Piling the weight back on when stopping MJ

[Richtea67]

Hi all....I'm so disappointed. I lost 3 and a half stone, have been off injections for a month and regained nearly 7lbs 😩. I was a slow loser (1-2lb per week) and focused on changing habits and reducing portion size rather than diets/calorie counting (this has led to binging previously). I have kept up with a lot of the habits (smoothie for breakfast, cutting out alcohol and healthy high protein snacks). But portion sizes have definitely gone up as I'm hungrier! And I've been more tempted by the biscuits at work and the kids treats! Any advice?? I'm considering re starting if I put too much weight on, but financially this would be a struggle, which is part of the reason I came off them. My starting weight was 14.5 stones, weight when stopping injections 11 stones and at present nearly half a stone back on!! Help!

It's not a disaster because you're mindful of it - you just need another plan. Mine is 16:8 intermittent fasting and high protein foods, but obviously you know what will work best for you and your life. Diets - any diets - are for life, especially after significant weight loss. I know I won't be able to snack and enjoy treats like some other people can, and that's ok.

I do this also, not eating until noon most days. In fact I used to be like that for most of my life until I decided to lose weight and inexplicably bought into the 'three meals, breakfast most important' narrative despite it feeling completely counterintuitive to me. Unsurprisingly, it had the opposite effect and felt like it opened the floodgates - once I ate in the morning, I ate until I went to bed. I learned that 'breakfast' doesn't have to be first thing in the morning. It's a good example of advice never being suitable for everyone and that we all have our own path.

I've also learned that this type of 'fasting' can be really helpful for peri/menopausal women in particular.

Just wanted to pick up this. You mention the word complex three times but also say "clearly mounjaro is working in a different way to just being on a diet it is literally changing the way I see and think about food, there is no emotion involved with food anymore."

That's it in a nutshell. Once you remove the emotion from eating you can use logic. Logic says if you're hungry have an apple. Emotion says have a bar of chocolate.

I couldn't skip breakfast as feel very hungry by about 9am, but then I wake up at 6am. Which just goes to show - we're all different - and have to find what works for us individually.

What I can do most days - and do when my husband is away - is stop eating after 5pm. But that isn't great for family life so I eat later when he's around.

Your list of things sounds like those of a relative of mine who bemoans her weight but won't eat properly. Its all boom and bust. Or sugar and bust. I tell her if you could just eat at regular times each day and avoid snacking on sugar on an empty or half empty stomach especially late into the evening, then that would make a big difference in itself...

Tiredness is a killer when it comes to trying to control your weight as well... sleep controls appetite so fi youre tired, appetite hormones increase...

But what if logic tells you the chocolate bar tastes better?

I think starting the day on a smoothie (lots of sugar) is not a great idea. Once your insulin levels drop from the sugar you’ll feel hungry again. My top tip is to start the day with a savoury breakfast. Eggs are obviously a great choice but I use to love a marmite crumpet with a little cheese. That would keep me going till lunch. And plenty of water too.

It’s interesting why so many people who aren’t on WLI frequent this board so much, to give ground breaking advice like eat less, stop buying biscuits and just use sill power.

Would you say that to someone about any other medication they need to take for life?

I'm currently 3st away from target but already looking at maintenance. I had an idea that I would buy, say a 7.5mg pen and adjust the clicks so that I was only dosing with, say 2.5mg each week so that I could make the pen last longer. Would this work with the maintenance providers do you think?

Yes but before I was on mounjaro I couldn't apply the logic when my brain is screaming at me that I need the chocolate/ crisps / kids leftovers.

With mounjaro I can see clearly and apply the logic as you say. without mounjaro I can't and it's as simple and as complicated as that really

Well done on your weight loss so far!!!
Get rid of all junk and get some decent scales to weigh your food.
Make sure your family and friends are on board and supporting you, not offering you crap.

They won't allow it as it's against the guidelines. What some people do is have 5 weeks on 5mg and then 3 weeks off. Their pharmacy don't mind because they're ordering every 8 weeks. The pen lasts for 5 weeks (all used within 30 days).

Yes, but they don't have the infrastructure or the budget to roll them out universally yet. They have projected it will take ten years to get to that point.

I started at the same weight as you but stopped when I reached 12 stone. I've since lost a further 2 on my own. My hunger levels did increase but I am used to having smaller portion sizes now and get fuller quicker. I used an app called nutracheck to count calories and this really works for me. I only ever lost small amounts per week on mounjaro and I felt confident I could do it on my own. You have to change your mindset even moreso than your habits and consistency with exercise for me is key.

Not sure how helpful diet advice is to people who are regaining weight after WLI. Maybe I am missing something but if individuals found intermittent fasting, high protein etc was working then they wouldn't have needed the WLI

Thanks. That's useful for the future planning. I'll have a rethink. I guess I need to actually get there and then see what works! 😂

@Pickled21 indeed- I’m the same and I’m still losing now without MJ because my mindset is in the right place and I’m being consistent - it is different strokes for different folks - I don’t need suppression myself as willpower is good - what I didn’t have in the mix when I gained was consistency rspecially when it came to portions and to be frank ‘a bit of exercise’ a few times a week

In the Guardian yesterday.

People who stop weight loss drugs return to original weight within year, analysis finds

Would it be possible to link to the reports showing that weight is gained after WLi and where this isn't a higher rate than other diet methods. I'd also like to know if there are habits that any of those who don't regain or regain less follow eg excercising, clean eating, 18/6, slow loss, dose level. Thank you!

I have stage 4 endometriosis and I have lost 5.5 stone on MJ. I have maintained around the 9.5 stone mark for 2 months now and I think I will need to stay on this as its correcting something that is going on hormonally with me. I am no longer craving fizzy drinks and constantly snacking. I never had a massive appetite but it definitely helps. I am afraid to try to come off it.

Insulin resistance is gonna be very very secondary to how many calories we scoff and thats the crux of it.

🥱

Try changing to soya milk rather than oat milk- I've swapped since paying attention to macros. Oat milk has nothing in it nutrition wise whereas soya milk has higher amounts of protein

Yep. Alpro has a soya drink without sugar which is perfect for a protein boost (imo) and doesn’t contain sugar or carbs (afaik).