Stalled on Wegovy

[boredsolicitor]

Hello - I wondered if anyone had any experience of stalling weight loss on Wegovy? I have been taking it for about 6 months - lost 2 stone which I am thrilled about but another 2 to go and for the last 2 months I haven't lost any at all - stayed the same. I'm not calorie counting as such but have a small lunch - generally soup or salad and the same evening meal as the family but smallish portion - hardly any snacks so I would expect to be losing . Anyone el know if this is normal and things will move again soon ? I don't want to take it if it's not working .

I'm on Mounjaro - but this is me - I am due to get the next pen next week and I've thought this will be my last if I'm not losing - Its extremely frustrating (and expensive!) to just sit and not lose. I've struggled with nausea and got over that (sort of) and now not getting any further down on the scales.

The drugs don’t make you lose weight, you need to be in a calorie deficit. If you are not losing then you’re not in deficit.

also remember we pee out fat. So ensure you drink at least 2 litres of water a day, count your cals, work out a realistic tdee, then eat below that to the extent you wish to lose, so for example for 1lb a week, it is 500 cals under tdee.

This happened to me on mounjaro. I know why it is - having lost 2.5 stone my TDEE has dropped by around 400 a day on average so the effortless calorie deficit I had at the start has now turned into habitually eating my TDEE calories because that's where my appetite is. If you want to keep losing you'll have to calorie count and ensure you're in a deficit. I'm getting my head around this now as I hate calorie counting and restricting and it's a binge trigger for me but if I want to lose more (rather than just maintain, which TBF would be ok) I need to do it.

Yes good point, your tdee drops as your weight reduces, so you need to keep dropping your cal intake accordingly to keep losing at the same rate.

Thank you ! I had so enjoyed the fact that I wasn't thinking about food and calorie counting but just losing weight anyway. If I have to calorie count I might stop the Wegovy ad that's kind of regular dieting i think? I have considerably upped my exercise and usually do around 7000 steps a day plus a couple of 5 k runs which I thought would address the tdee reduction but I guess that's not enough - but all I can fit in in a working week . I'll have a think . Thanks all for your advice- much appreciated

If you think you don’t need appetite suppression to help you stay within your calorie deficit and can do it without, then I would stop.

all wli involve regular dieting, you need to stay in a calorie deficit. The drugs help you feel full, thus suppressing your appetite so you can then easily stay within the deficit.

at the beginning it’s easier as simply eating less means you will lose weight, as we are all obese to start with, but you absolutely have to give thought to what you’re eating, be it how many cals, how much protein, how much sugar etc, and ensure you get your macros in, or you will lose muscle.

Highly recommend tracking calories. It’s easy to overestimate. Wegovy isn’t a magical cure, you still need to be in deficit. It does make sticking to those calories so much easier than going it alone though. I’m 14 months in and 3 stone 8 down as of today. I’m eating an average of around 1300-1400 a day and only exercise is dog walks, so slower than some people but still a good loss.

Here is my weight at the start of each month and the monthly loss. Definitely a correlation with months I had holidays so ate more calories in general and weight loss was slower or plateaued.

Thank you - I'll try another month with using my fitness pal to track too. Thanks for sharing @Moirarosesgarden - it's helpful to see it like that . All the best for your weight loss journeys everyone- it will be worth it when the hot weather comes not to have the sweaty chafing and tent like cover ups!

You need to know if you are in calorie deficit. If you're not (you're probably not) this is why you've ground to a halt

On the offchance you are in deficit, it may just be your body adjusting, even after WLS I often didnt lose anything for a month or 6 weeks, and thats a massive deficit believe me! It tallies up in the end.

What do you mean by 'regular dieting'. All weight loss stems from eating less than you use up

It doesnt matter whether thats by way of low carbing, low fat, slimfast, weight watchers, slimming world, cabbage soup, injections or surgery, or just CiCO on your own

There is no other way to lose weight, its not possible to lose weight without cutting calories to less than you need. The mechanism you do that with depends on what suits you, there is no right or wrong to that bit

And personally I ate more when I exercised than compensated for the exercise, my body was hungry. I do try to exercise but nearly always put on weight when doing so. And no its not muscle.

I mean when I have not been taking Wegovy and trying to lose weight before I have generally tracked calories.
On Wegovy I have lost 2 stones without tracking and without that horrible focus on food that tracking brings - but I can see that it's stopped working and for the reason posters above have explained I will need to start tracking now

Well if you dont want to know the actual numbers, then cut your food in half

But then you risk eating too little

You should really know 'the numbers' because when it comes to maintenance you'll need to know what works for you

Well yeah, but to jump from that to 'I might as well come off Wegovy' is a false step. The medication makes reducing calories tolerable/easy. Coming off it will lead your appetite to come back and will make it harder to stick to a deficit. That's fine if you're prepared for that but you don't need to.

Yes understood thank you . I'm not going to stop taking it but will start tracking as mentioned above.

I was just about to post asking the same question and saw your post.

I've been taking Wegovy for 6 months and have gone from 14stone to 11.7, slowly and steadily. but for the last 2 weeks nothing.

I don't eat much and what I do eat is healthy. Cut out alcohol altogether almost as lost taste for it when starting taking Wegovy.

Is this is? I'm still overweight and BMI 26.7 and was ideally looking to lose another stone.

Any advice and tips would be great TIA. I see it's a month since you did your OP-have things changed at all for you?

@Arcticrival not really - I'm tracking calories . I worked out for my age/weight/height/ excercise etc that I need 2000 cals to maintain weight so I have been aiming for 1700' per day I have lost 1 lb only only so not great . I've been in touch with the dr supervising my prescription and they have suggested I switch to Mounjaro .
I'm on my last Wegovy injection now and I'm going to wait and see how I get on without taking anything and if needs be I'll start mounjaro later on.
I should add I have an under active thyroid and take levothyroxine which may be a factor .
Hope you find a way forward that works for you

Thanks for replying to me. I really appreciate it. Sorry to hear it's not progressing for you atm. I read somewhere else about people moving onto Mounjaro when they started to plateau so maybe i'll look into that.

I am still on 1mg of Wegovy though. Tried 1.7mg but felt pretty nauseous so went back to 1mg. Will go up again this week which will hopefully help. you're right though, I need to reduce my calorie intake.

Gosh it all seemed so simple when I was vastly overweight, the weight dropped off, not so now :)

Best of luck to you and please let us know if you do go down the mounjaro route and if it works for you :)

Will do!