How do you use MJ if you don't get surpression?

[mamabeeboo]

Currently on 7.5mg and loads to lose yet so I'm very conscious of climbing the doses with no where to go in a few months. Until I find the dose that works for me (if I find it). I'm chasing surpression... Maybe I shouldn't be? I know it's a side effect and not guaranteed.

If you didn't get much surpression and could still eat, albeit a smaller amount, what's your strategy for using MJ?

Hang in there until you do get suppression at the higher doses! It will come!!

You should speak to your doctor and not take the advice of a random off the internet but ...

I jabbed at times after 5 days and didn't wait for 7, which helped a bit with suppression. Also, I went up the doses at 3 weeks instead of 4 when side effects free because I'm impatient...

I think many people use the word suppression as an overall term for being satisfied with smaller meals and for longer and the obsessive food noise between meals being switched off, meaning they can eat in a calorie deficit, easier not to snack.

You say you eat less, is the food noise reduced too?

What does "suppression" mean to you?

I don't get total appetite suppression, that would be really difficult to deal with long term. I have in the past had a couple of days each week where I don't really feel much like eating, but that has settled down. Now on a long term dose level (7.5mg) I am able to eat regularly without wanting to snack or eat between meals, and eating a decent number of calories a day whilst being in a calorie deficit. That's what I mean by appetite suppression. It's not a side effect, it's the intended effect as @WeAllHaveWings says, "being satisfied with smaller meals and for longer and the obsessive food noise between meals being switched off, meaning they can eat in a calorie deficit, easier not to snack." That's what the medication does, is intended to do.

Are you finding it easier to eat smaller amounts and avoid eating between meals?

Supression - I read a lot online about people being "unable to eat". That only happened the first week at 2.5mg because the body was probably in shock at the jab, it's now (annoyingly) gotten used to it.

My portions have reduced because my stomach is smaller from eating less, which has happened with any diet I have been on as the stomach shrinks, so nothing special to MJ. But I could easily overeat still if i continued to listen to my cravings. I'm also having to make a conscious decision of minimal /no snacks.. But all willpower mostly. I don't (think) that MJ is making it easier.

This is why I wonder what everyone else is doing without supression?

If people are unable to eat, then that to me suggests they should go back down a dose level if it doesn't settle after 4 weeks on that dose. If you are needing lots of conscious will power each week, not just for the last couple of days before the next injection, then that to me means moving up to the next dose level.

I am using the lack of "suppression" as you describe it to try and actively change my mindset on how much and what I eat.

I still get hungry and the food noise has not totally stopped but it is massively reduced. I can listen to my rational brain these days and make better choices.

I think if i rely on total appetite suppression I am going to find it really hard to come off this jab when the time comes.

I am on this journey with a friend who cannot cope if he feels even a little bit hungry. As a result he has gone up in dose far faster than me. He is definitely chasing suppression.

He is also planning a gastric sleeve surgery for when he hits his weight goal to "keep the weight off"

I think he's on a hiding to nothing without addressing his relationship with food, but there's no disuading him.

Agree with others that it depends on what you mean by suppression. I have never had a case of just not wanting to eat on Mounjaro. I have always felt hunger but I have not felt the urge to binge uncontrollably. So it has normalised my relationship with food. I always ate healthy food anyway but then I’d get urges to binge and would buy high sugar and high fat food and gorge on that. I don’t do that anymore. However if you go on what I eat in a day threads there are people who basically eat bugger all because their appetite is so suppressed. That in my view is not healthy and will backfire eventually.

I wouldn't want to go back to the first few weeks of Mounjaro where I was "unable to eat" it is not sustainable or healthy. I would be risking being undernourished.

You say you are eating less because your stomach has shrunk like any other diet. Are you sure it is not Mounjaro slowing your gastric emptying and making you feel fuller and for longer, making this process and staying in a calorie deficit more sustainable for longer than previous diets.

Mounjaro is neither a quick fix or a magic bullet, it is a medication that will help you, make it easier to sustain a calorie deficit but requires you to participate too.

What are your expections from Mounjaro? Mine are to help me stay in a calorie deficit for ongoing weightloss, 1-2lbs a week. I expect this to take 18 months to 2 years as I have a lot to lose.

Thanks all, this has been helpful to actually define what surpression might be.
On reflection, I don't snack anymore between meals. Where the TV evening binges are, I've replaced with a small kit kat ~ 90cals and feel fine and bed.

Again I think comparing it to other people being unable to eat, makes me think I'm doing something wrong but perhaps this is the more sustainable way. I just want to make sure I'm doing everything right and need some second opinions.

How has everyone got on with their weightloss on eating small meals (as opposed to being unable to eat)? Is the weight coming off slow and steady?

