I don't understand weight loss injections. I have questions

[nevertuesday]

Google tells me that people loose 10% of their body weight over a year. so if you started at 100kg, you would be 90kg after a whole year!! that is not good weight loss at all. definitely not worth, what it costs

but people loose significantly more than that, don't they?? certainly people on social media have definitely lost more than 10% and in a shorter space of time

2nd question from a place of considering trying it because I have mobility issues and it would really be beneficial to not be over weight. but, I don't particularly eat loads and loads. I have a sweet tooth and I emotionally eat, I'm not eating because I am hungry. so am I correct in thinking that it probably wouldn't help me much?

I've lost >20% of my starting weight in 6m. (from just over 100 to just under 80kg)

I lost 28% in under a year with a sweet tooth. 10% mark was about 6 weeks in.

well done, that's brilliant and definitely worth the cost. does it help with sugar cravings or is it just an appetite suppressant? I suppose the only way to know if it would help me is to try it, really

also, what are you taking?

amazing! I can't even bring myself to get on the scales at the moment. I wonder if that matters. I mean, I wouldn't be able to track what I was loosing but I don't really mind that, I just want to loose it!

I am currently on week 3 of taking Mounjaro after doing loads of research over the past few months. It doesn't magically make you burn fat, it acts as an appetite suppressant so I don't feel hungry. That has made it much, much easier to stick to a healthy diet because I'm not that bothered about what I eat so it is easy to choose healthy options. And that's what is making me lose weight.

I'm trying to use it as a support tool to help me retrain myself into enjoying nutritious food and reducing my portion sizes so that when I come off the injections I don't just put it all back on. I'm not planning on going up to the far higher doses as I don't want to chase full appetite surpression. I don't want to feel stuffed if I eat a banana and a yoghurt. I just need a tool to support me to make sensible choices for as long as it takes the habit to stick so I'm planning to be on Mounjaro for 3-6 months.

I haven't wanted anything sweet at all. The sweetest thing I've eaten is fruit. You do need to prioritise eating protein and fibre, and drinking plenty of water but that's the same with any healthy diet.

It has been remarkable to have no food noise. I was always thinking about food, craving food, planning my next meal and now I'm happy to just go into the kitchen and eat whatever I have that is nutritious and available. I honestly think it must be how people that don't struggle with their weight must feel.

I don't know about % bodyweight lost. But I've lost 10lbs in the first two weeks. Side effects are common so it's worth reading up on those and associated risks. Fortunately my side effects have been very minor and in general I feel good. I also figured that since I've been obese for years it was already impacting my health negatively so I was happy to give the injections a go.

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.

i have lost 4 stone so far, gone from obese to just on the very top point of healthy BMI, now im working on getting into the middle of the healthy range and doing exercise to tone and firm whatever it’s possible to tone and firm. Skin will never be taught and good looking but I can work on muscle tone.

1 - It’s an average, for 10% off people it does nothing and for the rest it only works if they change their diet. It’s only a tool, a good one but it doesn’t do all of the work.

2 - for me it’s helped deal with the craving but no but not the emotionally eating. i had to find some thing else for that.

Where are you getting that statistical information OP?

It’s an appetite suppressant but if you stop eating sugar because you’re appetite is suppressed, you’ll break your sugar addiction. If you’re an emotional/binge eater, that suggests you don’t have a great relationship with food. A big part of this journey is retraining your mind/body to have a better relationship with food: making better choices, knowing when you’re full, portion control etc. Seeing food as a fuel and having only what we need. It sounds like it could really well for you.

no food noise would be great!

I am an emotional eater too and don't think it would help with that - need to unpick that first

If you eat too many sweets and carbs then my god you’re going to know about it later. You’ll be shitting through the eye of a needle. So it’s not going to stop you reaching for the stuff if you’re an emotional eater who eats when you’re not hungry but hopefully the negative experience you’ll have will put you off doing it next time. Maybe that’s just me because I’m on it for diabetes but unfortunately for me I’m also a slow learner

🤣🤣 that made me laugh, sorry

Just to add a bit about the mechanisms by which Mounjaro works.

it has several functions and mimics a couple of different hormones that your body creates naturally but sometimes not in big enough quantities.

