Gutted, stop and gained any tips, others in similar situation ?

[DollyPop100]

Started MJ Sept found very easy to lose weight and ate well didn’t starve myself and upped exercise, was already active but literally never used to lose weight. Stopped taking around 6 weeks ago as despite still being1 stone over healthy BMI was hsppy with weight and as in late 50’s was bit concerned as lost a lot from face and felt aging. It always first place to go when I have lost weight previously.
Had 5 week working away including holiday tagged on visiting relatives so didn’t want to risk upset tum either. They love to cook and eat and for 3 weeks I ate and drank far too much. Came home clothes now so tight and feeling so disappointed with myself.
thought had conquered my food demons as was doing good eating, exercise and in good headspace.
maybe I have to really limit eating junk may just do at weekends as it has surprised me how easy it has been to go down the slippery slope of self destruct and mindless eating with no rationale or reason. I seriously wonder what is wrong with me.
I am restarting MJ tomorrow hoping to lose what I have gained and maybe bit more to get that last bit off to finally get to healthy BMI.
am I destined to just always having to stay on track and never deviating or maybe just have weekend where can have some treats.
if anyone has any advice please advise or share your experiences.
unsure if some just prone to this my son is similar whereas my 3 daughters always slim and never overeat. Sounds silly but almost feel like a food demon takes over and it isn’t me.
I don’t want to take MJ long term.

It’s quite simple isn’t it (and I mean this kindly): If you have 3 weeks or so of eating/drinking whatever you like you will gain weight.

Being on MJ takes away that desire to overeat and makes it much easier to eat within calorie deficit or maintenance. Coming off it completely will obviously mean that “food noise” comes back, and if you can’t resist it (most of us can’t - that’s why we’re on MJ in the first place!) you will overeat again.

so the obvious answer seems to be to get back on a maintenance dose and figure out what works for you. I intend to do this as I’m pretty sure if I go it alone il end up back at square one very quickly.

Obvs you have to be able to afford this if you’re paying privately - it’s a long term financial hit - some won’t be able to which is obviously a bit shit 🤷‍♀️

I think anyone who goes on holiday and allows themselves to eat whatever would put on weight, I always hear people talking about coming back from all inclusive holidays or cruises saying it. You were there for 3 weeks so it's not surprising there would be some weight gain.
I totally empathize and I'm sure there was such a dread seeing it on the scales but if you were managing up to that point why not try to go back to the new good habits and in future holidays you can decide when to enjoy what you want or if you want to just be stricter when you come home.

I am bmi 28.4 now, started 32.4 in October. I plan on tapering down slowly when I hit my goal then tracking all my calories and exercising. The thing about drinking on holiday is that there is a lot of calories in 🍸 🍷 one bottle of wine is 650-700 cals

I’ve yo yo dieted all my life. Have never successfully kept it off, as I get to a weight I’m happy with and take foot off the gas. A year later I’ll be back to where I was.
I have to accept that if I want to stay at a healthy weight I will always have to track, be mindful on holidays, meals out, alcohol intake etc. It will have to be a constant in my life, which I find boring, draining and upsetting, however it’s my reality. I get so many people saying you can’t let diet/fitness rule your life but they aren’t me, don’t put weight on easily like me, don’t live my life… so the choice is mine to make. Life’s not fair sometimes but we’ve just got to make the best of the hand we’re dealt. Be kind to yourself but accept for some of us the struggle will always be there so mindful choices will be needed more often than not. Good luck with your second round of mj x

I have made peace with the fact that I will have to weigh myself twice a week for life, and track my calories on my fitness pal every single day. And take action if I put on even one kilo. I can’t ignore it, ever. The jabs got the weight off but now it is constant vigilance (sadly)

@DollyPop100 - I can read the absolute frustration in your post, and I'm sure lots of us who have been trying and trying and struggling to lose weight over the many years can relate to that feeling.

As others have said, I say this with kindness, but some of us (me included) are just wired to eat. That's why these jabs are so helpful, because it helps us regulate what we're eating. I think your biggest issue was coming off cold turkey, and maybe tapering down/sticking to a maintenance dose for a few months will help you. Personally I feel like I will need to stay on a low dose for a long time after reaching goal, as I think I will regain weight without it.

