Can you get weight loss injections if you're not very overweight?

[TR888]

Just wonder how it works. I'm a stone heavier than I'd like to be, but still within the normal weight BMI. I've tried diets but nothing seems to shift things now I'm over 50.

It's be good to be able to have some help and would love to try the injections. Any advice?

I honestly think I have heavy bones!

I am 5'6 and got super fit in my 20s, was a size 8. Never weighed less than 9st 7lb. According to the BMI calculator I would be a healthy weight at 8st 3 but omg I would be emaciated. Yet others at my height weigh that and look great

I have a friend who has a private prescription for Wegovy and uses it like this. She takes the lowest dose every 10-14 days around her life to maintain her weight.

People on MN act like gatekeepers. “just diet” they say. Well if it was that simple how did they get overweight. Why didn’t they simply diet when they were only a stone overweight? Surely it’s better to use the drug with a healthy body!

That must be the lower end because I’m 5’3 and my range is 8st 1lb - 10st 1lb. It’s misleading to say that’s “ideal”.

This is so condescending.

I keep seeing that weight loss injections are not a magic cure - but clearly they age otherwise they wouldn’t be so successful.

i tried MJ and at 2.5 had instant suppression. The weight fell off me and I didn’t have to try at all.

That’s great but not the norm. Most people need to eat healthy and within a calorie deficit. It’s very unusual to not remotely try and just have the weight fall,off. Lucky you,

It’s not unusual - that’s why the drug is so successful, it it were more willpower than drug obesity wouldn’t be such an issue. Obese people don’t lack willpower - they feel hungrier, hence the drug works.

Of course they need to eat in a calorie deficit - that’s the whole point of the drug!

If that is the case, why didn’t you just eat healthily and within a calorie deficit without the mounjaro? What is it doing differently if it isn’t suppressing your appetite and making weight loss easier?

Precisely! The drug is what facilitates the calorie deficit…!

I’m totally bemused by your question. It suppresses my appetite and nearly everyone else’s, but not to the extent we can’t eat or we can’t put the wrong thing in our mouths,

it’s odd. As you’re saying you’re on it, but you come across as quite resentful of the drugs.

But it’s the appetite suppression that makes it successful. If you eat less, even of the “wrong” thing (whatever you mean by that) as long as you achieve a calorie deficit you’ll lose weight. You don’t have to starve yourself to lose weight.

I’m not resentful of the drugs - but find it disingenuous that users are pretending their weight loss is all driven by their newfound willpower and ability to calculate calories (like they weren’t capable of doing that before). Its not, the weight loss is a direct consequence of the appetite suppression, not the new found ability of the user to count calories or ditch UPF.

Honestly once these are available in tablet form, it’s going to be open season. There will either have to be much looser prescribing rules in terms of who can buy them legitimately or the biggest black market the world has ever seen.

All this gatekeeping is just a temporary blip on the way to mass adoption.

Sky news item about WLI misuse

https://news.sky.com/story/how-easy-is-it-to-get-weight-loss-drugs-and-do-they-have-a-dark-side-13288207

Try Limbo OP. I was in the same boat as you regarding age-related weight loss. Just wanted to shift a stone or so and managed to do that in less than a couple of months using the programme which involves wearing a blood glucose sensor. It really educates you about how your own body reacts to different foods. Requires going low carb but the results are definitely worth it. It's very doable and has great online support. Worked for me after years of yo-yo dieting and the bonus is that I now know how to keep it off or shift a few pounds quickly if I need to.

@rosyvalentine is that like Zoe?

Not resentful at all! I lost a few stone on it and have maintained since.

I have also been someone who put weight on during specific periods in my life, but that struggled so much to lose it, and got stuck in a cycle of binging and self hatred. When on mounjaro it just didn’t happen. Before, if I bought something like a packet of chocolate hob nobs, for example, I would easily eat the whole pack in a day, without even noticing in a way. Once I was on it, that just didn’t happen. I bought them out of habit, but would have one/two maybe with a cup of tea - then they were forgotten about and left for so long that went stale and had no appeal.

If I had a “bad day” I didn’t go to the shop and buy loads of crap and then eat it all at once, the urge just went.

I have always eaten healthy meals, never had big portions and sides, understood calories in and out… but just used snacks and sugary foods as a comfort and had cravings for sugar all the time, then hated myself because I couldn’t lose weight, then so on..

My system seems to have reset itself now and I never had to learn a whole new approach to food and nutrition as whole (I’d been slim for the majority of my adult life, maybe that helped).

But having the cravings disappear did make losing weight “easy” for me, and has done for so many people. It must also have made it easier for you as you have lost so much weight! So it just doesn’t seem fair to lecture other people about calories in/out etc and tell them about your healthy choices and act as if it is hard regardless of taking a weight loss drug, that is all. It’s a wonderful medication for a lot of people, but for many it is also a hell of a lot for than “one of the tools” for weight loss, it is actually the main factor, although I’m sure the tools are necessary for maintenance.

Bloody hell, it never stops to surprise me people are prepared to risk their health and possibly life, if the stuff doesn't agree with them, instead of a bit of self discipline!

Yes the range for 5'6 is 8st 3 - 11 st

I've been on mounjaro for a few weeks and it's changed my life. I finally feel that I can loose weight safely and slowly and I am not thinking about food all day every day. I wasn't obese when I started it. I was a size 14/16 and a BMI of around 27 I think. I shall stop when I'm bmi around 20 but if my weight starts to creep up again I'll think about continuing mounjaro on maintenance dose.

I'm aware of the risks which are no greater for me than for someone who was obese and is now a normal BMI and on maintenance. I've read pretty much every journal article on the topic and honestly can't see the harm in taking it.

Some people who are or have been obese and are using these drugs can be v judgemental of people who are choosing to use them when they are not obese.

We all make different decisions. I'm so pleased I started mounjaro.

Bingo!

@Nothatgingerpirate are you as judgemental about people with alcoholism or drug addiction? "Just say no", right?

I don't think there have been trials yet that support your personal findings, have there? You sound like you've gone into it fully aware of the risks and side effects but I don't think the science backs this up yet for people who aren't obese. I really hope it does down the line, but on posts like this where it sounds like the OP doesn't know a huge amount about WLI, telling them the risks are no higher when in fact the risks haven't been assessed doesn't feel sensible.

Diet is far more effective or one of the many diabetes drugs prescribed by your GP. Low carb diet will be far healthier way of controlling pre-diabetes.
Cut out alcohol and refined carbohydrates to start with.
The WLI are an extreme measure where dietary changes aren’t working or the patient makes no effort to make necessary changes. The risk to their health from diabetes is greater than the potential serious side effects of using the drug. The weight loss is a side effect because the drug works by suppressing the appetite for carb rich foods by controlling glucose more effectively and by slowing down the movement of food through the gut. The majority of diabetes controlling drugs all do this to a greater or lesser extent. GPS will not want to cause severe weight loss in a healthy weight patient so will tailor the meds to the patient. Metformin is probably the most popular drug which cause slight weight loss but is effective at controlling blood sugar.

I reversed my pre-diabetes a few years ago with diet and exercise. I expect I will be doing that again as I coms from a long line of slim- ish diabetics.

It's a combination of both, the drug is a tool but people are more successful on it because it helps them manage the physical feelings of hunger & fullness along with the 'noise'. However its perfectly possible to put weight on if your diet on it is made up of densely calorific foods- there is still work and some willpower involved even if it's a lot easier.