Eating less but no weightloss....?

[mamabeeboo]

Hi all (please be gentle), sorry this is long, I am just so confused and need to blurt this all out.

I'm morbidly obese, circa 22 stone, 35yo and Jaro is my last ditch attempt at weightloss in some way, after being overweight all my life.

On W4 2.5mg and 5mg pen in the fridge ready for Monday's jab.

Lost 8lbs W1
2lb W2 (period week)
For the last 2ish weeks maintaining....?

I guess I was sold the dream that because I have a lot of weight to lose, it would be fast for the first few weeks, but it seems that has died down after one week. And given my starting weight, I wasn't expecting to have -10lbs in the first month only (with maintaining for 2 weeks).

Tracking isn't the issue - I'm eating on average 1500-1800cals a day, and it's a world away from my 3000-3500 cal usual daily intake which got me to this weight. So like I said, I was expecting my body to still be responding to this almost halving of calories.

I don't even want to go up to 5mg because I feel like I get good suppression, my body is reacting the way it should, I eat what I am meant to eat and not hungry between meals, don't feel the need to snack, minimal food noise etc. I can even go until 12pm/1pm without eating, which was never the case before. But something isn't adding up.

I started exercise this week to hopefully kick start some weightloss so I am hopeful.

It's extremely disheartening to see such high losses left right and centre from so many other people, even those who have much less to lose than me are losing more. Genuinely HOW are people losing 1 stone a month?!

Is there anything else I can do? Has anyone else been in this position and it still worked out for them?

I'm in tears writing this as I feel like I'm never going to enjoy my life being this weight. It's embarrassing to not fit into seats and not be able to play with my sons, or looking like a whale in pictures, or having to keep buying clothes from 'plus size' shops, I was bullied at school and I can't even blame them - I looked like shit.

It's so fucking embarrassing and I have had enough.

If you had only weight once, at the end of 4 weeks you would have seen a loss of 10 pounds, an average of 2.5 pounds a week which is half a pound higher than the 1 to 2 pounds which is suggested as sustainable weight loss for the long term. That's also on the 2.5mg dose which isn't intended to produce weight loss in the majority. If you continue on losing 2.5 pounds on average each week, in another 8 weeks you will have lost a total of 30 pounds/2st 2lbs, which would be a great weight loss to have achieved.

It really is a long game, you want consistent weight loss each month as much as it is tempting to want to chase a large loss each week.

I avoid the threads where there are lots of people whose starting weight is several stones lower than my current weight, having been on Mounjaro for 7 months and already losing several stone. I just can't interact with those discussions, and I tend to stick to the > 5st and >10st to lose threads.

You are genuinely making great progress and losing more than the expected amount of weight.

Oh bless - you frustration and unhappiness is palpable but please remember this is a marathon not a sprint it will take time!

I am morbidly obese too starting weight 19 stone 1 and am now 17stone 8 after 10 weeks - lost the first stone in 2 weeks! so very up and down slow and steady and eating 2000 cals a day

We want this to be for life! and some folks dont lose on 2.5mg let t meds build up in your body and try to enjoy the process - you will get there!

I started at the beginning of November at over 24 stone and I’m now heading into the 20’s (21 5), at times it has felt so insurmountable that I’ve wanted to cry and I’m sure I’ll feel like that again but it passes. My loss after the first two weeks has at times seemed so slow but looking at the bigger picture it really isn’t.

in just over 3 months this will be you, looking back and realising that the moments don’t matter because the bigger picture is so positive, and that this isn’t just the start of something - it actually is something

keep going and the very best of luck

If you started to exercise this week, that could be the reason. Sometimes the body holds onto water to protect muscles that are being used more than usual. I notice that when I do heavy workouts I weigh more next day than I did before the work out. But once my body is used to that level of workout, the weight drops off fast.

The main thing is that you are eating within normal range and starting to exercise. These really will help you lose weight, long term, so long as the calorie intake doesn't creep back up.

This is very interesting and helpful, thank you.

This is exactly what I mean - I'm missing something. You're clearly doing something that I am not, and I'm so confused as to what it is. You're also eating more than me.

One stone in 2 weeks is incredible (massive congratulations you must feel wonderful!) and I think that's also what I expected for me, but almost a month later I'm still 8lb down. I'm pleased with the results but I am in disbelief that I have plateaued already!

I understand what you mean - I can wait for the meds to build up, but realistically, if I am eating half the number of calories than I usually eat, I am unsure what jaro will actually do. It can't burn fat for me?! Maybe I'm being a bit silly.

Trying my hardest to trust the process, but this is exactly why weightloss hasn't worked for me before.

You're not missing anything. Everyone has a different, individual, reaction to Mounjaro and a different "journey" through the weight loss process. You are not doing anything wrong or missing out on one specific thing that would generate large weight loss in a week. It's just different for everyone. For about 10% of people Mounjaro has basically no effect at all, even on 15mg. For some, they need to go up to 15mg to get any reasonable weight loss at all. You've had an above average response to the 2.5mg dose, and weight loss is rarely a linear process.