I am still on 3.75mg and over 8 months in. I started with a high BMI which has reduced from around 45 to 32. Still can't believe I am getting close to being out of the obese range in the next few weeks.

I rarely snack, and no desire to eat anything sweet or with sweeteners at home anymore. If I have a day I feel I've not eaten much because there has been some suppression I perhaps snack on a small portion of mixed nuts to get some calories in, that is probably a day or two a week. I'll occasionally enjoy something sweet when eating out, usually will share something as portion sizes out are huge and I have learned eating too much sugar on Mounjaro makes me feel yucky later.

I eat from a smaller plate some days and have lots of veg and small amounts of carbs, others I'll enjoy a smaller portion takeaway - quarter of a naan bread rather than a full one half, less sauce/focus on the meat, less rice, just one or two bits of pakora for example. I calorie cycle keeping to a weekly rather than daily deficit - apps are great for this in the beginning, I haven't used mine for a few months now, but would go back to it if weight began to plateau (more than 4 weeks without loss) to see if bad habits were sneaking back in.

It has made a huge difference losing the food noise, the compulsion to snack and cravings for sweet/high carb food, being satisfied eating smaller portions and doing that consistently but still being able to enjoy a more reasonable sized takeaway with family has worked well for me so far.

I've had that level of high suppression for a bit, when I moved up to 5mg. It's not a good thing! I had no appetite and really struggled to eat enough to get up to 1,000 calories some days. It's a very unpleasant sensation, knowing you need to eat but the process of eating making you feel quite unwell. I was considering going back down to 2.5 as obviously struggling to eat at all isn't healthy.
It's balanced out now to something a lot healthier - reduced appreciate, much less food noise but not a complete removal of either. Trust me, it's not what you want.

I have been on MJ since September, didn’t follow the dosing schedule. I stayed on 5mg for 20 weeks because it was working and I have never been ‘unable to eat’, I still feel hunger when approaching mealtimes and could quite easily work my way through massive amounts of food if I gave myself the opportunity.

For me, ‘suppression’ presents as the ability to put the hunger out of my mind and to stop eating when I think I’ve had enough and be ok with that. I don’t have the ‘craving’ to just keep eating. It’s like my self control has increased and my interest in food has decreased rather than a physical inability to actually eat food.

Not sure if that makes sense, but it’s surprisingly hard to describe.

This means that it’s a lot easier to calorie count and stay within limit, because I log everything as I go, and if I’m approaching limit I just tell myself I can’t eat anymore today and myself says ‘Ok’. Pre MJ I would have realised I have no calories left, wanted to cry because I was starving and then spent every minute until I went to sleep obsessing about the foods I wanted to eat but didnt have allowance for.

Your pre MJ self sounds very very familiar!

You know what, your comment has been really helpful. I actually get quite jealous of those who say they "struggle to eat" because I feel like that is how you get the fast results. Coupled with all those people who say they have dropped a stone in a week, make me feel like my 2.5 meals a day and 1lb per week weightloss is nothing.
I need to shift my mindset and understand what I want from the jab. I want to be able to make healthy choices, 3 small meals, be in control of my food and be able to say no to unhealthy junk. When I think of that, then yes it is working.

Thank you so so much for your post 🥰

I restarted mj after having stopped for an op, so I’m back on 5mg I’m hoping 7.5mg will be my magic dose. As much as I want the rapid weigh loss in my head as I see loads of people with these big losses in reality I know that’s not sustainable and a steady 1-2lbs a week is and yes it’s going to be slower! For me I still want to be able to eat I enjoy it, I enjoy eating nice food, for me I want mj to help stop the snacking in between meals and the excess food I don’t need. I have now managed to not eat a whole bag of mini eggs in one sitting which I think is an achievement 🤣 I’ve lost about 7lbs in 6 weeks which I’m hoping to continue. 4lbs away from a new stone bracket so would love to hit that before April and I have body confidence shoot in June so would love to have lost about another stone before then. My target weight is actually still me being classed as overweight still as I like having a curvy body around a size 12, so that’s my aim, i also like to be realistic of what is sustainable for me and I feel that would be. To get there is about 1.5stone now

I use 2.5mg as a tool to aid my weight loss. I don’t have masses of suppression, as in I do not struggle to eat. What I do have is lack of what people call ‘food noise’ - I just don’t think about it constantly. I can eat a proper healthy diet without struggling the way I used to. I just choose my meals and occasionally have a snack, but I’m happy with smaller portions and not binge eating at all. It’s also improved my focus in other areas.

MJ makes you feel fuller quicker, especially if you eat protein (or anything fatty, but there are obviously downsides there). Do you can make it work better for you by eating protein and having the protein first in your meal.