Considering but mind not made up

[myladyjane]

I know this has been done a million times and I apologise. If people could suggest good places to research please do . Bit of a stream of conscious so appreciate thoughts.

Trying as many are to see if Mounjaro could be right for me.

Am 50. Have been overweight since childhood, typically around 3/4 stone with a bmi in the early 30s. Twice have lost 4 stone plus and once kept it off for over 5 years then Covid destroyed routine and structure and on it went.

Even when I lost weight I never got lower than bmi 25. And that's ok - i maintained quite well at 26/27 for ages without too much effort. I would be happy to be there again.

Family history of type 2 diabetes although I seem to be ok at the moment. BP is a bit high. I have a lot of knee issues due to an injury in my 20s and it's getting way worse. Am peri menopausal as you would expect at my age. Only 5 foot 3.

I have a busy stressful job - 10 hours plus most days. I am very sedentary as result. I stress eat. This isn't going away btw. No plans to change jobs. I do like some exercise but it feels really hard atm and lots of aches and pains.

I have read a lot of threads and people talk about food noise. This isn't really an issue for me - I don't get hungry much or think about food. What I do do is eat mindlessly, eat too much (big portions), eat too much sugar/cheap carbs. I don't plan well.

I do enjoy food and dont want to not like/want the odd bit of lovely cake or curry once in a while. That's important to me but obviously I need some limits!

I also can get a bit obsessive - when I lost weight before it consumed me a bit and as a result I dont have scales in the house. Good weigh ins used to totally control my mood. It was a bit miserable tbh.

So I guess my main concerns at the moment are:

Would this help my ability to make better choices after a long day. I know what I should eat (protein, fibre etc) but default to quick low nutrient meals.

Do I have to weigh in? Is this part of reorder process

I am sure I'm fairly typical of a lot of people that it's the choices which are poor not the knowledge. I think it helps?

There are also other considerations of course such as maintenance but atm just trying gauge if this is a better option than a traditional approach given my 'issues'.

My DH has been very obese all his life and been on Ozempic for 2 months. He’s lost a stone a month which is sustainable and is on a minimal dose. It’s the first time he has managed this weight loss without a struggle. He just doesn’t have the hunger anymore. He wants to lose another 50/60 kilos. It seems like a no brainer to me.

@myladyjane the first issue is whether you'd qualify for the injections. You'd need to know your weight in order to calculate your BMI. Your BMI needs to be over 30, or over 27 with a weight related health condition or if you're one of a certain list of ethnicities. Perhaps your knee issues might apply for the weight related conditions?

When you do the online consultation form you will need to give your current weight. You usually need to update your current weight each time you reorder. Most pharmacies require photos showing your figure, and some require a photo of you standing on scales showing your weight when you first order. Some will require the same after a few months. Unless you're prepared to lie, I can't see how you can avoid knowing what you weigh.

I don't have any experience of Wegovy which is the weight loss version of Ozempic in the UK, only Mounjaro. Mounjaro will likely help with the mindless snacking, it certainly helped me from day one. I just don't care about food, it's more than just not thinking about it, I forget about it altogether and just do other things. I work from home and have a desk job so I'm also sedentary, I've lost 6st 3lbs so far in just about 6 months. I just prefer to eat better food, or nothing. I now prefer to prioritise protein and non-starchy veg over fatty, sugary carby things. It takes a lot less to make me full and then I'm not hungry again for ages.

I think, if you qualify, it would be something that's likely to work for you. At least worth a try for the first month and see how you get on with it.

Oh, also, you don't stop enjoying food. You just don't want to eat as much and tend to prefer different things. If I'm going to eat a smaller serving it needs to be tasty whilst being nutritious.

I did stop enjoying food on MJ. No interest in shopping, meal planning , cooking. Chewing was often boring and a chore to eat a small meal.
A very weird way to be for a foodie.

You sound like me before MJ - the mindless eating does mean that you do have food noise, otherwise you wouldn’t eat all the time .

Really helpful thanks.

My bmi is not an issue - deffo closer to 35 than 25 at the moment. I am just a bit worried about trying to lose weight becoming my whole identity because that's what it was like last time. But then I saw my dad deal with diabetes and that wasn't fun either....

Maybe a trial is a good idea. See if it helps. No plans to try until Feb so I'll carry on researching in the meantime

I have been on Mounjaro since July and I have lost 4.5 stone x it’s life changing

Like you, I've struggled with my weight all my life. Taking these drugs has been LIFE-CHANGING. I began in April, lost weight steadily without any side-effects, and without dieting. Quite simply, I just ate less, without really thinking about it. It's not just the "food noise" (although I did have that too) but that it slows down your digestion, so you feel "full - can't eat anymore" much much sooner. I also found that I preferred healthier things. Whereas before, I would always choose something with melty cheese or a creamy sauce, now I want the salad. Before, I wanted the whole-milk latte with the caramel swirl and the whipped cream on top, but now that seems unappealingly rich and fatty.
I've lost 60 lbs and am now maintaining. I did it without any of the angst that used to surround dieting - the struggle, the falling off the wagon, the feeling hungry. I also thought that, if I could get to BMI 25 or 26, that would be great, but actually my weight has naturally settled a bit below that, so BMI 23 - a weight I haven't been since I was a teenager (I am now 47). t has honestly changed my life. Go for it!

I'm so similar to you, planning to start with easily 5 stone to lose but food is one of my few joys. The best part of my day is sitting with my family to eat dinner and I'd hate to lose that.

I'm hoping by losing some weight and being a bit more mobile, I can start exercising more and that my focus will shift to that rather than the weight loss. I've become focused with weight loss before, reducing my portions and it's not sustainable.
I don't know which company or option to choose right now.

@Therealmetherealme it doesn't really matter which company you choose as long as it's GPhC registered. The actual medication is the same wherever you get it from. So just choose a price that suits you and a service that you're happy with. For some, it's useful to be able to pick up from a pharmacy (Asda, Boots, Superdrug I think do this), others prefer delivery and prefer Royal Mail or DPD. Some pharmacies offer levels of support like coaching. Some offer an ongoing subscription service. You can swap to a different company if you want at any point, you just have to provide evidence of your previous prescription eg photo of the medication with the named prescription label or similar.

This website gives a comparison of prices, either with a discount or without for GPhC registered online pharmacies:

monj.co.uk

Thanks, I've gone for it with Med Express. I was shaking ordering it, which is ridiculous but this really could be life changing. I don't want to get to a point, where I wished I'd done it years ago. My life is valid now. I'll share my code on the other thread.