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 do love it when people say they need to 'unpick' their emotional eating first, etc etc etc

People spend decades 'unpicking' their emotional eating (or what they think is emotional eating) all the while remaining obese and unhealthy. The same could be said for smoking, but people used patches and vapes to support that and they just needed a mechanism to stop smoking. Like people just need a mechanism to stop eating in excess.

The WLI work for this reason

Ridiculous over simplification of a complex issue. Giving up smoking is nothing like getting to grips with emotional eating. You don’t need to smoke to live but you do need to eat!

I always take what celebrities say about how they achieved their most recent 'transformation' with a pinch of salt.

They generally say something socially acceptable. A new found love for 'clean living and exercise' used to be regularly trotted out. WLI are now becoming socially acceptable.

I have no doubt that many celebrities have got screwed up metabolisms after a lifetime of abnormal living - early mornings, late nights, starving to take off the extra weight the camera adds. For them mounjaro may work to sort out insulin issues.

However I suspect the reality for many is what it has ever been: surgery, speed and good corsetry.

The mechanisms of Mounjaro are:

Tirzepatide enhances insulin secretion and improves insulin sensitivity, leading to better control of blood sugar levels.

By mimicking GLP-1 and GIP, Mounjaro slows down digestion, reduces hunger, and combats cravings, leading to a feeling of fullness and decreased food intake.

The combination of these effects contributes to weight loss by reducing appetite and improving metabolic processes.

I believe that celebs who are already slim, if they are taking these drugs are probably not following the approved protocols backed by research. It seems possible (even likely) that they will be taking the maximum doses for the appetite suppression effect and essentially starving themselves for a quick weight loss. They will be doing this supported by personal trainers, private doctors, stylists, personal chefs and all the other ‘entourage’ crap horrifically wealthy people have access to.

Using them as a potential inspiration or template for the use of a prescribed medication that can have significant effects on hormones that impact on liver, kidney and pancreas function doesn’t seem wise.

I don’t see too many people saying they need to work on their emotional eating first.

I do see many people think WLIs won’t work for them BECAUSE of their emotional eating.

It’s a complex issue. I am an intelligent woman but initially thought they wouldn’t work for me because I eat when I’m not hungry, I don’t seem to have a ‘full’ indicator, eating is my way off switching off, etc etc.

Essentially I thought that my issues were too unique for WLIs to help.

i didn’t realise that I wasn’t special, that lots of other people have the same or similar issues, that the weight loss drugs also work on the MIND as well as the body.

You do need to eat but actually I think people buy into the narrative that eating less is more complex than it is.

We are fatter than many other nations, we dont have more emotional eaters than those other nations, we have a food environment that just makes it easier for us to eat too much

Well you've hit the nail on the head, no theres nothing unique or special about your eating habits, neither were there about mine and most people.

The injections work because they stop the cravings/desire to eat when not necessary, help you feel satiated on what you have, so it cyclical because you're not seeking out food that then also adds to cravings.

I do see lots of people saying they need to work (or telling other people) on 'underlying reasons'. For most of us actually there arent any and Ive had to come to terms with the fact that I used that as an excuse for many a year, emotional eating. Well it was nothing of the sort, I just like my food and needed to cut down, I needed medical intervention to support me. Just like a smoker would.

@soupyspoon

I know how they work - I’m nearly 4 stone down and fitter and healthier than I’ve been in decades 🙌🙌🙌

I wrote in an earlier post ‘we are not special’ - although we are given to think that our particular reasons for being fat are deep, dark or whatever.

I just think weight loss is emotionally complex for so many people, so I don’t judge. I think people will make their own decisions in their own time - or not.

It's actually very complex when emotional eating is an eating disorder.

I’ll be starting my Mounjaro journey in a few days’ time, and feel excited about it. I had reached rock bottom in terms of my weight … well, in terms of how I felt about myself, sadly not the number on the scales 🤣
I’ve read with interest some of the comments around emotional overeating, and it makes me wonder if the weight loss injections are better for this than, say, a gastric balloon. Is cost the biggest difference for people, in that the initial outlay for the injections is much less and you can keep it going for longer? Is it that the injections are the current big thing, and that’s why many people are doing it? But what’s the actual difference in terms of appetite suppression and emotional disordered/over-eating? Why is this better?

Gastric bands seemed popular for a while but didn’t seem to fix the emotional element for some people hence they put all the weight back on 😩

True. And that's why some people say they want to fix their emotional eating before going on injections, because the same thing could happen if they stopped using them.

I think the big difference between mounjaro and gastric surgery/intervention is that mounjaro helps your body to process the food you are eating, properly.

It helps your body to release more insulin and triggers your liver to produce less glucose.

My experience is that I am now far less drawn to carb/sugar heavy food. I am finding it easier to think 'that's enough' before I have got to the point of feeling stuffed.

If your overeating contained a physiological element then mounjaro may help with that.

As someone who is hugely overweight, I have always believed it was 'something in the mind'. That I was overweight because I was lazy and greedy. If I learned to be less lazy and greedy then I wouldn't put on weight and if I then put in some effort I would lose weight.