If you are in a consistent calorie deficit, you will lose weight, over the course of the many months that you will taking Mounjaro for. You need to be at least 500 calories lower than your TDEE each day, to lose 1 pound a week.

I know lots of people who didn't see any movement on the scales for the first 2 months on these jabs so you definitely have to trust the process.

My only advice is focus on eating enough protein, fibre and at least 2 litres of water a day.
I am in the same position as you. I weigh 18 stone and am a size 20. I have people around me shrinking at super speed and some weeks I have put weight on......I know those weeks I haven't drank anywhere near enough fluids and it really impacts on me. Because the following week I can eat exactly the same food and drink more and I lose weight!

The main thing is you are doing this! Keep plugging away at it, a dripping tap will eventually fill the sink and each lb you lose takes you closer to being the weight you want to be.x

2.5mg isn't a therapeutic dose. I lost weight on it but that was because I was basically on a strict calorie controlled diet and the placebo effect helped me stick to it - but by the last week I was struggling to stick to my reduced calories and massively craving chocolate!

5mg was better, I started to experience a little suppression BUT it is only now that I'm on 7.5mg that I can actually see and realise the impact of the medication. I needed a higher dose to feel the effects.

You are only on 2.5mg. Give it time. Once you hit the right dose form you, you really will notice the suppression and not fancy eating much, and that's when the weight loss will kick in properly.

Oh - and you have lost weight! so that's great!

Be patient! 😉

Also - STOP weighing yourself weekly.

Weigh monthly.

If you got to the end of month 1 and saw a 10lb weight loss, you might have been happy. But checking weekly, with all the ups and downs, is a recipe to be disheartened.

Weigh less frequently!!!

I without fail gain weight on the week around my ovulation, then I have a big drop after that. If my ovulation spans over two weeks then I’ll usually maintain in both those weeks before then having the big drop again afterwards. I think it’s water weight.

How often are you weighing yourself? If only once a week I’d increase to every other day and then at the end of the week work out a weekly average.

I started MJ last summer and felt exactly the same. I was on threads with people who were starting out several stones lighter than me who lost a stone or more in the first month while I plodded along - I don't think I even got has high as ten pounds in the first month and it slowed down after that too. I had - and still have - a lot to lose and it felt very dispiriting to see the rapid success others were having.

Well, I'm three and a half stone down now. All those interminable weeks where virtually nothing seemed to come off added up and I'm down three dress sizes, going on a plane where I know I'll have ample room in the seat belt, seeing photos of myself that don't make me wince. And I know the weight will keep coming off so I don't worry about it - I tell myself this is my best chance of not getting too much loose skin, that it's giving me time to build muscle, that this steady loss feels sustainable in a way that the very fast weight loss I've experienced previously in my life never did. And I'm calm knowing that by the time summer rolls around I'll be another stone or two down because Mounjaro works. Even if it works slowly, it works - and nothing else does anymore.

I suspect that my slowness is due to multiple and repeated weight losses over the past three decades of my life. My body holds onto weight now; it knows I can't be trusted! I railed against it and fought it and hated it through my first months on MJ, but now I've found a peace, acceptance and understanding of it that I've never known before.

I will say though that I knew my slowness was attributable not just to the way my body responds but also because of my reluctance to increase the dose. I couldn’t tolerate the side effects on my first attempt to go up to 5mg. So I stayed low and actually only got up to that dose about six months into my journey - and the rate of loss did accelerate commensurately with the increased dosage as of course was inevitable. So I did it to myself! I know I was a slow loser from my first month in comparison to everyone else, but then I hampered myself and kept it reeeeally slow - but I just could not function with the relentless diarrhoea that 5mg gave me, I couldn't work or socialise and it felt like a terrible way to lose weight. I've built up now and am still very anxious about a recurrence but so far, so good.

Even the weeks or months where my weight stayed the same, it was better than what would have happened without MJ - I was continually gaining and couldn’t stop. I told myself even if all this drug did was to put a brake on that it was worth it. But that's not all it did, and nearly eight months on I am so happy and feel a sense of confidence and faith in the future I never had before.

You aren't doing anything wrong, it's just how it goes for some of us. But we will all get there in the end!

I weigh every day, to help me understand the fluctuations, but I only record once a week so I am expecting to see a downward trend, however little it will be. Naively maybe I was expecting more, considering how overweight I am.

But my question is - What difference should I see with a higher dose?!

If I'm already in a calorie deficit, which I 100% am, and experiencing a decent suppression.

Like I said, I have gone from 3000 cals daily to half that.

I could previously eat 1000 calories alone in evening snacks. So my diet is night and day different.

I'm struggling to understand what the higher dose would do. My understanding is that the jab reduces hunger and cravings via slower digestion and balancing sugar. This is effective and is happening at 2.5mg but the scales aren't moving?!

I hope I don't sound too combative, but I'm sitting here in confusion. 🤔

@mamabeeboo what is your TDEE?

I couldn't lose weight on that amount of calories OP. Have you worked out your tdee? I did and it said because I was in a sedentary job 1200 calories. I stuck to that and lost 3.5 stone on saxenda.

THANK YOU! I feel really understood with your post and feel like I need to trust the process. Like you said, this is the best hope in weightloss, and some weightloss is better than nothing.