The other thing I wanted to say is, when you feel like you're at a goal weight again and happy, it might be worth figuring out what your maintenance calories are. The good news is, this is a lot more than what you think and that will help with some flexibility. For example, I'm 5'3, and I'm semi-active, but for the longest time I thought I could only eat 1200 calories. But when I figured out my maintenance calories, I can actually eat 1900 calories without gaining - which was shocking. The reason I kept gaining weight is because I was eating well over 1900 calories, because I'm a snack fiend!!

Good luck lovely x

yes this is true. Mine is 1500 (not very active) which isn’t too bad really. Much better than 1200 anyway.

I tried to reduce my dose in the autumn as was coming to the end of my journey. I clearly wasn't ready as ended up gaining a huge amount through December/January.

I'm back up to my normal dose now but struggling to lose the weight I regained - it's definitely coming off slower this time.

My maintenance dose clearly needs to be much higher than I initially thought, and I've made peace with the fact I'm likely to be on this for life.

Thank you to all for taking time to post i could feel the understanding and empathy which means a lot as know you can relate.
I found some of your advice really helpful and aim to keep some of it written down to look at when struggling or going off track.
yes might have to consider maintenance dose too.
could I ask how did you work out your maintenance calories please ?
so grateful for support from this forum. 😍

Hi @DollyPop100 I think we've interacted on here before! I name change a lot

It's tough isn't it? I swore I wouldn't take this long term but I honestly feel I have to tbh. I'm holding steady at 9 stone 7 after losing 5 and a half stone but this is only because I've switched to a pharmacy who provides maintenance and I'm tapering down very very slowly. Left to my own devices I'd regain because I always have.

It's never been about reeducating myself re food for me. I know it all inside out - what serial dieter doesn't?

Could you consider a maintenance dose this time around? You may be surprised how little you need

For calorie deficit and maintenance use a tdee calculator online. My deficit is 1300 cals but I tend to eat 900-1100 a day, which probably isn't healthy but when suppression is high I can't eat more and when it's low I'll eat more. I use myfitnesspal, did it for 3 months starting off to have an idea of what I was eating then didn't track as felt I was getting obsessed because Xmas day I wouldn't let myself eat more than 1000 cals. Now I track again when I've had a stall.

When I've hit my goal I'll do it all the time and weigh regularly to make sure I don't gain again. Just a stone loss made a difference to my muscles and breathing and i only started on 13 stones. My dad and sister are diabetic and I was prediabetic so can't go back to how I was. Now 11st 6lbs, only losing 1lb a week.

am I destined to just always having to stay on track and never deviating or maybe just have weekend where can have some treats.

Well yeah, mainly you will have to stay on track forever if you want to keep the weight off. That doesn’t mean no treats - it just means eating at maintenance. But of course you will gain quite a considerable amount of weight if you overeat for three solid weeks (you could potentially gain a stone and a half in that time). I am not clear from your post whether you are disappointed just that you put the weight on or whether it’s because you didn’t have any willpower/felt out of control without the medication. If it’s the first then I’d say if you overeat, you will gain and that’s just life. If it’s the second then maybe a maintenance dose will help.

Yes we have and I have seen your fabulous photos.
yes like you didn’t want to keep on it but it might be best option. I think you like me have managed on fairly low dose so what are you thinking of re maintenance dose ?

@DollyPop100 check out James Smith's calculator, it's a lot better than the ones on my fitness pal! I found it a good starting point, but then you might need to adjust up or down calories when you start doing it :)

www.jamessmithacademy.com/macro-calculator/

@DollyPop100 well I went as high as 7.5 and was on that over Christmas and into the new year and right now I'm hovering between that and 5mg. It's like a bloody security blanket but I honestly didn't want to stay on it long term and now I find myself considering that I'll have to!

I've only lost 7lbs in the past 3 months though so it's been painfully slow so I've accepted that 9 and a half stone is probably right for me now and I'll focus on maintaining

Have you considered just going for the healthy BMI this time? I know a lot of people don't agree with BMI but it's a useful tool and something to aim for. I had all the same worries about looking gaunt or old etc etc but I think most of that was rooted in me believing that I simply couldn't get past 11 stone and if I did, I'd look gaunt. The reality is I don't - my face is relatively unscathed . My bottom on the other hand... oh dear. Worse than ever.