Now I am seeing good effects with mounjaro. This is tending to suggest that there was a significant physiological cause. I am no longer 'greedy'. I am lazy and I need to deal with that.

There are strong parallels between WLI and new treatments for gastric ulcers. In the past gastric ulcers were believed to be caused by stress and rich food. Essentially they were self-inflicted. Now we know that many gastric ulcers are caused by a bacterial infection. They can be cured by antibiotics.

I’m so pleased it’s helping you, @GnomeDePlume

The change is mental approach to food is just mind-blowing isn’t it. 💕💕

I feel like the injections correct my brain chemistry. I thought that I overate due to something in my psychology, which I could probably overcome if I thought about it in the right way. But actually a few tiny drops of medicine altered how I feel about food, so that I enjoy it but in a healthy way, both in terms of choices and quantities.

The success of WLI challenges the notion that being hugely overweight is entirely down to the person being weak/greedy/lazy. The WLI are showing that for significant numbers of people there is a physiological element.

At the same time we have to recognise that WLI publicity is currently enjoying the low hanging fruit. The serial dieters, the people who want to make changes and better choices. The people who have tried SW, WW, Atkins, Cambridge, Lighter Life etc etc but have struggled with sustaining meaningful weight loss.

God knows, I am one of these. Now on Mounjaro I am 3 stone down after 4 months which as weight loss goes for me is only second to Lighter Life.

WLI are not a 'cure all'. You have to stick to eating less and more healthily, not giving in to temptation, finding something else to centre in your life other than food. WLI help you to do that but they don't do it for you.

When you are overweight your hormones are actually acting against weight loss attempts to keep you overweight.

Mounjaro is acting on these hormones so I'm no longer getting all the signals telling me to overeat - from my body, not my mind.

When I was younger I maintained a weight at the mid to low end of the BMI scale using self control and exercise - I was never "naturally" slim, it always took effort.

After two kids then emotional eating due to stress for a few months in a horrible job, it felt like a switch flicked and I could not get anywhere near BMI 25, let alone 23 or lower which used to be the norm for me. Was also diagnosed with PCOS and endometriosis at 39.

Mostly in the last 15 years, and now aged 49 I've been BMI 28/29 - while trying very hard to be slimmer, eating healthily and exercising. At least I was able to maintain that and not become gradually larger in my 30s and 40s as most women do. And overall in that period I was actually down 5kgs.

What I'm hoping is that it will help me break through the weight barrier I don't seem to be able to get under, and when I eventually do stop taking Mounjaro is that my body will be so much smaller that I won't feel the need to eat so much anyway, and the healthy habits I have formed over the years will serve me well. When I get to goal I aim to gradually increase calories on a maintenance dose before coming off it.

my mounjaro has arrived!! and now I am scared to try it 😬

there aren't any instructions in the box. it came with ice blocks but the storage instructions are a bit ambiguous, do you keep it in the fridge??

I want to weight until my scales arrive so I can weigh myself before I start. and I better go and stock up in some more protein and veg I suppose

The instructions will be inside, the leaflet will explain how to do it. Keep in the fridge, the cool packs are just for delivery.
It will keep until expiry but once used you need to use it within 30 days so no issues to wait until you get scales.
Good luck!

Instructions must be somewhere - it not legal to send out without. Where did you order from?

Always keep in fridge as no chance of it ‘going off’ then.

There are two small/well folded patient leaflets in the Mounjaro box which have a lot of information on them. Read both fully and carefully and they will answer most of your questions on the official use of the pens.

He is an electronic version of one of them -https://uk.lilly.com/metabolic/assets/pdf/mounjaro-patient-booklet.pdf

It is also worth looking at one the the pharmacies videos on youtube on how to set up, prime, inject and dispose of needle before reading it in the leaflet as the leaflet can be a bit confusing on first read when it is actually very simple.

thank you for taking the time to find the electronic version. I found the leaflets as you described.

I have taken the first dose. excited to see what happens! does it take effect straight away? as in, tomorrow I won't crave chocolate all day?? it's hard to believe

I find it kicks in very quickly, I take mine in the morning and have very little appetite that day. The only time I feel peckish for all the wrong things is the end of the week, day 6.5 as it were.
Good luck and keep us posted with your results.

Does it though?
We all know the human chemistry is set to respond to fat and sugar. That’s everyone not just the obese. Eating too much or highly palatable food is easier than not.
Thin people very often make a conscious choice not to eat too much and avoid certain foods.

Stopping food noise is a revelation but it’s unfair to say it’s because fat people are somehow more challenged around food than thin people. It is like smoking. If you think fags are disgusting you don’t smoke. If you think it’s quite fun or cool you might start. And then blame nicotine for being addicted.

If you don’t think it’s ok to have a doughnut or a plateful of food you don’t and consequently are less likely to miss something you don’t eat.

I haven't been overweight all my life. for the first 40 years, I was a healthy weight, fit and healthy, ran half marathons etc. I did not have a constant battle with making difficult choices about what I ate and I didn't have to restrict myself. I never thought about it at all. I just never wanted to eat so much sugar or food in general