weight they have lost once coming off MJ

I also read this comment from someone well informed ....

MJ is not for suppression. That’s not ever been a planned target effect.

It’s a physical, mechanical, method of action. What the drug DOES do is increase insulin sensitivity, suppresses glucagon secretion, and slows gastric emptying. These are known as the target effects.

Once you stop taking the drug, the body reverts back to higher insulin resistance, high glucagon secretion, and faster gastric emptying.

And the studies show this. There’s lots and lots of information if people spend half an hour reading the studies and trials.

SURMOUNT-4 proves that “changing behaviour” alone doesn’t work. And SURMOUNT-3 applied the drug AFTER people tried to change behaviour - and we see clear massive difference in subjects there too. So the clinical effect is clear. It’s not a tool to help you get over a hill or learn how to be healthy. No more than wearing body armour makes your skin thicker.

Anyway, thoughts? Of course I want to believe that I'll be the exception, that this time I'll keep the weight off, that of course just 'eating less and moving more' is the key

But it's not is it? MJ seems to be more than just a tool - it looks like the effects on the body are far more than I'd realised and understood

So is the answer a dose for life? (Currently not available to my knowledge?)

Thoughts? I'd love to be told the above is a load of shit Thought it might be interesting to discuss anyway

I also obviously really don’t want to regain
but my aim here was to reduce the risk of my life being shortened due to being obese. So every month or year I’m at a healthier weight hopefully goes towards that.

and in my case if I’m not losing I’m gaining, so even if it leads to some yo yo-ing, surely that’s preferable

The drugs have been in use for 20 years and in trials for about 15 before that. Millions of people have used them, stopping starting continuing, and the drugs don’t stop working.

Ah thanks @Queenofthejabs I have the apron tummy 🥴

Fixable though, ☺️

Yeah it's improved with weight loss @Queenofthejabs although sadly I'd need surgery really. I had a bloody massive bump in my last pregnancy and the emergency section was a bit of a hack job. I think the only thing that would fix it would be to get cut open and tidied up but I don't have the £10k for that!

I'm in the camp of won't really be able to afford the jabs forever, however much I'd like to. So will hit target, tritate down for a few months and give it my best to maintain. If all goes to shit, will have to find the money again. But can't really justify the cost without giving it a go first to see what happens x

Me neither, I just know that from my own group there are about 20 regular long term goal members who attend weekly and keep it off

I imagine that's the difference @Blakehouse you are still getting support. Other people just stop and go back to eating badly with no accountability.

I cheated back in 2020 and had a tummy tuck. So I have a flat stomach and, because fat cells are permanently removed during the op, you can't put weight back on in that area.

This sounds great until you realise that the weight actually goes elsewhere instead which made me look a bit like a parsnip

I'd share a before and after pic but I'm not sure anyone needs to see what equated to about wearing 5 aprons

My Husband is overweight and now type 2 diabetic
hes just been offered a trial as you said a tablet version of MJ
so im hopeful that drug will eventually become available privately so people can migrate to a pill version as a maintenance option

To be fair, this isn't unique to SW. I lost over 5 stone with them and kept it off for a couple of years, before creeping up again. Almost all weight loss goes back on again. I stopped going to group (which is, to be fair to me, an interminably boring experience) which was silly, in hindsight, because it removed the support and accountability elements which helped me drop the weight in the first place.

I'm honestly perfectly happy to pay for the rest of my life for a maintenance dose. Depend entirely on money I suppose - circumstances can change, after all. But the thing MJ has really done for me, is make me realise I'm not just weak or greedy. There's a physiological reason for the way I eat and medicine has addressed that. The relief of that realisation is indescribable and a big part of the reason that I'll feel precisely no shame if I do decide to stay on a maintenance dose.

I used to go to SW and the target members were inspiring. They had to keep up the enthusiasm and fight all the time and that is harder to do when you are happy with your weight. They would be just as fed up as any of us when they gained a pound or two and just as pleased when they lost and went under target. I think maintaining that determination is difficult. Some days/weeks/months I just don’t care as much and Wegovy means that at those times I at least maintain whereas off Wegovy I would be gaining.

I do

Interesting what you say about the weight going somewhere else though I'd still love to get rid of the overhang. I'll never have a flat tummy again, even if I was a size 6!