And on a positive note - you've caught yourself before any serious damage has been done! That's a really good thing and shows you're mindful of it. We all know what it's like to not face up to a small weight gain and suddenly, when you eventually do, you're back to square one. At least you've avoided all that

I think I'd like to get to a point where I can take 2.5 every couple of weeks. That would be the ideal.

Because I'm not a bloody millionaire and this stuff costs doesn't it?

By you own admission, you eat junk.

Did you change to a healthier diet before, or ate junk but less of it?

I have been on it for 14 weeks and I am really trying to retrain my brain, otherwise I am wasting my money.

@Worzelgummage with respect, it's honestly not about retraining your brain. I could write a dissertation right now about my encyclopaedic knowledge of nutrition. I know what to do. What to eat. How to eat. That junk food will probably make me fat etc etc

Most people know this and it's so easy when on MJ to feel all superior with yourself and to be absolutely certain that this time you've cracked it and just how easy it all it!

It's the mounjaro talking and the Mounjaro doing the heavy lifting of calming your brain/ suppressing your urges to eat and stabilising your blood sugars etc

So I totally understand how Dolly feels right now and how it can feel like you've lost control once you stop MJ

I totally get what your saying!

i didn’t mean to come over as superior because I’m not, But what I am is morbidly obese, even after 14 weeks. I have a hell of a long way to go, but let me assure you that after investing in my health and MJ. I won’t go back to eating junk. That’s not the MJ talking, that’s me talking!

i don’t really eat much junk tbh apart from sweet stuff I have always eaten quite healthy food tbh. However I like food and when all this lovely food was put in front of me like and addiction I felt it got a grip off me and got out of control. Tbh all the advice and this experience has made me see I need to continue to lose get that extras off achieve healthy BMI and then stop taking or use maintenance but either way will ALWAYS need to track or at least stay in control and manage it day by day and as soon as I slip I get back on it the next day otherwise 3 weeks later weight gained.
I daren’t weigh myself but think will tomorrow do can gauge the damage and hopefully this will motivate me to not come back here.
I do think I have an addiction as what else is food noise so I just have to keep a handle on it. I will always have this issue and need to keep this in mind. Like someone said earlier it boring and a drag but the feeling I have when clothes fit and feeling healthier and happier worth it. For the last week felt dreadful, bloated, tired and fed up.
thanks for posting calculator info and all your comments and support 🥰

One thing I have realised about myself is that when I lose weight and then slip back into binge eating, I am terrified of the scales and I will not weigh myself. But I have realised that I am completely incapable of eyeballing any weight gain - literally I can put on two stone and still think it’s okay, it’s not that bad (until I see photos of myself). I am an expert at kidding myself.
I think one non-negotiable going forward is to weigh myself every single day. I don’t do it when dieting as it’s dispiriting but I’m thinking I probably need to when trying to maintain the weight.

Oh me too can gain drop so much in one day due to water, hormones etc so like you I only bought scales last year as never weighed as couldn’t face it.
Yes could be a good motivator actually that’s a great idea and would be a positive thing to do maybe weekly unsure about daily but could work too.

I saw my very sensible GP today, who said that there are recent findings that you should stay on the medication for some while after reaching your ideal weight. He’s recommending 18-24 months at the moment. So not necessarily forever, but certainly for a good while to get used to maintenance eating. He said it’s all so new, everyone is just figuring this out. I don’t know what studies he’s referring to and I haven’t read them, but he’s a very good doctor who likes to keep up to date.

I'm planning on only going got for a month , I'm awaiting my 1st delivery . I'm doing it to give my weight loss a boast . I'm currently doing slimming world . I've been in sw for 8 weeks and only lost 8 lbs so far and that's with me being pretty strict . I'm planning on continuing sw until I get to my target. Financially I can't afford the injections long term

@typicaltuesdaynight it doesn't work like that and isn't designed to be used in this way.

Honestly, this isn't a drug you just hop onto for a month - it's not designed to 'give you a boost for four weeks.'

It's a gradual, longer term commitment so what you're planning to do it quite frankly, stupid