It helps to regulate blood sugar by increasing your sensitivity to the insulin you create, this is important because your body will store any excess glucose as fat in order to get it out of your blood. Being able to more efficiently break it down helps to reduce the amount of fat you are creating. It also helps to reduce the ‘sugar crash’, craving effect that can be caused by high sugar levels.

It slows down your digestion so that you feel fuller for longer and as a result you are better able to regulate your food quantities.

In order to really make it work and for this to be a healthy and sustainable plan, you do need to put thought into your diet. Lower carb, higher protein, good fats, exercise to retain muscle mass. Because food will linger longer in your guts due to the slowed digestion, it’s wise at least at the beginning to be a bit careful about overly rich, overly spicy or greasy foods. It may be that you’re fine with them, it may be that you create a situation where you have to live in the bathroom for 48 hrs, so it’s best to be a bit timid at first.

I did my first jab on Monday so still early days. Haven’t weighed myself yet to see if I’ve lost anything.

I’ve gone from somebody who constantly thought about food, craved chocolate/sweets, would always have to order extra food if out, always seemed to be hungry to somebody who barely feels hungry and never thinks about food! I get fuller so much easier, I feel like I’m now eating like a “normal” person.

Before I started I wondered what people meant by not having the food noise, but now I get it and it’s crazy! I’ve done diets in the past and admittedly done well but it was miserable because I was still constantly hungry but now I don’t have to worry about that

I’ve lost just over 9% of my body weight in 6 weeks on Mounjaro. BMI 32.3 to start, 29.5 today.

The lack of food noise is amazing, really freeing.

If you decide to start Mounjaro I’d recommended joining the starters thread for March on the WLI topic. For support and solidarity.

You mention not wanting to weigh but you will need to provide your weight to the supplier, along with photos. It’s honestly worth biting the bullet in my opinion, although obviously I don’t know your medical history.

Those numbers are averages based on studies on people with a wide range of weights. They aren’t the maximum that people can lose. Weight loss tends to happen faster for those who have more to lose in the first place. So if a study had lots of participants who were on the lighter end of the scale (BMI 30, say), the average weight loss over the year would be skewed lower than if the participants were all much higher BMIs. Presumably the studies start out with a fairly balanced spread of weights, but they can’t control how many people drop out during the study or how committed people are to following a healthy diet (the injections aren’t magic, you have to change your eating habits as well).

I’ve lost 31% of my body weight since I started taking them last May, and my loss isn’t particularly unusual for users who were very heavy in the first place.

I have been on MJ for 5 weeks now. I have lost 21lb. But I do have a lot to lose.
I was very skeptical but it’s been amazing at blocking out the good noise. I no longer crave chocolate or cakes and no binge eating either.
I have had some side effects and although I’ve taken one shot at 5mg I’m actually considering going back down to 2.5 as was losing and had fewer side effects.
if you do want to try I have a discount code for medexpress which I can pm you.

@InfoSecInTheCity I’m curious about how the prescribing of mounjaro works. If you’re technically no longer overweight, how are you allowed to keep getting it?

Well, your going to need too regularly if you want a prescription. Along with taking photos from front side and back in leggings and a tight top.

Time to get factual about the situation op!

I have been on mounjaro since the end of November so coming up to 4 months. So far I have lost 13% of my body weight. I actually need to lose 56% of my body weight to get to a healthy BMI.

Being on mounjaro has allowed me to significantly reduce portion size and reduce carb cravings. It has helped to break the emotional connection with food. I can eat less and better without feeling hard done by.

Obesity is a life long condition even when you're not overweight. My bariatric team told me this.

Im not on injections personally but lots of places do maintenance doses and support because this is recognised.

I thought I was an emotional eater until I started Mounjaro. Since I’ve been taking it, I haven’t had a single binge eating session or used food as an emotional crutch, and I’ve been through more stress than ever before! I have the thought of “let’s get something nice to celebrate/cheer myself up” but then I just can’t pinpoint anything I fancy or I don’t want to eat very much so I just don’t do it.

It really opened my eyes to the idea that maybe “emotional eating” isn’t always actually purely an emotional issue at all.

If your already on it, you can titrate back down to a maintenance dose for a while.

So could someone who is slightly overweight get it? If not why not, if people who are no longer overweight at all are allowed to continue it? I’m confused by the regulations the providers are following.