Accountability and community are the parts of slimming groups that ‘work’. I know WW has now developed a version of its programme designed to be done alongside the jabs and I’m sure SW is equally willing to work with them, given that they are the future of weight loss/management.

The entire diet industry is predicated on the basic fact that most people regain the weight they lose every time. That’s how the money is made. Many of the diets are unsustainable and some aren’t particularly healthy either. If people got together to create those groups for themselves, they could achieve a great deal of the loss just from that joint accountability and healthier eating, for free. I really hope that starts happening.

What the drug DOES do is increase insulin sensitivity, suppresses glucagon secretion, and slows gastric emptying. These are known as the target effects.

But wouldn't the actual weight loss itself also have this effect (speaking as a diabetic - not on any of these injections - who has had good test results when I've lost weight).

This is now my life.

Having lost over two stone, ( without injections ) I have to weigh myself twice a week to keep my weight down.

In the summer, in just a few weeks, where I let my eye off the ball - 7lb back on in a blink of an eye - and its been bloody hard work to get that 7lb off again in time for Christmas

If I hadn't have jumped back on the scales, Id have had a stone back on by now

My top weight now is 9 stone 4, ideally it would be 9 stone but I aim to go no higher then 9 stone 4.

During the summer I had house guests who were bringing snack foods into the house and of course the mindless picking started again. I had a big birthday, lots of eating out and celebratory drinks - 1/2 a stone on in 4 weeks and when you consider it took me a year to lose 2 stone, you may understand why I now weigh twice weekly and nip it in the bud as quickly as I can

What keeps me on track? I dont want to be obese again I want to be a healthy weight more then I want all the food that is sold to us over Christmas as "must haves" I want it more then I want KFC as a mid day snack, over and above my dinner - now if I do have KFC, thats my calories nearly used for the day so its low calorific food for the rest of the day - it will be veggies/salad and a portion of protein, it wont be the spag Bol and garlic bread I was looking forward to. If Im going out to dinner, then lunch is light - fruit and yoghurt

I cant have sweets, chocolate, crisps about me. I cant have jars of peanut butter and Nutella , I cant mind the last time I had toast ( if I have toast its going to be half a loaf and the accompanying butter ) because they are my triggers - the mindless forgetting Ive eaten them foods which I shovel in between meals . I do sometimes cave in and have a crisp sandwich - like today - and I real rough for having it - bloated and dry mouthed - so the want of them is coming less and less , the " reward" they used to give me, happens no more

@Doggymummar @MounjaroUser1233 no SAD?!! Me too!! WTF! I thought that was because I'd FINALLY got my HRT sorted.

Pretty much the same here. I’ve only recently started so got a ways to go yet. I’m hoping that as time goes on and things move forward that the cost will gradually decrease…and/or they will be able to change the process, maybe achieve the MJ in pill form….so much easier and more cost effective 👍

I intend to stay on it for life once I reach my goal weight. I get it free on the nhs for diabetes so that will hopefully be an option

Do you not find you are saving money on your food bill? I was a snacker and have been amazed at how much less money I'm spending on food overall. I don't pay for my mj but if I did I'd still be quids in.

I’m puzzled as to why those who do not use injections or other medical treatments find themselves on this board?! If you are successful on calories intake/out or SW etc it seems a bit strange to post here. It’s like in the MN general weight loss section you occasionally get people who have been size 10 their whole lives and never dieted and I think 🤔 hmm… not sure why are you here then!!

The massive issue in the statement is you said that afterwards people 'tried' to change behaviour. Try - doesn't mean they did change behaviour.

If you start eating a balanced and healthy diet at maintenance calories and take regular exercise then you won't simply revert back to your pre mounjaro self.

If people are putting weight back on afterwards it's because they're back eating more than they use and it's as simple as that.

The lessons we should be learning on MJ is that we don't need to eat 24/7, we don't need to constantly snack. Now chances are it's totally in human nature for people to fall off the wagon - But if people are regaining all the lost weight, they've actively decided to leave the wagon in a ditch.

We'll all fall off the wagon from time to time, but the key to keeping the weight off is to not leave the wagon in the ditch, it's to jump back on it after a wobble. Being as consistent as possible is the key.

From what I can see generally to tell folks repeatedly of their concerns and why it’s not for them, how we will all suffer ugly side effects in 20 years , how we should eat less and move more or how we will end up looking like Sharon osbourne.

🤣🤣🤣🤣