I like the dripping tap analogy that a poster above said.

Congratulations on your weightloss by the way!

My question - do you know why your weightloss suddenly increased at 5mg or at higher doses? Do you feel like the dose helped you into the caloric deficit, or were you always eating less (on the 2.5mg for 6 months) and the higher dose did something else?

There truly is more to weight loss than CICO, that's all I can say. It's more complicated. I felt exactly the same; even staying on 2.5mg for months I was eating half of my previous intake, strength training, drinking water, eating very clean but even so I kept stalling or seeing tiny losses and I couldn't understand it. I haven't had a big drop in calorie intake while on 5mg but I'm still losing faster than I was while eating the same as I did on 2.5mg. Insulin regulation or something hormonal must be at play. Calories matter but in my experience, they are not the only thing going on.

I'll copy and paste the TDEE. I've also said that I'm not exercising, because I don't want any extra calories.

I'm 100% within that, if not, much less at 1400-1500 a day.

Total Daily Energy Expenditure (TDEE) is roughly 1.2 × BMR, which is:
TDEE ≈ 2300 kcal/day
To lose weight, aim for a 500-700 kcal deficit per day. This means:
🔹 Caloric intake: 1600-1800 kcal/day (for steady fat loss without muscle loss)

I see posts like this all the time (I'm on an MJ Facebook group) - big loss in the first week and then little or no loss for the rest of the first month. I honestly think it's just your body adjusting to the large weight loss in week 1 and a new way of eating. Everyone's journey is different and there can be stalls but weight loss always picks up again. I've never lost more than 3lbs in a week, but I've had 0 weight loss weeks (plus I put on 2lbs during Christmas week). My average is still 2lbs a week though, which although isn't the fastest, it's perfectly acceptable and more than I could ever have lost on my own.

Thank you all for your support, suggestions, feedback and ideas.

And sorry for my long-winded rant initial post, I feel quite embarrassed that I was so upset and just keyboarded it all.

I know I've already said this and you probably are happy weighing as you do, but I honestly hate that sinking feeling of standing on the scale and it's not moved, or worse - gone up. It makes me feel low for a few days and sometimes impacts whether I even want to bother continuing etc..

Since I've moved to monthly (occasionally 3 weekly or 5 weekly) weigh ins, I'm so much happier because I always see a loss and it keeps me motivated ...

Bodies are really complicated and it's not always an energy in/energy out thing, but anything you are doing will be helping so don't be too down on yourself!

I'd focus on

• keeping going. Realistically most people most of the time are slowly gaining weight. Losing 10lbs in a month is great!
• trying to find exercise that fits with your lifestyle e.g. a realistic step count goal or 10 minutes home strength training. Or paying a PT if that's affordable and makes you do it!
• try to make sure you are including some nutritious whole foods in your diet. Fruit, veg, wholegrains, pulses, nuts, unprocessed meat and dairy...your body needs nutrients for you to feel good, and I find I lose weight with the same number of calories from these foods compared to more processed ones.

I think it's too early to feel a failure. Short term weight loss often is only water anyway, and things can change quite quickly. Good luck.

This might be a bit harsh but you really need to do two things if this is going to be successful for you.

1. Be patient. MJ is magic, but it's not a quick fix, and neither should you wish it to be. Losing weight too fast brings all sorts of problems. So don't envy the people losing more quickly than you, it's likely not going to end well for them. MJ is hard work for most people and losing a lot of weight is a long slog.

1. Stop comparing yourself to others anyway. You don't know anything about these people, they really shouldn't matter to you. Just focus on your own journey to good health and have a break from the threads if you need to, I did.

There will be many weeks when you don't lose as much as you'd hoped. Sometimes you'll even gain. It's just the way weight loss goes, so you need to be able to cope with the ups and downs. If you're crying at losing 'only' 10lbs in a month, you are never going to manage.

Anyway - cheer up and count yourself lucky - I lost 4lbs in 4 weeks on 2.5mg. And then 13lbs in 4 weeks on 5mg. It will all happen for you but you have to be realistic and just let it happen. And stop turning a fantastic success - 10lbs down, go you! - into some kind of poor me disaster scenario!

Thank you for the head wobble!!

@mamabeeboo

Honestly, it's way too early to despair yet. If you get to the end of three months / 7.5mg and you're still not losing, maybe then you can start to think, hmm this might not work for me. But even then you will have three more doses to try. And this scenario is vanishingly unlikely given that you lost 10lbs in the first two weeks.

It'll be fine! Try to find a way to enjoy the process rather than being so fixated on and impatient for the end goal, it'll be so much harder if you are constantly setting yourself up for disappointment. You are fighting for your future mobility, functionality, quality of life and years of health and activity, focus on that and celebrate every tiny win.

Top tips:

• eat plenty of protein and fibre
• not too many carbs (MJ partly acts on blood sugar)
• stay off the crap
• eat lots of plants
• eat slowly and savour your food, think about what you're doing
• kiwis are excellent for constipation
• try to move a bit each day, going for a walk is fine though
• and do some form of strength training so that you don't lose too much muscle